As always, the Wheelsucker is not confident in his form, and even less confident in his tactics. Ideally he would be racing 55+ with some strong teammates, but most ABRT masters are not yet eligible for 55+ and Ted Harris is the only other ABRTer regularly racing 55+.
A few years ago the Wheelsucker had a good season in the then BAR 50+ category. He was racing with Art Brown , who was not only one of the best snap sprinters in MABRA, but had years and years of racing experience, and knew the competition very well. The Wheelsucker fell easily into the role of domestique for Art, if only because the only event he had a shot of beating Art in, was a long TT. And Art won just about EVERY sprint finish, wearing down the 50+ competition to the point they stopped showing up at races. So Art won the 50+ BAR by a large number of points, and the Wheelsucker, who was typically leading Art out and finishing 3rd to 5th, picked up enough points to finish second overall in the 50+ BAR. So perhaps the Wheelsucker is more comfortable in the domestique role than in trying to win for himself.
Despite all the misgivings, the Wheelsucker had the alarm set for 5:00am Sunday, so he could drive to Fort Ritchie for his 9:20am start. He was tired and not feeling great, even after several coffees. His misgivings about racing grew. Despite his early rising, he did not have much time to warmup.
55+ Race
It was a cold morning. While a small field of 16 riders, both AVC and DC Velo had four riders entered, so the Wheelsucker wasn’t confident that he and Ted Harris could cover all the moves. But it was a small field which the Wheelsucker is more comfortable with, and he knew the course well, having raced it before.
The Wheelsucker lined up front row on the inside and when hard from the whistle to be near the front. Sure enough there were serial single rider attacks; each time the Wheelsucker had to decide whether to chase hard, or follow someone else’s wheel. The Wheelsucker recalls chasing Ad Bax and Randy Thrasher (both very strong riders), while letting John Olinksi (a strong strong sprinter but not someone the Wheelsucker thought could stay away for 10+ laps) go up the road.
Each attack would result in a surge, but eventually the pace would let up. The Wheelsucker was working hard to stay near the front and even took a decent pull early, partly to warm up and partly hoping to establish himself as a player. And in the small field Ted Harris was never far away, and was also working hard.
And then just before coming into the sweeping right turn onto the start/finish climb, at the end of the lap, probably about lap 9, the group slowed; maybe someone had been caught. In a flash the Wheelsucker decided to go. He jumped hard on the right, taking the inside line on the sweeping right and then sprinting up the start/finish leg climb.
And no one followed. Probably most of the field did not think he was strong enough to be a problem.
As he crossed the start finish line the bell was ringing to signal a prime. While the Wheelsucker generally focuses on the race finish and consider primes an annoyance, this beer prime suddenly seemed like a good idea. The Wheelsucker kept going. He glanced back at the top of the climb and saw that no one was coming across and the gap was opening. Perhaps the gap was large enough that no one wanted to chase for the prime, thought the Wheelsucker. He continued at a hard-but-sustainable pace for the lap and still had a gap. He crossed the start/finish line alone to win the prime, but they were ringing the bell again for another prime.
Gotta keep going, thought the Wheelsucker.
He kept the gap, and won the second prime.
And he kept keep going, and going as steady as he could on the course, keeping his effort at sustainable levels.
After being way solo for another lap or two, the Wheelsucker saw the chase gradually closing in. The Wheelsucker figured his number was up, but then he was caught by just Dennis Crockett (AVC) and Paul Mittelstadt (DC Velo) 2/3 of the way up the start/finish climb, with the rest of the field still behind. The Wheelsucker made a big effort and caught on to Crockett’s wheel and held on.
Crockett pulled hard. Eventually the Wheelsucker made it clear that Mittelstadt had to pull and Mittlestadt did. The three stayed away for a little while, but then the pack was closing in again. Crockett was for sitting up, but Joe Jefferson was yelling "you still have a gap!". The Wheelsucker encouraged Crockett to keep going, telling him they could keep the gap if he went hard. Crockett did. The Wheelsucker followed with Mittlestadt. The gap opened again. The Wheelsucker imagines that in the ~12-rider-and-shrinking-main-field, no one from AVC or DC Velo was chasing (unless they wanted to get more riders in the front group), and obviously Ted was not either. This was confirmed for the Wheelsucker after the race when he learned that Ted had immediately started blocking as soon as the Wheelsucker made the initial move.
With no one from AVC, DC Velo or ABRT chasing, that did not leave many riders to chase. It later turned out the three AVC riders were popped from the chase at this point anyway, so the chase was smaller ~9-10 riders, but still with few riders really interested in chasing.
Crockett pulled on and on and was the one doing most of the work. Mittelstadt and the Wheelsucker did their turns. The laps slowly counted down and the Wheelsucker could not see the chase the few times he was able to check.
With just a few laps to go the break seemed secure so the Wheelsucker was trying to figure out how to beat two strong sprinters. So with just over one lap to go, he jumped hard at the same place, just before the sweeping right turn. He got a small gap but Crockett chased hard and caught him at about the start finish line. But Mittelstadt was not on. The Wheelsucker had nothing left and was barely able to take Crockett’s wheel, but he DID try to encourage Crockett to drive the pace and not let Mittelstadt back on, assuring Crockett he could take the Wheelsucker in the sprint. But Mittelstadt ground back on, after the chicane.
Crocket led through the last turn, with the Wheelsucker second and Mittelstadt third. All three sprinted as hard as they could, and Crockett and Mittelstadt (who are both excellent sprinters) simply rode away from the Wheelsucker, who pedaled across for third.
But third is good.
Cat 3 Race
It was still cold. A tired Wheelsucker could have kept riding to stay loose, but being quite tired and cold he sat in his warm car and relaxed instead.
The cat 3 race was at 1:15pm. Several of the team arrived late and there was no group discussion of a race plan. The Wheelsucker knew Patrick Hogan and Matt Albanese very well, but did now know James Miceli And Tyler Waldron well.
The ABRT group started together in the middle of the line. After going around a rider who was slow to clip in, the Wheelsucker was immediately going as hard as he could to get nearer the front. The pace was very high and hard. While the 55+ race was 45 minutes, the cat 3 was targeting one hour. And that turned out to be 32 laps! The Wheelsucker was finding the surging very hard to handle and was soon on the rivet, struggling, and wondering how long he could hang on for.
For the Wheelsucker, the race evolved into a pattern. The Wheelsucker would sit in, recover, then find an opportunity to move up, frequently on the leg before the sweeping right turn. Once at or near the sharp end he would figure out if he should block, chase a rider up the road, or attack. He would make a huge effort to do this, that would last 10-20 seconds, and would then give up and fade towards the back of the field. Most times as he drifted back Pat Hogan would say "Recover!" as he went by. And the Wheelsucker would make one more amazing – for the Wheelsucker -- effort and somehow catch on at the back, or a follow a wheel to the back of the main field.
Repeat over and over.
The Wheelsucker knew he was going to pop sooner or later, but was simply trying to help his teammates; his own finish did not matter. He caught a glimpse of the average power number on his bike computer a couple of times during the race and that confirmed how hard the race was, but the average power number was coming down. Either the race was getting slightly easier, or the Wheelsucker was sitting in longer to recover.
The Wheelsucker vaguely recalls attacking. He recalls blocking, but he was not always able to get to a rider who was jumping to bridge up; sometime the Wheelsucker would give up chasing and just let go and hoped that the field would reel them in. He recalls chasing single riders. He also recalls zig zagging trying to take up more road so riders would have difficulty passing the Wheelsucker and a teammate up the road would get a bigger gap.
The Wheelsucker also recalls going really hard to close some of the gap to a single rider a bit up the road, getting a gap on the field, and then the single (non ABRT) rider on his wheel coming around the Wheelsucker, getting up to the lone rider and the Wheelsucker not making it.
OOPS!!!!
But the field caught them both quickly enough.
Going through the start/finish area on each lap the Wheelsucker was typically gapped and standing and sprinting to close the gap and stay on, though he does recall attacking off the front or chasing hard at this part of the course, as well. On most laps he did not see the lap counter, but the Wheelsucker does recall seeing a high lap number early on and thinking he would never make it, and he remembers seeing seven-to-go and thinking he might make it.
Somewhere about eight or nine laps to go Tyler Waldron made it off the front. His move may have been a counter to a Wheelsucker effort, but the Wheelsucker does not remember clearly. Tyler had a fabulous engine and slowly opened the gap. The Wheelsucker was only seeing what was going on for the short periods he was on the front of the field, and each time he drifted to the back he would lose context and would try to figure out what was happening when he next got to the front.
But Tyler’s performance to get away, open the gap and stay away from a fast field was incredible!!
With one lap to go Tyler was safely up the road and two riders were dangling off the front of the main field. The Wheelsucker rolled up to Matt and asked him if he wanted them brought back and Matt said "sure". The Wheelsucker accelerated to the front and started to go hard but another rider came around him so the Wheelsucker grabbed that wheel and hung on. That rider pulled the Wheelsucker and the field up to the two other riders. The Wheelsucker had nothing left for a sprint and decided to stay out of the way, so he let the group go by and tagged on at the back.
Once around the last corner he did sprint with the two riders just ahead of him, and pulled past them at the line. You can see the Wheelsucker’s "sprint" at the very end of the Tyler Waldron at the finish sprint Youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwTbZMM8YuE.
But the real sprinters were far ahead.
The Wheelsucker crossed 20th, narrowly beating the two riders near him, with other riders who had sat up crossing behind. But the Wheelsucker had not been racing for his finish, he had been racing for his teammates, and he quickly confirmed that Tyler Waldron of ABRT had won the race, with Matt 7th, Pat 12th and James 15th.
The Wheelsucker is not sure which of the two races he is happier with.
Wheelsucker Data:
55+
Time: 42:04, 16.51 miles
620 Kj
Power: 246 watts, 900 max, 273 normalized
HR: 145/160 bpm
Cadence: 99 rpm
Speed: 23.54 mph
Cat 3
Time: 59:54, 24.43 miles
865 Kj
Power: 241 watts, 946 max, 274 normalized
152/166 bpm
99 rpm
24.47 mph
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