He arrived at the P&R in time, put his bike together and changed, but then realized he needed a restroom (and the trees behind the P&R would not suffice). The nearest "restroom" the Wheelsucker was aware of was the porta-pottie at the ball park on Patuxent River road. So the Wheelsucker quickly got on the bike and rolled out, wanting to get there well ahead of the group, so he had time. But he rolled out SO quickly that he forgot to put this two water bottles on the bike.
The absence of water bottles was discovered just before he arrived at the ball park, but it was too late to turn around and retrieve them, without missing the group.
The Wheelsucker was not sure how he felt. While he always takes a long time to warm up and find out what he has for legs and lungs for the day, he also had some unfamiliar back soreness on his left side. At least his weight weenie SuperSix bike was super light without any water bottles.
The Wheelsucker rolled around on Patuxent River Road waiting for the group and joined a group of three leaders, catching on at the back. The pace was not super high but was still fast. At some point they rode by someone who looked just like the great Stephen "Stevie Wonder" Wahl, but couldn't possibly have been, as he no longer rides a bike. The Wheelsucker eventually rotated to the front and was about to be forced into taking a pull when he glanced over his shoulder and realized that the rest of the peloton had caught on. With the early break caught, the Wheelsucker did not feel obligated to take a long pull, and drifted back to sit in. In retrospect the break exercise was pointless; there was no way anyone was getting away when the main group had Ace, Patrick and several other strong riders. There were close to 25 riders in the group.
The group had a decent pace from then on. The Wheelsucker was starting to warm up and was no longer wondering what was causing his left side back soreness. He wasn't even thinking about his left side back soreness. Coming down into the dip Ace moved up a few places, passing the Wheelsucker and the Wheelsucker followed Ace up a few positions, hoping to be well positioned to respond if Ace got frisky. The riders at the front were all putting in solid steady-fast efforts and rotating off after their pulls, with riders like Matt, Steve, Todd Bickling of Bike Doctor and a rider in Chronic Taco kit putting in noticeably long hard pulls. Matt Albanese was on the front for a long pull up Harwood, pulling off just before the start of Harwood Hill. That left Ace on the front and he pulled steady hard up Harwood Hill before pulling off just before the momentary flatter portion. That left the Wheelsucker on the front. The Wheelsucker was acutely aware that this was one of several favored attack points, and tried to go hard enough to discourage attacks, without blowing up trying.
And it didn’t work.
Two riders and Ace jumped clear on the left side and quickly opened a gap. The Wheelsucker tried to ramp it up on the climb to limit the gap, going to full Wheelsucker power. But that accomplished nothing other than tiring the Wheelsucker amazingly quickly. As the climb became shallower and then a false flat at the top the gap was opening rapidly and the Wheelsucker had nothing left. He pulled to the left but no one pulled through, so he gestured, encouraging someone, anyone, to pull through and eventually someone did. Gratefully the Wheelsucker eased back into line a few places back and worked to hold the wheel in front as the group accelerated. A few matchsticks were gone and the Wheelsucker conveniently had forgotten his committment to attack.
While the three had opened an impressive gap in a very short time, they were not working hard to keep it, and the chase pulled them back 2/3 of the way to route 2.
The recombined grupo compacto kept a good pace on Polling House and then South Polling House, even down the descent. A few riders rotated off on the way, so the Wheelsucker had moved a little closer to the front, but was still several positions back. He was worried about attacks on the South Polling House stairstep climb given how frisky some riders appeared to be feeling.
The pace was hard up the initial steep section and the Wheelsucker lost a bit of ground as he tried to avoid spiking his power. The gap to the wheel in front was opening. He pulled to the left to let the next few riders go by, and then was able to accelerate a little as the climb flattened out a bit, and hold on. It was a hard-but-steady pace to the right turn on Bayard, with no actual attacks.
At least one rider ahead of the Wheelsucker swung off just before the Bayard turn, sitting up. Others behind had probably been gapped, too.
The Wheelsucker normally follows wheels so closely he risks touching them. He avoids looking behind him or even far to either side, partly due to the risk of touching, partly due to a lack of neck flexibility when in an aero position on his bike, so rarely checks on the size of the field behind him. So he had no idea how many were left.
The Chronic Taco rider opened a small gap early on Bayard (but after the Wheelsucker had had a chance to recover) and no one was closing it, so the Wheelsucker jumped through the lead riders and closed up on him, holding his wheel. That put him in second position, but they both rotated off soon enough.
There was some indecision about the full-length versus shortened version of the route, at the top of the last bump on Bayard, but Steve Owens announced it was the full route (with the inner loop).
The group swung right onto Polling House. After a short pull and several hard efforts and some time on-the-rivet, the Wheelsucker had had a short opportunity to recover for the last part of Bayard, and he needed it because next up was the Golf Course false flat, the bump at the end, and then climbing rollers on Polling House on the way to the right turn to South Polling House.
Sure enough there was a surge on the bump; the Wheelsucker was expecting it; he went as hard as he could to hold a wheel, but could not. The gap opened. Two riders went by, but the Wheelsucker was able to grab on to another back wheel and stay with the lead group.
Some riders were taking some really hard pulls because the Wheelsucker was straining to hold a wheel and the speed seemed ridiculously high. There were more hard surges. The Wheelsucker was back on the rivet burning matchsticks a pack at a time and not even aware who was dishing out the pain, perhaps it was Matt pulling hard and then Ace surging. Or perhaps Ace was exacting his horrible revenge on cyclists everywhere, after being followed a lot at Morgantown.
Gaps opened a rider or two in front of the Wheelsucker and he had to stand and sprint at least twice to go around and latch back on to the back of the rapidly shrinking lead group. Riders behind him were dissapearing. And then shortly before the right turn back onto South Polling House, the Wheelsucker made one more really hard sprint effort, made it across a gap and latched on to the lead group again, in fifth or sixth and last place; everyone else was gapped somewhere behind. The riders in the lead group were Ace, Matt, Patrick Hogan, the Chronic Taco rider, perhaps Jeff Chun, and the Wheelsucker just barely holding on at the back.
The pace stayed high – at least for the Wheelsucker – through the South Polling House turn and down the South Polling House descent. A quick glance back revealed Marc Lahuec trying to bridge the gap. Amazingly he was able to do this on the descent, and may have taken a second rider (Jeff Chun if he was not still with the lead group) with him. He (they) rejoined just before the stairstep climb, making the lead group: Ace, Matt, Hogan, Chronic Taco, Marc, Jeff and the Wheelsucker.
It was hard-but-steady up the stairstep onto Bayard. But there were more surges on Bayard. The Wheelsucker was on-the-rivet, on the back, most of the time. A gap opened ahead of the Wheelsucker as a rider could not hold the pace. The Wheelsucker stood and sprinted as hard as he could and somehow made it across the gap and tagged on at the back. And then, long before he had recovered, another gap opened and the Wheelsucker had to stand and sprint again. He really didn’t think he was going to make it across, but somehow, going deep, he rolled up to the back wheel of the rider coming back on the left.
Marc had popped. Jeff had popped. The Wheelsucker thought the group was down to Ace, Matt, Hogan, Chronic Taco, and maybe, just maybe, the Wheelsucker.
The group was in a rotating paceline with the line on the left coming back. And the rider coming back on the left was Ace. Just as the Wheelsucker made it across to Ace’s wheel it was time for someone on the left to swing over to the right and start going forward. The Wheelsucker had nothing left and thought now was a GREAT time to skip a pull, desperately suck in some air and recover enough to actually pull through.
Ace thought otherwise and gestured strongly that the Wheelsucker should pull through. It took the Wheelsucker about ¼ of a second to decide he could not do what he was unable to do, and he sat up and let the gap to Ace’s wheel open. A frustrated Ace swung over and pulled through instead.
The Wheelsucker gasped a few times and then when Jeff Chun had rolled back to him, put his forearms on the bar tops, got as low and aero as he could and started pursuing at a steady Wheelsucker pace (with no surges). Jeff did not try to hold his wheel.
The lead group was going rather faster than the Wheelsucker, even though the Wheelsucker was riding hard threshold, and the gap continued to open, as did the gap to Jeff behind him. Some time after turning onto Bayard, the lead group was out of site up the road and the Wheelsucker could see a three rider chase with Jeff, Marc and Eric working together. The Wheelsucker was still going as hard as he could sustain, though what he could actually sustain appeared to be dropping. He was going as hard as an aging exhausted Wheelsucker could go.
The three finally caught the Wheelsucker at the top of the climb out of the dip. The Wheelsucker accelerated with whatever he had left to grab the wheel, and held on to 214. He was desperate for water, and Marc gave him a bottle. The Wheelsucker was almost too spent to take swigs while holding on at the back, but managed to do both.
The four riders in the chase went at a steady but not very hard pace; everyone was tired.
Part way to the finish line the Chronic Taco rider was visible up the road some distance ahead.
At the sprint the Wheelsucker did leadout to avoid trying to sprint. He eventually caught up with Marc and Jeff and they caught the Chronic Taco rider just before the P&R.
The Wheelsucker coasted into the P&R up to this car, got off the bike and leaned it against the car, and then leaned on his car, completely spent.
It seemed the hardest the Wheelsucker has gone in some time. And he still felt the need for recovery a couple of days later.
Apparently the lead group surges/attacks had continued. Ace eventually jumped away, Hogan went with him, while Matt did not chase, as Ace requested. Matt dropped Chronic Taco a little later on a bump, but could not bridge up to Ace and Hogan. But this all happened well out of the Wheelsucker’s view, and was related to him later.
Wheelsucker Data:
214 back to the finish line:
Time: 1:12:01
Distance: 27.57 miles
Energy: 1031 Kj
Elevation gain/loss: 988 feet
Power: 239 watts average, 775 watts maximum
HR: 149 bpm average, 165 bpm max
Cadence: 86/121 rpm
Average speed: 22.97 mph
Average temperature: 49 F
Chasing Alone:
Time: 18:31
Power: 259 watts average, 557 watts max
HR: 154 bpm average, 162 bpm max
Cadence: 82/108 rpm
Average speed: 21.78 mph
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