It being the first warm day of the season, there was a large group rolling out of the P&R. The pace was mostly civilized to 214, but Eric Boone (now sporting Kelly kit) was showing signs of being frisky.
From 214 on, it was fast. Eric was getting off the front frequently, but some other riders were looking for attack opportunities, too.
Despite avoiding the front, the Wheelsucker was rotated to the front on the Harwood Hill climb (AGAIN!!). He went up the last part steady hard, waiting for an attack, but no one went by, and he gratefully pulled off at the top. A little further up the road Eric went and no one wanted to chase at first. Eventually Ace chased with the Wheelsucker second wheel. Ace pulled off and the Wheelsucker pulled up to Eric and rolled by him going into the right turn onto the route 2 shoulder. The Wheelsucker eased up to pull off and three riders rolled clear because no one wanted to close the gap until Michele Wedel did just before the right turn onto Polling House.
Eric and Devon went early on South Polling House while the group sat up and looked at each other. Hating the surges and much preferring to go steady, the Wheelsucker jumped and went steady hard to catch them just at the start of the South Polling House stairstep. But the group caught them part way up and the Wheelsucker tagged on at the back.
Once on Bayard first Denzil atacked and was brought back, then two non ABRTers (Chronic Taco and someone else) went, and they got a gap they took all the way to the golf course false flat. Devon was on the front of the chase as it started the climb just before the sweeping right turn. The Wheelsucker was second wheel; Ace was third wheel. Not doing any of the work, the Wheelsucker thought Devon could be going faster to close the gap. And the Wheelsucker also felt that Ace was eager for them to be brought back. So the Wheelsucker pulled around Devon – immediately noticing that it was in fact hard to go faster -- and put in a short hard dig around the sweeping right to close the gap, hammering as hard as an aging wheelsucker can hammer. The Wheelsucker pulled off halfway to the bump/wall at the end, with the gap to the two ahead noticeably smaller. But the Wheelsucker was on the rivet, and when he pulled off it took a long time in the wind drifting back to the end of the line, which he did just as the pack hit the bump/wall. The Wheelsucker only barely managed to hang on.
Riders were being shed, but it was still a decent sized group the second time up the stairstep climb and onto Bayard.
Patrick Hogan was on the front for the last climb and last descent on Bayard, pulling off at the bottom, leaving the Wheelsucker on the front. Bayard trends down to Sands, so this is always a fast section. The Wheelsucker put his forearms on the bar tops, getting very low and aero and drove it HARD. But apparently not HARD enough, because as he was pulling off, Ace jumped with everyone else going for a wheel.
"Why me? !!", thought a frustrated Wheelsucker as he dug deep and only barely caught on at the back of the fast train.
Part way up Sands, Steve Owens was pulling when the peloton got to the second bump that Ace loves to go on. The Wheelsucker was second wheel; and expecting an attack. He was checking behind and to the left side frequently as he followed Steve up that bump and sure enough Ace launched just before the top, on the left side. The Wheelsucker jumped to the right accelerating as hard as he could. Several riders -- perhaps 6-8 -- were struggling to get to Ace's wheel, or the wheel of someone who had Ace’s wheel, or any wheel that might make the front group. Despite seeing the move start and going as hard as he could the Wheelsucker was gapped slightly, but digging deep sprinted across the gap, towing Patrick Hogan. They were the last riders to make it on.
So much for Ace having a bad spring!
But the Wheelsucker was just not motivated to go that hard and lunch or whatever was not tasting so good the second and third time around, so while he was safely on a wheel, albeit completely on the rivet, he had nothing left and no motivation.
He sat up, let the gap open, took a couple of breaths and then went steady hard on his own. Riders were being shaken off the group ahead and he passed the first of them just after turning left onto Patuxent River, and the second at the top of the climb out of the dip. They made no effort to grab his wheel. Denzil was stopped by the side of the road shortly after the top of the climb, but was fine. That left Patrick, Ace, Brian S, and Jeff Chun in the lead group.
The Wheelsucker was caught by Eric Boone, Devon and Steve Owens just before the 214 light. The four waited a short while for the green, and lost time on the group ahead. Once across Steve and then Devon took steady pulls. Denzil caught on from behind. The Wheelsucker wanted a faster pace and was waiting for Devon to pull off so the Wheelsucker would be on the front and could drive up the pace, when Eric convinced everyone to go into a fast-rotating paceline. This worked very well and the five were bringing back the group ahead steadily (though Ace may have gone from that group by this time), though they did not catch them until after the finish line.
The Wheelsucker seemed to have problems setting intervals, but looking at the graphs and guessing where 214 was and where the finish was, he came up with..
Wheelsucker Data:
Time: 1:15:55
Distance: 30.31 miles
222 watts average, 829 max
Cadence: 86 rpm
Speed 24.61 mph (which is pretty darn fast for this ride).
The truth is that Ace is going just fine!
The others in the lead group hung on for a little while, but a couple of attacks later and Ace was clear and free to fly from the ballpark, soloing for the win.
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