The Wheelsucker at the Memorial Day Ride and BBQ at Watkins Park

The Wheelsucker has done this popular ride for several years; and the post ride BBQ in Watkins Park is a lot of fun. A large group gathered in the elementary school parking lot just down the street from Watkins Park. There was a strong turnout from ABRT, V-Day, and Artemis. There were perhaps 100-150 riders at rollout, though this would eventually split as there were three routes of different lengths. But it was a bit of a mob scene while all the riders were still together on the first few roads, and cars were backing up behind the group.

One of the many fun aspects of this ride is that the whole thing is recorded by Tiny, sitting in the back of an SUV with the back lid open, and everyone at the BBQ watches the video later. And the SUV provides an excellent draft with the back lid up. And for a different perspective, Daniel Meaurio has posted ride "video" on YouTube, taken from his helmet-mounted Go Pro.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlCLa1uTXhA

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItboKZ7DjwA&feature=youtu.be

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8xId2s7948

Though they were expected, Ace and Iain were not in the parking lot with everyone else, but were waiting outside to join the group.

The pace was initially very easy and the Wheelsucker moved close to the front where he could see what was going on, and follow a group of female riders who were actually on the front.

There were two early "attacks" but both turned out to be riders needing a pee break and wanting enough of a head start they did not have to chase hard to catch back on.

While the direction around the loop changes year to year, the Wheelsucker recognized the route after a few turns. He knew there were three short hard climbs on Croom Road (the last one is a bit longer, but the second half is not as steep), and that there would almost certainly be very hard attacks from the strongest riders on those climbs, because these were the best places to split the group or get away.

The Wheelsucker has real trouble with short hard climbs, so wanted to get away BEFORE those climbs, and then be caught by a small lead group, ideally a small lead group with some of his team mates in it. So he decided to go early, and he went well before Croom Road, after giving Pat Hogan his best "I am going now" look, at the start of a not very steep but medium length climb he remembered. He actually went on the same climb last year, accidentally. He was just working at the front of the group, and got to the top with two other guys and a big gap.

This time no one came with him and he had a big gap at the top. The catch is that people later claimed there is an unwritten, unspoken rule/guideline that the group stays together until on Croom Road... But this was only mentioned after the fact. Croom Road does seem a long long way into the ride to be a neutral rollout, to the Wheelsucker (11.38 miles and nearly 37 minutes).

Anyhow, even with waiting at a long red light at 301, just before turning onto Croom Road, the Wheelsucker could not see anyone chasing him from behind.

Last year, the Wheelsucker and another rider were clear and were caught late on Croom Road by four riders (including DJ Brew and Ace), the other two of the four dropped away, and the original two leaders rode with DJ Brew and Ace to the rest stop.

This year the Wheelsucker rode alone, basically in a TT, and had a six minute and five second lead at the rest stop.

This was a pretty good effort by the Wheelsucker, averaging 261 watts for the approximately 24 miles and 1:05 or so of being away (average speed 21.95 mph), and that is with the short climbs and some rollers on Croom Road, so spiking power on the climbs and sometimes sometimes coasting in an aero tuck on the descents at zero watts, and a one minute delay at an intersection.

EXCEPT, the group had stopped awhile for a mechanical. Of course this happened behind the Wheelsucker so he didn't know. And the neutral-to-Croom Road issue was brought up at the rest stop as well.

Meanwhile the dramatic moves were happening behind the wheelsucker. Tiny's video shows that Ace had three ABRTers – Iain, Mike F. and Mike W. -- in a rotating paceline at the front driving the pace part way up Croom Road until on one of the climbs, Ace checks that no one is on his wheel, and launches hard, gapping the group and stayed away from the rest of the group. Anwar chases hard and almost gets to Ace, but as Anwar gets close Ace accelerates on another climb and Anwar fades.

The chase group caught Anwar on the final leg on the way to the rest stop and had almost caught Ace by the rest stop, but he had enough of a gap to launch his sprint and finish cleanly ahead of them.

It is rather harder to get away or split the group on the return leg as there are no significant climbs and several traffic lights (almost invariably red) and stop signs stop the leaders and allow others to chase back on.

The group rolled out and spread out on the shoulder with a few riders a short distance off the front, going easy. A little dissapointed that his solo effort was being discounted, the Wheelsucker decided to try going again. The Wheelsucker rolled past most of the group up to the front, and then passed the lead rider, who was going steady, looking back at him to see if he wanted to go, but he did not accelerate. So the Wheelsucker rolled off the front on his own at threshold, but after getting a nice gap and holding it for a short while, was chased down BY HIS OWN TEAM MATE!!!!!!

This is clearly shown in Tiny's video, with an ABRTer working hard on the front to bring the Wheelsucker back.

After recovering at about 15th wheel the Wheelsucker stayed near the front for the rest of the ride, initially covering moves by riders from other teams. He covered a move by Drake sprinting from a stop sign after the video SUV (which gives a nice draft when you get there and they let you stay for awhile), sat on him briefly until a climb started, and then attacked him. Drake's sprint had created an initial gap, and the Wheelsucker's attack on the climb opened it up. The Wheelsucker was clear again, but was caught sooner this time, and was caught on a short hard climb and was gapped by the lead group!

And guess what? The video shows two ABRT team mates briefly driving hard at the front of the pack for part of the chase!!! At least this chase was not entirely ABRT; others do most of the chasing.

The Wheelsucker struggled to catch on to a straggler, caught his breath for a moment, and then sprinted across a gap to the next straggler, and so worked his way back to the lead group, just as it slowed for a stop sign.

Attacks from other riders occasionally resulted in a rider or two getting clear for a short while, but they were always held up by a red light or stop sign, and caught.

That was it for Wheelsucker attacks. He covered moves for awhile and then picked one V-Day rider to watch, rather than trying to chase everything. That V-Day rider tried to ride about 3rd or 4th wheel so the Wheelsucker was pretty much 4th or 5th wheel for the rest of the ride.

The Wheelsucker did not recall the last few turns before the finish and was surprised when the leaders were in the traffic circle, which is more or less the start of the sprint. The V-Day rider the Wheelsucker was following had fallen back slightly so the Wheelsucker was just outside the top five. The Wheelsucker abandoned the V-Day rider and moved up onto team mate Mike Faber's wheel, hoping Mike would do his usual long sprint.

Tiny's video shows two other V-Day riders on the front coming into the circle, but the guy doing lead out does not have enough left to keep going after the circle, and ABRT takes over, with probably close to half the riders in the top eight being ABRTers.

The Wheelsucker was hoping for a Mike Faber lead out … but Mike did not sprint.

Ace looked around to make sure no on was on him and went, and everyone else except a girl from Artemis just looked around and eased up (the ABRTers did this deliberately)... so Ace sprinted, the Artemis girl went after him but was no threat, and the rest of the group rolled across, and turned left into the elementary school parking lot.

The BBQ was excellent. Jerry and his crew put on an outstanding BBQ and everyone has a lot of fun. Tiny showed the video of the ride, which included numerous ride highlights, and the Wheelsucker's team mates chasing him down twice. Most of those watching thought that was rather funny.

The Wheelsucker is reconsidering his commitment to ABRT and is open to offers from other teams.