There was no Ace, but there was Eric Boone (The Wheelsucker late learned Eric was recovering from a Kelly Cup crash), Pat Hogan and a large group with a number of solid "B and "B+" riders. The Wheelsucker’s workout description was basically to treat parts of the ride like a race and practice attacking. Not knowing that Eric was recovering from a crash, the Wheelsucker decided an early attack and trying to TT away was not the right choice (based on past Wheelsucker experience, Eric seems to particularly enjoy closing the gap to the Wheelsucker, catching him on a climb and dragging the field past him at a high rate of speed), particularly since the group was past Governor Bridge Road when he joined it, so more ready to respond to Wheelsucker attacks. So the Wheelsucker opted for more "conventional" attacks, and "sat in" early at the back of the group, to warm up as well as possible and save his limited matchsticks.
The pace up Harwood Hill was just starting to be painful when Chris Kick had an issue and pulled over to the right. There were cries of "flat" and "chain" from some riders and the Wheelsucker happily joined in the chorus, hoping to have an easy time up the rest of Harwood Hill.
And it worked!!!!
The group eased up, the rest of the Harwood Hill climb was well within the Wheelsucker’s meager capabilities (for some reason the Wheelsucker finds Harwood Hill much harder than the South Polling House stairstep climb) and he was safely with the group at the top.
But the pace did not actually ease up long enough to let Chris back on; the group left the poor bastard out there by himself, riding alone!!
Feeling as warmed up as he would ever be, and preferring the South Polling House stairstep climb, the Wheelsucker followed wheels on the left on the downhill to move up closer to the front of the group for the start of the climb. While the pace was hard there were no surges. The Wheelsucker waited until about two thirds of the way up and then launched a blistering Wheelsucker attack, hitting something very slightly in excess of 500 watts -- very briefly -- as he tried to surge away from the group.
And it worked!!!!
Most probably no one takes Wheelsucker attacks too seriously, but in any case the Wheelsucker was able to roll by the riders in front of him, no one caught his wheel, and he continued up the rest of the stairstep, opening a useful gap by the top and the right turn onto Bayard.
A decent rider would be able to keep the pace up on Bayard, while recovering a little and then going steady to keep the gap. The Wheelsucker could not do this. A short distance later on Bayard he simply eased up to let the group catch back on, telling himself it had been a decent attack and he needed to be caught, recover, and go again. But the truth is he was worried about going too hard and not being able to catch back on!
As if to emphasize the Wheelsucker's limitations, Pat Hogan was driving the pace as the group caught the Wheelsucker, and took the group by fast enough that the Wheelsucker had to dig deep to catch on at the back. Hogan may not like the stairstep climb all that much, but he sure seems to like chasing down the Wheelsucker on the flats...
Perhaps the ride had fewer surges, or maybe the surges were not quite as hard, but it was still a large group, with several riders who sometimes sit up at the top of the stairstep climb still on and looking good.
Very shortly after the Wheelsucker caught on at the back, Eric Boone jumped with Mike Faber on this wheel. The group accelerated to chase and a still-cooked Wheelsucker hung on grimly at the back. When Eric pulled off Mike apparently did not want to pull, so Eric jumped again leaving Mike to drift back to the group. And the group brought Eric back soon enough, though it wasn't at all clear to the Wheelsucker that this happened due to the group's efforts. Rather it may have been Eric easing up and waiting to be caught.
Matt Albanese -- who had been riding strong -- was on the front going into the turn onto Polling House. Eric was warning the group there was sand and gravel on the turn, so the group eased up and reshuffled a bit.
Somehow a not-at-all-tired Eric ended up back on the front, with the Wheelsucker second wheel. Eric pulled down the dip, up the other side and around the right sweeping turn to the golf course false flat. While he was clearly not going at 100% (after all the Wheelsucker was able to hold his wheel), he was going hard enough that the Wheelsucker was in pain and not looking forward to pulling on the golf course false flat and then being whacked on the short wall/bump at the end. So when Eric pulled off, the Wheelsucker pulled through and off.
The (young muscular) rider following the Wheelsucker was apparently unimpressed and gave the Wheelsucker somewhat of a dirty look as he rolled by. The Wheelsucker consoled himself by considering that per Dirty Harry, "A man’s gotta know his limitations." And the Wheelsucker IS a 54 year old (racing age 55) pack fill masters racer, so FU young strong bike rider!, thought the Wheelsucker.
The group did NOT go hard on the bump and the Wheelsucker was able to hold position and even take another short pull on the way to the right turn on South Polling House. And he was careful to get off the front and recover at the back well before the second time they hit the stairstep climb.
Not being especially imaginative or talented, the Wheelsucker went AGAIN from about the two thirds point of the climb and once again got a gap. The Wheelsucker was probably tiring, and probably did not go as hard, but for whatever reason he seemed to have a little more left in the tank when he turned onto Bayard, and made it a little further on Bayard before easing up and being caught. And maybe Hogan was feeling a little less fresh, because he did not lead the group by at a near-sprint pace this time. The Wheelsucker also knows that he is less vulnerable the second time on Bayard, because apart from some minor bumps on Bayard it is mostly flat or even downhill for awhile and he does not have to recover quickly to handle the golf course false flat and the rest of Polling House (which trends up), as he would on the first lap.
The Wheelsucker was back on the front late on Bayard and led into the Sands Road right turn. Being a somewhat blind intersection to the left, the group eased up a bit for the turn, even though the Wheelsucker shouted "clear!" as he rolled through.
This gave the Wheelsucker a bit of a gap early on Sands, but considering that it might have been unfairly gained by going through the turn fast while others were simply being careful, and not actually having the cojones to go hard and risk being caught, counter attacked, and dropped, the Wheelsucker eased up to wait.
Brian S. drove the pace hard part way up Sands and up the first bump, so the still-large group went into the second bump (an Ace preferred attack point) at speed with a few people perhaps close to their limits. Hogan was apparently trying to fill in in Ace's absence (and it really IS a good attack point) so he jumped hard on the second bump, with Rick Paukstitus on his wheel and the Wheelsucker wheelsucking behind Rick.
Hogan is very strong, but not Ace strong; the Wheelsucker dug deep but was still on as the road leveled off. While not actually looking behind him, the Wheelsucker knew they had a small gap. Hogan pulled off, Rick took a short hard pull and swung off for the Wheelsucker. The Wheelsucker thought he was going hard on the front, but when he glanced back the entire group was back on, perhaps with Eric pacing them back (or maybe the Wheelsucker simply wasn’t going hard enough).
Many in the group sprinted up the short climb at the end of Sands Road (where one turns left back onto Harwood/Patuxent River Road), and the Wheelsucker held on for 4th or 5th. One rider -- Matt? -- got a gap off the top, but it was all together at the dip.
The Wheelsucker considered that the Harwood Hill climb had been neutralized, and that he had won (or perhaps more accurately had been allowed to win) both South Polling House stairstep climbs. So if anyone was counting KOM points (and of course no one but the Wheelsucker was), the Wheelsucker's probably top 5 position at the top of Sands (if in fact that climb is counted for the KOM competition that no one but the Wheelsucker was thinking of) would have put him in the KOM lead, with just one climb to go.
So the Wheelsucker decided he would attack AGAIN. And he followed wheels early on the climb out of the dip, then moved to the left and wheelsucked behind others, and then shortly before the last steep bit, the Wheelsucker launched a blistering attack.
Well, it seemed blistering to the Wheelsucker...
Actually he managed to roll by the poor bastard who had led all the way up the climb, but Brian had easily caught the Wheelsucker’s rear wheel ...
And on the last steep bit, Brian put in a blistering effort and came around the Wheelsucker at a high rate of speed, winning the climb.
But the Wheelsucker rolled on for second. He is claiming the KOM victory for the evening.
The still quite-large group rolled through 214 and up to the sprint. A tired Wheelsucker was planning on wheelsucking behind those who went early, but was too far back when the sprint started. Matt Albanese was looking good early, but Pat Hogan overhauled him and won by a bike length. The Wheelsucker wheelsucked behind various riders, picking a new rider to follow when the one he was on gave up, and rolled across about 4th.
Wheelsucker Data (From first crossing the finish line outbound to crossing the finish line):
214 watts average, 858 max
136bpm average, 162 max
91 rpm average cadence
24.71 mph
The Wheelsucker was sitting in a lot between his few attacks, so his average power is not high. It was a fast mostly steady ride with a big group together to the finish.
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