The Warrior 50 is a new race on the calendar, using Howard county roads familiar to many who have ridden from Western Regional Park. Steve Owens accurately described it as a mini-Coppi, with the hills not quite as hard as Coppi, but the course similar in feel.
The race categories did not line up with MABRA BAR categories, so there were no BAR points to race for. The Wheelsucker is nominally a cat 3, but chose to race the 40+ cat 3-4 race with team mates at Ted Harris’ urging. And it was a good ABRT turnout with Denzil "Quadzilla" Hathway, James Maiden, Stephen Szibler, Ted Harris, Steve Owens, Sean Easley and the Wheelsucker.
Steve pre-road the course and e-mailed the team his reconnaissance notes, which were very helpful.
Despite the "Warrior 50" name, the 40+ 3-4 field was only doing two 13.1 mile laps, and part of the first lap was the neutral rollout; apparently only the 1-2-3 men did fifty miles.
Planning:
The Wheelsucker recalls some very good ABRT races from 2008, when ABRT showed up for several 40+ events – in particular Jefferson Cup and the Poolesville Road Race – with large numbers of riders, and concrete plans. So the Wheelsucker pushed for making plans before the race. With seven riders in a ~ 40 rider field, and no other teams as well represented, the Wheeluscker wanted ABRT on the front, and ABRTers attack in pairs, ideally with a sprinter and a TTer in each pair.
But that is not quite what happened.
Reality:
The Wheelsucker was on the front (in a row across the road of three) as the neutral rollout started, to start things off with ABRT on the front.
There is even photographic evidence that the Wheelsucker was on the front http://www.nofilmphotography.net/2013roadwarrior50/e64d651c2. The race was on after the second right turn. The Wheelsucker lost very little time before attacking. He was not expecting to solo away for the win, but wanted to be chased, and then have one or two team mates counter.
But 55+ defending BAR Champion Dennis Crockett was in the race, and he likes to ride on the front and then slowly ramp up the speed and chase anyone who tries to jump clear.
Dennis Crockett stays near the front.JPG)
Denzil, the Wheelsucker , Steve Owens, and others are tucked in
The Wheelsucker's jump got him clear, and he got low on the handlebars in TT mode and tried to ride away, but was caught fairly quickly, and eased up to recover. There was no immediate counter attack and the Wheelsucker was blown enough that on the next short climb he lost places and found himself near the back and not able to move up as the peloton was filling the narrow road. The chain drop incident described in Steve Owens’ report happened soon into the race. On a climb an NCVC rider dropped his chain and coasted to a stop with riders swerving left and right and slowing, to avoid crashing. Several riders were gapped here including James Maiden. They worked hard to catch back on, but could not make it.
The pace was hard at times but slower at others (which sometimes seemed to coincide with the Wheelsucker having dropped back to recover after a hard effort), which made it hard for him to move up on the narrow roads with the strictly enforced yellow line rule; no warning, just DSQ.
During one of the fast bits there was a small split in the field, with most of the ABRTers behind it, but Steve closed the gap quickly bringing everyone with him.
Denzil and Sean each had one or two attempts to go, and the Wheelsucker had a couple more digs as well, but everything was quickly chased down. The Wheelsucker also tried to jump across to a solo rider off the front once, but only succeeded in closing the gap as Crockett was on his wheel, and the pack was following.
Ted Harris was the ABRTer more consistently staying close the front.
The race continued with more attrition of the back, but with all attacks being brought back.
Well into the second lap the Wheelsucker was looking at the mileage on his computer. He had started an interval AFTER neutral rollout, so the finish was going to be something short of 26.2 miles, but he was not sure exactly how long the neutral rollout had been, so the distance to the finish was not clear.
He rolled up to Steve and they had a brief chat, agreeing that it looked like it was going to be a field sprint as nothing was getting away. The Wheelsucker commented that if everyone believed that, the chances for a break working increased, but he agreed with Steve.
The Wheelsucker wanted to have an ABRT train to lead out the sprinters, but for that to work ABRTers had to start working their way to the front. And the pace was easing up as riders sensed the finish coming up, and the pack was bunched up across the road again. The Wheelsucker was pinned against the must-not-cross-upon-pain-of-DSQ yellow line and could not move up. But Stephen Szibler was to his right, and there appeared to be some room on the other side of Stephen. So the Wheelsucker maneuvered behind Stephen, accelerated into the narrow gap on the right, next to the shoulder, and quickly moved up to be near the front of the pack. He was not quite at the front, but his nose was in the wind and he had room to go.
The Wheelsucker does not actually recall what he was thinking of exactly and why he went.
But soon after getting near the front, the Wheelsucker launched. Perhaps he knew his only move was to go early, hope for a gap, and TT for the line; probably he thought it would help his team mates, but for whatever reasons, on the false flat before the kicker for the finish, the Wheelsucker went for it.
And it sort of worked!
The Wheelsucker got a small gap, but was going at sprint levels of effort, so once clear backed it off a couple of clicks to a power level he could dream about sustaining to the line.
And then Dennis Crockett, who chases anyone who goes by him, ramped it up and came across to the Wheelsucker, and he was towing a teammate. So the Wheelsucker’s solo break effort was suddenly a three rider break and both other riders were AVC. The Wheelsucker didn't like the odds and there was no way he was going to tow a strong rider to the line when his own team mates were not far behind, so he immediately swung off the front and with a big effort, caught on as third wheel. Dennis was still grinding a big gear and keeping them clear. But even Dennis eventually tires, and he probably wanted to keep something for the sprint, so Dennis flicked his elbow and pulled off, but his team mate could not pull through, and the three slowed, and desperate chasers from the pack behind closed the gap.
All together again, but still strung out from the effort.
Then the Wheelsucker heard Sean telling him that Sean was on the Wheelsucker's wheel and Denzil was on Sean's wheel. And then the Wheelsucker was told to GO!
But the Wheelsucker had very little left, he had one more half hearted acceleration and told Sean he was done. He nearly pulled off right into Sean, but corrected just in time.
Riders streamed by on both sides until the strung out pack was by and then the Wheelsucker hugged the right shoulder and soft pedaled for the finish line. He could see Stephen Szibler a couple of places ahead of him, just up the road.
He did not actually see the leaders cross the line, but learned a few seconds later than Denzil had won, and Sean was fifth.
The Wheelsucker later found this photo sequence of Denzil "Quadzilla" Hathway launching from Sean's wheel, the shredded field following, and the Wheelsucker soft pedaling at the back.
Quadzilla launches off of Sean's wheel!
NCVC Rider, You're TOAST!
Denzil flies past
The peloton is shredded: Ted is recovering after being forced into the grass shoulder; Steve digs for the line; Stephen "The Sizzler" Szibler a little further back.
The Wheelsucker brings up the rear of the main field.Unfortunately the finish line camera had malfunctioned so the motoref pulled everyone over after they turned into the park and everyone did their best to recreate the finishing order.
Denzil’s win was not in dispute, and the first four places seemed clear, but somehow riders 307 and 301 (Sean and Stephen) were mixed up by the officlals and early drafts of the results had Stephen Szibler 5th, when he clearly was multiple places behind that, pushing Sean to 6th. Stephen and the Wheelsucker took this up with the officials, and Sean was given 5th – correctly – on the final results, but Stephen was standing in the 5th place spot for the podium shot.
The Wheelsucker was finished as 21st, which seemed reasonable to the Wheelsucker. Having sat up after doing what he could, it didn’t matter to him if it was 16th or 28th.
The ABRT elite ladies, sans McSpeed and Nikki, pulled off another commanding performance, with Katy getting the solo win and Ainhoa winning the field sprint.
There were other solid ABRT finishes in other fields.
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