Perhaps it was the mid afternoon rain, but there was a small group in the Park & Ride. The Wheelsucker had left work early and warmed up on the course, returning to the P&R just before 18:00, to find Ace, Iain, Steve, Cee and Jeff Chun ready to roll. Alex Pline rolled up moments later. So a small group, with some of the strongest ABRT riders.
Assessing the field, the Wheelsucker immmeidately decided it was a "Plan F" ride.
The Wheelsucker had one major goal for the ride, to ride Harwood Hill hard right from the bottom, rather than follow wheels most of the way up and then be unable to respond effectively when the strongest riders surged at the top. The idea was to go steady-hard (for the Wheelsucker) get a gap, and then be in a position to latch onto a wheel when the move went on the top part of the climb and where it transitions to false flat off the top.
The Wheelsucker could have rolled out, followed wheels, perhaps taken a token pull, and been ready for Harwood Hill.
The Wheelsucker was warmed up and ready to go, while everyone else was still warming up and chatting. As you can see in the video, it wasn't so much a "devastatingly hard attack by the Wheelsucker" (what the Wheelsucker would like you to believe) as simply coasting down the hill faster. But as they approached the Governor Bridge Road intersection it was just the two of them, and the others were out of sight behind, around a curve.
The Wheelsucker told Alex they were alone. Alex eased up to wait.
It was far too early to go. It was particularly ridiculous for the Wheelsucker to go early, because Ace is one of the very strongest riders on the team, and Iain and Steve are known for enjoying long hard pulls. And it was not like Cee and Jeff were slouches either.
So the Wheelsucker's plan to sit in and then go hard from the bottom of Harwood Hill went "out the window" and off he went, up the road, pedaling as hard as an aging Wheelsucker can maintain. Even as he was doing this, the Wheelsucker knew it was dumb. At some point quite soon, the others would be warmed up, and Ace, Iain and Steve would start taking long hard pulls, the others would do their share, and the group would catch a redlined Wheelsucker on a climb, they would go by laughing at him, and he would be unable to surge to grab a wheel, and it would all be over. A rational Wheelsucker would have eased up, recovered, and waited.
This move was a bit like a stagaire on a pro national team that had the miraculous invitation to a Grand Tour, being called up for that tour when another team member got sick, and then attacking the cream of the pro tour from rollout, on the first stage.
Ridiculous!
But the Wheelsucker started to dream again, and started to wonder if he could keep the gap long enough to get over some of the climbs. He was checking behind frequently and not seeing a chase. He rolled through the 214 intersection just before the light turned green, and had the satisfaction of seeing it turn red as he rolled away, so the group was going to be at least one cycle behind him. The effort became harder and the Wheelsucker's pulse rose through threshold and into VO2Max territory. He looked back as he turned through the dip and saw no one. All the way to Harwood Hill he checked as he approached each curve, looking for the chase, but no one was in site. Perhaps someone flatted, thought the Wheelsucker, but he kept going as hard as he could. Then it was time to climb Harwood Hill steady-hard, and he made it to the top with no chase in site.
Astute readers may recall that making it to the top of Harwood without being dropped was the Wheelsucker's one goal, and surprisingly that had been accomplished, even with a very unorthodox move.
There was STILL no chase in site, so the Wheelsucker kept going, though not quite as hard as he was tiring and needed some recovery. He rolled up the route 2 shoulder and turned right on Polling House, still on his own.
The Wheelsucker's pedaled hard on the South Polling House descent to maintain whatever gap he had, and then started up the South Polling House stair-step climb. And again, just before a turn that would block the view behind, he turned and checked,
and this time, the chase was coming!
YIKES! thought the Wheelsucker, almost caught at the base of the stairstep climb! This could be bad! But the Wheelsucker went steady hard up the stair-step and still had a little bit of the gap left at the right turn onto Bayard, and had enough in the tank to accelerate to speed, before finally being caught a short distance down Bayard, after being away for about 35 1/2 minutes.
Fortunately the group was going steady and there was no Hogan-style attack to make it harder for a tired Wheelsucker to latch on at the back. So the Wheelsucker made it on. in typical Wheelsucker fashion -- having no shame -- the Wheelsucker surfed wheels, moving over to get on the wheel of whomever was rotating back, so he was always at the back and not rotating up to take a pull. And with that shelter from the wind, the Wheelsucker's power and heart rate came down, and he started to feel a little better.
He made it over the last climb on Bayard and was able -- barely -- to ramp it up and hold a wheel when Ace drove hard down the shallow descent on the last part of Bayard. One rider ahead popped, and pulled off to the left to let the others by. But there were two or three riders between the Wheelsucker and the gap, and the Wheelsucker was content to let them close the gap.
There was "car left" at the right turn onto Sands, and the group slowed. Then Ace called for soft pedaling to let the popped rider back on. The Wheelsucker took the opportunity to roll up the road a little. The dropped rider was not far off, and quickly rejoined and Iain got on the front to drive the train. The Wheelsucker let them roll by and tucked in at the back. The astute reader will be thinking that since being caught very early on Bayard, all the way to part way up Sands, the Wheelsucker had avoided taking ANY pulls. :-)
Finally, most of the way up Sands, Cee pulled off and the Wheelsucker was on the front. But this was going into the first of the dips (Ace LOVES to go on the second), so the Wheelsucker took the world's shortest pull, and pulled off and to the back, hoping to ready for a surge.
But there was no surge from Ace or anyone else, and Alex Pline pulled hard up the second bump. The Wheelsucker was still carefully sheltered and watching Ace for the last climb on Sands, up to the T intersection, but it was steady hard, and fortunately for the Wheelsucker, there were cars coming from either side on Harwood/Patuxent River, so the group slowed for them, and the Wheelsucker could recover.
Cee led up the climb out of the dip with the Wheelsucker digging deep to hold on as Cee accelerated at the top. Then Cee pulled off and the Wheelsucker was on the front again. It was a short pull to the next dip, and the Wheelsucker kept pedaling on the downhill to keep the speed up, and then as he climbed as hard as he could out of that dip, it happened. It was not a hard attack; it was just the other riders bored with the Wheelsucker's slow pace up the climb, rolling past him. But the result was the same. After perhaps 30 seconds of pulling the Wheelsucker was dropped on a 5 second climb, and gapped as the strong riders drove the pace.
But fortunately for the Wheelsucker, the red light at the 214 intersection saved him, and he rolled up to the group just as the light turned green.
Safely on, the Wheelsucker hung on and tried to recover. At one point Jefff Chun was on the front and the pace eased, probably because Jeff wanted to keep something for the sprint. Iain rolled past the group to the front and accelerated the pace for awhile, before pulling off and leaving Jeff on the front again.
Then Jeff and a couple more riders rotated off, leaving the Wheelsucker taking a token pull as they rolled up to the ballpark. The Wheelsucker quickly pulled off and positioned at the back in preparation for a suicide early attack at the penultimate dip. But he was quite blown, his HR was 160 (VO2Max for an aging Wheelsucker) and the group hugged the yellow line rather than the right shoulder, not leaving the Wheelsucker an open lane to attack in. So he aborted that attack and sat in, and sat in, and as the sprint started, the Wheelsucker watched Ace and Jeff launch, and Steve and Cee launch after them, and he followed Steve and Cee.
But Ace and Jeff were much stronger and quickly opened a gap, and Steve and Cee both sat up, leaving only three riders sprinting. Ace won, Jeff was second, and the Wheelsucker rolled across for third (or last).
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/UPQXIH5E7OUNQBYEGTDLOF3ANU
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