It was not a large group, but there were some solid riders, though no Ace, Eric Boone or ABRT elite riders. The group was Matt Albanese, Jeff Chun of Bike Doctor sporting a Giro Air Attack aero helmet, which he claimed he was wearing because it was warmer, not because it was aero, Brian Whitesell, Spencer Siebert, and two other riders wearing non-team kit. Per a long ongoing conversation with Jeff Chun, the Wheelsucker considers any rider in non ABRT kit to be a Bike Doctor rider.
Rollout to 214 was steady but not hard (rollout to 214, mostly easy). Uncharacteristically, the Wheelsucker took a decent length pull (decent pull), probably hoping he could get the one pull over with early, and wheelsuck the rest of the way.
The 214 traffic light turned green just as the group approached.
The Wheelsucker regretted finding himself on the front for a pull (Pull before Harwood Hill) shortly before Harwood Hill, but was careful to pull off shortly before the climb started, nearly taking Matt out in the process.
After avoiding the Wheelsucker, Matt led up Harwood Hill at a steady hard pace (Harwood Hill). The Wheelsucker held on at the back, but was worried about attacks on the last section and off the top, so tried to move up on the last portion of the climb. He rolled up to just past Matt but was unable to respond when Matt and everyone else left (2-3 had been dropped) accelerated on the last part of the climb and as it started to flatten out.
The Wheelsucker barely caught on at the back and hung on desperately.
Approaching the right turn onto the route 2 shoulder, Brian Whitesell was on the front. But two cars were turning right onto route 2 and there was very little room to squeeze through to turn onto the shoulder. Everyone stopped, but then Brian was able to roll through. The Wheelsucker was third through and noticed that the group was spread out, so ramped up the pace to close the gap to Brian. A third rider followed, with the rest of the group close behind. Brian swung wide at the right turn onto Polling House indicating his pull was finished. The Wheelsucker, up to second wheel, took over. The road goes almost due West here and the Wheelsucker felt a tailwind for the first time in the ride. Knowing it was downhill for a while before the dreaded South Polling House stairstep climb, the Wheelsucker ramped up the power a bit to get the speed up (Solo). Part way to the left turn onto South Polling House he looked back and saw no one was on his wheel. The group had eased up for some reason.
The Wheelsucker's first and natural inclination was to sit up and wait. Wheelsuckers are most comfortable wheelsucking and have little practice – or comfort – at being off the front. But then it occurred to the Wheelsucker that a head start on the South Polling House stairstep climb would be nice, though there was a risk that he would put in a hard effort, be caught on the climb before he could recover, and the group would go by and drop him. But uncharacteristically the Wheelsucker kept going. As he started the stairstep climb he still had a gap. He went steady-hard up the climb, with the group out of site behind turns, when he looked back.
The Wheelsucker was very pleased to still have a gap at the right turn onto Bayard, and he HAD kept something in the tank. Rather than burn all his matchsticks in a pointless effort to get off the front on this climb, and then be forced to sit up while gasping for air (as he frequently does), the Wheelsucker was still able to lay down some decent – for the Wheelsucker – watts, accelerating through the turn at 397 watts before settling down and trying to hold decent steady power averaging about 260 watts to shortly past the Polling House road intersection.
But the chase was coming! And just a little further down Bayard, with the chase within a few bikelengths, the Wheelsucker concluded the catch was imminent and he needed to be able to surge to catch on, so he eased up to recover for a few seconds, and then made the big effort – reaching 618 watts -- to catch on at the back. The chase was four riders, Brian, Spencer and the two guys not wearing team kit.
After the right turn onto Sands, the Wheelsucker was able to recover on a wheel for a little while, and noticed that Matt and Jeff were not with this group. Interesting, thought the Wheelsucker. The group was going steady hard up Sands, but the Wheelsucker noticed he was not actually "bleeding from the eyeballs" or "cross-eyed and blowing snot bubbles" as he would have been had Ace or Eric been driving the train. And then Spencer announced that Matt and Jeff were coming across, and they were on when the Wheelsucker checked.
Closing the gap did not seem to have tired Matt much, because very shortly later he was on the front driving, as the group went down the last dip and up the climb to the T intersection where Sands ends at Harwood/Patuxent River Road.
When no one else wound up a sprint to the top, the Wheelsucker gave it a go, but was appropriately chastened when Matt, despite having pulled the last two minutes, easily accelerated off the front to match and then pass the Wheelsucker, even opening a gap before they turned left onto Patuexent River Road.
Matt apparently decided he liked the gap and wanted to keep it, because he accelerated. The Wheelsucker was careful to let another rider work to close the gap, while the Wheelsucker followed. And then the Wheelsucker was on the front again, and for whatever reason no one took his wheel, and the Wheelsucker was again dangling off the front as he went down into the dip where the Patuxent River frequently floods Patuxtent River Road. The Wheelsucker was feeling good – well, good for a racing age 56 wheelsucker – so went steady hard up the climb, hoping to stay away. But the chase easily caught him off the top and it was all together, gruppo compacto when they slowed to wait for a green light at 214.
The Wheelsucker was taking it easy sitting in, and averaged only 200 watts from 214 on. So, as the group approached the finish line, the Wheelsucker decided to try another attack at the penultimate dip. To do this, he wanted to be at or near the back of the group as they went down the descent, so feigning fatigue he opened a gap to encourage Jeff Chun – who was rotating back – to take a position in front of the Wheelsucker. The next two riders, Spencer and one of the riders not wearing team kit, came back and ended up behind the Wheelsucker.
And as the group went down the dip with Brian on the front, the Wheelsucker launched a vicious – well, vicious for an aging Wheelsucker – attack (Late attack to finish), trying to open a gap while the rest of the group could not accelerate on that short steep climb out of the dip.
And it worked!
Sort of.
The Wheelsucker got the gap, off the top, and kept hammering, standing up, off the top. After what seemed like a long hard effort (but was probably neither), the Wheelsucker sneaked a glance behind him and …
DARN! Matt was closing the gap down and the group appeared to be on his wheel.
So the Wheelsucker eased up and coasted, only to have Matt yell "keep going!". A second glance revealed that Matt was on his own, with Jeff Chun dangling a short distance behind him, and the others further back.
The Wheelsucker re-accelerated and Matt took his wheel, but Jeff caught on soon after.
The Wheelsucker had a slight breather on the last descent, but then ramped it up for the false flat to the finish. He was cooked and had no sprint, but Matt was on his wheel telling him to "keep digging", so the Wheelsucker strained hard, kept pedaling, and claims he saw 400 watts a few times.
It took forever for the finish line to approach, but eventually Matt launched past the Wheelsucker, with Jeff on Matt's wheel, and the Wheelsucker very gratefully stopped pedaling and coasted to the line. The others were well back.
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