Tuesday March 31st Training RideThe Wheelsucker Report: An Unexpected Leader in Both the Sprint and KOM Categories

The Wheelsucker’s coach has him doing threshold (CP60 or Critical Power 60 minutes) intervals on Tuesdays, as they try to find the Wheelsucker some form. Tuesday evening is also the ABRT training ride time, so the Wheelsucker decided to combine the two.

Getting to the training ride for a 5:30pm start takes some doing for the Wheelsucker, as he has to pre-stage his car and bicycle at the Davidsonville Park & Ride in the morning, and take the Dillon bus in to work in DC. This requires getting up at a ridiculous time in the early morning. ...

The Wheelsucker made it out of work and took the bus back to the P&R. It was raining hard when he arrived, but he was determined to ride after having made the effort to get his bike and cycling clothes there.

Another reason to ride was that this year ABRT introduced rules including sprint and KOM (King of the Mountain) points for the Tuesday Training rides. As had been discussed on the listserver, points are awarded regardless of how many riders are there. Pat Hogan and Denzil “Quadzilla” Hathway had split the sprint and KOM points on the first Tuesday evening ride of the season.

The Wheelsucker chatted with Steve Esmacher and Kristin Seibert who were also at the P&R. But after looking at the forecast (harder rain), they pulled the plug. Patrick Hogan drove through just before 5:30pm, but he was not riding either. No one else showed up; the Wheelsucker was riding alone.

The Wheelsucker rolled out, warmed up, and started his first ten minute interval climbing out of the dip. Ten minutes of pain took him past the top of Harwood Hill.

He rode the entire route, including the inner loop, crossing each sprint line and each KOM line, and recording all of this on his front and rear video cameras.

He was soaked and cold by the time he finished, but he had completed three ten minute threshold intervals, and had first place points for all the sprints and all the KOMs; sixteen points in each category, enough to give him the lead in both competitions.

There was some good-natured ribbing on the ABRT listserver and on Facebook after the ride, with some questioning whether he had in fact ridden the route, and whether in fact points should be awarded for a solo ride. But the Wheelsucker had a partial GPS track, and video proof. As for riding solo, that point was in the rules.

So after two Tuesday evening training rides – the Wheelsucker was not able to ride the first – the Wheelsucker was the unexpected leader in both the sprint and KOM categories.

Rules are rules!

Ride data on TrainingPeaks: Ride Data