So when the large group rolled out from the Park & Ride the Wheelsucker was completely focused on trying to make it to the top of the climbs with the leaders. That meant staying away from the front of the group – for some strange reason the inexperienced newcomers tend to be on the front early, tiring themselves out on the way to Harwood Hill –doing as little work as possible, and following the right wheels when the pace went harder.
The stronger riders casually eased there way forward as the group neared the base of Harwood Hill. The Wheelsucker was carefully watching Ace and Iain, and moved left to avoid being boxed in behind slower riders. Sure enough Ace pushed the pace near the top of Harwood Hill, with a couple of riders on his wheel. The Wheelsucker pushed through between two riders to try to keep the gap manageable, and made it to the top in about fifth. While he was not going as hard as he could, Ace was not easing up. Fortunately for the Wheelsucker he was able to follow a strong young rider who quickly closed the gap to the lead three.
There were a lot of riders close behind the Wheelsucker, with more dangling after the climb. Ace pulled off after a medium pull, and the Wheelsucker generously offered to let Ace into line ahead of the Wheelsucker. This also meant that Ace would pull again before the Wheelsucker had to. The next few strong riders took short good pulls and rotated off, so Ace was back on the front well before the Harwood/route 2 intersection. Ace must have noticed that some riders were still trying to chase back on after being gapped on Harwood Hill, and Ace decided he wasn’t going to let them do that. As the rider in front peeled off Ace accelerated. The Wheelsucker grimly hung on as the pace went up. Very soon after that Ace was hammering hard, and the Wheelsucker was suffering badly trying to hold second wheel. At the speed Ace was driving the group the draft effect is quite significant, but the Wheelsucker was suffering badly and wondering how many more seconds he could hang on to Ace’s wheel, even with that draft advantage. Ace did not appear to be suffering at all.
As the group sped past the Southern High School football field, Ace looked back and saw that a number of riders who had been close to chasing back on were now dropped for good, and a few more had been shaken loose. And Ace decided that was enough for now and pulled off to the left. The Wheelsucker should have taken a pull, even a short pull, maybe even just take up the pace for a brief few moments before pulling off to the left, but a drained and gasping Wheelsucker had nothing left, stopped pedaling and coasted, gesturing to the riders behind to come past him. The Wheelsucker needed to recover badly, so grabbed a wheel near the back of the group and sat in. All too soon the group made it to the left turn onto South Polling House. The Wheelsucker was dreading the stair-step climb.
Knowing that KOM (King of the Mountain) points were available for the first two ABRT riders across the painted line near the top of the climb, the strongest ABRT riders eased up and looked at each other. No one wanted to pull before the climb and be less fresh for the climb itself. Unconstrained by KOM points (which are available for ABRTers only), some non ABRTers pushed clear. Jeff Chun got a gap but Cee Kick saw the opportunity and went with him. The Wheelsucker watched nervously, hiding behind Ace and a couple of other riders. Then Iain Banks decided to go and jumped past. The riders going early were going to be less fresh, but if someone else did most of the work and they could follow, they could be fresh enough and have a nice head start for the climb. The Wheelsucker decided jumping for Ian’s wheel was too hard and too risky, and waited. Then Eric Boone decided to go and again the Wheelsucker hesitated and stayed behind Ace. Finally another non ABRTer decided to have a go, and this time the Wheelsucker jumped for the wheel, hoping to be pulled clear of the rest of the group. The first four riders were getting well clear, and the rider the Wheelsucker had caught was not going hard enough to close the gaps to them. Indeed the group behind quickly closed the gap to the Wheelsucker down, so the rider pulling eased up and pulled off, and the Wheelsucker did the same, sliding back on the left side and finding a spot near the back of the group.
Far too soon the group sped through the sweeping left turn and started the climb. The remaining strong riders pushed harder on the initial steep section – the first stair of the stair-step climb – and the Wheelsucker held on near the back. But the pace was high and the Wheelsucker was being gapped by the strongest, who were determined to reel in the four escapees before the KOM line at the top.
The Wheelsucker had no illusions about crossing the KOM line 1st or 2nd, he just wanted to be close enough to catch back on the lead group and recover after the top of the climb. But the strong riders were pulling away. The Wheelsucker stood and pedaled harder, as hard as he could. He was open mouthed and gasping for air.
While the group had split up on the climb with small gaps opening up between riders, there were good wheels not far in front of him; he still had a chance!
And then while climbing the third step of the stair-step climb one of the Wheelsucker's great gasps for air inhaled a large flying insect. The Wheelsucker panicked, expecting to be stung in his throat. He wasn't stung, but he couldn't breathe either. The bug was rather far back in the Wheelsucker's throat, he couldn't spit it out. He tried to swallow it, but couldn't. Then he tried a swig of water hoping to wash it down; that didn't work. The Wheelsucker started to cough and gag. Meanwhile the Wheelsucker's desperate pedaling was slowing down, and three riders behind him came by, chasing the leaders a short distance up the road.
A particularly strong gag response managed to dislodge the bug and the Wheelsucker coughed it up and out, and tried to catch his breath. Steve Owens, Keith Reeder, and another rider were a short distance up the road, with Alex Pline close to their wheels. Alex looked back to encourage the Wheelsucker, but the Wheelsucker couldn't get to Alex's wheel. Alex chased down the other three shortly after the right turn onto Bayard. And that was that. The larger lead group reformed, the chase with Steve, Keith, Alex and a fourth rider formed behind them, and the Wheelsucker was alone by himself. Well behind the Wheelsucker a few stragglers were waiting to form a "B" group.
Once again the Wheelsucker had been dropped on the stair-step climb, and was chasing alone, knowing he had no chance of catching either group in front of him, riding by himself.
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