Boone kept rolling off the front in the neutral zone with one or two riders on his wheel. The group let them go initially and caught them at the Central Avenue light, but let them go again and stayed together and neutral to the start line at the base of Harwood Hill. The group did not see Boone or Jeff Chun again until back in the P&R.
As always, the Wheelsucker was scared; all those strong riders could easily drop him. And all of them were going easy at the back of the group, staying fresh for the climbs. Most of the way to the base of Harwood Hill it was "B" riders on the front. The Weelsucker considered riding up to them and telling them to sit in and stay as fresh as they could rather than lead the group, but the Wheelsucker decided he did not want to expend the energy to do that.
The Wheelsucker did get to the front briefly, early, to confirm that no one was going to chase Boone, and then drifted back to hide and stay fresh, then carefully moved up to nearer the front just before starting the Harwood Hill climb. The Wheelsucker went steady hard up the climb, which moved him up to second wheel. The rider on the front was going steady, and that was great for the Wheelsucker, who tucked in and followed. Fortunately, everyone else followed.
But the good times were going to end sooner or later.
Ace moved up at the top of Harwood Hill with Denzil and Jay following closely. Ace drove the pace up off the top. Within moments it was a single-file line of riders, each holding on to the wheel in front, while Ace ramped the train up to warp speed. For the Wheelsucker it was pain, pain and suffering!
Anyone gapped on the climb STAYED gapped; there was no chasing back on to the back of this Ace express train, and one or two more riders shook loose off the back. But it was still a sizeable group.
Eventually Ace pulled off. The Wheelsucker was greatly relieved when the next rider to pull did not try to continue Ace’s pace. But unbeknownst to the Wheelsucker, someone let Ace in behind the Wheelsucker. The pace was slower with other riders on the front, but one by one they rotated off. Then it was the Wheelsucker’s turn on the front. After a short effort he pulled off to the left and glanced over to see – Oh, NO!!, Ace taking over and accelerating to warp speed again.
The line accelerated to follow Ace. The Wheelsucker barely made it back in line when someone most of the way back let him in.
Ace drove the group at the hard pace again. The Wheelsucker imagined more riders were being gapped, but was so focused on holding the wheel in front of him, he did not look back to check.
The pace slowed going by the High School football field. The group stayed neutral on the route 2 shoulder. Shortly after turning onto Polling House Alex Pline – riding second or third wheel – dropped a water bottle. The group soft pedaled and waited for Alex.
The Wheelsucker had mixed feelings about the recovery opportunity. This gave him a rest in preparation for the dreaded South Polling House Stair Step climb, but all the strong guys were more rested also.
Eventually the group got going again. There were no attacks on the way to the climb, and – to the Wheelsucker’s surprise – a steady pace on the climb with no attacks. The group rolled through the KOM in order with Cee getting first and Steve Esmacher getting second. While the climb was still hard for the Wheelsucker, at least he wasn’t gasping, blown and desperately chasing a wheel in front of him, hoping to somehow stay on at the back …
It was steady down Bayard, steady up Polling House. Ace took a long steady pull with Debbie on his wheel. Another rider or two were shaken loose off the back.
The group approached the KOM line. The Wheelsucker was wondering what would happen. Would Ace try to lead out Debbie? Would Ace just demonstrate his superiority by jumping off the front after his long pull? Was Cee positioned on Debbie’s wheel so he could jump clear at the last moment? The Wheelsucker pulled left and drew level with Cee, possibly pinning him. And he waited, and waited. The KOM line was getting closer and closer. The Wheelsucker did not know who was doing what. Then Cee yelled “go”; the Wheelsucker jumped and sprinted as hard as an aging non-sprinter Wheelsucker can sprint (not hard at all). But it was enough to draw ahead of the group, as no one else made the slightest effort to sprint. So the Wheelsucker “won” the KOM.
Somewhat embarrassed about sprinting when no one else did, the Wheelsucker sat up, drifted back in line, and found a spot near the back of the line.
It was steady from there and up the South Polling House stair step. Ace accelerated and Jay Murphy went after him; they were well clear at the KOM line. The rest of the group went up steady with no attacks.
There were some splits off the top and onto Bayard, but the Wheelsucker chased on to the back of the second chase, and took the tow up to the first chase, while the first chase closed on Ace and Jay, who had sat up.
It was steady up Bayard. There some hard pulls on the flat section. There was no obvious positioning by the strong guys for the sprint. The Wheelsucker got to third wheel. First wheel was Steve Esmacher. He launched, second wheel half heartedlly followed, but the Wheelsucker sprinted by that second wheel, and then latched onto Steve’s back wheel and followed him across the line, quite unable to come around him. Steve got the first, the Wheelsucker got second.
Everyone regrouped, and it was steady -- almost sedate -- up Sands. At the top of Sands, the strong riders seemed to be ignoring the sprint, again. Cee led out, the Wheelsucker pulled to almost parallel. Cee looked over and then launched in a blur. The Wheelsucker went as hard as he could, but was going backwards. Jay initially latched onto Cee’s wheel, but then sat up, letting the Wheelsucker coast by for second. It was steady and sedate to the finish. The Wheelsucker tried to launch early at the penultimate dip, but burned all his remaining matchsticks hammering up the short climb, and gave up and soft pedaled. The group dropped him and continued for the line, with Cee winning the sprint.
Overall it was a much easier ride than usual with only Ace’s long hard pulls straining the others, and the other strongest riders going easy.
A rear facing video clip showing what was happening behind the Wheelsucker. The clip starts about four minutes before the group starts climbing Harwood Hill and continues to where the group is neutral on the route 2 shoulder, just before turning onto Polling House road https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSoO7YKZmeY&feature=youtu.be.
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