And after those two rides, the ABRT board changed the rules so there are no points awarded for solo rides; there have to be at least two people riding for the KOM and sprint points to be awarded. The Wheelsucker considers the rule change part way through the competition to be arbitrary and capricious, implemented by sprinters and climbers who were unwilling to ride in the rain, and who are resentful that the Wheelsucker does it, and scores points.
But there was no rain forecast for Tuesday afternoon and evening, and there was a large group waiting in the Park & Ride to roll out. Being hyper aware of the strong riders who can attack and split the group, or drive the pace so that a chasing Wheelsucker cannot catch back on, the Wheelsucker noted that Pat Hogan, Denzil Hathway, Nick Vita, Matt Albanese, Steve Owens, and Cee Kick were all there.
The ride is now supposed to be "neutral" so riding at a steady pace with no attacks or riding off the front, all the way from the Davidsonville Park & Ride to the base of Harwood Hill, where a white line across the lane marks the starting point of the race … err … ride.
This did not stop Steve Owens (aka Nick Danger), who rolled off the front on the way to Central Avenue. He was a very short distance up the road as the group rolled up to the traffic light at Central Avenue. Steve made the light, and the next few riders did as well, but most of the group was caught and had to wait. Steve continued while everyone else waited out the light cycle for the rest of the group, and continued on to Harwood Hill at a steady pace.
This put Steve Owens well up the road but, at least in the Wheelsucker's opinion, subject to relegation by race officials for not staying with the group in the neutral roll out.
The Wheelsucker was careful to avoid rotating to the front and having to pull; he "sat in" hidden in the group doing as little work as possible, hoping to have a little more energy when the fireworks started at Harwood Hill.
All too soon the group approached Harwood Hill and the white line. Several riders including the Wheelsucker moved up as inconspicuously as possible to be near – but not on – the front for the start of the climb.
The Wheelsucker was lucky, there was only one strong attack by a single rider, Nick Vita. Nick went well clear but no one else followed Nick. The strong riders rode together up the climb at a steady hard pace, as the not-so-strong faltered and were gapped. The Wheelsucker was falling back in the group, but starting from near the front, he was not quite gapped at the back. It was a near thing for the Wheelsucker, but he spun up the climb and stayed close enough to the wheel in front that he was able to stay on, off the top of the climb. Half the group were already gone, and strong riders on the front drove the pace to open the gap on the stragglers, and bring back Nick.
The Wheelsucker hung on at the back, hyperventilating and not looking forward to the next climb, the South Polling House stair-step. Actually, dreading that climb was more accurate.
The torrid pace eased slightly, the Wheelsucker recovered at the back, and by the left turn from Polling House to South Polling House, the group was in a double line with the Wheelsucker following Nick Vita on the right, second wheel, with Denzil Hathway directly to his left.
The left line is a preferred attack position, as riders can jump to the left and accelerate, while riders on the right have to find a gap to their left to jump into. But the Wheelsucker had no thoughts of attacking; the Wheelsucker’s goal was only to survive, by being with the lead group, off the top of the climb.
The two leaders rode a steady hard pace up the climb. The Wheelsucker and Denzil and everyone behind them followed at the same steady pace, while the Wheelsucker’s pain level steadily increased as he desperately spun trying to hold Nick's wheel.
And then Denzil launched from the left, about half way up the climb! All the sprinters and sprinter-wannabees responded, galloping up the rest of the climb. There was nothing the Wheelsucker could do, but fortunately for him, there were other non-sprinters. A desperate Wheelsucker hung on to Matt Albanese's back wheel and gratefully took the tow off the top to close back up with the leaders, who had caught Steve Owens at the top of the climb.
It was only the second time this season that the Wheelsucker had made it up the first stair-step climb in contact with the lead group. But the Wheelsucker didn't have any time or energy to celebrate the moment, he had to stay attached to the rear wheel in front of him, and recover, as the group hammered down Bayard and turned onto Polling House.
Polling House has its own dangers for the Wheelsucker, it trends up all the way to the right turn onto South Polling House, there are a couple of bumps that are trivial for the strong riders but make it very difficult for the Wheelsucker to stay on wheels, and there is a KOM point that has the strong men sprinting up hill, and gapping the Wheelsucker. The Wheelsucker took a short pull early on Poling House, and rotated off the front was and drifted back as the group rode past the golf course on the way to the first of the dangerous bumps. The Wheelsucker was back on at the back, with the next rider, Steve Owens, behind him, when there was a surge at the front.
The line stretched and then the elastic broke well in front of the Wheelsucker. Looking up the Wheelsucker realized that all the strong riders he had listed except Steve Owens were in the front half of the split. And behind the split were two good "B" riders, the Wheelsucker, and Steve Owens who had only just pulled off, so was at the back recovering.
NOT GOOD!!! Thought the Wheelsucker…
But Pat put in a strong dig and pulled over, then the Bike Doctor rider took over and pulled and pulled until he was rocking and weaving. The gap wasn't closing appreciably, so the Wheelsucker reluctantly told the Bike Doctor rider he was done and to pull over. The Wheelsucker took over, got low and aero with his forearms resting on the handlebars, and put in a blistering – for an aging Wheelsucker – short pull at over 300 watts before he realized he was running out of energy and pulled off. That left Steve on the front. Neither Pat nor the Bike Doctor rider had made it on after their pulls. The Wheelsucker barely made it on to Steve's wheel. Steve dug deep and rode very hard, slowly closing the gap. The leaders sprinted for the KOM, but kept going. Steve was pushing a monster gear and was rocking and weaving while the Wheelsucker recovered a little behind him in the draft. After an amazing pull, Steve closed it down just as the leaders took the right turn back onto South Polling House.
The Polling House KOM was done. The dropped riders were too far back to close the gap, Steve had dragged himself and the Wheelsucker up to the lead group, and the strong guys wanted to rest for the South Polling House KOM and were looking at each other, hoping someone else would get on the front. So the recombined lead group slowed.
Sensing an opportunity, and having recovered a bit while shamefully sitting on Steve's wheel all the way, the Wheelsucker jumped clear. No one chased. He glanced back, saw he had a small gap and HE WENT FOR IT! In the absence of any real power, the Wheelsucker tucked into his most aero position again and went as hard as he could sustain. No one chased and the gap opened. The Wheelsucker continued to open the gap all the way down the descent, but he was worrying how much he would have left for the stair step climb. He hit the bottom of the climb at top speed, and tried to go as hard as he could without going so hard that he "blew up" part way up the climb. The gap was shrinking but a desperate straining Wheelsucker was still ahead at the 200 meter line. He gave it everything he had left – darn little – the group behind was just playing with him and had been timing the catch. The sprinters launched and all of a sudden Denzil was flying by on the Wheelsucker's left as Nick was flying by on his right.
In their infinite wisdom, the ABRT board that decided on rules for the Tuesday/Thursday rides, KOMs and sprints, had decided that only ABRT members could score points, and that points go only two deep (there is no third). The Wheelsucker considers non ABRTers – typically Bike Doctor Team riders – not being awarded points to be a form of “red/black color-blindness”; it is as if they are not there!
Despite the shortage of oxygen in his brain, the Wheelsucker managed to process the fact that he was STILL IN SECOND PLACE for the KOM; Denzil was going to win, but Nick was not an ABRT member! The Wheelsucker wobbled, he gasped, but somehow he managed to pedal his bike the last few feet to the KOM line, and crossed it before Pat Hogan and the others came by him.
Again there were a couple of riders who had not seriously contested the sprint and a gasping and wobbling Wheelsucker managed to hold on to Steve Owens' and Matt Albanese’s wheels, as they closed the gap to the leading sprinters who had eased up after the KOM and turning onto Bayard. The Wheelsucker spent a lot of time at the back of the group, gasping for air and trying to recover. But riders rotated off the front, and eventually the Wheelsucker found himself second wheel behind Steve Owens, as Steve drove the pace hard into the sprint at the end of Bayard. Steve was going and going, none of the sprinters were coming around, so the Wheelsucker started getting dangerous ideas about coming around Steve for the sprint.
At what he thought was just the right moment, inside 200 meters, the Wheelsucker stood up and drove the pedals round as hard as he could. As he came off Steve’s wheel he lost the draft effect and started to take the full force of the wind. At full Wheelsucker power he slowly, very slowly, rather too slowly, started to pull level with Steve. The Wheelsucker was straining, trying to go harder so he could inch ahead of Steve, when the real sprinters went by on his left, so fast they were just a blur.
The Wheelsucker coasted, gasped for air, looked over at Steve and then and looked for a wheel to follow. He didn’t even see which of the sprinters had won that sprint.
After another long stretch sitting in and recovering, the Wheelsucker found himself on the back of the group as they prepared for the sprint at the top of Sands Road. The Wheelsucker had no thoughts of seriously contesting the sprint; he just wanted to be following a good wheel so that as the group came back together after the sprint, he was towed back to the group.
Once again the sprinters launched and the Wheelsucker followed wheels. The group was spread out after crossing the sprint line, and riders made the left turn onto Harwood Road/Patuxent River Road separately. A pickup truck approaching from the left caused riders after the first two to slow or stop. Being at the back the Wheelsucker did not need to stop, and slowed the least, and once the pickup truck had gone by, he made the left turn a distant third behind the two leaders.
Everyone else sat up to regroup; the Wheelsucker pedaled up to and past the two leaders and then realized he had a gap. Unsure as to what the rest of the group was going to do, the Wheelsucker soft-pedaled around the next curve and the moment he was hidden by the curve, got aero and went to full Wheelsucker power. When the group came around the same corner they must have seen the Wheelsucker, but were not worried, and did not chase.
The Wheelsucker knew that to stay away he would have to go very hard up the climb out of the dip AND not be held up at the Central Avenue traffic light a little further up the road. It was a low percentage move, but the only move the Wheelsucker could think of. If he stayed with the group they were all going to out sprint him at the finish line. As Jens Voigt has said, the chances of winning from a solo attack are very low, but the chances of winning by staying with the group are zero!
Apparently unconcerned with the Wheelsucker’s "attack" the group was still not going hard. The gap was opening, the Wheelsucker made it up the climb and to the red light at Central Avenue. He was tempted to look both ways and run it, but having argued that Pat Hogan should be relegated for doing that the previous week, the Wheelsucker decided he had to honor the light.
AND FOR ONCE THERE WAS ONLY A SHORT WAIT and the light changed to green, before the chasing group got there. The Wheelsucker charged across on the green and glanced back to see it changing back to red; the chasers would have to wait for one light cycle.
As aero as he could be and pushing whatever power he could, the Wheelsucker sped for the finish line. He knew it was about eight minutes of riding. He tried to pace himself and not look back too often, but he did sneak some peaks. There was no sign of them.
Then, a little past half way to the finish, one of his peaks revealed the chase. Knowing they were coming did not change the Wheelsucker's actions; he was already going as hard as he could sustain. On the next sneak peak they were closer; the Wheelsucker kept going as hard as he could. He was still clear at the penultimate dip and across the last flat, and there was still a small gap as he stood and started his last drive for the line as he came out of the last dip. One third of the way up the false flat to the finish another glance revealed that they were within a couple of bike lengths and their sprint was starting. The Wheelsucker pulled to the left to give them clearance, and eased up. The sprinters went by in a blur. Matt and Steve were not sprinting, and the Wheelsucker tagged on as they came by.
He had been caught within 500 meters of the finish. But the Wheelsucker was not really disappointed. While winning on the finish line would have been exceptional, it would have been from a somewhat bogus move (going while the others sat up after the near miss with the pickup truck). And he had managed to wheelsuck his way into staying with the lead group for the entire ride, not being dropped, for the first time this season.
And that was a victory for the Wheelsucker.
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