Wheelsuckers and Poseurs

While OFS (old ... fat ... and slow) may be terminal, the Wheelsucker keeps hoping for improvement, or a miracle, and keeps riding the ABRT Tuesday Evening Ride (aka ABRT Tuesday Evening Worlds) hoping to make it up the climbs with the lead group, and somehow make it to the finish with the leaders. Days are shorter and shorter in mid September, so the group is no longer riding the inner loop, so the route is shorter and does the Harwood Hill climb once and the South Polling House stair step climb only once (the full route does it twice).

Filled with the usual apprehensions about being dropped, the Wheelsucker rolled out and sat in near the back of the smallish group. The pace was civilized to Central Avenue. As the group rode across Central Avenue on the green the Wheelsucker noted a rider or two carefully drifting back from the first few positions. The trick is to not be close enough to the front that one has to take a turn on the front before Harwood Hill, but also not be so far back that one is caught out when a split happens in front of one. Being close to the back, the Wheelsucker found an opportunity to pass a couple of riders the Wheelsucker thought might be at risk for being gapped on the way to Harwood Hill, and settled in at a spot he hoped was far enough back to avoid a pull.

Once past the dip where the Patuxent River frequently floods at the sweeping left turn the going was harder as it is mostly shallow climbing to the base of Harwood Hill, and the Wheelsucker was working harder to stay on. He was following a larger rider who was providing an excellent draft, which the Wheelsucker greatly appreciated. The larger rider was eventually fourth wheel, behind two Bike Doctor riders (Jeff Chun and Brian Rist, who are both younger, stronger, more talented athletes) and Nikoli Danger. The Wheelsucker was breathing hard but surviving, but then the larger rider in front of him flicked his right elbow and pulled out of line to the left. While this meant losing that rider's draft and having to move up to fourth wheel, the Wheelsucker was grateful for how that rider handled the situation. It was far easier to pedal harder and carefully close the gap to Nikoli's wheel than it was to have to sprint across a larger gap when a rider could not hold a wheel, stayed in line, and let the gap open.

But the trouble with being fourth wheel is that sooner or later the three riders in front of one take their pulls, pull off, and leave one on the front! And sure enough, Brian pulled off. The ever-helpful Wheelsucker shamelessly offered to let Brian in, in front of the Wheelsucker, but this was a "faux pas" and Brian correctly ignored the Wheelsucker and drifted back. Then the "Chunster" pulled off and Nikoli took over.

Nikoli likes to grind, and likes to stand and grind on short climbs. This was distracting the Wheelsucker who normally stares fixedly at the wheel in front of him, but finds that hard to do when that wheel moves side to side, as typically happens when a rider stands.

The distraction went away soon enough, when Nikoli flicked his elbow and pulled off. This was awful, as this meant the Wheelsucker was first in line! With only his power meter display to stare at the Wheelsucker tried to keep the pace reasonable, while also trying to avoid going over his threshold power level (doing both at the same time may be impossible for the Wheelsucker). While doing this he was mentally calculating how soon he could flick his right elbow and pull off, without derision from the other riders for not taking a reasonable pull. The Wheelsucker made it up a small bump and decided he was done, flicked his elbow and pulled off to the left. The pace line went by, but it was slightly downhill after the bump, and the Wheelsucker was able to accelerate and grab the last wheel in line, gasping for breath. The larger rider was nowhere to be seen, he had been dropped.

A few more riders took pulls and rotated off and then the dreaded Harwood Hill climb started. The Wheelsucker shifted to a lower gear and tried to spin. The theory is that this spares the leg muscles a bit while loading the cardio vascular system a bit more. Having both very limited muscle and limited cardio, this only works for the Wheelsucker for a short while ... and by the halfway point up the climb, the Wheelsucker was laboring. Intense concentration on the wheel in front of him (Nikoli's) and superhuman (for the Wheelsucker) efforts kept the Wheelsucker's front wheel within inches of Nikoli's. The trouble was that then Nikoli chose to stand and grind, and the Wheelsucker nearly pushed his front wheel into Nikoli's rear wheel, which would have been an almost certain fall. The adrenalin rush from the near miss may have helped, and the Wheelsucker made it to the top about fourth wheel, still trying to stay glued to Nikoli's rear wheel. Making it off the top of Harwood Hill with the lead group has been a challenge for the Wheelsucker, but he did not have time to enjoy this achievement. The Chunster and Brian were on the front again, but they rotated off shortly before the Harwood-Route 2 intersection leaving Nikoli on the front. The Wheelsucker was still hyperventilating to recuperate from Harwood Hill!

Nikoli led to Route 2. An SUV was turning right from Harwood onto Route 2, but was so far to the right that there was no room to go to the right of it onto the route 2 shoulder. What happened next is redacted so as to not provide any evidence that could be used against Nikoli or the Wheelsucker. The Wheelsucker notes that he was not getting enough oxygen to operate both legs and a brain, was not thinking clearly, and did something really dumb. But immediately after the -- redacted -- move, the Wheelsucker was following Nikoli on the route 2 shoulder and then onto South Polling House, and no one else was with them. Nikoli slowed to 80% and then flicked his wrist and pulled off. The Wheelsucker took over on the front going 70%, took the left onto South Polling House, and then as soon as he dared flicked his wrist and pulled over and back on behind Nikoli. Shortly after that the Wheelsucker noted two riders in red Bike Doctor kit were on his wheel, and told Nikoli.

The Chunster and Brian had not brought anyone with them, so it was just the four riders. After a very brief discussion about the -- redacted -- with the Wheelsucker saying very little due to hyperventilating, Nikoli and the Wheelsucker were following the Chunster and Brian up the South Polling House stair step climb. Somehow the Wheelsucker stayed on, perhaps Brian and the Chunster had worked hard to catch Nikoli and the Wheelsucker and did not surge on the climb.

The four turned right onto Bayard and quickly the rotations started. Far too soon Nikoli pulled off leaving the Wheelsucker on the front, he tried to do a decent -- for the Wheelsucker -- pull, then flicked his elbow and pulled off. But Brian was having none of this, and as the Wheelsucker looked to his right, Brian was standing to accelerate. The Chunster was ready and on his wheel. Nikoli was not as ready, but stayed on by digging hard. The Wheelsucker knew he he did not have that acceleration after his pull, didn't even try, and watched them go up the road.

The Wheelsucker had been dropped ... AGAIN!

After a very short recovery the Wheelsucker put his forearms on the handlebar tops, got as aero as he could, and pushed all the watts he could muster to continue on the route. He knew he had no chance at all of catching three stronger riders, but he was still going to go hard, and there were riders behind him he might be able to hold off.

Pushing hard he continued on Bayard, then turned right onto Sands. As he neared the end of Sands, he noticed a flashing headlight in his wrist mirror, some distance back. THEY WERE COMING!!! The Wheelsucker dug deeper and continued to the left on Patuxent River Road, back down through the dip and up the climb. But when he got to Central Avenue the light was red. He stopped and waited, knowing the chase was closing all the time. After what seemed an interminable delay, the light turned green and the Wheelsucker accelerated across. A quick glance back showed the three rider making it across on the same green. The Wheelsucker got up to speed, got low and aero on the bars, and pushed as hard as he could. There are turns and twists and dips on Patuxent River Road, so he did not often have a clear line of site from his mirror. But then a quick glance showed them closing, and on one of the last small climbs the three riders caught him and rode by. The Wheelsucker did not have enough left in the tank to surge for a wheel, and watched them set up for the sprint ahead of him.

After uploading his ride data, the Wheelsucker saw a hard effort. He set a new high CP60 for 2019, but clearly it had not been enough.