The Wheelsucker Rides Hard at the St. Michaels Century

A number of ABRTers decided to ride the St. Michaels century this year, as a group. The wheelsucker was looking forward to riding in an ABRT "train" as he had not actually ridden a full century yet (he has ridden 100 miles once or twice, just not in a century).

The ABRT train rolled out after listening to an amusing welcome speech from the legendary (team 7 Eleven rider in the pro tour and then Versus cycling color commentator) Bob Roll. While some other riders had left a little earlier, the ABRT train was going fast and was quickly rolling by everyone. A few wrong turns were taken, but the train would correct this and reform quickly enough. Without the real "alpha dog" riders in attendance, the next tier riders took the opportunity to step up, and Tim Shaffer, Mike Wagner and the wheelsucker were taking hard pulls at the front, with several other riders also stepping up and going hard at the front, and everyone taking their turn. Patrick "I don' need no stinkin' padded shorts" Hogan was taking shorter very hard pulls, hard enough to generate color commentary from some riders in the pack behind him. Ty Wu, Ted Harris and the amazing Amanda Wu were also pulling hard, while Ted Harris, Tim Shaffer, Mike Wagner and several others were always ready to jump out of the pack and ride past the front if they thought the train was not going fast enough.

Spencer Siebert flatted early and a number of riders and groups that had been passed, passed the ABRT train back (as it was stopped in the shoulder), including a group of mostly Bike Doctor riders with the man himself, Bob "Bobke" Roll.

With most of the century still to come and lots of time and miles to reel them back in, the ABRT train settled down to a steady pace once Spencer was back on his bike, but then was stopped again when someone hit Scott Olson from behind, and Scott stopped to make sure the other rider was OK. But finally at one rest stop the ABRT train had gotten close enough that riders saw the Bob Roll group leaving as ABRT rolled in.

The ABRT train lost some time at that rest stop but were soon off in pursuit. The train caught Bobke's group waiting for the ferry, but they got off first and were up the road by the time the ABRT train had reformed and started. Tim Shaffer took a long steady hard pull to close most of the gap and then pulled off leaving the wheelsucker on the front. The wheelsucker-led ABRT train finally caught Bob Roll's group shortly after getting off the ferry, about mile 60. As the wheelsucker pulled the ABRT train by on the left, several ABRTers congratulated the wheelsucker on dropping a legend. Other ABRTers were concerned that this was being rather rude, and sat up, and some of these were gapped and never made it back on.

But Bobke was far from dropped!

The two groups merged and continued up the road, with the combined group slowly shrinking from then on. Soon it was down to Bobke, one Bike Doctor rider and about fifteen ABRTers.

It turns out Bobke can ride a bike! Who knew? ;-)

It stayed a train for awhile with riders taking turns at the front. Through a long section with frequent turns at intersections, a Bike Doctor SUV was acting as lead vehicle with Scotty "Scooter" Millar in the SUV taking video and still shots. The presence of cameras may have increased testosterone levels, as the pace stayed high and there were a couple of attacks and jumps, and some hard riding to stay with the lead group. By about mile 80 the group had shrunk to about ten riders, and Bobke was looking stronger all the time. Everyone else was tiring. Every time the wheelsucker looked over as he passed Tim after Tim had put in a hard pull, Tim would be sweating hard and looking a little glassy-eyed. Then the wheelsucker noticed that Bobke was gapping everyone at every intersection. He wasn't going super hard, certainly not like a Steve "Stevie Wonder" Wahl sprint, but cutting the corner and standing and pushing and opening a gap that had to be closed each time. And then he started accelerating as some riders finished a pull, again easily opening gaps that had to be closed. The wheelsucker was watching his computer indicate 90 miles – and trying to convince himself that he had ten more miles in his legs -- just as Bobke went again! Countering Bobke's testing and probing was hard work for everyone else (which was probably why Bobke was doing it) and the group continued to shrink, as one rider after another tired and was gapped on a surge, and could not get back on. The last Bike Doctor rider sat up, leaving Bobke isolated, but Bobke seemed more and more capable of dealing with ABRT by himself!

Knowing that he might not be able to close a big gap, the wheelsucker was being VERY attentive, going IMMEDIATELY to get Bobke's wheel, or the wheel of another chaser at each jump. The wheelsucker was expecting a sprint at the finish, and rather doubting that he could out-sprint Bobke, was trying to get Tim to sit on Bobke's wheel, so he would be fresher for the finish. At one point the wheelsucker let a gap open to let Tim and Ty off the front, but he quickly felt a hand on his back as Bobke pushed him into the gap, both closing it and letting Bobke ride behind them in line.

So the wheelsucker got to the front and pulled whenever he could to keep the pace up and keep Tim off the front. But Tim is a class act and would not lower himself to just sitting on a 50 year old legend's wheel, and kept pulling through. About mile 100, with the wheelsucker suffering and wondering why on earth he could not see the finish point at the school yet, the amazing Amanda Wu, Mike Wagner and Rick Paukstitus were gapped and the lead group was down to Bobke, Tim Shaffer, Ty Wu and the wheelsucker. And Bobke was still jumping! He finally got a gap by jumping after Tim had taken a hard pull. The wheelsucker thought he might be able to grab Bobke's wheel with a short hard effort (whether he could stay there to the finish and then sprint was another matter), but looking back saw Tim and Ty temporarily blown and gapped. Not wanting to leave his last two strong team mates, the wheelsucker waited a couple of seconds for them to grab his wheel and then started chasing. Bobke may not be training much these days (in discussions after the ride he admitted to doing only two rides in the last few weeks, and no riding at all during the TdF), or maybe he was being a gentlemen and eased up after making his point; so the wheelsucker was able to pull Tim and Ty part way up to him before Tim took over and got the three of them the rest of the way to Bobke's wheel. Ty was continuing his practice of going hard as he pulled through, and got a gap once or twice, but did not try to hold it for long. But he had a small gap off the front when the school finally came into view. With no actual "finish line" on the road, deciding who won a sprint was going to be problematic, and Bobke is a class act and did not sprint anyway. So the ABRT story is that despite hard riding and about 20 Bobke jumps/attacks in the last 25 miles, Ty finished first by a few bike lengths, with Bobke, the wheelsucker and Tim a second or two behind him, all with s. t.

It is not at all clear that to the wheelsucker that Bobke was going as hard as he could. Looking fresh and smiling, Bobke was probably just being a good guy and having fun. He was looking good a 70 miles, was looking strong at 80 and even stronger at 90. As for the wheelsucker, the St. Michaels century might be the hardest bike race he rode this year.

Wheelsucker Data (from initial warmup to final cooldown)
Distance: 106.05 miles
Total elapsed time: 5:58:13
Century riding time: ????
Power (av/max): 197/840 watts
HR (av/max): 138/167 bpm
Cadence (av): 90
Speed (av/max): 22.4/33.8 mph

The wheelsucker's hardest 30 minutes, 60 minutes and 120 minute intervals were the last 30 minutes, last 60 minutes and last 120 minutes, respectively, of the ride.

Team Training Ride, Views From the Front and Back: Wheelsuckers in Agony

This report comes to you as a combo report from THE Wheelsucker, who is always desperate to be at the front and the fixie wheelsucker who was just trying to survive on the wrong bike.

The Saturday after the party was a please-come-if-you-can team ride with the entire group riding together for awhile, and then splitting into 20, 30 and 60 mile rides, the latter with "no-dropping-anyone-who-does-not-know-the-route" and "take-no-prisoners" variants. The twist for the 60 mile riders was that the normal Saturday ride route was ridden backwards.

The whole group, probably 40 riders or so, rolled out of the parking lot at a nice leisurely pace for all abilities. The group was a little smaller than expected because of a little overnight snow that left the roads clear but very wet. This factor led to Alex Pline, the fixie wheelsucker, riding his fixie because he has a brand new drive train on his road bike and didn't want to muss it up. The first split was at the corner of Waysons Road and Harwood Road, just before Harwood Hill where the 20 mile group looped around back to the park and ride. The 30/60 mile groups continued at a civilized pace for a little while longer but shortly after turning onto route 2 the 30 mile group split off on Polling House lead by Doug Shapter, who, contrary to popular belief, has not forgotten how to ride his bike.

The 60 mile group turned onto Owensville Sudley Road and stopped for what Paul Sherwin calls a natural break, which allowed a few riders to get up the road. The chase back was interesting as the pace heated up over the rollers and eventually going hard by the dump. Both wheelsuckers were carefully sucking Ace's wheel but being ridden off it as Ace pushed up a short hill to close with the leaders. There were several WOOSHING sounds as other riders went down what it typically a long slog uphill to the dump, but the wheelsucker made it up to the lead group somehow, as did most others. However, the fixie wheelsucker tried desperately to suck wheels at a very high cadence after experiencing a LOT of whooshing sounds thinking it's awfully early in the day to be riding alone. But he did manage to catch back on at the stop sign at 258, even though he realized he would be left for dead over the impending wall with his 76 gear inch rig.

Most riders knew the wall was coming and everyone was getting ready. The wheelsucker was sitting in, wheelsucking near the front as the group flew down the wall we climb on a normal Saturday ride and then started up the other side. The wheelsucker went to full wheelsucker power to hold wheels on the climb. Full wheelsucker power wasn't enough. It wasn't even close to enough. The group splintered, with the strongest in a lead group, Aaron dangling behind, the wheelsucker dangling further behind him, Tom Aga just behind the wheelsucker and the fixie wheelsucker flailing with a few riders complaining they were stuck behind the fixie. In this direction the climbing does not stop once the wall part is done; there is a false flat all the way to the sharp left turn on Leitch Road to go downhill by the horse farm. The wheelsucker could see Aaron disappearing up the road but hoped to keep it close enough that he could catch on the descent. Part way to the turn Tom Aga came around him and accelerated up the road and the wheelsucker could not stay on his wheel. Aaron and Tom made it up to the lead group, but the wheelsucker did not. After what seemed like an interminable chase down Leitch Road and onto Town Point Road, the wheelsucker had to sit up, and almost immediately there were more whooshing sounds as riders went by, before the wheelsucker recovered enough to grab a wheel. The fixie wheelsucker, if you could call him that because there were no more wheels to suck, resigned himself to accept the consequences of his choice to ride a fixie and ride as hard as he could hoping to find the group at the Dash-In before they left again, knowing the trip back north would be very hard alone into the wind.

There is a bit of a downhill as the route descends on Fairhaven to the water (small pond on right side this direction), followed by the climb up Fairhaven to the left on Friendship Road. The group the wheelsucker had tagged onto ramped it up for the climb. The wheelsucker took one look at his power meter and knew he could not hold close to that power all the way up, so continued at his sustainable pace while the others climbed away. But the wheelsucker's pacing wasn't bad and several of them came back quickly enough when they faded. At the end of Friendship Road, the wheelsucker was with a group of four. They shared pulls and the chase froup hammered into Herrington Harbor where they saw the reformed lead group stopped in a parking lot adjusting Nat Thompson's bike. SAVED thought the wheelsucker. The fixie wheelsucker, went as fast as possible up the climb and down the hill. To his surprise the group was still there. The ride from there to the normal rest stop was reasonably paced, though the wheelsucker needed a red light at the top of the second climb on 260 to catch back on. The fixie wheelsucker, made the best of still being in the group and tried to rest as much as possible, staying somewhat comfortably in the group and trying to keep his speed comparable (not always easy on rolling terrain), so as not to piss off his geared brethren.

The easy pace continued after the rest stop, while Tom Aga easily rolled off the front and up the road. The wheelsucker, carefully staying within his capabilities, went after him and Tom waited at the route 2 traffic circle. The two had a short period off the front, riding into the wind on Sandsbury Rd, but then the rest of the peleton showed up, and then there was another WOOSHING sound as a break of three or four went by on the Wilson Rd downhill. The wheelsucker tried to go after them, but didn't make it on, and faded on the climb out. Then there were more WHOOSHING sounds as riders working to bridge up to the break went by. The wheelsucker was spent and wasn't able to grab a wheel for awhile, but did catch on with Mike Wagner, Tom Aga and Mike Schneider. They traded pulls, working hard, but relying on Mike to take the longest pulls. The fixie wheelsucker figured he would loose all wheelsucking opportunities on the upcoming climb on Wilson Road, but nonetheless hoped that being up front on the downhill and executing "the fade" up the hill would be enough to still have some company when all was said and done. No such luck and he was resigned to fighting the headwind for the last 20 miles alone.

The lead group slowed on 408 and were within close range when they turned right for the downhill on Ed Prout. The wheelsucker pulled the chase the last short distance to close on the downhill, worked his way inside the group and tried to hide and recover. But it wasn't long on Sands before the pace ramped up and the wheelsucker was spat out the back again. Soon enough the same four riders reformed a chase group and managed to keep it close enough that the 214 light entered play, though the wheelsucker's chase group splintered on the climb out of the flooding area with Mike trying to catch the lead group on his own.

Meanwhile at the back, the fixie wheelsucker caught a glipse of a few riders very far up the road on McKendrie and thought there may be some hope. He kept as much power on as possible and little by little started to close the gap until finally on one of the rollers on 408 made the final bridge to a group of four who were all working together. This was welcome relief and after sitting in to recover, worked with that group up to the end.

Back to the lead group -- with Mike -- waiting at the 214 light. As the chase came within range the light changed to green. As you may know the 214 light does not stay green in the Patuxent Parkway direction for long! The wheelsucker called down to the engine room for maximum power and sprinted for the light; he was at maximum wheelsucker speed when the light changed to amber, but he and Mike Schneider made it across, abandoning Tom Aga who stopped for the light. Mike and the wheelsucker sprinted up to the back of the lead group and tried to hide. Sitting at the back and not taking any pulls allowed the wheelsucker to recover enough that he could make it up the few short climbs on the way to the finish line without being dropped. He was still with the group, riding right at the back, as they went down the penultimate dip. Now the wheelsucker knew that most of the riders in the lead group were going to outsprint him, so the wheelsucker went for his favorite (actually his only) move, pulled out of line part way down the dip, dove left for the yellow lines, and went to full wheelsucker power. Hammering up the hill as hard as he could (which wasn't much as the wheelsucker was basically knackered at this point), the wheelsucker opened a gap. Since most riders were positioning for the sprint, were not taking the wheelsucker seriously, or were not even bothering, only one rider came after the Wheelsucker. Will, having taken the short cut at Boyds turn to rejoin the group at the end, powered up the climb out of the dip and was quickly onto the wheelsucker's wheel. The wheelsucker had nothing left and slowed up letting Will by and then sucked his wheel all the way across the flat and then down the final dip. Amazingly they still had a gap as they started the false flat rise to the finish line. Will pulled hard and then pulled off. The wheelsucker was too tired to actually sprint, but went to what he could hold to the line – perhaps 400 watts – and went for it. He sneaked one glance shortly after going by Will and still had the gap. Then, within meters of the finish line there were two WOOSHING sounds as Ace and Stevie Wonder went flying by. The wheelsucker rolled across third as no one else was still sprinting.
 
The aging wheelsucker wonders what his difficulty with this ride means for his hopes of being able to race 123 races. There are 50+ racers who race race 123 and be a factor in them; Art Brown can do it, so can Mark Sommers. So far the wheelsucker cannot. At the back, the fixie wheelsucker was told that riding a fixie on the Team Ride Saturday was a "bold" move, but he thinks the more appropriate word would be "stupid".

Saturday in Frederick County

Great ride with some AVC members!

Lots of climbing (some long ones) including Harp Hill and High Rock, lots of time on the bike, great scenery, some FAAST descents, and if that wasn't enough lots of yellow sign sprints for those who were so inclined. Stephen wrote 5700 feet of climbing and 67 miles in his e-mail; I have not pulled the data from my Powertap yet. Over five hours, but riding time was actually closer to four. The faster climbers had more rest as they waited at the top of the climbs, and we also had a couple of other rest stops, including a stop to assist an older lady who was having car trouble and was stranded in rural Maryland.

Lance's workout had him trying to stay under 300 watts, which made the long climbs a challenge. For extra "difficulty" points Lance was riding an 11-23 (I use an 11-26 and was wishing I had brought a 10-28 (does that even exist?)). Seems like a good way for Lance to get a big gear workout! How about a fixed gear, Lance! I thought Kyle was doing a similar workout to Lance, but given the climbs and yellow line sprints I don't think he stayed below 300 watts much :-)

Nat was having an easy day except for a few climbs and sprints where something tempted Nat to actually turn it on. New Latitude member Brian makes long climbs look incredibly easy (well, he was making it look easy for the relatively short times I could stay in sight of him), despite riding an old heavy aluminum bike. He's going to be even faster on a light CAAD9. New Latitude member Stephen also climbs really well, rolls really well, and apparently LOVES to sprint too. Kyle just loves to sprint, and then sprint some more. There are WAY TOO MANY yellow signs in Frederick County! And Kyle and the AVC guys seem to know where each of them is, especially the ones just around a corner!

AVC'er John Olinski goes downhill like a missile, he uses an interesting aero position, sitting on the top tube underneath the seat. I have no idea where his knees and hands go, or how he steers.

Wheelsucker data:
Ride time: 3:57:16 (slightly shorter than Kyle, 'cause I was waiting at the top of the climbs while he was still riding up)
67.1 miles
2736 calories burned
climbing ~ 5700 feet
watts average = 195 watts, max = 977 watts
speed average = 15.7 mph, max = 49.8 mph
number of yellow sign sprints > 10

The "Other" Saturday Ride, a.k.a the Pete Penzell ride

Given the wet roads and chance of rain, and looking at the workouts my coach gave me, I decided to do my Sunday MTB (or fixie) ride on Saturday on the fixie, and ride the Saturday group ride on Sunday. That is why I was not in the Davidsonville Park & Ride at 9:55AM on Saturday. Rather, I was at the small parking area just off 450, close to the naval academy bridge, with Ryan Guttride and his friend David. Alex Pline rolled in a few minutes late after flatting on the way over. Ryan, Alex and Ali were on fixies, Dave was on a nice old road/commuter bike with fenders and GEARS.

As Alex reported on e-mail:

"Ryan, Dave, Ali and I had a nice ride (45 fixie miles) on the "other
ride". Hopefully, we'll see a wheelsucker report!"

It would appear that we are NOT seeing a wheelsucker report.

I was trying to avoid high intensity and was hoping to stay in aerobic zones, so was slower on the short hills. Ryan and Dave apparently do not believe in an off season or pre season where you work on aerobic rather than anaerobic systems. Or perhaps 340 watts is still aerobic for Ryan :-)

This Week's "The Other Saturday Ride"

Not sure who was at the Davidsonville Park n Ride yesterday, but Peter P, Doug Shapter and Alex Pline did the "other Saturday Ride" from the B&A Trail Park n Ride. I had been watching the radar map which showed a brief shower at 9:30 being the last of the rain. Regardless, I was going to ride my new Surley fixed gear bike. I had been doing a few shorter rides just to get acquainted with the fixie and was really looking forward to a group ride, so I was riding, rain or shine. At least it was pretty warm! I got there at 9:55 and after doing a few laps around the parking lot figured I'd be riding alone, but in rolled Doug and a bit after 10, Peter. The three of us rolled out and did the same loop as last week (see the full course on bikely.com), cutting it short a hair (to ~37 mi) by turning on Chesterfield Rd and then going south on Crownsville back to Md 450.

Towards the end of the ride, I was feeling the effect of the fixie. Going downhill was increasingly becoming difficult so I was feathering the brake more. On Sunday morning, I was definitely feeling a little beat up, way more tired than almost double the mileage for the regular Saturday ride. Better workout for less time?? I think I still have a ways to go before I attempt the regular Saturday ride on the fixie...

The other Saturday ride has worked well for me when I (like Peter and others) am a little constrained by family obligations, especially now that the rides are all starting at 10. I encourage others to attend if this works for you! Very fixie friendly.

The New "Other Saturday Ride"

Six riders cam out for the inaugural "Other Saturday Ride" led by Peter Penzel: Peter P, Peter, a West Annapolis Neighbor I never knew I had, Ty and Amanda Wu, Alex Pline and another rider who's name I did not catch (sorry!). We departed the B&A Trail Parking lot on MD 450:


View Larger Map

The route will be familiar to most team members: through West Annapolis, down Bestgate Rd, out MD 450 to Rutland Rd, Left on Rossback (away from the Dville park and ride), left on St George Barber, looping around to Governor Bridge and back to Rossback, over 424 and back down to MD 450. Because I was going to do the Team Thurmont Ride Sunday, I chose to pretty much wheelsuck the entire ride. I was chatting with Peter P (who rode the whole ride on the front) for a bit, but had to work too hard, so promptly went back to wheelsucking! As such, I made a bee line back to Annapolis on MD 450 with the other Peter, while the 4 remaining riders added a loop through Crownsville. and based on the suffering in Thurmont, I'm glad I did (see next post). Up St. Stephens Church Road, right on Chesterfield, north on Crownsville to Sunrise Beach, River Road, Generals Highway, Bestgate and back to the park and ride, for about 40 and change miles. A very nice course. If you short circuit and eliminate the Crownsville loop it's more like 35 miles.

As Peter P explained, he wants to have this be a real training ride that is very focused on making best use of 2.5 hours for training, rather than the rather unstructured standard Saturday ride. So if this appeals to you, come on out, Peter will be there.