The Shenandoah TTThe Wheelsucker Report

The Wheelsucker had not raced the Shenandoah TT before, but since he is generally better at TTs than anything else, and is, for some reason, chasing BAR points, he decided to race it this year. It being the day before the Age Graded Championship Road Race was a concern. Climbing the hills at the Miller School Race (which was the VA Championship and MABRA Championship RR) the day AFTER a TT did not seem like fun to the Wheelsucker.

The Wheelsucker waited for Friday rush hour traffic to die down, and headed out to rural VA after 8:00pm.

Per a suggestion from TT Promoter Chris Gould, the Wheelsucker stayed at the Luray Caverns Motel in Luray, and drove to Shenandoah after breakfast in Luray.

The Wheelsucker found the registration area, parked his car on a residential street as requested by the organizers, pulled out his indoor trainer, picked up his number, set up the trainer and started to warm up.

A little further up the hill, on the other side of the street, a very good-looking female cyclist— virtually all female cyclists are good looking, what is not to appreciate about lean fit bodies in Lycra -- appeared to be changing into her skinsuit, sitting in the passenger seat of her car. As soon as he guessed what was going on, the Wheelsucker was careful to look elsewhere, mostly down at his aero bars and computer.

Then a male masters rider walked up the street passed her car. He also must have figured out she was changing and being a gentleman – virtually all male bike racers are gentlemen – he also was careful to look away. While the Wheelsucker was not really looking either, it appeared to the Wheelsucker that this male not only avoided looking in the direction of the rider in the car, but made a point of it, so she would know he was not looking.

So far so good, everyone was "playing by the rules". But the Wheelsucker was quite amused when the male rider carefully checked out her TT bike, which was leaning against the back of her car.

The owner of the house the Wheelsucker was parked in front of decided to cut his grass, so the Wheelsucker had to move his car, bike and trainer to the other side of the street and continue warm up. Somehow time flies before a race. There was not enough time for much of a warm up. Soon enough it was time to go. The Wheelsucker took the TT bike off the trainer, swapped out the trainer skewer, put on his helmet and rolled down the hill back to registration for a last minute pee stop.

OK, so where was the start house? Someone pointed out a direction and the Wheelsucker rolled towards it. Except it was several turns and on the other side of a red light, some distance away. And the Wheelsucker was late when he arrived at the start house. Officials slotted him in 15 seconds after one rider and 15 seconds before the next. The Wheelsucker was not happy about being late, but quickly focused on pedaling and breathing, though he was frustrated enough about it that he went out a bit harder than he should have until he managed to settle down and focus on target power. He did pass his fifteen second man rather quickly …

There were some rollers on the way out of town, then it was more steady trending up/false flat. However there were curves, bumps and a rough road service, and the Wheelsucker found it hard to hold his target average power.

None-the-less, he was passing riders that had started ahead of him, and was seeing riders come back the other way.

The route was almost an out-and-back, the leg back had a loop with a climb added to it, and the finish was slightly short of the start house.

Fifteen minutes into the race the Wheelsucker was hurting. He was looking forward to the turnaround and a bit of shallow downhill riding for a change. And finally he hit the turnaround and started back. It was MUCH faster on the way back, and the Wheelsucker was feeling better and thinking his very aero position would be working to his advantage. He passed another rider or two.

Then there was a right turn onto the additional loop, this featured some serious climbing, standing in the small chain ring. While he had been pushing on the downhill the Wheelsucker had some reserve and pushed up the climbs, passing two more riders while doing it.

Then it was back on the main route that had been used on the outbound leg and it was still mostly a shallow downhill. Closer to town it was back on the same rollers the Wheelsucker had covered on the way out.

Shortly before reentering Shenandoah there was a sign on the side of the road, “pig ahead”, and sure enough the next thing the Wheelsucker caught out of the corner of his eye was a large plastic pig by the side of the road. Go figure ...

Though unfamiliar with the course, the Wheelsucker knew he was close to the finish and started ramping it up, burning it to the finish.

There was one last dip and sweeping right turn, a short climb, a sweeping left and then it was straight and slightly downhill to the finish line.

After catching his breath and removing his number, the Wheelsucker checked with the officials and confirmed that he could ride back out on the course. He did so, so he could cheer on team mates and other riders, in particular the wounded warriors.

After standing at the last intersection cheering for a while, the Wheelsucker rolled back to the registration area. His team mate Amanda told him his name was being called, and he walked up to the registration tent to find that he was being called for the podium, as he had finished third.

He had finished third despite starting 1:45 late; the 55+ times were generally slow compared to other fields. The Wheelsucker’s time of 1:04:02 was LESS than 1:45 slower than the winner's time of 1:02:47, so he could have won if he had started on time.

Sue "McSpeed" McQuiston wins the 35+ TT!!!

Some of the Wheelsucker's team mates ROCKED the TT, with Katy Giles winning the elite women, Amanda Watson finishing second riding a road bike, Sue McQuiston winning 35+ (despite not producing a birth certificate to establish that she was in fact 35 or older. when the Wheelsucker asked to see one).

Katy and Amanda go 1,2 in women's 1-2

George Ganoung won 35+, Richard Kennedy was 17th (on a road bike) in cat 4. While not quite an ABRTer – he rides for Bike Doctor – Scott Giles comes with Katy Giles as a package. Scott was a close second in Men’s 1-2.

Results on USA Cycling website: https://www.usacycling.org/results/?permit=2013-2295

The Wheelsucker enjoyed a late lunch with some of his team mates, and then drove to Charlottesville to find his Saturday evening hotel. He was rather tired, and spent most of the late afternoon resting.

The Tour of Washington County Stage Race(well, just the kickoff crit and the Road Race)The Wheelsucker Report

The Tour of Washington County Stage Race offers no masters categories for the stage race, and has not for several years. However the Friday evening twilight crit and the Saturday morning Smithburg road race DO have masters fields.

The Wheelsucker remembers being able to do the ToWC as a master, and finished 3rd in 50+ one year, while helping Art Brown win the overall.

Since all of the Wheelsucker's early knowledge of bike racing was watching portions of the TdF on TV, stage racing has always seemed like the "real" bike racing to him. So he was guttted –- OK, maybe not quite gutted, how about "somewhat disappointed" –- when masters fields were not included in the ToWC again this year. But now the Tour of Page County stage race includes masters fields, and the Wheelsucker did race the ToPC, earlier.

For whatever reason, without having formally decided he is chasing 55+ BAR points, the Wheelsucker is doing most of the 55+ BAR races; the twilight crit and RR apparently count for the BAR, so he decided to race both events.

Twilight Crit

The Wheelsucker sneaked out of work early Friday afternoon and hit the road. Traffic was ridiculous on I-70; shouldn't these clowns be going the other way to the beach? He finally arrived in Hagerstown and parked near the course, to find that course set up and final preparations were under way.

He had enough time to warmup well, unless one pisses away most of that time pinning numbers and then riding from intersection to intersection, outside the course, just to see it, and watch how the women's race was going. The women's race had started before he was ready to ride, so he was not able to ride any laps of the course.

After riding around a little with no efforts longer than five seconds, he pulled up next to the start/finish line and waited for the women's race to finish.

And it was a very exciting race! The ABRT women were doing their thing with lots of McSpeed on the front driving the pace, and some attacks from McSpeed and Amanda. Katy picked her moment and went. Not being at all stupid, the competition is trying to go with Katy when she goes, but few can. Dori made it on this time and got away with Katy. So Katy had to get rid of a strong sprinter; Dori is one of the strongest.

Katy did not fully contest the prime for the carbon bars, which Dori won, and waited until near the end of the race before attacking with 2.5 laps to go, on the backstretch just after the turn after the short climb. And Katy got away from Dori, and rode clear to the finish.

Katy won, Dori was second and a rider who jumped clear of the remnants of the pack was third. McSpeed was fourth, Amanda was 8th.

Then it was time for the masters 55+, except that the ten preregistered 55+ riders and any 55+ who had done "day of" registration were racing together with the 45+ field (which was over 30 riders), scored separately. Dennis Crockett told the Wheelsucker that last year only three 55+ riders were able to stay with the 45+ riders and the other 55+ riders were pulled and not finished. John Olinski warned the Wheelsucker about the one pothole on the course, on the backstretch, just under a traffic light.

There was no time for a lap on the course.

Joe Jefferson started with call ups: Riders of note from out of the area, 45+ and 55+ BAR Winners, and anyone from the local club, AVC. The Wheelsucker was already concerned about being too far back in the group (up against the left barrier), but found himself even further back when these riders were called forward to the actual start line. When the remaining riders rolled up to those called up, he was nearly last; wonderful.

The whistle blew, the Wheelsucker started pedaling very hard, clipped in, and went as hard as he could to get a spot in line.

The pace was incredible from the whistle. So was the power needed to stay on the wheel in front of him. The Wheelsucker knew he needed to move up, but he was already going as hard as he could. And the first attack was from the gun and four or five riders were off the front within the first lap. The Wheelsucker did not think he had the strength to move up; actually, he doubted he had the strength to hold on!

The course was interesting:
Turn 1 (to the right) felt a little tight. On the inside was a prominent vertical steel pole filled with concrete (probably to keep cars from running onto the sidewalk). A short distance out of turn 1 the lane on the left narrowed abruptly so doing turn 1 wide required cutting back in very quickly, and hoping that anyone inside you gave you the room. Shortly after the lane narrowing, there was a shallow right turn, an immediate shallow left turn, and then a short climb to the next 90 degree right turn. The backstretch was flat and fast with the pothole underneath the stoplight about 2/3 of the way to the next 90 right turn.

The next leg was shorter, and then it was a right turn back onto the start/finish stretch, which started out with a shallow climb, crested at about the start/finish line and then started to descent to turn 1.

While the Wheelsucker was struggling to hold position in the first few laps the first break went and was caught, and one of the chasers, Ken Norton, kept going after the catch and got clear. All the Wheelsucker could see was that there was no more group of four hanging just off the front. The Wheelsucker was in pain; pain in his lungs, pain in his legs. He was being gapped coming out of turn 1, turn 2 and turn 4, and every now and then another rider would slide by him into the gap in front. He knew he could not hang on much longer. He thought and hoped a few other riders were also suffering badly, and wondered if anyone had been dropped.

At one point early in the race the Wheelsucker looked over, saw just one other rider level with him, and the next thing back was the ref on a motorcycle. So the Wheelsucker was riding last and was expected to be the next person dropped. OUCH!

But somehow the pace eased up just a little bit, and the power needed to stay on the wheel in front became slightly less, the Wheelsucker's average power slowly dropped, and about 13 minutes into the race the Wheelsucker started to think maybe he could hang on. And then the Wheelsucker got to the point where he could try to move up. And he does remember passing some riders.

A little while later he was forced over the pothole, but was able to bunnyhop it. Judging from the noise behind him (yes, there WERE riders behind him, he was no longer riding last), the rider following him had been caught by surprise. It was not a crash; there were none on this race, though there were several close calls.

The pack was going into the last turn before the start/finish line at speed and hammering up the shallow climb, but then easing up on the top and again to set up for turn 1. The Wheelsucker was being gapped out of that turn and on the climb, chasing back on, and then moving up as the pack slowed at the top and then slowed again to set up for turn 1. He would be gapped again coming out of turn 1, but would chase back on in the S curve and then move up on the short climb as the group slowed to set up for the next turn. Gaps would open coming out of that turn, but a short hard effort would close them, and then the group would slow again for the next turn and the Wheelsucker would look to pass a few more riders by setting up on the inside. The short leg to the next turn was just long enough to pass one or two more riders before setting up for the last turn again.

The Wheelsucker tried to pick good wheels to follow, preferring a few riders he thought were in 55+, but he was still losing positions in places and gaining them in others, and not always coming back to the same wheels. And there were laps with multi-rider attacks on the backstretch that the Wheelsucker jumped to follow, which would put him on the back of the new leaders, but ahead of the group that had been leading before, until those riders worked there way past him again. The Wheelsucker saw Dennis Crockett normally close to the front; he saw Ramon go by once or twice on turn 3. The motoref was periodically giving time gaps -- 25 seconds -- to the race leader.

And at one point the Wheelsucker got to the front and pulled hard, mostly wanting some respect, but even going as hard as he could his pace up the shallow climb to the start/finish line was not enough for those following him, and he was promptly passed.

On the one hand the effort was still painful and the race seemed like it was going on forever; on the other hand time was flying by. Eventually the lap counter was down into single digits; the Wheelsucker recalls seeing six laps to go.

And the Wheelsucker kept trying to move up. Maybe he was dive bombing corners, but he was able to get closer to the front of the pack. He figured the last lap would be impossible to move up on, so he made his efforts beforehand to be well positioned for the last lap.

It partly worked; he was closer to the front than usual.

The last lap was fast as he expected and he came out of the last turn going as fast as he could.

It wasn't enough, two riders went by him in a blur, before he made it to the finish line, but they were both 45+. While the Wheelsucker had been checking numbers from time to time, trying to identify who was 55+, positions kept changing. He knew Dennis Crockett was multiple places in front of him; he did not know about the others.

Later, after cool down and while trying to relax over dinner with the ladies team, he learned that Ken Norton had stayed away alone for the entire race, and the 25 second gap had grown in the last few laps. So an amazing solo win for Norton. Ramon Benitez won the field sprint for second. All but three of the 55+ riders had been lapped or pulled, so the wheelsucker had finished 3rd, while Crockett had been 2nd.

Results on the USA Cycling website: https://www.usacycling.org/results/?permit=2013-1665

The Smithburg Road Race

The Wheelsucker has done the Smithburg Road Race several times, once before it was part of the Tour of Washington County and several times while it was included in the stage race. This is not a race that suits the Wheelsucker. While it remains to be seen what courses actually DO suit the Wheelsucker, short power climbs are not his forte; and this route has a false flat followed by the hardest short climb on the course, followed by a smaller second bump at the end of each lap. And then the short leg to the finish ends with a two stair stairstep climb. There is one false flat climb on the leg before the leg with the hard climb at the end, that the Wheelsucker CAN cope with.

This year 55+ was combined with 45+ as with the Twilight crit. This rather increased the field size and rather reduced the chances of the Wheelsucker getting off the front. Having been gapped on the hard climb at the end of the lap in other years, the Wheelsucker was concerned about a six lap race that did that climb six times.

This year the race used a rolling enclosure, so no yellow line rule was in effect, though there were cars coming the other way from time to time. It was rather easier to move up in the approximately 50 rider field without a yellow line rule.

The Wheelsucker was the only ABRTer in the race, while the 55+ BAR leaders, Dennis Crockett (AVC) and Paul Mittelstadt (DC Velo) both had team mates in 55+ or 45+ or both. DC Velo looked particularly strong in 55+ with Mittelstadt, Randy Thrasher, Ad Bax and Lauriston Marshall.

The group rolled out and turned left onto the course. The Wheelsucker was trying to conserve energy for the hard bits so tried to sit in. Each time they approached the hard climb he would carefully work his way to very near the front, and then spin up the climb losing places all the way up, grab one of the last wheels at the top and hold on, catch his breath, and then start to work his way back up.

And this worked for several laps!

But not everyone was content to sit in. NCVC was very well represented in 45+ and as above DC Velo had a very strong group in 55+. And during the middle section of the race, almost all the action was coming from the 55+ riders. Mittelstadt got off the front and opened a gap and was looking to keep it. None of the 45+ riders were bothered by this, and it ended up with Crockett on the front a lot of the time and the Wheelsucker taking a few short hard pulls, to bring Mittelstadt back.

And then Ad Bax went up the road with a 45+ rider. The Wheelsucker was not interested in chasing every DC Velo 55+ rider, and was tired from his earlier effort, so he let this go.

A little later it occurred to him that being in a break would be a good idea, and when the peloton let him roll off the front just after passing the feedzone, the Wheelsucker started a bridge effort, without going to his limit. He was allowed a short distance off the front before Randy Thrasher pulled the group up to him.

At that point the Wheelsucker wanted to recover again, so sat in.

After Ad and his 45+ companion had been gone awhile, NCVC’s Andreas Gutzeit lost patience and organized a mostly-NCVC chase to bring them back. The Wheelsucker was comfortably tucked in taking the tow.

The laps counted down. The Wheelsucker was staying on on the climbs – but barely – and was on the back of the slowly shrinking main field each time up the hardest climb. Then on the last lap he decided he needed to be closer to the front at the top to be better positioned for the sprint, so going up the climb this time the Wheelsucker stood and went as hard as he could, and held position. He was maybe 10th wheel at the top and down and up the second bump. And then it was on the short leg to the finish climbs. No one was going hard here – over the years at the Smithburg Road Race the Wheelsucker has seen a small field sit up and prepare for a track sprint here, and has also seen the group going at max speed closing gaps on this section, at times.

This time the group eased up, and the Wheelsucker got so close to the front he was actually ON the front for a little while, just soft pedaling.

And then the peloton hit the bottom of the first climb. Again the Wheelsucker stood and went hard to hold position.

And it almost worked!

While holding position well at the beginning, he was rapidly tiring near the top and the group was going by. The others accelerated on the flat section as the Wheelsucker faltered. As he started up the second and last climb, gapped, Rick Tucker rolled by. A desperate Wheeluscker was going as hard as he could but had nothing left, he looked over his shoulder and realized he was last and gapped in the peloton. OUCH!

He crossed the line some 18 seconds down, eighth of the eight 55+ riders in the main group. Three others had been dropped earlier. Sigh. Crockett, the defending 55+ BAR Champion, who had done some work during the race beat Harry Fang, the defending 45+ BAR Champion, who had done minimal work during the race. The Wheelsucker is left wondering if there is a way for him to beat Crockett in a race. Crockett can sprint, climb, TT and is strong enough to ride at or near the front and still chase anyone who goes by him.

Several other fields were racing at the same time, and the Wheelsucker watched the finish of the 3/4 35+ field (which had started in front of 45+/55+ but had been caught and neutralized) after his finish. One rider had a gap and only just held it to the finish, but ABRTer Pat Hogan won the field sprint for second.

After a short ride with the ABRT elite women -- they were warming up, the Wheelsucker was cooling down -- he was off to a hotel room for a nice shower and he soon felt better. The kvetching about not having any masters fields in the stage race notwithstanding, the Wheelsucker was quite relieved that his racing was done for the weekend.

He was back with pizza as the women finished. Sue "McSpeed" McQuiston got the solo four lap (of the six laps in their race) breakaway win with a 1:10 gap on Katy in second. Katy in turn had a couple of seconds on third.

The pizza was great and then it was an easy drive home. And instead of getting up early for the ToWC TT, the Wheelsucker had an easy Sunday morning, and then went sailboat racing in Annapolis, winning the event. It would seem that sailboat racing, and specifically racing International 505s, is rather easier for the Wheelsucker than bicycle racing.

ToWC Results on the USA Cycling website: https://www.usacycling.org/results/?permit=2013-1666

Smithburg Road Race Results on the USA Cycling website: https://www.usacycling.org/results/?year=2013&id=1666&info_id=64997

The Wheelsucker Helps out at the Parx Casino Philly Cycling Classic

On Friday afternoon, the Wheelsucker was browsing cycling news headlines on the ABRT website and on Cyclingnews.com, and realized the revamped Philly Classic was on Sunday. The ABRT elite women were racing the Philly Classic but there had not been anything about it on the team listserver. So the Wheelsucker texted Sue McQuiston to get some details so he could e-mail the team about it. While texting Sue, he learned that they only had one person lined up to help, Ainhoa’s boyfriend Mark.

The Wheelsucker checked his calendar and decided he was not doing anything that important on Sunday and he could help.

He needed to be there Saturday by 18:00 for a team dinner, but being the Wheelsucker, he did the Saturday ABRT ride first (winning the sprint!) and then getting organized and driving to Philly. The Philly race had six rider teams; four ABRTers, Sue, Ainhoa, Amanda and Nikki were joined by Jenna App from Alaska and Alexis Zink of NCVC for the race. Alexis was arriving later, as she was racing Ride Sally Ride on Saturday.

Sans Alexis, the team enjoyed dinner and discussed the race. A final team meeting was held Saturday evening after Alexis arrived. The race was sixty miles; five laps of a twelve mile circuit that used Kelly Drive to string together the Manyunk Wall, Strawberry Hill and Lemon Hill.

The women’s race start was 8:30am Sunday. Mark and the Wheelsucker would be driving Nikki’s Honda Passport, and would be going to the feedzone on Kelly Drive. ABRT would not have a team car in the convoy. Everyone in a team car has to have a UCI support license so a team car could not be organized on short notice. Most of the ABRT team would start the race with three bottles (the third in a jersey pocket), so they did not expect to need many bottle handups.

Everyone was up and ready early. The riders cycled to the starting area, a short distance from the race hotel. But driving through the first intersection Mark and the Wheelsucker were one lane too far right and ended up on the interstate!

Oops!

They got off at the next exit and tried to recover. The Wheelsucker had misplaced the printed technical guide, so Mark was trying to read the technical guide maps from a PDF he was browsing on his smart phone. Once close to the race course area they found roads blocked everywhere, for the race. The police at each blocked intersection did not know at which intersection they could be let through.

What had started out as an early arrival with lots of time for the riders to warm up on their indoor trainers (carried in the back of the Passport) was turning into a big problem! Then Mark's phone rang; Amanda had kept her phone and was checking on them; "WHERE ARE YOU?"

Mark and the Wheelsucker stopped the Passport, pulled into someone’s driveway next to an intersection, and told Amanda what intersection they were at. The riders rode over a few minutes later, pumped up tires, refilled water bottles, and made last minute adjustments. There was no time to warm up on the trainers – OOPS!! -- and they rode back to the starting area. The riders seemed relatively calm about the situation; the Wheelsucker was close to distraught.

Mark and the Wheelsucker drove off and eventually made it to the intersection where the race convoy was forming. The convoy was so long it was backed up through the one access intersection, and they temporarily parked the Passport illegally, on the adjacent block.

This was not a small MABRA race. This was a UCI race, and for the women, the highest ranking UCI race in North America. So there was not just a lead vehicle and a motoref. There were police lead vehicles, official lead vehicles, VIP vehicles, police motorcycles, motorefs, more vehicles, 110 racers on bicycles, more official vehicles, more motorcycles, then team support cars, and behind all that a convoy of vehicles going to the feedzone. Mark and the Wheelsucker in the Passport were towards the back of that feedzone convoy.

The race started, the convoy rolled forward; in a couple of blocks they were driving on the actual course.

The race started at the top of the Manayunk Wall, and went downhill from there, FAST!

In the Passport it was full-on acceleration one moment and hitting the brakes the next, staying close to the vehicle in front. Nikki’s Passport has an automatic transmission and acceleration was … anemic. Actually the Passport’s ability to hold the vehicle in front closely resembled the Wheelsucker’s [in]ability to hold onto the wheel in front of him in races and training rides. So the Wheelsucker was very familiar with the problem.

Rather before arriving at the feedzone, just as the course turned onto Kelly Drive, two vehicles were stopped for a crash. The convoy squeezed by on the right. The Wheelsucker was driving (so Mark could navigate) and as the Passport rolled by he looked to his left to see what had happened and saw ABRT kit and dark hair. He blurted out “$)@&!, its Ainhoa!” and asked Mark if he wanted out; Mark did.

The Passport stopped for an instant and Mark jumped out. The Wheelsucker rejoined the convoy a few vehicles back and continued.

A little later on Kelly Drive people in the convoy saw the race going the other way on Kelly Drive, FAST!!. The Wheelsucker looked for the remaining five ABRT riders but could not see them all; he did account for three of them. The convoy continued to the feedzone and pulled in. The Wheelsucker parked, grabbed the cooler and set up.

Mark arrived a short time later, with Ainhoa’s bicycle. Ainhoa was on the way to emergency to have her very painful hip examined and X-rayed.

Then the race came through the feedzone; it was the second time through the feedzone for the racers (they were on the second lap), but the first time the feedzone was manned. Kelly Drive is very flat, and there was a strong tailwind, the riders went by FAST!!

While Kelly Drive was wide, flat, relatively straight and fast, the race also went through Manayunk and other neighborhoods with narrow streets. The transitions from three or four lanes to one were dangerous bottlenecks and sure enough there was a crash with about 25 riders going down, at one of these bottlenecks. Many riders were caught in or behind the crash; this split the race up. When the race came by the feedzone the next time, there was a decent sized lead group, and then a big gap. Amanda was in the first chase at about 1:40 back. Then there was a bigger gap to a smaller chase with Sue and Jenna (who had been caught behind the crash). As they sped by the Wheelsucker shouted "Ainhoa is out!" to Sue, but was not certain she had heard. It probably made little difference as the gaps were so large that Sue and Jenna could not have caught up to the next group up the road in order to implement some sort of “plan B” with Ainhoa -- the team sprinter -- out. But a lot of riders were missing; nothing close to 110 riders had gone by. The person next to the Wheelsucker in the feedzone looked up and said he had not seen ANY of his team’s riders go by. There was a long wait, and then stragglers came by in ones and twos.

One of the stragglers was Nikki who told Mark and the Wheelsucker, "Alexis broke her collarbone!" as she pedaled by.

Mark took a phone call from a strange number; it was Ainhoa on a borrowed phone. The outcome was that Mark needed to be at Hahnemann University Hospital. However, under no circumstances were any vehicles at the feedzone allowed to leave the feedzone parking lot until late in the race and then in a convoy escorted by officials. The best plan Mark and the Wheelsucker could come up with was for Mark to take one of the bicycles, ride to the hotel, put the bike in a hotel room, and drive to Hahnemann hospital.

Mark rode off, leaving the Wheelsucker alone in the feedzone. ABRT was down two riders, but still had four racing.

Meanwhile, the first two groups had recombined as riders from several teams had slowed the lead group to allow their leaders to catch back on after the crash. Amanda was in this recombined lead group. Officials were pulling riders who were too far behind; so Nikki was no longer racing. Sue and Jenna were in the third group on the road, a small one. With several of the five laps done, ABRT riders were running out of water; the Wheelsucker started handing up bottles to those who wanted them. The lead group split again with Amanda in the second group. That made Sue and Jenna’s group, group number four.

A rider from another team stopped in the feedzone with a painful cramp. She was able to straighten her leg and took a bottle from the Wheelsucker as she started to pedal again.

Mark texted the Wheelsucker that Ainhoa was probably going to be released soon, but that Alexis was not at the same hospital. Eventually Mark found out that Alexis was at Temple hospital, and once Ainhoa was released they drove over to Temple to find Alexis.

After the riders passed on the penultimate lap, everyone in the feedzone had to leave together in a second convoy, so it was a quick pack up after the last feed. The cars were lined up in the feedzone parking lot, the racers and vehicles went by, an official motioned the feedzone convoy back onto the course, and the convoy flew up Kelly Drive into Manayunk. There the convoy was let off the course, led up the hill on a road parallel to the Manayunk Wall, and then jammed into a narrow street. Vehicles were parked ANYWHERE… The Wheelsucker jammed the Passport onto the sidewalk before someone else thought of using that spot.

He pulled the cooler out of the Passport and raced to find a spot past the finish line so he could catch his riders when they finished and offer them cold water, Cliff bars and protein bars. The sprint for the win was amazing, with two riders wheel to wheel and Evelyn Stevens winning by inches.

Laura Van Gilder broke her chain a few feet from the finish and ran across the line wheeling her bike with her. She did not fall, did not falter and reacted instantly, losing at most one place and finishing. What a PRO!!!!

Nikki had already been pulled and found the Wheelsucker standing behind the barriers some distance past the finish line, at a right turn. The Wheelsucker asked her to direct the others to where he was as they finished.

Then Amanda rolled across with a solid finish. A little later Sue and Jenna rolled across. Eventually get everyone together next to the Passport.

The racers rode back to the hotel; the Wheelsucker followed them in the Passport.

Later, the Wheelsucker was looking out a hotel window and saw someone with ABRT kit and long hair walking up to the main entrance. It was Alexis returning with Ainhoa and Mark. The Wheelsucker went downstairs to meet them and saw Alexis with her arm in a sling, confirming the broken collarbone. DARN!!

A little later, while waiting for the others in the lobby, a racer named Nicole Mitchell (from Bermuda) approached the Wheelsucker to compliment two ABRTers who had been in the same group with her. According to Nicole they had both worked hard, even when others had not.

Jenna App left early to catch a plane, and the rest of the team went out for a late lunch before convoying home on I-95 south.

The Wheelsucker is a "pack fill" aging cat 3 masters racer. He is incredibly far away from being able to race against UCI pros. It is amazing that the ABRT elite women are good enough to do UCI pro races. The Wheelsucker considers it a privilege to support the team at such a high profile race. He hopes to be asked to support the team the next time they do this, and hopes to do a better job next time.

Cyclingnews report and results: http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/philly-cycling-classic-2013/elite-women/results

Image with Amanda climbing Lemon Hill http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/philly-cycling-classic-2013/elite-women/photos/268220

The Wheelsucker at the Tour of Page County Stage Race

Images were "brorrowed" from multiple locations and photographers, and the Wheelsucker is no longer clear on which images he got from where. Many images are from one of the ToPC photographers, Jon Winters. Some -- and the women's sprint finish video -- are from Chris Chrane. Some are from Stephen Szibler and at least one is from Mark Hemhauser, and one from Brook A. Edinger

 

While the Wheelsucker is usually (probably always) apprehensive about racing, the apprehension is highest shortly before the start of a race. Several days before the start, racing may seem like a good idea.

So the Wheelsucker signed up for the Tour of Page County Stage Race. This is the only MABRA Stage Race offering a 55+ field. The 55+ riders would race with the 35+ and 45+ masters riders, but be scored separately.

Hurray for Luray Road Race

Waiting for the neutral rollout to start

The Wheelsucker arrived at the Hurray for Lurray Road Race staging area -- Luray High School – to prepare. The masters were the third field in the second wave. The women had been part of the first wave. The ABRT women had pulled off another one, sending Amanda Watson up the road early in the race while the competition just watched Katy and Ainhoa. Amanda soloed for most of the race and finished with a three minute fifteen second lead over second place! Amanda's solo win in the RR

And second place was Katy Giles who started her sprint early and won the field sprint, with Ainhoa Perez-Diaz third, the competition –mostly Alexis Zink – was fourth, Sue McQuiston fifth, all in the same time, though small time bonuses were awarded. Nikki was slightly off the back after having attacked the field and dangled off the front for six miles, and then been caught a little short at the sprint.

As above, the masters race was a combined field of 35+/45+/55+. There were riders who normally ride cat 1/2/3 entered. The Wheelsucker had one teammate in this combined field; Stephen Szibler was also racing 55+. While the field was not that large in each age category: 19 in 35+, 24 in 45+ and 7 in 55+, racing together resulted in a field of about 50.

The Hurray for Luray Road Race course is a bit like the All American road race course; there are narrow roads and the yellow line rule was being enforced, even when there is no yellow line. The masters were racing five laps, for 58 miles.

Right from rollout the field plugged the road, yellow line to shoulder. The Wheelsucker and Stephen were at the back and frantically trying to move up, but were completely unable to do so. They spent all of the first two laps either last, or just in front of last. The initial pace was hard on the short climbs, and the Wheelsucker was straining and gapped on several short climbs, and was thinking he was close to being dropped. Too bad about the pace being driven by all those strong cat 1 and cat 2 35+ and 45+ riders!

But gradually the intensity eased up, the Wheelsucker's perceived exertion came down and the Wheelsucker felt better. And eventually somewhere on the third lap, the Wheelsucker was able to work his way up closer to the sharp end. Kelly had several strong riders in 35+ and 45+ and they were working hard to get something going. There were attacks and chases. Some riders would stay away for awhile, but during the first half of the race everything was brought back.

The Wheelsucker was trying to get into a break, and went hard to follow attacks a few times, but everytime he chased someone was on his wheel and the attack went nowhere.

Other breaks were going up the road, but they were being brought back each time, though sometimes there was an extended chase. Eric Boone's recollection is a little different, he recalls the first break of two going off fairly early and staying away the entire race for the win.

Late in the race, the Wheelsucker gapped the field on a short climb, and rolled off the front by a few bikelengths. A 45+ rider came up and off they went. Both rode hard, but the field was alert and chased hard, and they were soon brought back.

Eventually, late in the race, a break of two got away, and a second break of two including Eric Boone got off and chased. Each pair was one 35+ and one 45+ rider. Eric Boone told the Wheelsucker the first break got off much earlier in the race, and he should know 'cause he was closer to the front and in the second break, but the Wheelsucker thinks he saw the lead vehicle later in the race, which he believes would mean no one was off the front.

The field collectively sat up for the last few miles, or at least the eight guys at the front sat up and soft pedaled, and no one could get by them. Experienced riders who knew the course made the effort to move to the front very early and rode easy at or near the front. The Wheelsucker was pushed back. He was riding the yellow line hoping to move up, but other riders would push him over the line, and he would yield the position and slide back reluctantly. And he was forced further and further back until he WAS at the back as the sprint started.

You cannot see the Wheelsucker, because he is at the back of this mob

The road was open from the high school driveway and the Wheelsucker moved left looking for open road, but so did half the field. Riders slightly ahead of him were blowing up, or sitting up, and the Wheelsucker was frantically going around people trying to go hard.

A frustrated Wheelsucker finally makes it to the line

The entire main field pack was given the same time. time bonuses applied

There were four 55+ riders in the main field; the Wheelsucker was fourth, so given the same time, but the two second time bonuses separated the first four 55+ riders. Three other 55+ riders were dropped during the race, and there were significant time gaps to them.

Dennis Crockett – who packs quite a sprint – had crossed first amongst 55+ riders, Stephen Erb was second, and strong TTer Matt Robins third.

Road Race Results on USA Cycling website

Luray Caverns Time Trial

It was cool and overcast Sunday morning. The first rider was off at 8:00am, but the Masters rode last, with the 55+ field the last of the masters. The route was 9 miles, out and back, downhill on the way out, uphill coming back. There were some tight turns making for a somewhat technical course. The Wheelsucker had checked out the TT course by car, Saturday evening.

The Wheelsucker's plan was to go out not too hard – wanting to save something for the harder return leg -- but trying to stay aero and go fast on the outbound leg. The Wheelsucker rode his TT bike, while some rode road bikes. Riders were off in reverse GC order, so the GC leader started last. On the outbound leg the Wheelsucker passed two riders including Stephen, and then passed a third shortly after the turnround. But just after that Matt Robins went by at a high rate of speed. The Wheelsucker was giving it everything he had, but Robins disappeared up the road. At a hard left turn most of the way back the Wheelsucker sneaked a glance behind him and saw Crockett behind, clearly having made up some time. The Wheelsucker had saved only just enough to stand and hammer the last short steep climb, and crossed the line gasping and drained. The Wheelsucker early in the TT, LOOKING fast ...

When TT results were posted, the Wheelsucker had moved up a place to third overall, but the gaps to first and second were considerably wider: Robins was winning with a ~ 50 second lead on Crockett, and the Wheelsucker was a further ~30 seconds back, and had opened a 1:06 gap on John Chamberlain in 4th. Stephen was 6th in the TT, which moved him up a place to sixth on GC.

Geriatric TT Results

Katy won the Women’s cat 1/cat 2 TT outright with a time of 20:55.08. This time was competitive with the Men's P/1 times, though Scott Giles' winning P/1 time was faster, 0:18:27.01.

Katy TTing, and actually GOING very fast

Amanda was still leading the GC with Katy second. But Alexis Zink had taken a minute out of Ainhoa on the TT and so moved up to third, and had gained back some of the time gap on Amanda.

The women's team was seeking world – or at least podium – domination, and was plotting how to keep their podium positions and perhaps move Ainhoa ahead of Alexis.

Time Trial Results on USA Cycling website

Downtown Luray Criterium

As riders moved from the TT venue to downtown Luray for the crit, it started to drizzle. The forecast was for worse rain and riders were wondering if they really wanted to race a challenging, rather technical crit, in the rain. The Masters crit was scheduled to start last, at 4:45pm, so there was lots of time.

The cat 5 and cat 4 crits went off. The Wheelsucker was hanging out at the Main Street deli, watching the pain on rider's faces as they climbed the hardest climb on the crit course. Fields were exploded on the first lap with the splits apparent as riders crossed the start/finish line at the end of the first lap.

It was raining harder by the time the women's crit started.

There was a very short delay while Nikki's wardrobe malfunction was fixed. This was post Hairgate and Nikki's hair is held up somehow.

The ABRTers were all marking Alexis. With little alternative, she rode hard at the front trying to make something happen. Alexis was riding strong, bobbing her torso like Eddy Merckx, while Katy, Ainhoa, Sue, Amanda and Nikki were holding on, apparently easily. But after a few laps Amanda started to fade at the top of the hard climb. She hung on and hung on, but then the gap started to open. And Alexis soldiered on. After the TT, Amanda had something like 45 seconds on Katy. But the key was that Amanda had about 1:57 on Alexis. Amanda going through the photo corner

Amanda was having problems with the wet slippery corners on the technical crit course, and apparently was easing up on the corners and then working hard to chase back on. And she was tiring, and Alexis was prying open the gap.

Nikki dropped off the front group to go back and help Amanda.

ABRT's best dressed member, Nikki wears very stylish contrasting arm warmers, and sunglasses picking up the official ABRT accent shade ...

But the gap between Alexis and Amanda was slowly increasing. At one point the officials announced a prime for a time bonus; Ainhoa takes the prime

Ainhoa carefully took that one to deny it to Alexis. Then Alexis flatted close the the start finish line. She was given two free laps while her bike was worked on, and an opportunity to catch her breath. Katy, Ainhoa and Sue immediately slowed the pace down so that Amanda and Nikki could close the gap somewhat. One other rider went off the front, but she was not a GC threat, so Katy, Ainhoa and Sue let her go. Then Alexis jumped back in stronger than ever, and it was game on. Sue eased up and dropped back as well looking for Amanda, though she never made it back far enough to help out.

With team mates shouting encouragement each lap Amanda kept pushing and pushing, hanging on, losing a little time each lap but trying to stay within the 1:57 cushion.

At the finish Katy narrowly took the sprint win from Alexis. Ainhoa was very close behind in third.

Video of the sprint on FB

Amanda was finished a lap down, though not actually lapped. So it came down to what time was charged for the one lap down. And from the timings the GC was going to be very close. But eventually the time came out in Amanda's favor, by THREE SECONDS!!!!!

Amanda hangs on for second, Katy wins, Alexis finishes 3rd

So Katy won the overall with Amanda second, and Alexis third. Very strong teamwork and tactics from the ABRT ladies, and a courageous and strong ride by Alexis Zink.

The masters crit was a combined field again. On a technical course with a significant hard climb each lap, the Wheelsucker was not looking forward to racing in a field that included cat 1 and cat 2 35+ and 45+ riders. And though the rain had eased, the course was still wet. There had been crashes in some fields, including Scott Giles (he was not hurt and had jumped back in).

As the field gathered on the start line, the Wheelsucker looked around to check for the other 55+ riders. The overall field size was clearly smaller; many riders had left, not wanting to race in the rain. The first and second place 55+ riders were there in the front row, and Stephen Szibler was racing, but the Wheelsucker was not sure if all of the remaining three 55+ riders had left.

It was a fast start. The Wheelsucker was expecting this and worked hard to hold on and make the selection. But he was uncomfortable in a crowded pack and was going through the wet technical courses slightly slower than some. He WAS able to tag on the back of a lead group of about 12 or 13, but he was on the rivet hammering out of corners and on the climbs.

Part way through the first or second lap he was still on at the bottom of the course, but on the first right turn a rider dive bombed inside of him, and he eased up slightly, opening a slight gap. He chased hard and was still in contact at the start of the hard climb, but the effort was costing him. He chased and chased and chased, but the gap slowly opened. He WAS able to go into the corners at his desired speed, rather than braking as riders in front of him slowed, but that was not enough to close the gap, and it slowly opened.

The Wheelsucker chased and chased and chased, on his own. The only good news was that no one was in sight behind him. After going as hard as he could for several laps, the Wheelsucker eased up slightly to a pace that he thought he had a chance of sustaining.

Each time he climbed the hard hill the ABRT women's team and Scott Giles were cheering him on.

The Wheelsucker was going so hard up this climb that he frequently missed checking the lap counter.

At one point he saw 17 laps and knew he couldn't last that long.

After a few more laps the Wheelsucker could see two riders rounding the corner ahead, one straight-away in front of him. One was an Artemis rider. Apparently they had been dropped out of the lead group. The Wheelsucker kept going and slowly closed the gap, though it took several laps. He latched on to them, and recovered for a lap, before taking pulls. Both were 45+ riders.

Several laps later the Wheelsucker's group was lapped by two Kelly riders; one was Eric Boone. They were flying! Being unsure of crit rules the Wheelsucker was not sure he could try to grab a wheel, so eased up slightly with the two riders he was working with.

The laps went by. The pain of the hard climb was offset by loud cheering and encouragement from his teammates. Without this the Wheelsucker could not have continued at that pace. The next time the Wheelsucker remembered to check the lap counter it was seven laps; he started to think he might make it.

Then the first chase lapped his group and rolled by. Crockett and Robins were in it, and the Wheelsucker did not see any other 55+ riders, so the Wheelsucker thought he was might still holding on to third on GC, though losing time. Again uncertain of crit rules the Wheelsucker did not try to grab a wheel.

Then at the corner before the climb there was a loud crash just behind the Wheelsucker; the Artemis rider had slid out and gone down. The Wheelsucker continued up the hill with the other rider, with both yelling to bystanders and officials that there had been a crash.

But the crashed Artemis rider reappeared on the next lap, and said he was fine.

Though only a 45 minute crit, it was feeling like purgatory, except that each time up the climb the cheering from his teammates was so loud that it drowned out the pain.

Then the Wheelsucker saw 3 on the lap counter and for the first time thought he could make it.

And soon enough it was 1 to go. The other two riders eased up slightly on the last lap, and on the penultimate leg the Wheelsucker told them they were going too slow and came around to lead through the last corner. And with his head full of his teammates loud cheers, the Wheelsucker gave it every little bit he had left and powered up the hill for the last time, gapping his two companions and throwing his bike across the finish line.

It was over. The Wheelsucker’s agonized breathing gradually slowed, and his pegged heart rate slowly recovered. The post-hard-effort burning in his lungs and stomach did not ease.

It took awhile, but when crit results were posted, it was clear that only four 55+ riders had started the crit. The Wheelsucker had lapped Stephen's group, and though down a lap on the two man lead group and the ~ 10 rider chase, he had finished third in 55+. He lost a bit more than one lap's time on the two ahead of him on GC, but held on to third overall on GC.

Crit Results on USA Cycling website

General Classification (GC)

It took awhile longer for GC results to be posted, but these confirmed the finish order, and the Wheelsucker was photographed standing on the third place side of the podium.

With three 55+ riders not racing the crit and so not finishing the stage race, Stephen Szibler moved up to fourth overall, though down quite a bit on time; a very just reward for his persistence and determination.

Overall GC Results from USA Cycling website

The Wheelsucker at the Tour of the Battenkill

Having been lured into racing the Tour of the Battenkill last year – racing 40+ trying to support team mates – the Wheelsucker knew how hard this race was.

Not being strong enough to stay with the leaders on the first hard section had meant that the Wheelsucker ended up working with Brian McLean in the fourth group on the road, and finished well back and a lot of time behind the winners, despite going as hard as he has ever gone.

This year the Wheelsucker decided to race 50+ rather than being useless to his team mates in 40+. But racing 50+ probably meant racing without team mates. And then the race opened on bikereg while the Wheelsucker was away from his laptop, and he was only able to get 18th on the 50+ waitlist. So he gave up on Battenkill and did not train for it.

But after riding the Saturday 10:00am Rock Creek ride, the Wheelsucker checked his e-mail, and had an offer for one of three available spots in 50+. He replied almost immediately, beating out the others who had been e-mailed, and on a week’s notice, had a spot in 50+ at Battenkill.

The Wheelsucker checked the entry list and saw that the only rider he knew was ex ABRT team mate (now Battley Harley/XO Communications rider) Art Brown.

Matt and Ace had room in the car and hotel room for the Wheelsucker, so it was on.



Most of the ABRTers were at the race site Friday, and pre-rode the last ten miles of the course.

This included the last – and steepest – climb in the race.

Saturday morning at 11:19:59, the Wheelsucker was lined up with a large number of geriatric racers from sixteen US states and two Canadian provinces.

While there were a few detail changes in the course, it was very similar to last year. And the challenges from last year were vivid in the Wheelsucker’s memory. The first challenge on the course is a narrow covered bridge, shortly after a left turn off the main road. Last year, the Wheelsucker went into the bridge area mid pack, but could not force his way into line, and ended up going through almost last. Just after the bridge is a right turn onto gravel and the first climb. The Wheelsucker had started the climb on the back and had struggled to stay on, losing contact with the first groups and forming a chase with other stragglers.

So this year the Wheelsucker was determined to know exactly where the left turn was, so he could be near the front at that turn. While he was unable to convince anyone else to ride or drive out to the bridge, he was able to determine that the left turn was at 5.1 miles, based on Matt’s GPS track from 2011. The Wheelsucker also checked the 2012 course elevation profile carefully and had a race “cheat sheet” showing mileage to the left turn, the beginning of each of the eight significant climbs, the end of each of the climbs, and the start and end of several significant descents. However the writing on the cheat sheet was too small, and it was hard to read while in the middle of the peloton!

At the start, the Wheelsucker was in the middle of the pack, but as he clipped in and started rolling, he worked right, and rode on the shoulder. When the rider in front moved up, the Wheelsucker followed. Occasionally he did not block the shoulder well enough and someone would come by on his right, and a few times riders decided to try some cyclecross moves and ride in the grass to get by. There was fluid movement within the peloton, but the Wheelsucker timed one of his moves closer to the front particularly well and found himself near the front when one rider decided it was time to accelerate prior to the left turn. The acceleration strung out the front of the field, but the Wheelsucker was securely holding third wheel and the pace was high enough that no one was inclined to pull out of line and try to go by. So the Wheelsucker was third at the left turn, third (and completely unimpeded) going through the narrow covered bridge, and third at the right turn onto the gravel and the first climb.

Perhaps the 50+ field is a little more sedate and surges less than the 40+:
the winning time in 30+ was 2:45:19,
the winning time in 40+ was 2:46:26, and
the winning time in 50+ was 2:48:05

but this year though straining at his limit, the Wheelsucker made it to the top of the first series of climbs still in contact with the large lead group, though he was the last rider to stay on.

The Wheelsucker kept trying to move up when he could, looking for opportunities to do it without having to go hard in the wind, but he was mostly near the back for the early part of the race, sometimes going around fading riders on the climbs, but somehow getting to the top of the climb near enough to the wheel ahead to stand and sprint to get back on. And meanwhile the group was shrinking as, one by one, riders were gapped and dropped.

There were attacks and chases and counter attacks. But this all happened at the front of the field, and the Wheelsucker was too far back to respond, so simply hung on during the surges, and tried to move up when he could. Each time he looked up the road he would see the white pickup truck lead vehicle.

Thirty miles into the race the group had shrunk substantially, but there were still 40-60 riders together. None of the attacks had worked; everything had been brought back. The Wheelsucker could occasionally see Art Brown some riders in front of him.
The Wheelsucker had seen a few riders pull off and raise an arm, usually for a flat.
Somewhere around 32 miles Art Brown pulled out and raised his arm. There was a brief conversation as the Wheelsucker rolled by:

Wheelsucker: What happened?
Art: flat
Wheelsucker: F**K!

For a fraction of a second the Wheelsucker considered offering Art a wheel, but then decided that he was racing for himself.

Art is a very strong, experienced and intelligent rider, with an amazing snap sprint. There are few 50 year olds who can outsprint him, and the Wheelsucker believed Art had a great chance of winning the race if he was in the lead group coming into the finish line, but now he was in the right shoulder waiting for Mavic’s neutral support, while the Wheelsucker was still racing.

This year most of the ABRT group had not ridden or driven the entire course. The group had ridden the last ten miles backwards and forwards. But what the group did not know was that two sections of the course had recently laid gravel, and were worse than last year. The second of these sections was somewhere around 45-48 miles into the race. In this section, the Wheelsucker was preoccupied keeping his own bike going straight and avoiding riders around him who were unable to keep their bikes going straight. And the peloton was creating a dust storm. And somewhere during this section a few riders got off the front.

When the worst of the section was done, the Wheelsucker looked up the road and saw the lead vehicle was some distance ahead, with a small number of riders following up a shallow climb. What was worse was that no one was doing any chasing and the gap was opening. The peloton was still riding on gravel. The Wheelsucker decided that this could be the winning break and that he needed to get to it if he could. So the Wheelsucker rolled by the group on their extreme left (in the absence of a motoref the field was taking the entire width of the road despite being warned about real and virtual yellow lines), and eased into the climb at higher power without actually trying to jump away.

AND IT WORKED!!!

The Wheelsucker looked back briefly after a few seconds, and he had a gap. The road was still gravel, albeit not as bad as the section had been. The Wheelsucker felt the climb was the best place to go, as the group ahead would not be going fast enough for riders to rest in the draft of the lead rider. After some time of hard effort, a rider rolled by on the Wheelsucker’s left and said “grab my wheel!” A tired Wheelsucker tagged on, but following this rider was requiring 350-400 watts at times and the Wheelsucker was running out of watts. At one point the other rider looked back to see if the Wheelsucker could help, and realized the Wheelsucker was doing all he could just to stay there. The Wheelsucker was gapped slightly on a bump, the gap opened, but he chased back on a shallow downhill, and then two or three more riders rolled by, but the Wheelsucker couldn’t quite stay on any of their wheels. But they were catching the group ahead, and the Wheelsucker was tantalizingly close. And with a final effort he made it back on a wheel. There were 6-8 riders there, and the Wheelsucker did not see a white pickup truck, so perhaps another smaller group was further up the road. The Wheelsucker had been working so hard he was barely able to think clearly. And then the group rolled onto pavement and the pace picked up, and the Wheelsucker did not have anything left to accelerate and he went off the back of the group with 2-3 other riders. These four formed a chase, using a rotating paceline and worked very hard to close the gap. When on the front the Wheelsucker would rest his forearms on the tops of his handlebars to get as low as possible and as aero as possible. Once or twice he gapped the other three by a bike length or two, but the Wheelsucker was not keen on trying to ride the last 10+ miles on his own, so waited briefly each time for the others to catch on.

Very soon the group was inside ten miles of the finish and the Wheelsucker recognized the roads from the pre-ride. And he knew the last (and steepest) climb was coming up, at a shallow left turn onto gravel. At one point the Wheelsucker’s plan had been to conserve energy for this last climb, but he had been forced to make a very hard bridge effort and was now chasing hard in a four rider group.

As soon as the climb started the Wheelsucker knew he was in trouble as the three other riders gapped him. There was no way the Wheelsucker could hold the power to stay on their wheels, so he went as hard as he could sustain and tried to keep them close.
AND IT WORKED!!!
Half way up the climb one of the three ahead faltered and slowed and the Wheelsucker slowly reeled him in and then passed him, and then he slowly gained on the other two as they tired, and caught them just before the gravel ended and the climb ended.

Under five miles to go! The fourth rider was too far back but the Wheelsucker and the other two accelerated into the descent, sped down in their most aero positions, and then went back to the rotating paceline.

Not far ahead were two riders, one of whom was recognized to be a 50+ who had fallen out of the group ahead. The two riders were working together, and even got a draft from a car for some time, but the Wheelsucker’s group slowly closed the gap.

At the one kilometer banner, the Wheelsucker was taking a pull, and the two ahead were still clear. The Wheelsucker swung off and then coasted when no one pulled through. The next rider came by, the rider behind him declined to take his wheel and opened the gap. Too tired to argue, the Wheelsucker took the wheel. That pull closed the gap to the two ahead, just before the last turn, a sweeping right at 350 meters.

While doing the course “recon” the previous day, going from the corner had occurred to the Wheelsucker, but that had been a rested and fresh Wheelsucker. And the Wheelsucker was far from rested and fresh after his efforts. He swung wide at the turn, and repositioned himself on the back of the line of five. The rider in blue who had declined to come through a few moments ago was strong and accelerated. Once the line was up to speed the Wheelsucker tried to launch and come by on the right.

IT ALMOST WORKED!!

The Wheelsucker got close enough to the rider in blue who was leading the sprint, but that rider drifted right causing the Wheelsucker some alarm as he did not want to be pushed into the right barrier. He eased up and lost one more rider by a wheel, at the line. The two riders who had just been caught were behind him, the two he had worked with were ahead of him.

A short time later it turned out that they had been sprinting for 9th through 12th, and the Wheelsucker had crossed 11th, one place past the payouts.

But the Wheelsucker considers 11th in 50+ in a marquee event like the Tour of the Battenkill, to be a very respectable finish, though he now regrets not being closer to the front of the group through the second bad gravel section, when the winning break went. He had managed to get up to most of the first eight finishers, but had not been able to stay with them.

The 40+ squad, which had finished earlier, had an impressive result with Ace sprinting for second in his group and 7th overall.

Looking at his power data, the Wheelsucker saw that his CP5min, CP6min, CP10min, CP12min, CP20min and CP30min all started at the same time, almost certainly where the Wheelsucker started his bridge effort. CP60min was the last 60 minutes of the race, and includes this effort. CP120min was the last two hours of the race. The Wheelsucker figures he gave it everything he had …

By the numbers:
62.21 miles
132 50+ starters, 125 finishers
Race time: The Wheelsucker crossed at 2:49:56, 1:51 behind the winner of 50+, and about 2:30 behind Ace’s time for the course.
Average power: 221 watts, 270 watts normalized
Average HR: 145bpm
Average speed: 22.03 mph, maximum 49.75 mph
Climbing: 5034 feet
Results: http://velocityresults.com/results/376/tour-of-the-battenkill-cambridge-ny


The Wheelsucker has been going over the race in his mind, trying to learn as much as possible from it. After some consideration he has a list of things he did well and things he could improve upon.

Things he did well:
o Learned from the 40+ race last year and was very well positioned for the covered bridge and the first climb, by knowing the left turn was at 5.1 miles.

o Drifted back on climbs when he could though early on, conserving energy for later in the race. Though he was also at max anyway and had no alternative.

o He did no work (sat in and wheelsucked) until he started bridging to the lead group, other than chasing back onto the wheel in front of him at the top of climbs, and very limited work to move up when he could do so.

o He let others attack and others chase, and followed wheels.

o He moved up when he could follow someone; He very occasionally went into the wind for a short time to move up.

o He worked very hard to bridge when he realized 5-8 riders were off the front and gaining.

o He worked hard to chase in a group when behind the lead group.

o The ABRTers pre rode the last ten miles, which included a different finish line stretch than last year. Knowing this section of the route was very helpful. The Wheelsucker wishes he had seen the two really bad gravel sections before the race.

o He became relatively stronger as the race went on.

o He rode his lightest weight weenie bike (a 2009 SuperSix) with a compact crankset, 11-28 cassette, his almost-lightest wheelset (American Classic 350s with a Powertap). Despite all the weight weenie parts, the bike was fine. And he always had a gear or two in reserve, even on the steepest climbs.

o Rather than going with the conventional wisdom (Gatorskins and fluid in the tubes) for tires, he went with a wider/fatter version of his favorite tires. The 25mm Pro Race 3s actually measured 27mm wide. He used latex tubes. He ran 85 psi front and 90 rear and next time he rides gravel he is going to try even lower. He thinks the handling in the loose gravel was better, and the tires should be much lower rolling resistance and weight than Gatorskins with fluid in the tubes. He was probably at higher risk of a flat, but was going to be faster if he did not flat.

Mistakes:

o He missed the key move in the bad gravel section. He was conserving too much and riding too far back, and with head down in the gravel and dust, did not see them go.

o Partly because he saw it on the pre-ride and did not see the two bad gravel sections, he decided to wait for last climb and was not prepared when the winning break went in the second bad gravel section. The 40+ field split at the same point, and his team mates in cat 5 and cat 4 may have had similar experiences in the same gravel section. In other words, that was the most likely place on the entire course for a winning break to go.

o He should have driven the entire course and seen how bad the gravel sections were. He was also too focused on determining the distance to the left turn, but was eventually able to determine that without driving or riding out to it.

o Maybe he started the bridge attempt too early on the climb, and maybe he went too hard. The guys who caught and passed him started their bridge efforts after he did.

o He should not have let the blue rider skip rotation going into the last corner.

o Maybe he could have attacked the other two riders inside 3 miles to the finish and tried to TT alone away from them, and reel in the guy ahead on his own.

It appears the peloton shattered after he started the bridge effort and dribbled in in very small groups; the finishes are all strung out. It looks like the guys in front finished more or less together in a group of eight, and he was in the next group, 1:50 down.

Wednesday May 4th Greenbelt RaceA Wheelsucker Special Report

The Wheelsucker races sailboats – a Farr 40 -- most Wednesday evenings from May to August. But he can miss the occasional sailboat race. This week the Wheelsucker’s coach suggested the Greenbelt “Training” race as the Wednesday workout. So the Wheelsucker told his Farr 40 team mates he had another commitment and went bike racing instead.

Having committed to doing the race, the Wheelsucker started to worry.
Despite being an aging Wheelsucker who avoids pulls, cannot hammer, cannot sprint and cannot hammer up short climbs – in short a wheelsucker – the Wheelsucker somehow finagled an upgrade to cat 3 about three years ago. This is not normally an issue as the Wheelsucker races 45+ and 50+. But there are no masters races at Greenbelt. There is the “C” race for cat 5s, the “B” race for 4s and 5s, and the “A” race for everyone else. And being on paper a cat 3, the Wheelsucker is supposed to race the A race. The Wheelsucker raced the last Greenbelt “A” race of the 2010 season, and was struggling desperately to hang on at the back, as Chuck Hutcheson launched attack after attack, working to get the right combination in the break, and wear out the competition. Chuck succeeded in this endeavor – his team mate beat Chip Hoover in the race and moved ahead of him on points for the season – and the Wheelsucker was essentially collateral damage. By some miracle he made it to the bottom of the climb on the finish lap, with the main field, but the Wheelsucker was skeptical he could do it again.

A downgrade to cat 4 was not something that could be done on short notice.

So when checking in for the race, the Wheelsucker was careful to ask what the preferred way to handle being dropped was: Was it OK to rejoin the race a lap down? If so, how and where should this be done?

These issues being addressed (OK to jump back in, wait at the gate and go like h*ll when the pack comes by to catch on at the back), the Wheelsucker changed and got his bike – his magnificent new ABRT Team Colors CAAD10, almost certainly the world’s lightest 58cm CAAD10 – ready.

There were several ABRTers preparing to race, with ABRT riders in the C, B and A races. The Wheelsucker would be racing with Tim Shaffer and Mark Lahuec. The Wheelsucker considered asking them what help they wanted, but then -- considering that he needed to be “in play” to help anyone -- thought better of it.

The next issue was warmup. With the “C” race on, warming up on the course was not allowed. Experienced Greenbelters had brought indoor trainers or rollers. The Wheelsucker rode back and forth in the parking lot at low speed, low power and low heart rate, hoping this would be better than nothing. Even this effort was broken up by frequent nervousness-induced trips to the restroom.

And then it was time to race. A not-really-warmed-up, not-really-ready and rather apprehensive Wheelsucker lined up. The Wheelsucker did not recognize any of the best known MABRA powerhouses in the field. No Chuck, no Chip, no SuperDave, no Ramon. It was a twenty rider field. The Wheelsucker lined up in the third row.
And then it was time to race and the official blew the whistle.

The Wheelsucker had a nice clip in, easily passed the rider in front of him having trouble clipping in, and was safely tucked in on a wheel near the front of the pack, on the first decent and on the back stretch.

But up the climb the Wheelsucker struggled. He was last in the group and gapped by a bike length at the top of the climb, was hyperventilating desperately, but caught back on on the descent and moved up in the pack. Then it was sprint like crazy out of the sweeping right turn, catch back on as the pack slowed, move up closer to the front, and hit the climb again. Repeat.

Sometimes the pace up the climb would ease a little and the Wheelsucker would not be last and most of the time the field did not go hard on the descent, so it was always possible to move up. Though on the verge of being dropped on a bunch of laps, it never quite happened.

There were break attempts and riders off the front for multiple laps.

With four laps to go, the Wheelsucker caught up after sprinting out of the corner once again, the group slowed again, and the Wheeluscker kept going fast and worked his way up to Tim Shaffer and asked if there was still a rider off the front. Tim was just saying “They have all been caught” as the Wheelsucker flew by him. The Wheelsucker had started going thinking it was time to bring back the last rider off the front. But learning he had been caught and no one was off the front didn’t change the Wheelsucker’s mind, he was already moving fast and off the front, without actually pushing all that hard. In the Wheelsucker’s mind, attacking the A field was an end in itself, and besides, a headstart for the climb couldn’t be bad, right? Unbeknownst to the Wheelsucker, his two teammates immediately swung into action behind him, went to the front of the pack and started blocking. And a really amazing thing happened, the gap opened!

The Wheelsucker started up the climb without the usual surge, but just holding his best, steady, sustainable power. A third of the way up the climb a very energetic rider bridged up and yelled “grab my wheel!” as he pushed by. A quick glance behind revealed a significant gap to the pack.

Now this was interesting, thought the Wheelsucker. Could this be a break off the front with 4 laps to go?

So the Wheelsucker stood up and climbed as hard as he could to stay with the other rider. And this is where being an aging Wheelsucker who avoids pulls, cannot hammer, cannot sprint and cannot hammer up short climbs came into play; the Wheelsucker gave it everything he had, but could not stay with the other rider. At the top of the climb, the other rider was clear, the Wheelsucker still had a nice gap on the field, but he was completely blown. He tried to accelerate down the descent and close the gap, but he was not recovered enough to actually push hard, and the gap did not close. On the flat backstretch the Wheelsucker was still not recovered, and the chasing field was gaining on him. Time to ease up and sit in, thought the Wheelsucker, who was concerned that he would still be so blown when caught that he would go straight off the back on the climb.

So the Wheelsucker sat up, sat in, and then it was time to climb again. They’ll hurt me bad, thought the Wheelsucker, but with encouragement from Tim he made it up the climb last but in contact with the main field, and moved up on the descent again. The other rider was still off the front trying for the solo win.

A lap later – two to go – the Wheelsucker was feeling better and wondering why the field was not chasing down the lone leader. The field crested the climb and no one pushed on the descent. The Wheelsucker tried a Jay Murphy move, pedal hard for a few strokes to accelerate, get everyone moving, and immediately pull off. And it worked! Half way down the descent the Wheelsucker was tucked in third wheel behind two riders who were going fast. Coming out of the sweeping right it was only a short distance to the leader and the three sprinted across. And suddenly, with 1.5 laps to go the Wheelsucker was in a four rider break with a small gap.

The Wheelsucker sat in as long as he could, but was finally shamed into taking a pull part way up the climb. He pulled through and found himself leading as the four crossed the start/finish line to start the final lap. The four started the descent, but this time the field had decided to bring it back and the four were caught on the descent. The Wheelsucker tucked in on a wheel, followed around the backstretch and then realizing he really had nothing left, eased up and did not contest the climb and sprint on the last lap. He rolled across last in the group, good for 17th overall.

This A race did not have the fireworks and did not seem quite as hard as the end of season A race the Wheelsucker recalled, but his average power was slightly higher. Despite finishing last out of the pack, 2 or 3 riders had been dropped and finished behind him. The Wheelsucker was thrilled to have attacked, thrilled to have gotten a gap, and thrilled that he had been making moves in the final laps, instead of just hanging on trying to finish with the pack.

After the race Tim told the Wheelsucker that his attacks had made the last laps easier for Tim and Mark, as they did not need to do any work and Tim was gracious enough to say that his 7th place finish (2nd cat 3) was made easier by the Wheelsucker’s efforts. Mark was 12th (7th cat 3).

In the concurrent "B" race, Patrick Hogan (who does not show up on the results for some reason) and Steve Owens were in a good break but were caught. Blown from their efforts they had little left for the sprint. Steve was 21st, Patrick's finish is not on the results and Mike Faber was 24th, but 6th cat 5.

In the "C" race Nich Caddenhead and Aidan Palmer were 6th and 7th, and Andrew Schindler was 12th.

Wheelsucker Race Data:
57:20 time
242 watts average, 933 max, 299 normalized.
152bpmm 95rpm, 23.71mph

Results: https://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2011-1014


The Wheelsucker’s Thoughts:

He is working so hard trying to hold a wheel on the climb, and is head down, not looking up the road, that he is not as aware of what is happening at the front. The Wheelsucker needs to look around more.

When riders who are good at jumping go at a difficult part of the course, it is very very hard or even impossible for the Wheelsucker to go with them. Jumping just before the top of the climb is an obvious place, but the Wheelsucker just does not have anything left to go with, at the top of the climb. An alternative may be going when he can, getting a gap, and hoping one or more riders come across to him.

Aging Wheelsuckers need to warm up even more than everyone else. The Wheelsucker needs to bring rollers or an indoor trainer for a better warmup.

Tour of Washington County Stage RaceA Wheelsucker Special Report

Long before the wheelsucker "took up" bicycle racing (if you can call what he does bicycle racing), he would watch the Tour de France on a friend's TV and marvel at what those pros could do. His view of bicycle racing was largely formed by watching TdF coverage. The wheelsucker had no idea what a crit was.

And now the wheelsucker is himself a "bicycle racer". And he is not going to be selected for a grand tour or a pro team (and truth be known should probably not have been upgraded to a cat 3), but he CAN race a stage race, because here in MABRA-land we have one stage race, the Tour of Washington County. The wheelsucker was eligible for the cat 3, the cat 3/4 35+, even the 123, but knowing that he was somewhat of a "pretend" cat 3, he chose the 45+ race, joining Ace McDermott, Mike Brown and Ted Harris in that field.

It is a long drive to the Hagerstown area (Smithburg MD for the road race), but the 45+ race started at 16:05, so it was easy to get there ahead of time.

Saturday June 19th, Smithburg MD, 14:00: It was hot and humid. The 123 prologue had gone off at 8:00AM, but by the time their road race started it was rather hotter, and the attrition in that field was significant. The race officials decided to shorten several of the afternoon races, so the combined 45+/55+ race changed from a short four lap (of a six mile loop) to a nearly ridiculous three lap race that was shorter than most crits.

Last year in a combined 35+/50+ field two riders had gone the moment the neutral rollout was over, and they were never seen again. This year ABRT's Mike Brown pushed the pace during the rollout and Ace pushed the wheelsucker over and forward in a gesture that even the wheelsucker understood meant he was to get to the front NOW, so he got on Mike's wheel and was second at the left turn that starts the race.

With only three short laps there was no time for the strong men to lose, and the pace was going from the beginning. It was not too bad on the flats and the downhills, but each of the steeper climbs was one of just a handful of opportunities for the strong men to dispose of hangers-on, and they relished each and every opportunity. There were also attacks off the front that had to be countered, though the wheelsucker was usually able to follow wheels on these. The climbs were another matter. When the pace ramped up it was pedal hard enough to stay on, or be dropped. The wheelsucker was OK on one of the false flat climbs but the two steeper/longer climbs had him at or past his limits each time, with gaps opening and frantic chasing to get back on a wheel before it was too late.

At one point, on the false flat climb, the wheelsucker pulled through to the front and no one followed. Feeling slighted the wheelsucker slowed the pace down to something he could sustain and waited for someone to pull through; no one did. So the wheelsucker eased up a little more and waited for a move. When it came, it was Mike Brown and another rider jumping left. Feeling good the wheelsucker sprinted (well, sprinted for the wheelsucker) after them, hoping to catch on and thinking that he would happily bury himself in a break with Mike (or Ace) in the hope of staying away. The wheelsucker initially had the gap behind him and was slowly gaining on the two in front, but unknown to the wheelsucker Grant Soma had decided two ABRTers trying to get up the road was one too many and Grant had jumped out after the wheelsucker and closed up on him. The wheelsucker belatedly realized what was happening and sat up, forcing Grant to come around him, but from that point Grant was able to get to the two in front and neutralize the attack. Oops, mistake number one for the wheelsucker; he should have kept going easy at the front and then tried to get a wheel when someone else started to chase.

The next time through the same area the wheelsucker was riding third or fourth wheel with Art Brown riding second and Randy Thrasher to his left. Art was riding second wheel to an EVO rider who slowly rode away, with Art making no apparent effort to stay on his wheel. The wheelsucker watched this happen and wondered why, but nearly 100% of his effort and energy were devoted to hanging on, so he wasn't looking for reasons to expend more energy. Then a voice behind him yelled "close it!" to which the wheelsucker retorted that he was looking at two BAR Champions (Art and Randy) and THEY could close it. The voice behind did not like that response, and after extricating himself from being boxed in, Mike Brown jumped around and closed the gap, with everyone in the lead group accelerating to follow. Later the wheelsucker was told that the rider rolling off the front easily was Mike Bradbury (probably the strongest TTer in the field) and that he and Art had exchanged words a few minutes earlier, so this was a planned move. Oops!

The hardest climb of the loop is a false flat that leads to a climb that ends in a short wall, almost at the very end of each lap. This climb is followed by a dip and a second lower roller, then a descent to the right turn to begin the next lap (at the end of the last lap the field goes straight to the finish at the high school). This was the climb that was shedding the most riders. On the last lap, knowing this was the last hard climb before the finish, the strong men went even harder. The wheelsucker dug deep and desperately tried to hang on while several others were gapped, but at the top the wheelsucker was completely spent and a gap of about 2-3 bike lengths had opened. The lead group accelerated down the dip with the wheelsucker trying to spin it up to get enough speed to catch the draft, but not quite getting on. From there to the finish the wheelsucker was in oxygen debt, hyperventilating and going at 100% of whatever little he had left, trying to close the two bike length gap, but he couldn't quite do it. The gap opened up to three to four bike lengths on one of the bumps on the way to the finish, and the sprint started at the base of the last climb with the wheelsucker about four lengths behind Randy Thrasher. The wheelsucker cannot sprint at the best of times, and this was now the worst of times. Art Brown, owner of one the best snap sprints in MABRA, and a lightweight at 135 pounds put everyone into slow motion as he launched, with Ace going after him. The group spread out slightly on this short last climb/sprint. Art won with Ace close behind, while Mike Brown rolled by Grant Soma for a close third. The wheelsucker has been told that Randy Thrasher cannot sprint, and he was in fact last in the lead group, but was still opening up a gap on the knackered wheelsucker.

At the finish it was Art Brown, Ace McDermott, Mike Brown, rest-of-group-to-Randy Thrasher in same time, and the wheelsucker 10 seconds back. The wheelsucker consoled himself thinking that he had given it everything he had during the race, could not have done any better in the sprint, and that several well known strong riders had gone off the back on the last hard climb and the closest was 35 seconds behind the wheelsucker. It was a good showing for ABRT, the only team with three riders in the top eight, and with finishes of 2,3,8. DC Velo had two riders in the top eight at 5th and 7th. Ted Harris rode strong and though gapped finished not far behind the lead group.

With time gaps hard to open on the road race and the crit, and only some limited time bonuses on the table, the time trial would be critical for the leaders. The trouble was that three of the riders in the lead seven at the same time, were renowned time trialists. Mike Bradbury, Grant Soma and Randy Thrasher were all known as very strong time trialists, and Art Brown was not slow on a TT bike either. ABRT had two very strong riders in Ace and Mike, but Mike did not have a TT bike. The wheelsucker was generally better at time trialing than road races and crits, and was hoping to gain time on some of his rivals, but was not expecting to gain time on the strong time trialists.

Sunday June 20th, Boonsboro MD, 06:45: Boonsboro was just about dead to the world Sunday morning. No cafes or restaurants were open, and it was only when driving up to the TT start area that hundreds of riders and volunteers could be seen preparing. The first riders were off at 7:00AM. The wheelsucker had to deal with a flat tire (a tube died while he was pumping up his tires), which along with the frequent stress-caused bathroom breaks, limited his warmup time. 08:14:30 came all too soon, and the wheelsucker rolled out of the TT start house and up the first hill. Thirty seconds behind him was time trial legend Randy Thrasher. The adrenalin kicked in and just like he does on every TT start (the wheelsucker never seems to learn) he went out hard, rationalizing that he could recover after the climb, on the first descent. At 57 seconds into the race the wheelsucker was still averaging 416 watts (hint, this is WAAAY over what an aging wheelsucker can sustain) as he crested the hill and backed off. But it was not much of a descent and the wheelsucker did not get much of a recovery. The organizers had shortened the TT somewhat, perhaps to make it less decisive in the overall GC. Most of the way through the outbound leg the wheelsucker checked his average power and saw 300 watts (hint, this is still rather over threshold for the wheelsucker). The wheelsucker's challenge would be to hold that average on the way back. The turnaround is at the top of a climb, so a spent and hyperventilating wheelsucker slowed and made the turn, realizing as he turned that a rider was right on his wheel. The wheelsucker had past at least two riders on the outbound leg, but one of them was Super Dave riding a road bike, and in the quick glimpse the wheelsucker had he was quite sure it was not Super Dave behind him. The return leg started with a descent (back down the climb up to the turnaround) and the wheelsucker tried to be fast, aero and not use too much power on the descent, trying to recover. Up ahead he could see more riders in range. Up the next climb a rider – it turned out to be Randy Thrasher – went by pushing considerably more watts than the wheelsucker wanted to push, or was able to push. The wheelsucker slowed briefly to avoid drafting and grabbed a drink from his water bottle. Randy was clear at the crest. But then an interesting thing happened; the wheelsucker backed off the power for the descent and went into his aero-while-recovering mode, and started to reel in Thrasher. A little while later, the wheelsucker was alongside Thrasher, being careful not to draft, and then he was ahead again. The next two riders were just ahead and the wheelsucker threaded his way through them, and then on the next climb Thrasher went by pushing a lot of watts and looking a bit like Jens Voight on a TT bike; bike rocking, big gear slow cadence, lots of power. The gap to Randy slowly opened as the wheelsucker struggled to hold power. On the last climb to the finish the wheelsucker ramped the power back up to 400+, but did not gain on Randy and was passed by one more rider shortly before the finish. He did not know if this was a rider he had passed earlier, or another rider that had started behind him.

An exhausted wheelsucker figured out his time was about 23:47 (it was actually 23:47.4). While this lost him time against the strong TTers like Mike Bradbury (22:50.04), Grant Soma (22:59.4), Randy Thrasher (24:09.3), Art Brown (23:41.8), and Ace McDermott (23:34.6), it did move him up a place into 7th on GC, as Paul Mittelstadt had 24:39.6). The big loser was Mike Brown (23:57.7) who dropped to behind the wheelsucker after riding hard on a road bike with clip ons rather than a TT bike like all the other stronger riders.

Ted Harris went 28:37.8, while MABRA legend Super Dave went 31:15.7 on a road bike.

Brian Fouche had graciously allowed some of the ABRTers to stay at his condo, and Mike, Ted, Ali and Sara cooled off and ate breakfast while relaxing and preparing for the crit.

The 45+ crit was at 14:15, which was not nearly enough time to fully relax and recover (the wheelsucker needed days and weeks, not hours)... The ABRT 45+ team had a tough job to get Ace onto the podium. He was about 40 seconds behind the rider in front of him, and there were only about 17 seconds available in time bonuses. Ace needed to ride away from the strongest riders in the field to get on the podium and they had no intention of letting him do this. It was a short crit, and it started fast and got faster. There were lots of surges and each one found the wheelsucker digging deep, desperately trying to hold on to a wheel near the back of the lead group. Other riders were unable to hang and were going OTB, but the wheelsucker did not see them, as all he was fixating on was the wheel in front. Several times there was a split in front of the wheelsucker, but each time the wheelsucker thought his goose was cooked he realized Randy Thrasher was also behind the split and he grabbed Randy's wheel. Randy would ride hard at the front and sooner or later the lead group would slow and Randy would lead the back half up to the leaders. Slowly the size of the lead group dwindled. The wheelsucker was usually at or near the back. Early in the race Mike Brown had been behind him, but somehow Mike knew when he had to move up to avoid the splits (and was able to do it!), so now when the lead group was together the wheelsucker was often riding on Mike's wheel.

As the laps counted down there were sprints for time bonuses and sprints for light beer, none of which the wheelsucker contested (he couldn't). But each was a surge that somehow had to be countered. Then it happened, there was another gap and no Randy Thrasher. The wheelsucker struggled to get across, but the gap opened, the wheelsucker tired and he was OTB. He chased down the hill, but could not close and the gap grew coming out of the sweeping right turn. The motorcycle ref rolled by on the backstretch (this is next to a cemetery, which seemed highly appropriate). The wheelsucker checked behind hoping for some help, but the next rider was another 4-5 bike lengths and fading fast. The wheelsucker had lost hope and was resigned to his fate, but then a miracle occurred. The leaders approached the hard right turn and slowed. No one wanted to drive the pace at that point, and amazingly the wheelsucker chased back on, yelling at the moto ref to warn him, and swept around the sharp right turn and used his very last watts to sprint up to the wheel of the last place rider in the lead group and held on up the hill.

About two laps later, with four to go the lead group slowed again at the same turn and the wheelsucker sensed an opportunity. Knowing that every rider in the lead group would probably outsprint him, and his only chance to beat any of them was to get off the front, and even suspecting that the gaps behind the group were enough that even if caught and dropped, he might hold his position, and that it might help Ace and Mike if they did not have to work 'cause a team mate was off the front, the wheelsucker went into his sprint (well, sprint for a wheelsucker), passed the entire lead group on the inside and jumped into the sharp turn as hard as he could, then sprinted up the hill through the start/finish line. And an amazing thing happened! It worked! A little while later the wheelsucker sneaked a peak behind him and saw a significant gap. The next time through the start finish line it was three laps to go. The wheelsucker could hear his team mates cheering him by name on from the sidelines, and others cheering the ABRT rider. Announcer Joe Jefferson was checking his notes for what unknown rider this was, and was referring to him by number only.

Digging deep and going hard, while resting on the fast downhill, the wheelsucker rounded the sharp corner still with a gap; hammering up the hill the lap counter said 2, and Joe Jefferson had checked his notes and was now yelling the wheelsucker's name, while the wheelsucker was still hearing his team mates and the crowed cheering him on (the wheelsucker is still getting shivers up and down his spine thinking about this). Around the right at the top of the hill, hammer the flat, and get it going on the fast downhill to the right sweeper… the wheelsucker was dying, but giving it everything he had… around the sharp right and through the start finish line on the climb… a peak or two had revealed the gap was closing, and then the wheelsucker heard an excited Joe Jefferson yelling "he’s got a team mate coming across!!!!!!" and in a blur Mike Brown went by on the left shortly after crossing the start finish line, with just under one lap to go. The wheelsucker had given it everything he had. He had probably gone too hard and had nothing left. He could not find the watts or will to try to get Mike's wheel. A few meters later the chase caught him too. This was at the top of the hill and wheelsucker tried to catch on at the back, but did not really make it. Gapped by a bike length or two the wheelsucker struggled to stay in contact with DC Velo's Paul Mittelstadt ahead, and could do nothing when Paul let a gap open in front of him. Around the last sharp right and into the finishing straight the entire group ahead was sprinting. Mittelstadt sat up but the wheelsucker came to race and he was going to sprint even if it was pointless, so he launched, passed Mittelstadt and crossed the line second last out of the lead group, well behind the real sprinters. It was the very best he could do.

The time gaps from the Time Trial proved decisive. Ace could not gain time on the riders in front of him and finished fifth. Mike Bradbury won, Grant Soma was second, Randy Thrasher third, Art Brown fourth, Ace fifth. Winning the crit with a great 1.5 lap move had pulled Mike Brown into 6th, and the wheelsucker was 7th on GC. ABRTers had gone 2,3 in the RR and won the crit, but the TT was decisive.

GC Results: http://www.avcracing.com/uploads/Masters_45__GC.pdf

TT Results http://www.avcracing.com/uploads/Masters45TT.pdf

RR Results: http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?event=2010-1573