Sunday the 16th. Just plain ol bored

Well, it was only me out there Sunday. There was a dusting of snow on the ground. Some ice underneath it. A dog chased me ( paced me!? ) for half the ride. And that pace was a lot better than the week previous... You guys are slow, and weak, and sissies.... A little snow keeps you away.... oh brother....

On a more hi tech note, check out:

http://www.cerevellum.com/

The Cerevellum's main unit mounts front and center on your handlebars, and then you plug in USB modules that give you GPS capability, heart rate readings, and power output is even possible. It even gives you eyes in the back of your head.

Its digital rearview mirror feeds video onto its screen from a tiny camera mounted on the bike's handlebar plug or on the seat post. This thing is just in the prototype stage thus far.

The pricing ain't cheap. A fully tricked out system will cost you as much as a laptop, with the main unit costing a hefty $300, a speedometer/odometer (cyclometer) module is $60, $200 for GPS and then it's $800 for that power meter. Ouch

Hope fully for all you guys, this sunday will be acceptable weatherwise.... 60's, sunny, dry.

CheshireCross 07

If i could use this forum to just say thank you to all that came out for the Cross race. All the Stage 1 guys... It was awesome. I have already gotten a couple of emails about "the hill" and how fun a scene it was. You guys know how to make a good time out of it...Thanks again!

Hunter

Sunday the 28th

The battle to bring the Hacker down continues.....

Great ride on a crisp morning... Nothing like the Sleeping Giant on an October morning to remind you you're are alive.

Props to French Casey, Rondo, Mike McG, Hunter P, Julio L, Brian K, Chris C and Eric M... All for not letting the day's ride be some sedate romp thru the country side. John Gregory gets honorable mention (for choice of attire).

But still, the one to laugh in the end was Jacob Hacker, who repeatedly attacked and accelerated away from chasers, breakers, and gappers.

Early on Brooksvale Rd, Casey, Hunter and Dave McC (!?) from Epic Velo rode away from the sleepy bunch. By the time Mountain rd ended the pack had responded and started chasing. Hacker went to work after the light and kept it alive with Hunter. But they would sit up and wait well before reaching RT 322.

After chasing different riders ( Rondo, Curtis, Mike, Julio ) along and past Mount Southington, Hacker, Julio, John G slipped away unnoticed on Welch Rd. Hunter tried to bridge but was too late, Hacker was gone for the first time. Everyone came together again for the lights on Rt 229.

Then riding up Peck Ln He slipped away again, this time with Chris C & 1 other rider. He quickly sped away from the others and was gone for the second time and not to caught.

Oh wont someone stop his reign of terror......

Tuesday the 16th

A good ride to end the year.

8 or 9 guys out. Good to see Curtis ok after his attack by a car.

Curtis and Hunter were on cross bikes as a sign of the racing to come. Eric M finally took out his $2700+ Campy Bora Wheelset out for a spin. He said he was thinking of racing cross on them*. Anthony wore the Stage 1 kit again, proving he was not just borrowing it from someone and he is actually going to be winning races with it next spring....


Next week? It's hard to imagine anyone will be out. But that's ok. It was a great season of Tuesday night rides.



*may or may not be true

Tuesday the 16th

Ok, so its on!

The Tuesday night World Champs!

5:00 PM

see you there.

Tuesday the 16th

So what does everyone think about tomorrow?

I say 5:00 - who agrees? 5:15?

Lets get one more ride in and then thats it..... NO MORE.

Chris?
Mike?
Curtis?

who's in?

Tuesday the 9th

Update coming guys -

Good ride tho despite crazy darkness.

If anyone wants to sum up the ride in 10-100 words or more - go for it

Tuesday the 2nd

Low turnout for the early ride today. Maybe about 35 guys and gals rolled out for one of the last few remaining Throwdowns.

Some notable missing:

Mike McG
Joe Kubisek
J Hacker
Tall John
Nerac
French Casey

But we did get to ride along with Anthony Parent from Anthem. Great to see him out.

With a small group, everyone was going to have bring their "A" game or else things were sure to split up.

Parent, got things started with a strong surge on North Brooksvale Rd. Peter P and Hunter P from Anthem and Chris C and Todd H from Stage 1 were marking him well. The pace was good running up til Mountain Rd. Parent did know about the turn and had to double back a bit. Hunter P saw this and held up for his teammate. Chris Butler from Epic Velo was in the back too and sat up when Hunter asked him to wait. By the time the 3 got together they were 100 yards back. No one was waiting in the field and it actually sped up a bit. In the field Keltic rider Eric Merrill and Target Training were driving it along. The 3 had their work cut out for them but managed to slowly close the gap by the light on West Main. Lots of burned matches for all of them.
Onto Moss farms where the pace came down a bit. Turning onto Jarvis was slower than usual and there was not too much acceleration upto the Marion corner. Turning onto Knotter and into the industrial park, things got going again a bit. but pretty much all the riders were able to stay in and the pace was reasonable. Toward the end of Knotter the pace was too slow for Julio L, who decided to go off on his own, that got things going a bit.
Going up the hill on West Johnson going toward Reinhard, Hunter P put in a attack, that drew out Chris C and Julio L and one other rider (!?). They got a small gap going but were caught as we all dipped into the little valley on Reinhard. Anthony Alessio then attacked up the hill and guys were digging deep to get up the hill fast.
Nothing really huge happened up till Route 10, and that's when the ride became the Anthony and Anthony show. First up was Parent, flying up Rt 10 by Cheshire Park (location for CheshireCross07, register now!). He rounded up Gregg F from Epic and Hunter P and set off with his head down. The rest of the ride was able to get on their wheels tho.
Next up was Alessio, who pretty much destroyed everyone, on the now regular intermediate sprint point, up the Stop and Shop hill. The peleton was able to stay together but traffic in the middle of town would make it difficult for some.
Parent then decided to go as fast as possible thru the second half of Cheshire. Guys like Chris C, Ron Fantano, Hunter P, Chris B and Eric M were along for the ride and did their part to keep the speed really fast. By the time all the traffic lights were past, there was a group of about 7 guys that had split from the rest of the field. Cars and lights helped make the split happen, and most were left to chase hard. Dillon P from Epic and a Target Training (!?) rider always had the lead group in sight, but were never going to be able to pull them back. There were others who got caught even further back.
Then to seal the deal, Alessio pretty much rode away from the rest of them coming up to Shepard Ave in Hamden. No sprint needed. Only a couple were able to keep him close. Def one of the more stronger finishes we have seen in a while.

Great ride with a different twist, being smaller in number. Going thru town earlier, with increased traffic was a downer tho.

Next week will be at 5:30 again until we hear otherwise. Maybe one more week is possible before its too dark at 6:45......?

Anyone not racing in Eastern CT on sunday should check out the Sunday morning Sleeping Giant ride. This past week's ride was great (and fast).

Tuesday the 2nd

Tomorrow, the ride starts at 5:30 on account of the dark.

See you all there.

The week of the 23rd

Well -- we are sitting in the airport - waiting to get back home.

Sorry for no recap about last weeks ride - we hear it was a good ( fast ) one with a successful break.

We will try to post some pictures from Interbike soon. ( sneak peak - SRAM is doing away with triple chainrings for Mountain bikes - going to mostly double chain ring set-ups )

Tuesday the 18th

Team Nerac attacks but can not break the spirit of the Amateurs

Great ride tonight guys! One of the fastest ever! Gregg F never saw less than 26 mph on Mountain Rd. Dillon finished with a near 25 mph average. Hunter P finished with a 319 watt average. Riders were spit out all over the place! Good times!

Aiden Charles and Chris "just a top ten" Jones showed up for tonights ride. Guess all us unpaid's are a good substitute as there were no races for them to stomp this past weekend.

The Nerac colors drove the peleton to a frenzy by Mountian Rd, with Jones sneaking up from the rear on the way down Brooksvale. For a guy so skinny, he sure gets seen quick enough. Guys like Chris Crowell, Curtis Easton, Anthony Alessio, Jacob Hacker, and Chris Butler were quick to lift the pace to what the NRC seasoned guys are used to. Ok, well maybe not that fast.
By the end of Mountain Rd there was some splintering going on. 3 groups just started to form from the sheer speed. Tho by the light all was together.
Onto Moss farms were Charles and Jones still were up front setting a very healthy tempo. Eric M, Mike McG, and crazy Chris from Stage 1 were up there adding fuel to the fire. Turning onto Jarvis the pace slowed for a kentucky second and then shot up as Alessio, Charles, Hacker, and Hunter P brought everyone around the corner onto Marion. Between trying to keep up with the pace and keeping an eye on the Pro's, no one was escaping today.
As the ride turned onto Knotter, pace still very high, a gap opened up when a rider* sat up. Jones, Charles, Joe K, Peter P and a couple of others (?!) looked to have broken the elastic. Credit Chris C with doing the lion's share of pulling the group back before the turn onto W Johnson.
Flying up the hill and down the backside on W Johnson, the group had a chance to catch breath. Right as the ride turned onto Reinhard, Joe K had a dig at the front. This set up a launch pad on the hill for the always dangerous Steve Gray. This in turn setup another good spot for ( surprise, surprise ) Hacker to have a go. Hunter P was on his wheel for the free ride. The two reached the top of Reinhard in familiar fashion, with a gap. Though it was to be very short lived. Joe K, Mike McG and Steve G covered on the descent.
All was normal till Route 10. The team work broke down a bit up past Cheshire Park ( site of CheshireCross 07...register now ) as Easton put down a good pull up the hill. Going up the hill before Stop n Shop, in a real show of terror, Charles and Jones went mano a mano for the sprint. Though Alessio, Hacker, Chris C and maybe 1 or 2 more (!?) were able to go with. This lead to Chris C, Alessio and Hacker getting a bit of a gap by the center of town. The situation was made worse by a crash right past Stop n Shop. 3 guys went down, names unknown (!?).
Alessio ended up waiting, Chris C, HAcker, and Julio L went on. The peleton was slow to get back together and back up to speed. But once it did, Charles, Jones, Mike McG, Hunter P and Hiroko Shimada from the Target Training Women's team made sure that no one was going to be at full strength for the finale.
Chris C did not* win the 2 up race to to the end of the ride.

Again, a great ride despite the crash. post your comments and help fill in the gaps. Hopefully we will see more of the Nerac boys. Before they get signed to bigger teams.



*may or may not be true.

Tuesday the 11th

Rain rain go away, come back again another day.....

Here's who showed up ( aka: the real men ):

John Gregory
Eric Merrill
Greg Ciocci (!?)
Chris Crowle
Jesse K
Brian Wirtz
Brian Koski
Hunter P
Greg from Zephr !?
Little T Alessio
French Casey
Curtis "i'll just hang back" Easton
Todd H
Crazy Chris !?

i think thats everyone.....

Turning off route 10 Eric M & Todd H were setting good pace. Chris C jumped turning onto Mountain Rd, everyone followed ok. Alessio drilled it going up past Higgins on Mountain rd. Hunter P followed with an attack, but he was caught by Cornwall Ave.

Toward the end of Mountain, Chris C and Brian W moved off the front just in time to catch a fast green light. Everyone else stopped. After we got going again, we found Chris had sat up, Brian had not. So ok, lets chase a bit.
Todd H and Chris C, with help from Little T were driving everyone along. They nearly made a split happen going up Jarvis onto Marion. Next up was the slick corner turning onto Knotter. Speed was good, traction not... With Wirtz in view about 10 seconds up the road, Eric M went down. Could've been worse. We pause to make sure his Zipps are ok, and get going again. Wirtz is not going to be caught unless he waits.
Turning onto Rienhard, Alessio and Chris C have a go at it. Todd H and Hunter P give chase. Hunter P, pulling a play from Jacob Hacker's book, goes past them all with a burst right at the top of the hill. he gets a gap that he keeps till after the train tracks on Sandbank Rd.
Everyone makes it around the corner ok, back onto Route 10. Alessio and Easton ( others ?) are now drilling it toward the center of town. I'll let someone else post the rest of the ride.
We will cut and paste it into this entry...

Tuesday the 11th

It doesnt look so great for tonight guys.

the hour by hour forecast has rain down to a 40% chance by 5 pm. So there is a chance that it will be dry by then.

Going to ride regardless? Let everyone know of your plans by commenting here.

Tuesday the 4th

Tonight everybody musta been too hung over or something. Labor day made everyone soft.

The ride was a bit on the tame side... Just a bit mind you, it wasnt like the week prior.

Tonight the camera was rolling atop Hunter P's noggin. We were rushed after the ride, so we havent seen it. Its currently housed in the vault at Cheshire Cycle. Rest assured that the possible footage of Chris Crowle flipping off a soccer mom in an oversized SUV is going to keep us looking forward to opening the shop tomorrow.

So on to tonights action...

Again, from the start, we had a couple of attackers charging out of the parking lot. A couple of Keltic boys ( Probably Jesse K and Eric Merril. Honestly, we weren't paying attention... To busy making sure our lids were straight and there were no chianring tattoos on our legs. Gotta look good for the camera... ) also with them was the youngster Kyle "dont mess with the Fro yo" Foley. The 3 sped off and nicely got things moving along. A lone rider went down (?!) at the corner of Still Hill and Brooksvale. Everybody paused for a second, he was ok. By the time the ride got to Mountain Rd everybody was back together.

Right as the 3 were caught, Kyle stepped on it again, but the pace was high and his solo effort was swallowed pretty quickly. The usual suspects were driving things along. Flying up the next set of bumps in the road, Peter P and Joe K were drilling it. Going past Cornwall Ave the front of the peleton was treated to the aforementioned SUV cutoff. This got some people motivated and Hunter P and Chris C started turning screws.

Onto Moss farms where again, Kyle was looking to get off the front with a new rider from Keltic. Credit Kyle for being the days most aggressive rider. Also trying to sneak off the front with the two was Joe K, but it is pretty clear now that most us know the power Joe has, and therefore his acceleration was marked well by Peter P. Jacob Hacker made a huge jump to get up to them and Hunter P tagged along too. The 5 had what could be called the day's most successful break. But no one punched it once the pace slowed and going in the chicane before Marion a couple of riders, Eric M, Chris C, Ed Angeli and others were well on their way to making contact. Past the chicane and up the hill, Joe K, Eric Merril and the only guy on a Storck every week (?!) were driving hard. This set-up on the hill the now weekly surge from Hacker. Tho this time, Chris C and Hunter P were laying it down too and by the top of the hill turning onto Marion, there was little or no gap. Gonna have to be more creative next time boys... Ed Angeli and Crazy Chris from Stage 1 kept the tempo high past the hill. Then Tall John and Peter P found a gap and went for it. Gregg F from CCR\Epic jumped across but everybody was coming together for the industrial park section.

All the way up to Reihard it was conservative, even bunching up a bit. But once past the corner, going uphill, Hacker punched it again and Chris C, Hunter P and the gentleman with an Ibike cpu were the only ones to follow. This led to a small group forming by Schoolhouse, but again, no one wanted to work together and by the time everyone was getting close to Peck Ln, it was together again.

Heading back on Route 10. Hunter P drilled it hard going by the Park, he peeled off and watched as the surge nearly sprung Mike McG, Peter P and a couple of Keltic boys. But a stop light up the way would stop everyone.

Nothing too exciting on the back. A Target Training rider ( not Curtis Easton ) tried his hand at the solo move, but was brought back fast. For the finale, the rider with the Ibike (?!) lept out with about 700 meters to go. Eric Merrill gave chase at first, then came Mike McG and Hacker going FAST and quickly passing. Hunter P at the last moment got onto Hacker's wheel. Hacker gets the standing sprint, Hunter P for the seated kind.

We will work on getting the video edited and posted if it is any good. May be a couple of days though.

Tuesday the 28th

Good ride tonight guys ( and girls ).

Certainly not sluggish by any means. Missing notably were Mike McG, Peter P and Craig from Anthem.

Others were still coming off a super hard race, the Middletown Grand Prix. Steve Grey finished 2nd in his race, Chris Crowle took a 3rd place. Ed Angeli a 2nd, and our own Joe K took 2nd and subsequently upgraded to the 3's.

Right from the start 3 riders were being silly and driving straight past Wentworths, creating a gap. They were:
Hunter P from Anthem
Eric Merril from Keltic
And the still currently unknown Keltic rider with the silver Bianchi. ( can someone fill me in )

The 3 worked up a bit of a gap. Tho Hunter admits to being the dead weight in the break, suffering from a crash over the weekend. The usual suspects kept it close, Stage 1 and Target Training riders, specifically Curtis Easton. By the time the ride got to Mountain rd, they were caught.

Jacob Hacker went straight to work, but couldn't find anyone to help his breakaway cause.

The ride turned onto Moss Farms still very together. It got going single file again for the chicane turn and heading up to Marion, Hacker and a rider from Stage 1, ( is it Matt Incong...? with a tatoo on his right leg?) were flying. Gregg Ferraris from Epic Velo was chasing and so was Hunter P. Anthony Alessio and Chris C jumped on board & quickly dispatched with ninja like quickness, the thread of a Hacker up the road.

The ride was sedate for a while. It wasn't until the climb by Bob's Distribution Center on West Johnson that Hacker accelerated again. This time taking Chris C and the gentlemen riding a white and blue Mercer (?!) with an Ibike cpu. Hunter jumped up to the group and it looked good, but they stalled on the climb up Rienhard.

Hacker paused while Joe K and the unknown Keltic rider came up and then took off again, and the trio had a small gap going by the corner and descent of Schoolhouse Rd. Joe K had a mechanical issue at the bottom of the descent and called it a day as the remaining peleton came screaming by. Hacker and the Keltic rider were charging. On the corner of Peck Ln, the peleton had to pause for cars. Going up Peck Ln no one was too eager to close the gap to the 2 in front. Ed Angeli then simply powered up the hill, leaving others to sprint for his wheel. Still the 2 would not give up. Credit them with the day's most successful attack. It wasn't until the climb past Cheshire Park on RT 10 that they came back.

Going thru town, not too exciting. After getting past the stop lights of South Cheshire, Curtis Easton with balls forged from brass, attacked on his own. He built up a good gap on the sleepy pack. And then, in one of the most team like efforts ever seen during the Tuesday Throwdown, 3 Keltic riders were at the front end, chasing hard. Curtis stayed out there longer than most wouldve been able to. He was caught just over the Hamden town line. From there it was Hacker, Alessio and Hunter P and a couple of others powering thru to the finish. Apparently we are giving the sprint to Alessio.

Good ride! Please, fill in what i missed. Make comments, give highlights.....

Tuesday the 21st - RAIN

As we watched the radar all day long, we knew it would be close. the clouds and the rain looked like they would be getting past us just in time for 6 pm. Too bad it wasn't a touch sooner.

Gregg and Hunter at the last second decided to go and ride. They left the shop at 5:56 and rode the course backwards. They were greeted by 8 other riders on the Hamden \ Cheshire line.

Might as well list off everybody, they deserve props for riding in the cold wet.

Mike McG
Rondo
Big John Interlandi
Todd from Stage 1, sporting a old sckool Banesto kit
Chris Crowell

the immortal John Gregory, complaining about the brutal century that he did with Chris Crowell a couple of days ago.

A young Keltic rider ( sorry i dont know his name, maybe someone can fill me in )
Dave from Leheigh University
Gregg from CCR \ Epic Velo
Hunter P

Can't really comment too much on the ride. Hunter P took a couple of flyers. John attacked on Moss Farms, Hunter joined him. That was the most interesting detail of the night. The two of them gave the 8 something to chase and they ended up getting caught as they were exiting the Industrial Park area. That led to a counter move by Mike McG, Chris C and Hunter. They ended up slowing down in time for the group to come back together by route 10.

Def a down nite for the Sleeping Giant Ride. But how about this for a detail; Dave McCormick the week before was cool enough to count how many riders were out.

For the ride on the 14th...... 80 !

80 riders barreling down the roads of Cheshire, without any kind of enclosure, during late rush hour. Awesome..... That's more than a lot of races...
And as the consensus has showed, it was the one of the fastest nights ever. Average speed of over 26.5 mph !!!

Hopefully next week it will be like that again.

Tuesday the 14th

If you were to average out the racing category of the strong guys on the ride today, it would be about .7

Lots of horsepower showing up and ready to rumble. Chris Jones & Jacob Hacker were spied in the parking lot talking about how they were going to tear legs off. ( ok, they may have been talking about something else, but that's kinda what ended up happening )

Right away on North Brooksvale Jones powered over a small corner hill and Hacker was with him. Even tho it was early, no one was ready to give the duo much breathing room. Eric Merrill from Keltic and a couple of others (?) went to work to minimize the growing gap. By the time the front end of the ride turned onto Mountain Rd, there was a chase group. Eric, Chris C from Stage 1, Hunter P and Peter P from Anthem were closing the gap. Jones and Hacker didn't let up and really, only Peter P gets credit for the bridge. But the field was coming together. Anthem rider Craig Luekens was playing the giant in the waiting, just riding tempo and keeping things together. Keltic and Stage 1 were also doing a lot of tempo, being the glue that kept things together.

Onto Moss Farms where the pace leveled off a bit. But with the turn onto Marion, a couple of guys got it going again. Anthony "little T" Allessio fired it up and things were single file again turning into the industrial park. Again, despite the presence of big engines in Luekens, Hacker, and Jones, the Kelts and the Bubble boys kept it a true group ride.

Before turning onto Rienhard to run along RT 10, Mike McG from Anthem, never to be left out of a good street fight, ramped it up and turned some screws, putting a bunch of hangers-on in difficulty. This led to a small group forming by the top of the hill before turning onto Schoolhouse. Luekens, Hacker, and Peter P seemed to have a chance at sealing the deal, but the 3 sat up later on Peck Ln and by the time the ride reached RT10 it was all together again.

The ride from then on out was standard issue, a couple of lights to stop for, Anthony attacking on the Stop and Shop hill with Chris Crowle, and a fast run back into Hamden. Traffic proved to be too slow as a couple of times the ride would have to stomp on the brakes to squeeze thru. Credit Hacker with sprint (?) after the Anthem leadout of Mike McG, Luekens, Hunter P, and Peter P.

On the home team front: Another strong ride from Joe K, as he was sporting what looked like a 11-58 on the rear wheel. Joe is prepping for his assualt on Mount Washington this saturday. Joe, we wish u the best on the "Rockpile"

If you have any comments on the ride, or if we got something wrong.... Post it....

tell all your friends

This blog is intended to serve as a open forum for discussion and encouragement. We see the same faces every week on the ride. Hopefully here, we can get to know one another a little better and the group collective will serve to better us all.
The blog also needs you to give your input when you can. We will welcome all comments about the action, the heroics, and the details that make every week different and exciting. So leave your 2 cents and we will all have a fun time.
We know there are only a handfull of tuesday night rides left in 2007, so spread the word and tell your friends to sign on and check out this blog.

See you Tuesday night!

Welcome to the Tuesday night ride....

Welcome to the Tuesday night Sleeping Giant ride blog...

Every Tuesday night, and Sundays too, a bike ride leaves the parking lot of Sleeping Giant state park in Hamden CT on the same course north thru Cheshire and back down after making it to the industrial park section of Cheshire by the Southington town line.

The Tuesday version is fast, with speeds often averaging over 24 mph. There are traddiaiontlly no spots where the ride regroups, though there are a couple of street lights were riders can catch back on after particularly hard spots.

The Sunday version during the summer months is not as well supported, but during the winter months, can draw crowds of over 30. The Sunday ride traditionally goes slower and longer.