Solid ride tonight everyone! the evening of debuts...
Kyle F, Dillon P (sporting a new Scott Addict with “Srampy” - that’s Campy Shifters on a SRAM drive train! Hotness!) and Guido again on the offensive rolling off Route 10. Plenty of legs responded tho, Mason from Dartmouth, Rondo, Hunter P, Gregg F and others. The group of 5 or 6 that jumped hard at first was never far away and by the turn onto Mount Sanford the whole ride was together.
Turning onto North Brookvale saw big jumps from the Empire rider ( still don’t know his name ) and a rider from the Yale Collegiate Team (YCT). The pace again this week for the opening miles was fast fast fast. A couple of flats happened ( we hate flats !). Kyle F and Rondo both hit with em. Peter P slowed to assist.
Coming up to Mountain road, Stage 1, sporting the new yellow and black kit ( The ball bearing boys!? ), were driving the pace. Todd H and Chris C lead the field up the initial riser on MTN rd. After that it was Empire again hitting it hard along with another Yale rider (gerolstiener jersey) and the pace continued to be hot enough so that no one was attacking.
Tall rider from Keltic (?) jumped at the end of mountain road, but the light of course was red and it was all together.
Onto Moss Farms where the Yale riders, along with Chris C and Empire continued to drill it. Dr. Hacker came up briefly to give everyone a shock but then retreated to the I.C.U. A small split actually developed as over the small risers toward the end of Moss Farms. A handful of riders were off the front. Empire, Mason, Jesse from Keltic, and a few others were steam rolling away. Hunter P jumped late to bridge which started a reaction and by the “chicane”, Mike McG, Hacker and Stage 1was stretching things out nicely. All was together for the climb up to Marion rd. A rejuvenated Little T came bounding like a stag past everyone before the turn and kept it motoring along down half the length to Knotter.
Turning onto Knotter - John Gregory came thru going hard and Stage 1 ( Chris C, Julio) kept it up. Again, Empire and the Yalies, doing a great job of making the ride hard. Hopefully they will continue to be regular “throw downers”. Guido again tried to jump off the front, this time with the rider always in the white Look kit (?). But no dice, and by the turn onto West Johnson, Empire and Yale were again at the front doing their best, unfamiliar with the course.
That’s the way it was all the up to Reinhard. Julio was setting a great pace and briefly was riding away but then, on the climb up to Schoolhouse, Little T jumped pretty good. He took Mike McG and Hunter P with him. The 3 had a small gap ( credit Mike McG with the intermediate sprint point ). Going down hill, things came back together tho. Hacker and Chris C had also gassed it on the climb and were stringing things out around the corner.
The ride met up with Peter P & Rondo on Peck ln. Things were fast, nothing exciting happened tho. There was a headwind going down route 10. But that ok when Keltic and Stage 1 are up front setting tempo. Hacker, Mason, Peter P and others contributing. Coming up to Stop n Shop, Little T jumped off the front and collected his 50 sprint points.
Traffic was tough going thru town, a couple of aggressive ( defensive? ) drivers meant that there was some friction. ( lets be nice guys ). But once past all the lights and cars, things opened up. Guido tried once more to jump off the front, but he started from so far back that he was covered nicely once getting to the front.
Everyone rode pretty smoothly into Hamden, Stage 1 (Little T) seemed to be setting up Julio for the finish, but much like highway off-ramps, you always have more room to go than you think. Julio was stuck out front too early (after more unselfish riding from Peter P) and Hunter P jumped second to last. He gets the finish after narrowly holding off the last man to jump, Eric M from Keltic.
Good ride, but too much drama with the traffic and too many flats. Both of which can prolly be attributed to the high speed .
