The Sleeping Giant Ride....Where NRC pros & lowly CatV's ride in (relative) peace.
We had a thinned out crowd of around 40 on this, nearly the longest day of the year. The mood was calm. Maybe everyone is getting ready for New England's own, new "Superweek" of racing that starts with Cox on Saturday.
Turning off RT10, we had a couple of new faces driving it early. Vision Quest Training rider (Rob Ehrman?)and a new rider in blue\yellow kit atop a cyclecross bike with road tires (cx rider). They kept it lively for a couple of minutes till Guido came thru and gunned it. That led to a small group off the front, but that didnt last long as Chris Jones, Chris C and Keltic baddies, Eric M and Greg C brought everyone back. Turning onto Brooksvale, Jones rode off the front. That brought a tizzy to the whole New Haven crew and soon there was a solid lead group. The 2 new guys, Chris C, Jones, a couple of Keltic riders, a Bespeckled Litespeed(?) rider, Hacker and a couple of others for good measure.
Guido tried to jump across as the ride went by Bethany MT Rd. Hunter P was next to jump across and covered the gap going up the hill on Mountain rd. But Rondo, Tall John, and a couple of others had dug in and dragged everyone up. Good to see Peter Petrillo up there (you guys remember him right?). It was all together for the rest of Mountain rd. Jones continued to tempo-wedgie everyone, VQ Rob as well, keeping it real. Cant go without mentioning Stage 1 and Keltic as well, still battling it out for TWC dominance.
Turning onto Moss Farms saw VQ Rob and Hunter P have a go at it. They stayed off the front for an allowable amount of time and by the turn onto Jarvis, it was all back together. Jones, Hacker, and a young dude with a Fuji kit(?) were drilling it uphill toward the corner of Marion. Hunter P snuck on with Tall John and others. This kept things fast into the industrial park as a trio of Stage 1 guys were up front.
Nothing really exciting until the turn onto West Johnson. The presence of Jones keeping everyone alert and ready to go. Hacker jumped on the reinhard hill with Peter P. Pete, who has been hiding in the safety and ease of the East Hartford training Crit, admitted in the press conference tonight that every week he logs on and reads with much delight, what he has been missing here in Hamden\Cheshire. Anyway, its good to have him back. He and Hacker were going for the sprint point no doubt, but Mike McG, who only needs half the hill to catch em, spoiled the fun with a late jump and got to the corner first.
Coming back on Rt 10, Rondo, Keltic, and Jones were all active up front. Hacker was able to get his revenge at the Stop & Shop sprint. A split happened thru the lights of Cheshire's center and about 20 guys got caught back.
At the front, it was VQ Rob, CX rider, Rondo and Stage 1 \Keltic. Jones slid back with a couple of k to go so as to not get mixed up in the amateur carnage. everybody seemed to wind it up a little too soon tho and at the very end it was all Sommerville. Mike McG starting things off with a late jump and Rondo chased him down even later. Peter P tried to get in the action and those 3 round out our podium. On the hill, VQ Rob was pretty much soft pedaling up, Hunter P got up first and a couple of Keltic guys (Morgan and Thompson) came up moments after.
If you count the TWC as a "race", starting with Saturday there's 8 races in the next 9 days. Should be an interesting week.
