Where did all the breakaways go
The attendance was low for this weeks WTC. Maybe around 35. With the heat and humididty being up there, no one was too eager to get off to a flying start.
Guido got things started on Brooksvale and we were off and running. He quickly got a good gap of 12 seconds, as it was just tempo at the front. As we turned onto Mount Sanford a trio of riders, Dave from CCR, a rider with a White bike (bianchi) and Saturn jersey and a Yale rider set off to bridge. They never quite made it up to Guido but by the initial parts of Mountain Rd, all was back together again. Joe K from CCR took a flyer going thru the intersection of Higgans on Mountain Rd. He had a small gap as the wind was changing its mind a lot. Hunter P jumped hard going up the slight incline a little further down Mountain Rd. He made it up to Joe K and the 2 got to work. The peleton was getting going too, with Empire Matt near the front along with bianchi Saturn. Joe & Hunter nearly made it to the end of Mountain, but Matt killed the move with help from Rondo.
Onto Moss Farms where our own Joe K wasnt even close to done yet. He took off again right away, this time with Pete-on-a-Scott. The two worked up a good gap quicksmart as the field was only slightly chasing. But it was nt slow by any means. Eric M and Jesse from Keltic were up there. Yale rider and Stage 1 ( Crazy Chris and??? ). Turning onto the chicane Joe and Pete had still had a gap going into the hill before Marion. A problem with cars turning\stopped right before the hill meant that the rest of us had to pause and re-start going into the hill. This no doubt assisted Joe, who had ridden away from Pete and was making ground on his own. Who knows if he would have been caught without the car problems... Probably though...
Tall John, Chris C, Peter Petrillo, and Guido were all up there for the ride into the industrial park. Joe showed no sign of slowing tho and still held his gap into the park and up West Johnson Ave a bit. A big tip-o-the-hat to Joe. Its been a LONG time since we have seen a solo effort like that on the throwdown. While on W. Johnson, going thru the intersection for Peck Ln, a small group started to ride off the front. Mike McG, Saturn Jersey, Chris Butler from CCR, and Tall John had a bit of a gap turning onto Reinhard. Hunter P jumped late to get up to them and Saturn jersey held up, which made it four charging to the sprint point. Tall John lead em up the hill for a 100 meters, then Mike jumped hard. Chris was a tad late in responding and Hunter too. Mike easily held off Hunter till the corner. Behind them Eric M was leading the rest of the ride up the hill. It all came back together for a bit on the backside. Though Chris B wasnt finished and took off on Peck Ln. He took Mike with him and one other (Peter Petrillo?). But it was all together once on rt 10.
The headwinds were rough going back home, and it was slow leading up to the stop n shop sprint. Little T jumped from 7 bikes back and dragged with him Empire Matt and Jesse from keltic(?). Little T held it though and gets the sprint.
From there it was the usual catch a couple of lights, go fast ride back into Hamden. For the finale, Little T jumped from way out, nearly a kilo. He drove it hard to the end but Mike McG slowly reeled him in and passed him with a hundred meters to spare. Up the hill it was a slow, painful-to-watch end for Hunter P and Chris B. Neither gets style points but Hunter attacked last and got to the mail box first.
