The continuing Seattle-ization of the Northeast continues with more rain tonight.
The rain was looking like it would hold out. It did not. The pouring started at 5:20 and pretty much lasted till 7 pm. Even so there was probably 30 guys out tonight.
Right off route 10, in an effort to stay warm, a couple of guys started to push the tempo up. Hunter P, Tall John, Thomaas B, Dillon P, Gregg F from CCR as well. It strung things out a bit and the chase was on. Moving thru the cobbles on Brooksvale, the guys up front drilled it, taking advantage of the fact that all the holes looked the same with water filling them. Tall John let up as the front blew thru the intersection with brakes that didn’t work. This left Dillon P, Hunter P, and Gregg F off the front heading up Mount Sanford. The 3 went to work and were given a bit of room at first. The gap went quickly up to about 10 seconds before the chase back started. The leading trio rolled long and was working well together. Behind them, the peleton was ramping up under the supervision of Mike McG, Peter P, Little T, Rondo and others. The break hit mountain rd with a shrinking gap and clung to it, making it up the initial riser before getting caught on the other side. The pace continued to be respectable as Mike McG, Rondo and Little T kept on the gas. As the field hit the second set of risers, Joe K found some breathing room and broke the leash. There was some chasing and attacking behind and when it all was settled, Joe was still off the front, but joined by team mate Chris B. They held onto a 20 yard gap as everyone rolled up to the light on Route 68 and stopped.
The Cheshire Cycle show continued once on Moss Farms, with Hunter P and Chris B setting early tempo. Maison C, Kyle F, Gregg F and Chris F-bomb Mahoney was up there. After some shuffling, posturing, and surging, a group of 6 or 7 ended up with a gap but it was not significant as the strong guys were just keeping tempo 10 bikes behind. All the same, 5 CCR guys lead the ride thru the chicane and toward the hill. Once on the hill Little T attacked hard and quickly had a gap with Peter P and Hunter P chasing. The 3 briefly joined forces after the corner but it was all coming back together within a minute or two.
There was some confusion heading into the industrial park area, with guys going straight and guys turning. All in all, despite the fact that many just assumed everyone was all aboard the short bus this week, no one was in danger of being taken out. Most of the riders did turn however, leaving only about 12-15 guys to go straight on. Mike McG, the CCR guys less Ken and Maison, Ben from New Haven, Tall John, John Gregory, Little T, Dave H, the 2 Petes, and others.
Once on Mount Vernon Rd, after a kilometer of chasing Tall John to reel him in, the pace remained solid despite the low numbers. Everyone was taking turns at the front. Halfway down Mount Vernon, on the long false flat before a gentle right bend, Hunter P attacked at the top with Chris B in tow. The calculated move worked, and the 2 took a gap right away as the rest were re-sorting themselves after the 20mph surge up hill. The other CCR guys, in classic cat 3 fashion, were also doing their best to disrupt any chasing. So with the rain finally stopping for the night, the ride went into tempo mode and the gap to the break shot up. Chris B and Hunter P were working well together and hit the Welch Road with a gap of around 40 seconds.
Moving onto West St for the leaders, Hunter P rolled thru the corner with Chris B, and tried to minimize any losses as the group behind had ramped it up as soon as it hit Welch. Mike McG along with Tall Johnny riding hard now, along with Little T and one other (John Gregory?). This caused a split as the CCR guys were able to hold it together at the front no more. The catch finally happened right before the I84 interchange. Chris B tried to surge one last time before getting caught and may have trumped everyone if he had been a second earlier to make it thru a light, but everyone had the stop at this and the next light and so the ride was all together again.
The ride back into Cheshire was normal and fast considering the small group. Mike McG and Tall John, doing much to spur it along. Coming into the Stop n Shop sector, Tall John rode it the way it should be with 750 meters to the hill, going hard and taking along a couple of guys, Dillon P gave chase to keep it together until he realized Little T was camped at his six for the ride up. That led to Little T hitting the wind with 300 meters to go with Hunter P right at his side. The 2 took off at almost the same moment, side by side. Little T got the gap quickly on Hunter and took it with room to spare.
Heading back into Hamden was routine, Little T had a brief gap coming up to McDonalds. (an attack?) He may have just been concerned about his antique lamps needing repair. Any electricians out there? Going thru the light for Cook Hill Rd, Hunter P attacked one last time, getting a gap of about 70 yards before settling in. Dave H tried to bridge but was reeled in 30 seconds later. Hunter P stayed out there for a couple of minutes, but was carpet rolled up with about 2 k to go.
For the finale, Mike McG, a little under the weather to boot, pulled off first and let Chris B and Little T go at it. A gap was allowed to open and that was all the 2 needed to pull off the front. Chris B towed for the next 500 meters and Little T had no problems coming around comfortably for the end.
