The "unsung's" get their day in the Sun ( sort of )
Rain, thunder and hard efforts from some in Killington over the weekend kept today’s ride on the small side. Less than 30 guys were out. Twas good to see French Casey out as he led a brisk pace up route 10 and played crossing guard for bunch.
Once on the back roads, the orange and black kicked things off with some help from a Target training rider (?) and the rider on the Seven.
Little T was hit with a flat on Mount Sanford Road and after some soft pedaling at the front, the ride was given permission to carry on. Credit the whole Zany team for holding up and waiting for their muscle blessed teammate.
With the field down to approx 20 and most of the horse power changing tubes behind, there was some new faces that drove the ride. The speed was down a bit, but not much. Maybe 1 mph. At the front was Builder Pete, John Gregory, Rich Foley, and pretty much the whole CCR team… John B, Peter Kenny, Dillon P, Antonio D. Mahoney was up there animating things along with French Casey.
Once onto Mountain Rd, the speed came down a bit but Kyle F and Mahoney was there to bring it back up again. A gap developed as French Casey attacked toward the end of Mountain Rd, but Dillon P and Pter K chased it down. As everyone was recollecting, Dillon P surged off the front for a bit and without anyone from the team dare bring the “CEO” back, he stayed out there for 3\4 of a mile and was caught as everyone pulled up to the light on Route 68.
Once onto Moss Farms, Pter K and Antonio D along with C-Dale Rick got things going but it was pretty mellow. Chris B started turning screws toward the end of Moss Farms with Hunter P and Dillon P following up his efforts. Tri Guy wi Knee Highs was also present and led everyone delicately into the chicane. Chris B stayed right at the front for the charge up the hill, keeping a solid tempo. Hunter P rode away from the front once around the corner and had a good gap that only Chris B could bridge. The 2 stayed off the front for the rest for the way down Marion up to the turn for the short loop. John Gregory and C dale Rick chipped in to bring them back.
The ride down Mount Vernon Rd was “new-look”, with lots of guys up front who usually hang out mid-pack. Speed didn’t seem to suffer too much though, especially when Kyle f rolled up and pulled for a solid mile and a half, stringing out everyone behind him. It took the false flat section to finally take him off the front, giving Hunter P a chance to jump on dwindling field. The target Training rider was the only one that stayed with Hunter P and the 2 had a gap for a while until Chris B dragged John Gregory, the Foley’s and the rest of the field up to them. After that, everyone stayed together until the turn around.
Chris B was again sneaking off the front right at the college, but Target Training was glued to his wheel along with Hunter P. The 3 probably would have ridden off if not for a solid effort by Mahoney to bridge \ drag the gap back. It was gruppo compact heading to the hill \ corner, where Chris B jumped up only to be passes right after the corner by Kyle F and Hunter P. From there Foley and Pronovost traded pulls a couple of times before Hunter jumped away to get the sprint without much trouble from anyone else. On the backside, everyone who was left after the hill collected themselves and met up with the Zane’s team who had taken a shortcut.
Everyone rolled onto the Cheshire side of Route 322 together. Even with the 5 Zane’s guys, the field was only about 12-15 guys at this point.
Coming back onto the short loop section of Peck Lane, a group of 4 pulled off the front. The Foley’s, Eric M, and Target Training (?). They went off without an answer from the Zane’s guys and had a solid 20 second gap by route 10, despite some chasing by Little T and Mahoney. The pace on route 10 didn’t improve much and everyone was content to let the 4 fight out the stop n shop sprint. Eric M got that despite a solid challenge from the Foley pair.
Rolling thru Cheshire, the stage was being set for a beat down of the escapees, who had a 250 meter gap thru all the lights. Going thru town things got Lady Gaga crazy as guys were timing lights, drafting cars and opening \ covering gaps left and right. The group of 4 had been joined by Mike McG, Rondo and Mahoney. Chris B pulled a huge effort outside of Cheshire on open roads and covered a fast moving, big gap. Dragging Hunter P, Little T and a couple of others with him. The rest behind were done for the day with no chance of catching back on. From there the speed stayed high into the finale. Little T surged early and pulled off with nearly a kilo to go. Chris B attacked \ surged a little closer to the end and only Mike McG stayed with him. Those two went down to the line with Mike able to get over Chris in time for the corner.
