Next week, Gogu and Scott Kaplan report on the TWC!
Today's ride started off in a mellow way, and it took longer than normal to get up to speed. French Casey and Gregg F finally got things rolling along with Guido and Thomaas B. From there it was a steady tempo thru the cobbles and onto Mount Sanford. The ride went from “summer BBQ” to training ride as Hacker, Little T, and Mike McG moved up. Good to see Peter P also up, there semi retarded ( tho getting better ) and all. There was a small split heading up onto South Brooksvale but that was pretty quickly sewed up. VQ Rob and Eric M with other Zane's rides led the field onto Mountain Rd, looking antsy the whole time. Turning onto Mountain was quick as Hunter P, Eric M, JoshyG and Ciocci pegged it on the early parts. JoshyG kept it up, dragging Chris C and one other up the road for a brief bit. That was corralled pretty quickly and JoshyG stayed up front along VQ and a couple of others. Soon enough the front started rotating pretty well and it was steady all the way to Routye 68.
Eric M, W Thompson, Ciocci, Hunter P and JoshyG got things going on Moss Farms. JoshyG fiercely pulled thru a couple of times with no one willing to immediately able to back him up. The young Zane guys where there for the most part. Gordon “Lightfoot” also was present as the ride turned into the Chicane. Eric M and mostly Ciocci led it up to Marion with Hunter P making a late surge that no one followed so it was all together heading to Route 322. Everyone got thru the light without stopping which was a nice bonus. From there Chris B hit the front and would not relinquish his spot till the ski hill. The ride was uneventful moving on from there. The usual guys were up front keeping it steady. Things started to get interesting on the false flat section with VQ Rob and Rondo duking it out. Chris B, Chris C, Eric M and hunter P were there to follow up. It went single file for a solid 3\4 mile.
Heading to the Welch Rd there was a small group very slightly off the front... .Little T, a CCBer, VQ Rob and one other.... Gregg F pulled it back together as guys started to think about who to watch to the corner. Hacker just then timed a strong attack well, with Guido in tow. It caught enough guys by surprise so that no one immediately followed. Eric M and then Thomaas B dug deep and jumped to close down the gap. Up front, Guido was helping Hacker to the corner first. Behind, Mike McG and Little T were squaring up with MaHoney, Crowle, and Silent Steve getting in the way as well. Sure enough, the gap was coming down as Thomaas B and Eric M had shut down the engines. Hacker made it thru the corner cleanly and left Guido for dead. Chris C jumped hard from the pack taking Little T with him. T quickly dumped that ride, making made up the difference and joining Hacker by 100 meters after the corner. Ciocci jumped latest of all but was 3rd wheel squaring up for the run in to the sprint, although well behind Hacker and Little T. Hacker had sat up and wasnt going to tow Little T up the road, giving Ciocci a chance to make the catch, all the while dragging Hunter P. Just as the four were coming together, JoshyG shot up the right side, having gained speed all the way from the corner. His jump was strong enough to not let anyone follow him. Chris B came up and tried to get him a couple of seconds after, and then Peter P followed suit, etc and so on.... So with 8 guys all of a sudden together, it gave Mike McG and Little T a second chance at the sprint. SO with 150 meters to go Mike jumped and took Little T with him. T was able to catch JoshyG, but Joshy had to pause ever so slightly for the last light before the top of the hill. So then it was a 2 horse race to the line ( the black mailbox on the right). It was a close call with Little t probably getting over the top of Joshy. This one officially goes to JoshyG though on account of him slowing that little bit for the light. ( at least he didnt get a traffic ticket this time )
The next noteworthy part of the ride was the descent down West St, which was milled into a haphazrd stretch grooves and ridges. There were probably 5 or 6 flats thru the 1\5 mile section. Eric M the first to go, shredding his sidewalls as he came to a slow stop. Dillon P also flatted. Mike McG used to opportunity to try to use the harmonic properties of carbon fiber to speedwobble open a wormhole in the universe. Remarkably, Rondo “smooth as butter” Fantano made it thru with VQ Rob. Rondo turned back to aid his teammates, and quite a few guys stopped. The group of 20 that rode on had to detour when it seemed that some driver had decided to takeout a telephone pole right before route 322. When all was said and done the earnest riding didnt get going again till Peck Ln. It was slightly slower from there on out, as the the front group had lost a lot of horsies. But it still remained competitive, as Ciocci was continuing to ride strong as well as Attorney Gordon and Chris B. The Stop n Shop sprint was easily won by Hunter P with Gregg F and John Gregory coming in after. For the finale, Central Wheel Dennis, Eldest Foley, the new young guy in the red jersey (?) and Hunter P all squared up. Chris B rode off in familiar fashion, but took the new guy from San Fran area ( Sothby's kit ) with him. Sothby's took it, easily coming around Chris B. Back in the B ( for broken ) group, Eric M, LaFlamme, Rondo and a couple of others took it easy and followed Dillon P to Cheshire Cycle to buy some tires purchased from Malaysia, but relabeled to make em look like Conti's...... haha jokes on them!
