Tuesday the 14th

     With rain coming form the North tonight it was mostly New Haven-ers gathered at the park at ride time. The group picked up several riders on the way up route 10 though. Probably 40 or so all told which is pretty impressive considering the cold, very wet weather. The ride got going with dosed efforts at first as everyone did their best to chat and look comfortable. Yelle!Snoop was the first to have a go and with no one chasing and Jelle still unawares of the ride route, ended up going straight by Mountain Rd and that was the last time he was seen for the night. So technically his breakaway never got caught. Chapeau!

      The pace picked up after the first rizer on mountain and around the second riser it was finally good ol SG ride with a steady fast pace all the way to Rt 68. On Moss farms Jacinto and Chris C took a short flyer to make up for Saturday in New Britain but that got brought back pretty quickly. From there on the Peleton stayed together with good pulls at the front from numerous folks to Rt 322. Most riders opted for long loop, despite the cruddy conditions.
     Once onto Mount Vernon the pace started out slowly. Or at least slower then usual but there was a headwind to deal with. Once past the flase flat the speed picked up and stayed high all the way to the turn. Mike McG, Eric M, VQ Rob, Joshy G, and Guido doing all of the grunt work. Guido went solo off the front at the corner on Welch, and the rest were content to watch for a while. JoshyG went in pursuit shortly after but Guido held the gap to the corner onto West street. Joshy G, by then towing all the other fast guys ( Eric M, Jacinto, Mike McG, Little T ) went up and through Guido and kept the pace all the way up to the sprint point, where ??? took it.

       Nothing out of the ordinary going back toward 322. Everyone pretty much working to get home in good time. On Peck ln, Eric M, VQ Rob, Guido, Joshy G, and Yahor from CCB stepped it up a notch or 2 and got things going.
     Once on Route 10, Guido and Tri Doug got a little gap on the rizer going by Cheshire Park and those 2 were able to keep it for a decent amount. Red Lights before the sprint brought everything back together. It was slow upon resuming, which led to a mess of a sprint by Stop n Shop so hopefully the winner will please come forward to collect his prize. Joshy kept it going after the center of Cheshire and then things got chaotic. Joshy had two or three riders with him (LT, Chris C, Bike Shop Bob??). The peleton behind was suffering from a lack of organization and with lights starting and stopping the chase the lead group had good conditions to make an escape. Eric M, VQ Rob and two or three others started the direct chase. 2nd chase group on the road being anchored by Guido but behind him there were less then 15 riders left. Eric M and that group  were close to making the bridge to the lead group, with a red light not stopping them. Guido jumped off his group and went thru that same red light leaving Rondo, Mike McG, and Yahor to do the chasing once it it turned green.

     With the front 2 groups together and then Guido and Mountain Man also catching on near the Cook Hill Rd intersection, you'd think a group that big would just motor on home right? Wrong.... Joshy G, VQ Rob and Eric M, turned it up and went off the front, getting a gap over the remaining. Guido once again bridged the gap shortly after that, making it 4 up front for the final push, where Guido duked it out with Eric M.