Another mello start to the ride this week. VQ Rob took off early and everyone was cool with that. Also left the front and then Weaver left soon after to join him. The group behind moseyed along with Stage 1 up front. Soon enough things got going with Guido taking a bit of a flyer in order to bridge up. He made it across the gap and the trio shot thru a corner or 2 where the pack had to pause. So the gap went up initially. Eric M, and Koski started the rally with help from a bunch of guys. Bobby German, Thomas B, Mahoney, Todd H, and others. The gap was down to a handful of seconds starting on the initial ramps up Mountain Rd but but the trio, anchored by Guido would just not let it die and the gap went back up ever so slightly and in the process Weaver got dislodged. It took some more strong efforts from Eric M, Hunter P, Chris C, Mahoney and JelleSnoop! to finally bring them back. For the rest of the way down Mountain it was status quo. Nothing to report, with some good pacing being done by a few guys.
Once a ways down Moss Farms it got going again with Sasha from CCB leading the charge. No one was letting that get very far and it stayed together and fast-ish. Eric M took advantage of the tempo pace and charged off the front as it got close to the corner and Chicane. Dillon P, quickly bridged up and it was 2 off the front going up to the corner for Marion. Dillon P. hung on as Eric M twisted the throttle as Larry M, Guido, Chris C, CCB and O'shea let the field up. Things calmed down a little heading towards Route 322. O'shea was ripping it up up front in an effort to summon up 2008 when he was always hitting up the S.G. Ride.
That brought everyone to Mount Vernon where the Belorussians from CCB were moving ahead and rode some nice pulls. Things got interesting right before the false flat with Eric M taking a long hard pull followed by Hunter P and Mike McG along the shooting range. Good to see Tall John also up there hitting it hard. Heading into the turnaround section, O'Shea was up there again along with Guido and VQ Rob. Oshea briefly was off the front along with Bike Shop Bob which led to BSB getting the jump on the hill on Welch. Everyone else behind him was cuing up \ sitting up \ watching a few select guys. Not too many fireworks thru hill and corner. A group led by Air Jordan moved off the front for most of the run-in but never too far behind was the sprinters, led by Koski. Eric M, hunter P and Little T were all up there and waiting. The front group getting overhauled with 150 meters to go. Little T jumped fast again and took this one over Sasha from CCBer
Eric M pushed the pace on the backside but it was all everyone was all together to gawk at Mountain Man as he was experiencing some shrinkage issues ( of the seatpost kind ). Once onto Peck it got going again with Guido, Larry M and Sasha leading the charge. On the rizer up to the top of Peck ln Eric M charged off with Bike Shop Bob, Chris C and Hunter P. That group punched it over the top and thru the construction, sending the field into chase mode. The other half of the CCB toss up, Yahor, got hit with a flat on the broken up road.
Things settled down on route 10 as the field kamikazed to the stop n sprint mark, although Todd H was hit with another flat, 2 weeks in a row. He needs a hug. In a bizarre turn, Jacinto was leading a balls-to-the-wall lead out. With him was Koski and Guido. Koski jumped for the sprint but right there was Little T yet again. Someone pop his tires or something.... Putting up a good fight was Julio L.
Rolling thru Cheshire, a break of 3 or 4 ( Eric M, Little T , ??? ??? ) slid thru a light and then caught a green when the field had to wait. That let them build up a gap. Initially only Guido and Benge were chasing hard, but by the time it got back into Hamden, others had got involved ( good to see the kids from Bikers Edge, Owen and Alec contributing to the chase ) and the gap was coming down. Kudos the break for staying out there for as long as they did. VQ Rob, Hunter P and Larry M powered thru the final kilo to get the break back and that gave Guido and Jacinto a chance to ride and thru them to duke the finish out. Up the hill, Tri Doug led the way with good position at the corner, holding his gap over Gregg F, Hunter P and Dillon P.
Great ride everyone !
