This Year's Breakaway Award goes to.......
Every year at the Tuesday Worlds there is one week that ends with a break that leads the entire ride and clears the finish alone. Some seasons there are 2, rarely there are 3, but there's always at least one. This week we got it out of the way. The long breakaway took the cake.
There was a decent crowd for ride at the parking lot. Heat was on but it wasn't overly oppressive. Good too see the resilient Craig Luekens out and not phased by the crash of last week. Rolling down Route 10, Tri Doug would roll off the front alone. Then as soon the ride hit Brooksvale, Hunter P jumped off the front and took along a couple of riders, VQ Rob, Perry ( the new guy, a painter on a C'Dale ) and a young rider with an "I ride with Diabetes" jersey. The foursome would hit the rough road section still with Tri Doug a little up the road. Back in the peleton, the response was sedate, and CCR riders Gregg F and Dillon P would set tempo early on. The break, being driven by VQ Rob and Hunter P, would collect Tri Doug and set off toward Mountain Rd. Soon they were joined by more riders who had taken off the front early on and were chasing. Rob C from Bikers Edge, Yel!e Snoop, Richy Sachs Chris, Nate with a Middlebury Jersey on, Jacinto and one or 2 others who never pulled thru. The group, still being driven along by Hunter P, VQ Rob, and Tri Doug would break up a little on the risers of Mountain Rd, but tempered their efforts and stayed together. The break came up to the light on Route 68 with a solid gap and got a well timed green light. Behind Hacker, Momoney and Guido had attacked hard off the front on Mountain road and were flying across the gap. MoMoney didnt stay attached and it was just Hacker and Guido making it to the light. They missed the green but were able to sneak thru barely red and continued the chase. The peleton had to stop and wait at a red light.
The break, now encouraged from the green light, set off on Moss Farms with determination. Meanwhile the pace in the Peleton wasn't slow, but it wasn't fast either. Team Zane's was rumored to be on active recovery mode tonight ( whatever that means ). Yel!e apparently didnt get the memo tho cause he was tearing it up. Guido and HackAttack would get up to the break midway down Moss Farms. All of a sudden, with a solid chunk of the ride's horsepower in the break, and the remaining horsies behind lacking organization, it was the break's gap to lose. Guido and Hacker wasted no time in hitting the front, giving the other strong men a little more of break from the front. Despite the big guns, the break stayed mostly together in thru the chicane section and up to Marion avenue. 1 or 2 riders, those who weren't taking pulls were eliminated by the industrial park. The break got another green light at the 322 crossing, and they went thru with just a lite touch of the brakes.
On mount Vernon, Hacker, Guido, Hunter P, Tri Doug and Yel!e Snoop did most of the work. But credit pretty much everyone with putting in efforts up front. Behind, Mike McG set off on another one of his legendary intervals and pulled the peleton along for nearly the whole length of Mount Vernon. Not enough to close the gap down tho and when the break saw no one coming at the turn for Welch Road, it seemed like they could pull it off. The jockeying started a bit for the sprint, but everyone stayed together till up on West Street. Perry put in a long pull along with Jacinto and Hacker. Hunter P waited and jumped up to take the sprint in front of Jacinto. In the process breaking the iron-fisted rule and the long streak of sprint wins that Little T had been enjoying as He was behind in the peleton. The sprint would trim the break down a bit, most notably losing Ye!le Snoop and VQ Rob. So it was down to: Middlebury Nate, Hacker, Hunter P, Guido, Rob "middlefingers" Carmen, Tri Doug, Perry, and Jacinto. Behind in the Peleton, The ride would get split up once on West St, but the descent would allow everyone a chance to get back together. Watch out for flying french fries everyone..... Dillon P would be targeted by some post pubescent girls out a car window. Nice!
As the break rolled on back into Cheshire, there were a few comments about heatstroke, being completely done in, and other complaints. Guido, surely going against the Hippocratic Oath he took, was still up their giving no one a chance to cool down. Hacker as well was getting antsy and was not ok with the slackers in the bunch. His chance to thin the herd would come after the incline up Peck lane going towards Route 10. Hunter P would hustle down a couple of gaps along with Jacinto. Again heading up past Cheshire Park, Hacker and Guido would bring out the tag team and put the others in a world of hurt. Hunter P and Rob C got briefly gapped but red lights would give them a chance to claw back. The Stop n Shop sprint was taken by Hacker as he narrowly held off a supa strong Tri Doug. In the center of Cheshire, Guido would drop his chain and had to stop to reload it. No problem, he would just chase back on 2 miles later. Not only that, but he would then TT attack off the front of the group to finish out ahead, Jacinto being the only one who would try to chase him down. It would be a solid 4 minutes before the peleton would come rolling in. Hope everyone enjoyed their beers tonight.
