Spring was fun while it lasted.
The colder weather didn’t scare anyone away from the ride this week and the 6 PM start seemed to bring out a couple of new faces. Missing was Chris MaHoney, who got bumper-boinked by a senior citizen on the way to the ride. He is fine… His bike on the other hand….. Let’s hope the insurance gods smile down upon him.
The ride started pretty sedate and it was Dillon P, TheFireFighter G, Antonio and Owen from CCR up front for the opening miles. Everyone made it thru the bombed out zone ok and without incident. Chris C , followed by MTB Owen were the first to get things going properly after the corner for Mountain Rd. From there it was steady with plenty of rotation up front all the way to the light.
Moss Farms started out calm but soon into it Hunter P hit the front and rode a gap off the rest, taking along Jacinto and Sasha from CCB. Shortly after that, Chris C and the dark Yalie (?) bridged up. That got things going in the pack and by the corner for Marion, the break would be caught back.
Dillon P and John Gregory led everyone up and onto Marion and it stayed pretty fast till into in the industrial park. Mike McG blitzed the front as soon as the pack got onto West Johnson. He peeled off a gap and was chased by a new guy from Biker’s Edge and a CVC rider (name?). McG had a 40 meter gap crossing over Peck lane as then the Nick G the Yalie went across the gap for him. MTB Owen would also try to bridge, but neither could get there. Mike had Rondo and Eric M up front in the pack, not too eager to catch him. Joe K was up there too along with the CCB Toss-up. Chris C jumped hard with about 500 meters to the corner and he did get up to Mike. DJ Dan would then have a go as a group of nearly 12 hit the base of the sprint hill with speed and intention. The 2 off the front would come back as Eric M, Jacinto, Little T and Hunter P all fired up the jets. Eric M had the best starting spot and gave it the best go but the road was too long. Little T came by with about 25 meters to spare. The gap that the 4 sprinters had was pretty big but it all came back on Peck ln when no one wanted to capitalize on it.
Joe K rolled thru the front once onto Peck and was out to take advantage of the tailwind. He peeled off an eager group including the Yalies, a CCBer, Jacinto, a Danbury Audi rider and a couple of others. 6 or 7 strong, motoring up the false flat on Peck. The gap was 50 meters as the ride approached Rt10 when Chris B and then Hunter P made it across. The juice ran out of the break going up past Cheshire Park and it all came back together when the light at the top of the hill was red. A couple of guys boldly went thru the red light and were promptly forgotten from the collective memory.
The run into the Stop n Shop sprint was super fast this week. Plenty of guys up front, stringing it out single file. Jacinto and Chris C had great position on the front and punched it first. Little T, Eric M and a couple others who jumped were far back and no amount of sprinting was going to make up the gap. Jacinto held off Chris C to the top. The rest of the ride into Hamden was normal. For the final push, after long pulls by CCB and Dillon P, a group of 3 or 4 was left at the very front. Jacinto, A Yalie, and (??). Up the hill went the usual suspects with John Gregory almost sneaking off with one but coming up a bit short.
