Kick off summer with the Tuesday Night World Championships
The SG ride usually deviates from script on the Tuesdays following Monday holidays and tonight was no exception. The crowd was a little on the low side and the high humidity seemed to be putting everyone in a slight haze. Dillon and Dana got things going off route 10 along with the Twin Six dude. Once Hacker rolled thru the front the ride started proper. Not much happened for the next couple of miles. Chris C took off briefly but didn't make a dent. A small group looked to be rolling off on Mount Sanford but another surge from Hacker thru the next corner ended that and started the chase behind as MoMoney, Twin Six, Hunter P, Mike McG and Jactino were drilling it toward Mountain Rd.
The ride down Mountain Rd was uneventful except for a rabid car. Chris C rolled off after the initial climbs and got up a 40 meter gap before being recollected. After that, MoMoney & Hunter P were the only ones to test the waters but it all came back with the red light at the intersection.
Hunter P got a good jump onto Moss Farms and was allowed to roll off as the peleton was dealing with cars on Route 68. Eventually the ride got going again and Nuemotion, Hacker, Chris C, MoMoney, and a new guy ( ( Bethel Cycles? ) were leading the charge up and thru the front. That group started to gap the front by the end of Moss Farms. Eric M started the bridge with Hunter P as the break was diving into the chicane and MoMoney was dropping back. It was 6 up front after the chicane. Hunter P drilled it up the hill to Marion, putting a solid gap on the peleton and the break went to work extending it. Nuemotion, Hacker, Chris C, Hunter P, Eric M and the New Guy ( CxC Chris? ) was the break. Back in the pack, Mike McG had set off in an attempt to bridge and he was able to quickly create a gap to get to work on. He still had 50-60 meters to make up to the leaders as they went by the short loop turn.
The break came up to the light at 322 and low-n-behold, twas green, allowing them to shoot thru. When it was noticed that Mike McG slid across the yellow-turned-red light, the break held up, allowing him to get on. That put some extra ponies in the effort and with the red light holding the rest up, it was looking like today might be the day for the break.
Not much to report for the next several miles, as up front they were all working together. Back in the pack, Tri Doug, Twin Six, Mountain Man, Dillon P and a couple of others were riding the lions share of work. Also up there was Chris B, who has a well documented phobia of being left out of a breakaway. The break was in sight as they turned onto Welch. The gap about 30-45 seconds. Up front, the group, though strong, was suffering with some tired legs as a couple of the guys were racing Monday at Killington and Sommerville. That, plus the headwind soon to come, lulled the break into thinking the catch was inevitable and some soft pedaling on Welch was reported. That allowed Hacker to simply roll off the front halfway down Welch and get a jump on the sprint. He was into a full blown attack once on the hill to the corner. Hunter P was the first to jump after him but was soon collected on West St by Chris C, leading the chase. The surge + hill immediately dispatched a couple of guys before the corner and it was down to Chris C, Eric M, Mike McG and Hunter P behind Hacker. Hacker was getting plowed over by the headwind, and the gap was close enough to allow Hunter P to jump out of the chase again and go up and over to take the sprint in the final 20 meters. The shrunken break of 5 reformed on the backside and the gap went up again.
Back in the Peleton, Rondo was complaining about the pace, but wasn't about to chip in too much as he had 2 mates up the road. Tired-legs-from-racing-syndrome was also being felt by a couple of guys in the peleton, and with no core group to do battle in the vicious headwind, the break was going to succeed all the way.
Not too much to report for the rest of the ride. A couple of shortcut guys joined up in the break and at first were polite in not moving past the breakaway guys. When the pace went down, a couple did slide up and take pulls, making Chris C get all territorial on their asses. The Stop n Shop sprint was taken by Mike McG, with Hacker giving chase. After that it was gab and move, gab and move against the wind going back into Hamden.
