One of those weeks....
The SG ride seemingly came back from vacation today with a good sized crowd out. Good to see several new faces out today. Still missing Hacker and Guido but soon enough they will be back. The ride got going pretty soon after route 10 and by the crap road section it was full gas. Mike McG led the field thru there at a good clip but there was no real attacks to try and break the front. As the ride was barreling toward Mountain Rd, a small group was pushing off the front led by Ryan RazzleDazzle Serbel from Aetna, new rider L.A. recently moved in from Cali, Max from CVC, Rusty, and Timmy Hip. Timmy Hip was rockin hiking shoes / MTBike clod hoppers today but still managed to mix it up in the front when he wasn't blowing by corners. Maybe the shoes are a new type of resistance training among the hipster elite. Sure enough, with no one calling out "take a left you turkeys" that handful of riders blew by Mountain Rd. They didnt all make it back to the peleton despite a general slow-down for a unusually generous 100 meters or so.
There was plenty of firepower up front heading down Mountain Rd with a bunch getting involved up front. A small group was breaking free by the second set of risers but it was soon back together again. Dillon P once again lined up the troops for a fast run at the light but gaps formed and he ended up leading no one out. The light was red as red gets anyway. The speed slowly got going on Moss Farms, giving Young Suto, Spencer from Yale, Special Ed and one more a chance to ride free. The responce was slow with a couple of riders trying to get a bridge going ( Ciocci, Mike McG, Tall Dennis, Danbury Audi, etc ) The gap held up to the corner and then the Chicane. Once on the hill to Marion, Chris C led the charge and came up and thru to the group, taking along Ciocci with him. That made a pretty solid group up the road by 50 or so meters. The gap would slowly come back down and by the turn for the short loop, it was all back together. Hunter P countered with an attack, taking along a new rider from Central Wheel but that was short lived after the newbie shut off the throttle.
Mount Vernon was slow to start and a Yalie ( CXC Chris?! ) took advantage by slipping off the front for a while. He dangled out there until the run-in to the false flat which is still an eighth mile of packed dirt and gravel. The ride slowed up for the narrow passage over the dirt but near the front and stomping it was Joe K. Close behind and bridging up was Gregg F and Hunter P. Those 3 made it out of the sector at speed and with a gap and went to work on the Team Time Trial. Behind, the pace quickly got back up to speed after the crappy road and the strong guys in the peleton went to high alert with the threat up the road building a gap. Mike McG, Special Ed, Little T, Rusty, The Gibertoni, Spencer etc. Several involved in a fast chase. The gap held up nearly to the turnaround, Special Ed jumped out at the last moment to bridge and try to coax a counter but it was it all coming back together.
Going into the corner for Welch a new guy in a Zane's kit who's done the ride a couple of times but has been racing a lot this year dove a bit too hard and snapped his wheel out from under him. He went down hard. Everyone stopped. It took a little bit to ascertain the damage. Hopefully he is not that hurt. He rang the ol bell a bit and got a little scraped up but was on his way to remounting and riding it off when the first shifts of the bike drove the rear derailleur into the spokes and tore the hanger off. That made for a further delay and eventually one rider ( Andy Lawson? ) elected to stay with him and wait for vehicular transport. Again, hope he is ok and back up near the front soon!
The pace picked up slowly after that. Some guys had already elected to ride on, some detoured home, and still others who were backtracking for whatever reason where stymied in the search for the missing peleton. Eventually, after 20 minutes or so, it was all back together, heading south on Atwater. Ryan S was back in the fold as well as Max and that seemed to motivate the pace up front a bit. It didnt get going though till Peck Lane when Young Suto, Alec C, Thomaas B, and Spencer? got off the front early on. That was soon brought on the false flat with Mike McG, Max, and Ryan S driving the front. That would split off a dangerous group of 5 or 6 heading over the old train tracks and toward route 10. The response from the field was swift and it was all together for the corner back onto Route 10.
The pace stayed high though as the run-in to the Stop n Shop sprint came up quick. Chris C lead out all but behind him directly was the new Central Wheel rider and Serbel, both pretty much unawares of the sprint point. They did their best at responding when Little T and Jacinto came shooting by but it was a 2 man dance to the line with T staying out in front of Jacinto just barely. Those 2 kept up a gap heading into the center of town and would be joined by the new Central Wheel rider (name?) and Hunter P. That made for aa group of 4 with a gap, although Jacinto would drop off, making it 3. That trio would get some breathing room when a couple of red light stopping the field. Once it got going again past the center of town, it got quick again on the front. The leading 3 would work well into Hamden but broke apart with about 750 meters to go as the peleton came into view and was bearing down hard on the front. Little T just barely escaped Ciocci and The Gibertoni, who had distanced themselves after a solid leadouts from Dillon P and Mike McG. Up the hill was mostly stragglers and Chris B was the first to the top to claim that prize.
