A running account of the "race without an entry fee"..... The Tuesday night ride

Tuesday the 1st

Better late than never!

     Big jump in ride turnout tonight as a bunch of old faces came out as well as some new ones.The 2014 season is in full swing! The ride got going a bit slowly today as a couple of guys no doubt were out there taking it easy in anticipation of the most important race in the whole wide universe... Batten$ill. Best wishes to all the SG'ers heading out to NY state this weekend!
    Casey-oh-all-right-I-will-win-King got things going and guys like Mike McG, Chris C, and the trio of College St Riders ( Jacinto, Hacker, and The Sernyak ) joined up front and kept the pace crisp. No attacks though... Just solid pace making to get everyone going. On Mountain Rd, Mike McG, Chris C and Hunter P hit the front and drove it hard up the first inclines there, nearly peeling off a gap but guys like Young Suto, Jacinto, Tall Dennis, Hacker and a couple of others kept that surge from making any gaps to the field. Later on towards the end of Mountain Rd, Dave-sweet-tooth-Hoyle took to the front and got a small gap but was shut down by Chris C, the Full Nalini. French Casey, etc. The light was red on Route 68 / 70 anyway.
    No one attacked on Moss Farms, although a couple of guys definitely ramped up the pace.Young Suto, Mike McG, Joe K, Dave H, Ben Bruce, foremost among them. That led to a trio of Chris C, Hunter P and Young Suto off the front towards the end of Moss Farms. They worked up a gap of about 50 meters, but with the downhill into the chicane coming up, it wasn't enough to hold it. The field came barreling back up but was in no position to take over the front heading up to Marion.  French Casey was able to jump hard though and drilled it off the front. The upfront trio responded but the whole field was pretty much there to hitch the ride up. Once onto Marion, Joe K hit it with Hunter P and those 2 were allowed to roll off the front. They stayed away till the corner for the industrial park as guys behind were sorting themselves out. As everyone turned into the industrial park, the ride finally got going with the tough sections looming. The 2 up front were caught by a chase group of French Casey and Young Suto. They briefly took off with a small gap but that didnt last long. Instead the front switched hands a couple of times. A new guy, let's call him "muffin top" for now, was up there keeping tempo along with Ben Bruce, Joe K and New Guy Rob.
    As the ride turned onto West Johnson, Dave H took to the front and peeled off a gap. Going with him was Hunter P and they quickly got a gap as Dave H was going for broke for the sprint, even though this was the first time he was on the short loop. They hit the intersection with Peck ln just as a car was getting there and instead of plowing thru it, slowed to an almost stop, got the driver's ok to pass, and kept going. That gave the rest of the field a chance to come up although was a bit fractured from the chase. French Casey was there, Young Suto, The Sernyak, The Full Nalini, and a couple of others. The next to jump was Chris C, who went all in with an attack well before the corner. The Sernyak moved up into the gap but didnt get too far in the chase. Behind, Hacker, Jacinto, Hunter P, and one or two others were bringing it all back together. Chris C would be caught on the short downhill, setting up Hacker to jump from way out. On his 6 pretty quickly was Hunter P, and those 2 got away from the chasers. Jacinto was next to go but had some ground to make up as Hacker was all in. Hunter P sat on and was able to jump out and past with 150 meters to go. Jacinto was driving up and closing the gap but Hunter P stayed out till the corner by a couple of bike lengths.
    On the backside, it took a little while to recollect, and despite French Casey hitting the front again and then some, it was all together for the run up Peck Ln. As everyone neared Route 10, Hoyle was back at it, this time splitting off a small gap with Muffin Top, Christian D, and The Sernyak. That was brought back in the corner though, as everyone up front wisely slowed down for the turn. Dave H kept on the throttle all the way up the hill as riders were shuffling around behind him. Once past that first hill on Route 10, he still kept on it, and was looking dangerously close to riding away to the sprint with whoever could hang on but the light at Maple Ave was red ( for a while ) allowing everyone and their mother to get back to the front.
    The Stop n Shop became a 300 meter drag race as everyone slowly got off the light, and then waited to bring up the speed. Launching first was Young Suto, who looked to have a good jump, but had a few guys on his wheel pretty quickly. Mike McG, French Casey, Hacker, Young Suto, Little T, etc. Hacker took the early lead but was overhauled in the last moments by Little T, who is slowly getting back to his old chainring-bending self. Red lights in Cheshire meant no one was getting away.
    The trip back to Hamden was quick. Mostly because with 3/4 mile to go, Dave H rolled off again. Response was bit slow as the pace was already respectable at that point. It allowing him to get a real-deal gap of about 60 meters. The front 5 or 6 sorted themselves out, thanks to Mike McG coming up and thru and pulling half the gap back. The rest was taken care of with about 300 meters to go. Timing it correctly was Young Suto, who drilled it and got a gap that only a motor-pacing, out of the saddle Casey King could cover.... So needless to say, the final prize goes to the high-schooler.
    Great ride everyone!
  
    

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

New SGR pole:
When Hunter writes the SGR write-up he:
A. Cannot hide his man-crush on Jacob
B. Purposely tries to get under Little T's skin
C. Smokes crack
D. All of the above

Little T

Anonymous said...

Who is the Ben Bruce impersonator? I hope he is fast...

-Ben Bruce

Anonymous said...

All of the above plus a couple more
Mike

Anonymous said...

Perfect! I say the correct answer to the pole question is "B".

Chris C.

Anonymous said...

E. Jacob beat you

Anonymous said...

FYI, not only did T beat Jacob, but the junior rider for CCNS did too...

Anonymous said...

CORRECTED!