Letting the new guys get used to the course....
Another
good ride was enjoyed by all tonight. The ride was light on Cheshire Cycle jerseys, so here are some of the standout highlights of the night... First off, the persuasive tailwind that got everyone going was deceptively strong. It was great to see Hamden's newest cycling resident, Bryan
McGill (or simply "Yellow" as mike MCG observed) wasting no time in
contributing to the efforts up front. He lifted the pace on Mountain Rd, giving Hunter P and French Casey a chance to get off the front. Ciocci bridged but brought the cavalry. Quiet on Moss Farms, although Little T attacked strong on the hill to Marion but with no help, was soon brought back by the solid overall pace. Hacker was ready to
rumble thru-out the night but especially once over 322. He nearly escaped with Sasha from CCB at the start of Mount
Vernon. Most of the riders on the front watched to see who would move into action. French Casey tried to bridge but came up short. The leading duo had 100 meters at the false flat. Hunter P used
the incline to jump out and bridge the gap. That gave everyone else in the pack the needed motivation to
take the chase to that next level and close it down. The gap came tumbling down slowly but surely as Tall Dennis played good teammate to all and started the
chase in earnest. Also putting in a monster effort to round it all back up was Julio L.
Hacker wasnt done and by the time the corner for
Welch came up, he would attack a couple more times. Riders along for the ride: Ben Bruce, The
Gibertoni, Hunter P, and Nuemotion.... All jumping on for the ride and trying to get away for themselves.
French Casey was
having none of that and would be the main force in keeping it together
heading onto Welch and toward the corner for West St.
Little T patiently sat near the front and made a strong jump at the base
of the hill. He hit the corner and turned into the headwind with a
solid 40 meters. He was untouchable from there to the sprint point as only
Jacinto would go above and beyond in the name of chasing. Behind,
everyone else was just content to find their fight against the headwind.
After it settled down, "Yellow" would continue to ride the front of the wave, putting
in some solid efforts but not breaking backs, apparently doing his best
imitation of the absent Chris C. The next action came
when a small group sprinted off a red light at the base of the hill by
Cheshire Park on route 10. Hacker was the main driving force and by the
top of the hill, he had a devils gear rider, Ciocci (?), B. McGill,
mike MCG , Nuemotion, and a couple of others. That group worked hard
into the headwind. In the pack, good final pulls at the front were unloaded from The Gibertoni and Ben Bruce but it wasn't nearly enough to the cover the gap. Hacker gets the Stop n Shop sprint over Nuemotion.
The lead group dutifully re-formed afterwards and got the benefit of a green light whereas the peleton had to stop. More than several guys broke formation due to the impending dark clouds and so someone else will have to pick it up from here. Did the break stay away? Did they sit n sprint?
Stay tuned to find out.
