It's St Patty's Day... Cyclists clear the way for the drunk drivers!
There was about 15 riders and a huge beeyotch of a headwind leaving the parking lot today. A couple of nearly got pushed over at the corner of route 10. It was slow head north as guys were being pushed hither and thither. Once off route 10, J Weaver Chris C and Hunter P rolled off the front. Hunter P led a group of 6 or 7 quickly off the front as gaps inevitably formed and could not be closed. Burgie nearly took out Chris C but that may have been part of the Cheshire Cycle plan... Gibertoni then took over up front along and pushed the pace up to Mountain Rd. Hunter P and Gibertoni nursed a small gap heading onto Mountain rd, but Chris C and Mike McG were riding hard to cover it. Once it was all back together, the group, also containing The Full Nalini, J Weaver, and Jordan L all worked together. The light was green at Route 68/70, erasing any chance that the stragglers would be able to get back on.
Onto Moss Farms, where Gibertoni jumped off the front halfway down and carried that gap thru the chicane and barely onto the climb up to Marion. From there the group again went back to working together as it rolled toward the industrial park. A Cheshire PD SUV drove up to the group with lights going, telling everyone to pull over. Everyone slowed to stop once thru the corner to the industrial park. "I don't mean to harass you, but we received multiple 911 calls. People are reporting you are riding on the wrong side of the road." As is the case with such encounters, more than a few words said by the "offending" cyclists is often wasted energy. The officer dismissed us with his opinion that it was "not the right (windy) conditions to be riding". He did make sure to say that if more calls were received, "action would need to be taken". If you were on the fence about riding with a full time video camera going, now is the time to make that purchase.
The officer (or one of his very busy partners) would go on to pull over the B-group and give the same recommendations about not using deep aero rims during 35 mph gusting winds.
Meanwhile up front, the lead group of 7 slowed got back up to speed in single file manner. Chris C pulled hard up the hills to Reinhard, and then Mike McG chipped in as well. It gave Gibertoni a great launch pad to jump for the sprint corner. J Weaver jumped as well, but Gibertoni got the early jump needed, and the tailwind bonus, and stayed out front. On the backside, He kept on the throttle along with Hunter P and the 2 rolled off the front as the group behind delayed chasing in earnest until everyone was back together. Aided by the tailwind, Hunter P and Gibertoni stayed away the rest of the ride back into Hamden. Jeff Weaver would put in a solid effort to try to get across. Then Mike McG and Chris C wound it up in the tailwind and got back a bunch of the gap but they came up about 15 seconds short of the 2 up front.
Good ride everyone! "Eventful" it was. It will be interesting to see how the larger groups are treated out on the roads.
