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

Tuesday the 14th



Favorable Meteorological Conditions!

    The ride finally was given some acceptable weather. Even still, there was only about 25-30 riders out for it. It was GREAT to see Julio L’s son out for the ride, as well as regular Kyle Crowell. The ride started out nice and controlled in honor of the young ones, even as the group made its way onto the backroads. Hunter P was the first to roll off the front and he was allowed to go up the road. A couple of corners later, Gibertoni and The Full Nalini from the pack were starting to drive the pace. It would all come back together with plenty of time to spare for the corner onto Mountain Rd.
    The pace stayed steady for a while, with the usual crew leading the ride. Great to see the Sernyak up there and riding strong. No real action off the front all the way onto Moss Farms. Gibertoni stayed near the front. Tall John and Chris C as well. French Casey would appear up the front a couple of times but there was no real attacks. Heading into the corner for the chicane, Julian Azerat, visiting from the Beantown area, was pushing the pace along with the Full Nalini and Michael Grome-a-nom-nom. Everyone was alert to make sure the new guy didn’t blow thru a corner, which is always nice to see.
    No real attacks up the hill onto Marion, a couple of strong surges but nothing that was meant (hopefully) to create separation. Once into the industrial park, Gibertoni and Chris C picked up the slack but again, the pace was just high enough to discourage attacking. More of the same onto W Johnson ave. Going thru the intersection of Peck Lane, Casey did his best impression of Jim Carrey on a bike, flying in front traffic to make sure they got the stop signal. The car probably would lose in that match up anyway.
   Heading on Reinhard, Chris C took the front along with Azerat and Hunter P. Hunter started the sprint effort, with Gibertoni, The Sernyak and Ben Bruce on his wheel. The leadout was all Gibertoni needed to come around and the sprint with much fuss from the others. On the backside, the riders behind were quick to fill in the gaps and the lead group of 4 didn’t press the issue, so it was all back together pretty quickly.
   The pace calmed down quite a bit on Peck Ln. giving Hunter P a chance to attack with 500 meters to the corner for route 10. Azerat rolled across the gap in time for the turn and those 2 throttled it up the hill by Cheshire Park. Soon after it was all back together as Grom-a-nomnom along with others were working hard to get across the gap. For the run into the Stop N Sprint, it was mostly Cheshire Cycle Black and blue, with Chris C in there for good measure. Ben Bruce lead things out AND was looking to power away with it. Behind Gibertoni, Chris C and Hunter P all hit the jets at the same time, with Hunter P threading the needle to get up and past Ben Bruce with a few bike lengths to spare. Best sprint of the year so far!
    The race to the top was enough to spring a good gap for the 4 riders. They stayed on the gas, making it through all but one light in Cheshire, which was only a minor delay. Behind the pack would get stopped at one light. For the 4 up front, that was all that was needed and Chris C, Ben Bruce, Gibertoni, and Hunter P worked hard to keep the speed high all the way to the finish. For the finale, some sat up, leaving Gibertoni to collect his second price of the night.

Good ride everyone!
(psst, it’s ok to attack)