Tuesday the 28th

Velo Fantastico!

     Great ride tonight as the long loop was ushered in with force. It was great to have John “big hitter” Harris out, along with Aidan “the Hipster” Charles. The addition horsepower definitely upped the intensity at a couple of key points. Starting out, Chris C and Hacker were determined to find cracks in the peleton's armor. Harris would power off the front a couple of times before Mountain Road and each time guys were there to jump on the train. This, combined with the pretty stiff headwind meant the pack was losing riders pretty quickly tonight.
      The ride continued to be pretty quick past Moss Farms. Gibertoni, Joe K, Hacker, Chris C, Ben Bruce, Rusty, Jordan L, Special Ed, all contributing the pace. Harris and Aidan hit it going over the highway, on the way to Route322, and that further put guys in the. The light allowed for pretty much everyone to catch up though. The pace getting onto Mount Vernon was the slowest part of the ride tonight. The road conditions there are at a new low and no one was pushing off the front.

       Joe K, along with Jordan L, once again hit the afterburners going up the false flat. Dave Maynard was there to try to capitalize as the road leveled off. Then Harris once again lit up the front, forcing guys to chase. Heading into the corner for Welch Rd, it was CCAP making it uncomfortable. Young Nick Sabatelli got involved and the pace was pretty quick for the first 300 meters or so. It calmed down ever so slightly as Hacker, Chris C and a couple of others rolled into place for the charge up to West St. Harris once again hit the jets, forcing a fast reaction. He peeled off the front as Chris C, Ben Bruce, Hunter P, Gibertoni, Special Ed, and a couple of others were right there. Chris C kept the leadout going fast which forced all but Ben Bruce and Hunter P from the front. Hacker worked hard to jump up and through to get in position. Just then Chris C pulled off, allowing a Ben Bruce to roll off a gap that his teammate behind did not chase down. Once he had a gap, with about 250 meters to go, he was all in. Hacker jumped up from 3^rd wheel but ran out of room.

        On the back side Gibertoni and Chris C pushed the downhill pace, probably a little too aggressively as the corner at the bottom of the hill was obnoxious with cyclists. Heading back toward 322, Gibertoni kept at it, Harris was up there, so was Ben Bruce. Great to see Gary Boldac as well, visiting the ride after a long hiatus. Going under the underpass, Jordan L jumped up, then Hunter P. That was enough to spring a brief gap but as Harris and Chris C responded, so did the rest of the remaining riders.
       The light at 322 was red and as soon as it tuned green, Harris did his best Lars Van Der Haar impression and shot off the line like it was January 2017 in Hartford. He quickly, no... Very quickly, got out of sight and was not seen until the long false-flat up peck lane. There were plenty of guys willing to chase hard. Chris C, Hacker, Big Red, Ben Bruce, Hunter P, Keith Mullaly, and a couple of others. By the time the corner for Route10 approached, Harris was a stones throw away. The imminent catch, along with the tailwind, made the first mile of route 10 heading south fast.

          Heading into the Stop n Shop sprint, Big Red provided the leadout in front Chris C and Hunter P. From behind Hacker jumped, this time with Dave Maynard right on his wheel and Aidan C a couple of bikes behind. Dave was able to sneak by Hacker just at the last moment. From there the tailwind helped propel everyone back into Hamden right around 32mph. For the finale, once again, it was Gibertoni impressively leading out and out-muscling the Full Nalini with what must be a 9 tooth in the back.

Great ride everyone! Let's make em all like that this year!