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

Tuesday the 7th



     Big crowds tonight as the ride picked up quite a few that would normally be riding hard up at the Rent. The large group started out slow enough and it allowed a small group to pounce on a chance to ride off the front. Joe K, Nuemotion, Chris C, Burgster, Big Red, Peter Petrillo (holy cow he returns), and one or 2 others. That group jumped on the gas and quickly got out of side. A chase group formed, led by Ben Bruce and that served to help the front group, as the peloton was more focused on catching the second group on the road. The leaders would be caught late on Mountain Rd. Pressure from Mike Marko, Aidan, and a couple of others sealing the deal. The whole pack didn’t wait long at the light and soon on Moss Farms, Big Red, Ben Bruce, Hunter P, and Nuemotion started driving the pace up once again. Big Red lead a couple of guys off the front as the chicane neared and Rusty led the rest into and up to Marion Ave. Good luck on Saturday Rusty!
     From there the CCAP boys punched it and drove the pace up a good bit. Dave Hoyle (sorry girls, he’s taken) rolled off the front and took a couple of quick to act guys. Mike Marko also jumped. Soon there was a chase group that did the brunt of the work to get bring it all back together. That didn’t last long tho as the pace going by the industrial park and then over the highway was kept high. Special Ed, Jordan L and Crazy Chris along with a couple of others forced another split. Behind, a couple of new guys, who’ve obviously learned the ropes, did quite a bit chase the group down, but as the light on 322 came up, there was still a 75 meter gap. The front group got a green light and the pack slid thru a red light as Hunter P and Dave Hoyle bridged across quickly. That led to the whole pack coming back together soon after.
     Mount Vernon was the usual combination of surges, swearing and gutter diving. Dave Hoyle attacked a couple of times down the long stretch. Pete Petrillo was up there as a new face driving the pace. At the turn around sprint, it looked like it might go to Mike Marko and Chris C early on but as they crested the hill and turned to go south, the chase was right there. Burgster, Mike McG and Hunter P were at the sharp end. When the leaders came back there was slowdown, allowing Ben Bruce to come up from a few bikes back and jump first for the sprint. Little T and a couple of others would go for it, but Ben Bruce strongly stayed out in front and held on for it.
    It came all back together soon after. Then Henk P rolled off the front and managed to keep a gap all the way to the underpass at Atwater. After that, a couple low key moments as the ride went back over 322. Aidan lit it up on Peck Lane, leading to Mike Marko, Nuemotion, Hunter and Nick Sabatelli hitting the front hard. The headwind was pretty severe but that didn’t stop Mick S from attacking at the top of the long riser on Peck. He put his head down and hung on to his gap until route 10, where some traffic forced him to slow for the corner.
   The start of route 10 was fast, as Dave H, Mike Marko, Jeff S from Cycling Concepts, and a few others drilled it up the hill. Special Ed and Jordan L did some solid work to keep it together and chase down those that were looking to sneak off the front. The run in to Stop n Shop sprint was clean, and Little T wasn’t going to be denied this time.
    From there it was uneventful heading back into Hamden. The final 2 k’s were fast (and sketchy), as the headwind kept everyone ducking for cover, and the larger number of guys who are good at riding bikes made for more than the usual number of wheels to follow in. Pretty much everyone had a chance at the final 500 meters and that turned into 5 of 6 really going for it earnest. Stacked up traffic and cars passing negated the already nebulous sprint point.
     Great ride everyone! Good to see some ballsy-ness out there!