The Street Fight Continues...
Welcome to the short-week version of the SG ride, complete with a slightly smaller group, and plenty of tired legs. The pace was slow to start out and slowly ramped up as the ride got towards the center of Cheshire. It was all together onto Moss Farms, where the first significant efforts of the night came from Hacker, Alan B and Julen L from NYTT. A small group was splitting off the front on the early rises of Moss Farms, but it didn't go far before the rest of the field snapped to attention and closed the gap. From there, Gregg F jumped briefly off the front, but no one went with, and it ended up being short-lived.
On the way towards route 322 things started to heat up, with the usual guys patrolling the front and pushing the pace. Gregg F again jumped off the front briefly by the industrial park. Then Alan B took off as the ride got the highway overpass, and then Hunter P and Sean Cahill jumped hard to close the gap. That shook out to be the 3 upfront and off the front, but they eased up a bit or couldn't get on the same page, leading the pack closing down a bit before the light, which was green. Everyone shot thru it, chase included.
Alan B kept on the gas on the other side, and he took a 15 second lead onto Mount Vernon Rd. He clung to that for 2 k or so, before finally getting caught after the false flat. Brian Girard, Dan Smith, Julen and Julio L, Ciocci, and a couple of others all involved in keeping up the pursuit.
As the ride got to the corner for Welch, Alan B pushed off again, this time taking just Sean Cahill with him. Those two were allowed to roll off the front, as everyone assumed it was a bit too far from the uphill and the sprint to be chasing 100%. By the time the two made the corner for Welch, they had a solid 10-12 seconds. From the pack, Hacker jumped hard to attempt the bridge but eased up after realizing he had Hunter P, The Full Nalini, THe Sernyak, and a couple of others right there on his wheel.
Soon after, it was very apparent that Alan B and Sean Cahill were not going to be caught, and Alan B took the sprint there, and those 2 kept on the attack to try to stay off the front. They nearly pulled away for good, but Hunter P and Hacker put huge efforts to close the gap before the downhill on West Street. That led to a split in the field as a group of 6 or 7 charged away on the downhill. There was traffic by I84 which allowed the chase to catch back on.
From there, the pace was steady, with no one going for it for the front. Alan B tried to sneak off in case the light on route 10 was green, but it was red. As the ride turned right after the short hill on East Johnson, a quartet of Hacker, Alan B, The Sernyak, and Sean Cahill hit it hard and had a chance to roll away. Brian Girard got stuck in the middle, trying to bridge, and then Hunter P attacked hard to close the gap. Enough guys were on his wheel to bring it all back together.
On the climb up to the Hickory Hill sprint, Alan B attacked a couple of times. It was enough to go free. Again he had Sean Cahill on the wheel, and the chase was not there. Brian Girard would come up and set a good pace at the front, but it was not enough to close the gap. Those 2 would roll thru the sprint again, and they kept on it hard to the next intersection. Behind them, a chase briefly formed but it was too little too late. Alan B and Sean Cahill stayed away, ending the ride with maximum points on the night.
Behind, the chase back was subdued, excpet for a brave (and successful) move off the front from Dan Smith. He jumped away from the group on the hill before Tuttle and stayed out in front the entire way back.
Chapeau to that!
