SGR enters 3 weeks of the best kind of chaos
It was by far the biggest group of the year tonight. It was great to see Steve Grey, Dan Dudzik, Steven Badger, and several other riders who together ensure that it's going to be a great SGR. So long as the weather holds up, these weeks before the CCAP's Renschler Field Series starts up will be crowded and fast for SGR. Despite the big field tonight, the pace got going quite slowly once off route 10. It took several minutes before the pace got going. Aaron B rolled to the front and started pushing the pace along with Keith M. Pretty soon Dan Smith was up there as well and along with Thule Tom's efforts, the normal high pace settled in.
TF got involved early on as well, bringing out Mike Hons and Chris C. There was a brief moment before Mountain Road where it looked like a group of 5 or 6 might get sprung by Dan Smith surging off the front but there was enough attentive riders going hard to keep it all together. Big red was active on the front here, as well as most of the evening, keeping the pace in response to would be attackers. We saw fresh faces from New Haven mixing it up in the front quarter of the pack. Andrew Suzuki and Aiden Xue got up there and were riding aggressively, far from the back of the pack.
On Mountain Rd, Hunter P and TF lit it up on the uphill start, and that started opening up gaps. Noah B stayed on it, which led to a brief gap to him and one other as the rest behind were sorting it out. Rosie charged across the gap, taking Hunter P and the rest of the field. It was all together going into the light and then to Moss farms.
This week on Moss farms the pace was a little less aggressive, and even though the wind was still a huge challenge to overcome there was no big attack to clear the front. It stayed together all the way over route 322 and on to Mount Vernon. TF and Hunter P went hard at the start of Mount Vernon, which woke everyone up. TF stayed on the gas and had a gap Chris C and Mike Hons chasing in front of the peleton. Kevin M sensing the opportunity, jumped across, taking no one else. He was able to get up to TF and those two got to work quickly into the headwind. Behind, Hons and Chris C couldn't close down the gap and started sinking back to the pack. With CW and CCR represented up the road, the chase was a bit slow to get going, but the headwind proved more of a deterrent to the two leaders. They could have used a couple more bodies up there to stay clear. Within a couple kilometers they were back into the pack. Dan S, Noah and Aaron B, and the big dude in blue kept the pace surging and unpredictable. Dillon P rolled off during a calmer moment and was allowed to get a gap that he held for another kilometer and a half. Cedric Baylor jumped across the gap late to him, but those two didn't have much of a chance to work together with the pack bearing down.
Ont to Welch for the turnaround, no one was really no one was pushing the pace through there. The usual guys started attacking up the uphill to the corner but Noah B got a best jump and went through the corner clean. He kept his head down on West Street and was escaping. Behind him a crowd going through the corner needed a little bit of sorted sorting out but once it did, Chris C, Noah B, Hunter P and TF emerged at the front. Noah B was not going to be caught though and he gets the hard-fought points. Behind Aaron B jumped next with Hunter P able to come around his wheel for second.
On the back side it all came back together although there were a few moments where TF, CCB, and Hunter P looked ready to push off the front. There were small gaps in the down the back side of West Street but with traffic near the 84 interchange nothing got rolling. Heading back towards route 322 Hunter P took a flyer to which Dan S responded and went across the gap. But the light was red keeping it all together. Dan S and Kevin M kept it up once through the intersection, but there was enough guys to roll with it.
On to the backside of the course where everyone screamed thru East Johnson with a tailwind. Steve B launched it on the hill up to the corner of Cheshire Street. Even though plenty of others jumped on the hill it was a good enough attack so that it was only he and Kevin M that went clear. They started rolling down Cheshire Street and towards the greenhouse climb with a gap and kept on plugging away. Behind a few riders got into the mix and started chasing, but it broke down. Within half a kilometer it was the two up the road with the pack chasing. Up front the two worked well together and hit the base of the climb with a solid 30-40 second gap that would not be brought back. On the climb, nobody was willing to chase it back. CW was sitting on, and they surged a bit to cover accelerations from surge to respond to a couple moves from Henk P and Chris C. Steve B and Kevin M get the points going across the line at the top of the hill. Behind Dan S wound up and went hard to be the next guy across the line in front of TF.
After the sprint Steve Band Kevin M were held up by traffic at route 70 allowing everybody to come back together. As the ride went on the there were no big surprises going through the back roads of Cheshire. Steve B stayed on it at the front of the pack and surged off a couple of times, but never more than a few meters. The finale was another hectic one with 10 to 12 guys ripping through the downhill onto the Tuttle sprint. Noah B timed the uphill-to-flat sprint well and was the first one across the line. Hunter P rolled in next, with The Sernyak right behind him. Fun ride everyone!
