Tuesday the 30th

All kinds of riders out tonight!

    The ride is back with a vengeance. There was so many bodies out there that it seemed like it slowed down the start of the ride a bit. Too many people to navigate around to get up front. However, the ride north was aided by a tail wind that soon made for a pretty solid pace without much fuss up front. The first rider to have a go was Keith M. Then there was Dillon P and a couple of the other Cheshire Cycle Racing guys up front trying to get a gap. It stayed together though. Chris C jumped as the pack was dealing with some traffic entering the Mountain Rd sector. Hunter P went with him and that brought out Mike McG, Hacker, Ben Bruce and a couple of others off the front of the chasing pack. The separation didn’t last long and it was all back together for the rest of the ride to the light at route 68/70. The high pace was enough to start thinning the herd by this point though.
      Ben Bruce, Hunter P and Hacker kept it going on Moss Farms and that would lead to a split in the field going into the chicane. Up front, a group of about 10 riders, led by Special Ed, Hunter P, Hacker, and Chris C, drove it up to Marion in pursuit of Ben Bruce, who had gone a bit too hard off the front. The lack of cohesiveness let several riders cross the gap as the ride went past the turn for the short loop and the split maintained all the way to the light at 322. That light was red for enough time to let a good number of riders back on. The pace once everyone got thru the light was not that fast, letting more recover and catch back up.
      With the tail wind and large field, it ended up a record breaking time going north on Mount Vernon. John Morgan and O’Shea from Keltic, Big Red, Chris C, Ben Bruce, Nuemotion, Pescatore, Jordan L and several others chipped in and drove it fast thru the new “cobbles” sector. A couple of riders were hit with flats. Soon enough it will be repaved!
      Halfway up the false flat, Sean Cahill jumped off the front and built up a small gap that he held onto for a kilo or so. By the time he was reeled in, everyone turned their attention to the turnaround. Once onto Welch, it was Ben Bruce and Hacker leading the way early on. Behind, the Burggie Baby closed down most of the gap for the pack before the hill kicked in. With no one off the front, it became a drag race after the corner. Nuemotion, Burggie, Chris C, Big Red, Cahill, Hunter P, Hacker, Keith M, and a couple of others, were all in position to ramp it up for the sprint. The light at the base of the final ramp was red and there was traffic stopped, which is unusual for that point in the ride. It brought the front of the pack to a screeching halt and a couple of guys nearly bit it trying to combine fast braking with narrow lanes. It negated the sprint for the week.
    Once everyone got going, only a few noticed that French Casey, buoyed by his new Cheshire Cycle Racing kit, slipped up and away off the front. The pack had to deal with a couple of lights and with Casey’s propensity to ignore them, certainly the odds were in his favor to staying away for good, especially with the headwind. The pack slowly rolled downhill and by I84 to find that Casey had sat up and was basically waiting to be brought back into the fold.
     From there the pace stayed pretty normal, all the way to route 10. Heading up the hill early on there, Hacker, The Sernyak, Hutner P, Keith M and Nuemotion drilled it into the wind and broke off a gap that took some pretty hard chasing from behind to bring back. More riders popped off the back. After the hill, red lights didn’t really figure in, and a couple of the guys kept the pace high, sensing the opportunity to get an early jump on the Stop N Shop Sprint. At the base of that ramp, Ben Bruce jumped hard and managed to out-muscle Big Red, and Sean Cahill to the top of the sprint.
    With the headwind making everyone climb slower than usual, a group formed going thru the center of town and started to work at getting a gap. Keith M, Hacker, The Sernyak, Hunter P, Ben Bruce, Sean Cahill, Big Red and one or 2 others ended up rolling away and holding the gap for good. The peleton was slowed down by a couple of lights but once the gap was made, it was a sure thing done deal. For the finale up front, Ben Bruce powered away after a late attack by Big Red came up a bit short.

Superb ride everyone!

Tuesday the 23rd

Motopacing behind storm cells
    The rain ended with plenty of time to spare before the start of another semi-wet SG ride. It was small crew out tonight, not quite 20 riders. The pace for the most was on the slower side. Certainly slower than the last couple of weeks. The usuals were up front early on. Henk P was a notable addition to the action and pace setting this week. He tried to slip away on Moss Farms, Mount Vernon, and West St.

    The first real action came on Moss Farms, when Hunter P took off and initially took Chris C, Henk P and Mike McG. That group made some headway on the pack heading into the chicane. Dillon P tried to slip off by pushing it on the wet roads in the corners and the chicane but there were guys that latched on and that led the catch of the break shortly after the turn onto Marion. Nick Sabatelli jumped off the front after that and held onto a small gap going by the industrial park before Hunter P jumped up and bridged the gap, this time with Rob Dux and Henk P again. It was together shortly after that and all the way onto Mount Vernon. Besides Henk trying to slip off the front early on, Mount Vernon was pretty run-o-the-mill. The smaller group obviously was leading to less overall speed.  
     After everyone turned onto Welch, a couple of guys started getting into position for the sprint. Dan I’m Back Smith jumped up off the front as the hill started, but was roped back in when traffic at the corner slowed him. After the corner, plenty of guys were there to keep the pace respectable. Notably, the Mullaly boys along with Kyle C, were up there drilling it up front and Little T was missing. He had gotten hit with a flat in the choppy roads early on Mount Vernon. For the sprint, Hunter P jumped hard at the usual spot. Mike McG gave chase but Hunter P stayed out in front. That was it for the sprinters. Pescatore brought all others up the hill to the sprint point.
    On backside, everyone came together, including Little T, who took a shortcut to rejoin. Heading back into Cheshire, downed powerlines, or construction, detoured everyone off Atwater St, onto the bike trail. Hunter P broke protocol, and slipped off the front as everyone went neutral for the detour on the empty bike trail. Hunter P kept up the gap until route 10, when a red light right after the corner brought it all back together. From there, no surprises up to the Stop n Sprint, where Little jumped up from 2 or 3 bikes back to easily nab it. Again, Mike McG, giving chase, this time with I’m Back Smith as well.
     Heading thru the center of Cheshire, Henk P drilled it, taking along the Mullalys and Kyle C with him. The old guy and the 3 young kids got to worked pretty hard, and they actually kept up a gap that took some real digs to bring back. Mike McG put his head down after passing Cheshire High and erased the gap. From there it was standard stuff heading back into Hamden. Little T rolled off the front with a little ways to go to the finish. A late regrouping on the front put a group of 3 riders in position to perhaps catch him. Pescatore, Henk P, Keith Mullaly and one other. Little T hung on though for it. The only guys with the Testes enough to head up the Shepard Ave for the uphill finish were Nick S and Hunter P.
     Next week, more riders, more attacks!

Tuesday the 16th

CT has déjà vu…

The clouds roll in and roll out just like last week, everyone gets a little wet but the show goes on. Once again, the cancellation of sanctioned racing in East Hartford meant that the CCAP Pro-Am team riders were out once again try to take their fill of easy pickins.
    Early on today, really early on, it was Jordan L taking off and with everyone distracted by the fast developing moistness in their shoes and chamois, he was allowed to roll. Pretty soon he was out of sign and out of mind. Behind the pace got going but the boys in purple and yellow were noticeably absent up front. Mikey Marko changed that as the ride got up to Mountain rd, and the pace clicked up a notch.
     As the peleton chugged up the early parts of mountain rd, Derek Cote came up and started working on the front as well as John Harris. Everyone stayed together tho and the group came up quickly to a paused Jordan L at the light on route 68.
     There was some early attacking on Moss farms, Hacker, Ben Bruce and a couple of others leading it. Joe K sewed things up, and had te rest of the pack on his wheel. Harris and Cote would take a couple of turns up front as well but no one went for the attack. Nuemotion and the Sernyak led it out into the chicane, with Chris C taking it up a notch before the corner for Marion, but it stayed all together. Hunter P, Jordan L, Ben Bruce, a new guy in a CF Racing kit and a couple of others were all there to maintain the pace.
     With good timing, Derek C and John Harris attacked pretty hard off the front 300 meters after the corner, and pretty quickly had a gap. Mikey Marko and Dave #midseasonweddingbreak Hoyle also jumped in there and it soon looked like easy pickins for em. Heading past the turn for the short loop, Markowitz dropped his glasses and had to check out of the attack, and the ride. Bummer he couldn’t finish the ride out with the group. The 2 others in the break soft pedaled a bit but it was coming back at that point as there were 7 or 8 riders looking to chip into the gap. Once it came back together, the pace dropped a bit and everyone rolled onto Mount Vernon together. Jordan L and Special Ed were at it up front. Nicholas Sabatellllllli, Hunter P and the Rider from Zanes on a new S-works (name?) was up there as well. No attacks though on Mount Vernon and so it stayed together.
      The pack barreled to the false flat, everyone sped by a “closed road” sign and sure enough, there were cops and cars parked everywhere 300 meters up the road. Apparently, Chevy Impalas aren’t too good on wet roads… Everyone had to turn back and re-route. Thanks to Wade “oh ok I will ride with you guys” Summers, everyone confidently rolled a mile on back roads and reconnected back to Mount Vernon soon after the traffic obstruction. From there it took the corner onto Welch to get things going again.
      It was CCAP leading the initial charge up to the corner, but there was plenty of SG regulars up there as well. At the hill, Joe K kicked and rolled up with Hunter P and a couple of others directly there, the rest of the field not too far behind. Joe K went into beast mode and drove it all the way to the sprint with nary a rider trying to come around. Hunter P jumped first for the sprint but had a long way to go. Harris would go next and he had a couple of others with him there, but he was able to hold everyone off to get the sprint points.
    On the backside, it almost didn’t come back together as the front group of 10 was making ground with the rain starting to fall again. A red light by I84 let everyone reconnect though. From there it was pretty orderly heading back into Cheshire. Derek C once again jumped up a kilo before crossing over 322. He took Dan “I’m baaaaaack” Smith and Nuemotion along with him but red light slowed all.
     Next up, Derek C jumping hard on the drag up peck lane. He took Hunter P and Dave “last ride as a single dude” Hoyle. That eventually turned into Just Hoyle and Neumotion off the front, charging toward route 10. Those 2 would work together to maintain a gap and the pack would be held up slightly by a red light. As the Stop n Sprint came up, the gap was going down, but there was plenty of space for the leaders. Nuemotion ended up rolling thru with it and in the next couple of lights, everyone had a chance to reset a bit. One guy who stayed on the throttle was Joe K. He hammered away thru the center of Cheshire and got an assist at the light by the high school. That was enough to get him out of sight and off the front for the rest of the ride. Nice way to take advantage of a gap and pull the wool over on everyone else.

Once again, great ride everyone! Hope to see everyone out for CT’s fastest crit, the Keith Berger Classic on Sunday.

Tuesday the 9th

Wet socks and dry roads!


      Fantastic ride tonight. Strava Kudos all round. The rain clouds passed on, in time for the ride tonight. The cancellation of the CCAP Training Race in East Hartford meant that a few of the Pro-Am guys come down to mix it up with the renegades of Sleeping Giant. They made their presence felt for sure. The triune figure of Harris Cote and Suto kept everyone on their toes all night long. Disney Dave took a couple of long drags off the front when everyone was on their back foot.
     The turnaround sprint was looking like Cote-all-the-way but he’s a new comer to the route and had to stop and ask for directions…. So embarrassing when that happens. As he was pausing at the corner, Little T was well on his way with a head of steam. He took off and quickly had a gap. Chris C, Young Suto, Ben Bruce and a couple of others couldn’t claw him back in time. Johnny Tall Socks jumped up and put in a solid last ditch sprint and came close, but T gets this one in impressive fashion.
      More text book attacking from the youngsters as the ride went south into Cheshire. Cote jumped hard after the underpass on West St, not realizing what was coming up. To everyone else, it just looked like he was riding into a brick wall. Indeed the light on 322 was red. He tried to sneak thru the light but was reprimanded by older, heavier, slightly slower cyclists. From there Dave H took off and made it fast up the false flat on Peck lane. But it stayed together as there were plenty of guys who were went extra hard for the new guys.
      Once on Route10, Harris drilled it, spreading everyone out across the road. His effort would have been good enough for final escape but a light was red, slowing the attack and giving everyone a chance to recover. A large group got the speed back up as the Stop n Sprint loomed. Quite a few guys were present and ready to jump for it but once again It was Little T, coming up with the goods.
       On the way back into Hamden, Harris and Cote led the charge off a red light, tearing off a pretty good sized group, splitting the ride into 2 groups. From there, the Sit n Sprint came down a hard charging Harris and Ben Bruce, who knew exactly when to come round to get it.

Tuesday the 2nd

The Return of Rondo!

Ron Fantano is back and boy does he sure know how to steal the scene! His triumphant return to the SG ride was enough to make the internet crash for the 2nd day in a row.

It was great to see him back out. The rain (and cold!.... Booties for June 2nd?!?!) kept this week's ride from being a true throwdown. Only 14 riders left the parking lot with a couple more meeting up on the roads. As far as the ride hot-spots are concerned, Ben Bruce continued his trouncing of the rest, taking the sprints. Chris C was mostly responsible for giving him his competition tonight. Other that that, it was a decent ride on mostly dry roads. Rondo even got up in the mix, taking a couple of pulls throughout the night.