Tuesday the 17th

BIG crowds for the ride on an awesome day.

    Everybody and your mom was out for the tonight’s ride. Big crowds from the turn in weather. Bigger crowds thanks to there not being a race up at the ‘Rent tonight. From the get go Big Red Mike Grome was active off the front. Alec C, visiting home on a trip away from college was also pushing the pace deliberately along with the Sernyak. It stayed together and fast all the way up to Mountain Rd. Hacker, Chris C, The Sernyak, a new guy with a Pacific Jersey and older BMC, Mike McG,  and a couple of others hit it hard. That led to Hunter P and Big Red getting off the front by the second set of risers. They held a gap for a quick bit and once they were caught Dave H took off the front with great timing. There was chasers to respond to him though. Big Red, Ciocci, Pescatore, Aidan, and a couple of others. The field was single file as it came up to the light, which stayed green long enough for all to get thru.
     Once onto Moss Farms, Hunter P attacked, taking along Alan B, The Sernyak and 2 others. The CCAP boys came up to the front after they were caught, as well as Alec C and it turned into a drag race to the Chicane. Alec C stayed up front, as well as Big Red, but no one was escaping. A tire wrench in the road got thrown up and hit a couple of riders near the turn for the industrial park but thankfully everyone stayed upright.
     Once onto Mount Vernon, Cassie C, Chris C, Mike Frisk and a couple of others were near the front but once again, Big Red tore off a gap with Hunter P. It was short lived though and everyone was together for the rest of the fast trip down Mount Vernon. Getting onto Welch rd. it would end up being a record breaking night for the run into the sprint. After pretty much everyone jumped on Hacker’s heels when he jumped up, Joe K ended up nabbing the KOM for the Welch Rd segment. He also had enough in the tank to impressively sprint up to the corner as well. He carried a gap of about 30 meters thru the corner and just kept pedaling away into the headwind. Behind, there were more than a couple of Cheshire jerseys crowding out and discouraging the chasers and Joe took it all the way to the line.
    In the chase that followed, Joe would be joined by Hunter P and then a little while longer by Big Red. The pack was nearly taken out by a right turning car and slammed on the brakes. There was some additional traffic to deal with for the peleton before the downhill on West Street. Meanwhile up the road, the 3 leaders went to work building up a gap and they would not be caught for the rest of the night. Joe K would turn to head home in the center of Cheshire leaving Big Red and Hunter P to take it the way back into Hamden.

Great ride everyone. Next week, the cops get involved!

Tuesday the 3rd

Barn burner can’t be put out by the rainy weather

The semi wet road didn’t stop a healthy group of about 25 for the ride tonight. Great to see Nuemotion back out, as well as the Full Nalini. The evening’s main antagonists however were the Yalies. Fresh off the collegiate racing season, Big Red and Michael Landry joined with the always-ready-to-rumble Sernyak and Hacker to repeatedly attack and just plain ol make it fast. The usual’s were also ready to go, with Ben Bruce, Mike McG, Tall John, Hunter P, the Crowells and a couple of others all chipping in with attacks, hard pulls, or both.
      The group stayed together in the first half hour but guys were getting shelled all along. Big Red put in a solid attack down Mountain Rd and it took 750 meters to drag him back. A red light gave 3-4 guys the chance to catch back on after being dropped from the hard pace. Then, Hacker lit it up past the chicane, heading up to Marion, which further served to string things out. Heading over 84, Alan B attacked and took along Hacker and it forced a few to go deep to catch. Then once over 322, Big Red launched it, taking off with gap that was initially allowed to roll out. Then once everyone got onto Mount Vernon, Chris C ramped it up along with Ciocc, Tall John and a couple of others in pursuit. A couple of kilo down, Big Red was still hanging on. Ryan O’hara, joining in the ride for the first time, jumped out and slowed caught up/bridged the gap. It was enough to the get the rest to respond and it was soon after all together again.
      From there, most were content to reset for the turnaround. The ride down Welch was fast, Ben Bruce, Chris C, Hacker, and a couple of others strung it out. No one was able to get off the front but Chris C jumped first. Turning onto West St, a group of about 5 or 6 was lining up as Chris C was being collected. Nuemotion jumped next, taking a couple more. Then Hunter P jumped in front just as traffic was turning into the road from the left. It was enough to neutralize the sprint, slowing Hunter P, Nuemotion and Mike McG down.
    On the backside, Sernyak, Hunter P, Alan B and RyanO took off but never got too far as everyone dove downhill. Once onto Atwater St, the Yalies kids were back at, with Hacker attacking up the hill under the highway. Hunter P followed it up and strung things out before getting stopped by the red light. Not too many surprises after that. Landry, Alan B, and Hunter P attacked off the front going over the old rail road tracks on Peck Ln. They took a narrow gap in thru the corner for route 10 but as everyone slowed ot all came back together. Heading into the Stop n Shop Sprint, Big Red attacked again, tearing off a solid gap with 750 meters to go and holding it nearly to the top. The rest were content to let him try for it. Only Hacker jumped to overtake, taking along Kyle C. Kyle (who’s on tear and needs a big ol high five for recently being awarded his upgrade to Category3!) nearly came around Hacker as both cleared Big Red. Hacker was able to hold on though.
    Great ride with lot’s of aggressive riding on display!

Tuesday the 19th

The right mix gets the nuts tonight

    Right from the gun, it was apparent that the ride would be about who was going to go up the road and who was going to allow that to happen. An initial group of three led by The Sernyak took off right off route and soon after, was joined by a big group of mostly Cheshire guys.
    A little ways after that, the Crowle’s jumped up along with Alan B and Markowitz. After that last injection of horepower, the break had more than enough to start working on building up the gap. Behind, a couple of riders allowed teammates to roll, and the response from the strong guys left was little too late. The weight of the early chase fell on the shoulders of Henk, Sasha from CCB, Mike McG and Steve Grey (or Gray) whatever.
     The break, comprised of a Cheshire Cycle party on wheels ( Dana R, Gregg F, Dillon P, Joe K, Ben Bruce, Alan B) also had, the Crowells, The Sernyak, Mountain Man, Michael from Yale, Markowitz and Little Noah shed riders throughout the ride. Some due to flats (Dillon P and Chris C) and then some just due to the quick pace.
    The biggest attrition happened at the turnaround, where no less than 3 riders took couldn’t hack it when Joe K lit it up. Ben Bruce came away with the sprint and right about then the group actually started to look like a paceline. For the run into Stop n Shop, The lead group was down to 6 riders (Alan B, Marky Mark, Gibertoni, Sernyak, Ben Bruce, Kyle Crowell) after Markowitz took some heavy pulls. The group rolled that and kept on the gas towards Hamden. For the finale there was some cat and mouse between Ben Bruce, Marky Mark and Gibertoni, which gave The Sernyak ideal shot to sneak and pull it off for the finish, though it was VERY close between him and Ben Bruce.

Awesome ride everyone! Let’s hope the northwind keeps driving us all mad!