Good ride tonight guys ( and girls ).
Certainly not sluggish by any means. Missing notably were Mike McG, Peter P and Craig from Anthem.
Others were still coming off a super hard race, the Middletown Grand Prix. Steve Grey finished 2nd in his race, Chris Crowle took a 3rd place. Ed Angeli a 2nd, and our own Joe K took 2nd and subsequently upgraded to the 3's.
Right from the start 3 riders were being silly and driving straight past Wentworths, creating a gap. They were:
Hunter P from Anthem
Eric Merril from Keltic
And the still currently unknown Keltic rider with the silver Bianchi. ( can someone fill me in )
The 3 worked up a bit of a gap. Tho Hunter admits to being the dead weight in the break, suffering from a crash over the weekend. The usual suspects kept it close, Stage 1 and Target Training riders, specifically Curtis Easton. By the time the ride got to Mountain rd, they were caught.
Jacob Hacker went straight to work, but couldn't find anyone to help his breakaway cause.
The ride turned onto Moss Farms still very together. It got going single file again for the chicane turn and heading up to Marion, Hacker and a rider from Stage 1, ( is it Matt Incong...? with a tatoo on his right leg?) were flying. Gregg Ferraris from Epic Velo was chasing and so was Hunter P. Anthony Alessio and Chris C jumped on board & quickly dispatched with ninja like quickness, the thread of a Hacker up the road.
The ride was sedate for a while. It wasn't until the climb by Bob's Distribution Center on West Johnson that Hacker accelerated again. This time taking Chris C and the gentlemen riding a white and blue Mercer (?!) with an Ibike cpu. Hunter jumped up to the group and it looked good, but they stalled on the climb up Rienhard.
Hacker paused while Joe K and the unknown Keltic rider came up and then took off again, and the trio had a small gap going by the corner and descent of Schoolhouse Rd. Joe K had a mechanical issue at the bottom of the descent and called it a day as the remaining peleton came screaming by. Hacker and the Keltic rider were charging. On the corner of Peck Ln, the peleton had to pause for cars. Going up Peck Ln no one was too eager to close the gap to the 2 in front. Ed Angeli then simply powered up the hill, leaving others to sprint for his wheel. Still the 2 would not give up. Credit them with the day's most successful attack. It wasn't until the climb past Cheshire Park on RT 10 that they came back.
Going thru town, not too exciting. After getting past the stop lights of South Cheshire, Curtis Easton with balls forged from brass, attacked on his own. He built up a good gap on the sleepy pack. And then, in one of the most team like efforts ever seen during the Tuesday Throwdown, 3 Keltic riders were at the front end, chasing hard. Curtis stayed out there longer than most wouldve been able to. He was caught just over the Hamden town line. From there it was Hacker, Alessio and Hunter P and a couple of others powering thru to the finish. Apparently we are giving the sprint to Alessio.
Good ride! Please, fill in what i missed. Make comments, give highlights.....
20 comments:
The bubble boy with the tat on his right foot is "Crazy Chris" Chapleau.
"Ninja like quicknes". I like it.
Little T" (Alessio) broke the rules for the finish by getting out of his saddle. The unwritten rule on this ride is that you stay in your saddle for the sprint finish.
I saw you guys (and girls) riding. Had to stop in front of Everybody's light because of the cop sitting there? I also saw the two who fell behind. Don't worry. You can't win em all.
Even tho i have never heard that rule, it makes sense. I like it. Does that mean i get credit for the sprint? i was so redlined i couldnt stand if i wanted...
Unknown Keltic riders: Jesse Kane(silver Bianchi) and unknown in the break with Hacker and Joe: Greg Ciocci. Someone please define the finish line. I keep sprinting for Shepard Ave. ugh....
Ah, Thank you Eric. See, that's we are talking about. Everybody chips in and in the end we have one big happy family. The kind that make hot cocoa at night & look forward to sharing & spooning in bed with each other.
As for the finish line...We have always thought that right before Shepard is the unofficial line.
A few years ago (~10 years ago) we used to complete each ride with a designated sprint location (at a bridge). On one evening, with riders fighting for position on route 10 at 35 mph, there was a bad crash where one rider was almost run-over by a car! Since that time, we decided that there is NO sprint line. By doing this, we ensure that the "weaker" riders will not save themself for the sprint and we also encourage everyong to get their workout in DURING the ride.
Some people still sprint but this is strongly discouraged. The ride is dangerous enough, we shouldn't make it more dangerous!
John (Stage 1)
ps: C. Crowell is not "ninja like", he is more like "Charles Barkley" quick....
I like "ninja quick" although Barkley did go the the hall of fame.
John is right, no one should be sprinting at the end of the ride. People spread out across RT10 at 40MPH is just crazy. Remember you are in a mixed group. What's up with all the aero bars???? I heard there was a guy last night in full aero position riding in the middle of the paceline.
Chris C.
I wish we went back to the days of sprinting for the first mailbox up the hill on Shepard Ave. That was always a boys against the men finish.
I dont think there is too much danger with the imaginary sprint line as it is. But then again, i wasnt there that one day when the crash happened.
totally off the subject...eden drives?
Cool blog... thanks for creating. Hopefully we could get our own THammel to get motivated and do a "stand-in" report for TWC. His past writings have been priceless... maybe we can get him to submit one or two for qualification purposes. Not sure about the mention for the ride being slow at first... I felt like I was hammering from SG. And I was. Oh... of course that may have been due to the rear brake being engaged for the entire ride. Da man! Of course I'm not planning on leading anay breakaways next week... unless I can get my hands on some of the stuff our pro friends are using for their elite performances.
Thanks - Yea - Hopefully we can make the ride better and more organized and bring some more incentive to really burn all the matches we have. Yea - Mr. Hammel can write a guest recap. He can email it cheshirecycle@cox.net.
Sorry for breaking the unwritten rule. That rule is kind of like not going through red lights, riding single file, and being curtious to each other.
T$
Hunter your box is enough to drive a truck into. #1. Pussing out of GMSR #2. Ditchin the last tuesday night crit after you promised me. If you knocked on my door, I'd kick you in the jimmies.
I don't drive. But I'm on my way. 3 more years baby, 3 more years.
I was sitting in my mom's car in Everybody's parking lot waiting for her to come out when I saw y'all come flying down Route 10 just to stop at a stop light.
I just can't get over it.
"what the pros use" ... here's a thought - now that the tour is a big joke anyway, the rules should be changed. Cancel the dope testing and let all caution fly to the wind. Whoever has the best legs AND best concoction wins. It is all just about science and outwitting anyway, what is the difference how it is done anymore? The ones alive at the end get the trophies.
Any included puns are purely imaginary.
s s s ssss saddle , ive been driven to studder
not really to be picky or anything, however my reputation stands before this... chicane is not a adjective.
A. the tour is not a joke. Most riders were there clean. Support the efforts to clean it up, dont bad mouth it. Thats just following the crowd.
B. No ins s s s ss side jokes.
( sigh ) Good point.
What's up with the surge on mtn road before the rt68 light? "Prime points" or "just push hard cuz a break is coming" ???
I like how Joe K takes it handely every week.
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