Tuesday the 4th

A massive crowd out tonight. Seemed like nearly 75 riders at the start. Good to see some old faces with Gordon and Josh Gewirtz out just like the olden days. Also out was French Casey, Steve Grey, and Empire Matt. So there was plenty of get up & go out for the ride.

Once everyone rolled into the backroads, it was VQ Rob and Mike McG setting early tempo. Mike was up there just to get thru the cobbled section of Brooksvale. The 2 of them actually rolled off the front but were caught at the next intersecion as traffice slowed everyone down. After that the pace was high thanks to VQ Rob still up there setting good tempo along with Hunter P, Peter P and a new rider with a flame tatoo on his leg (?). There were a couple of other new faces involved in the mix. Gordon was up there as well. Guido came moving up to the front along with Empire Matt and Hacker coming up to Mountain.

Right before the corner for Mountain Road, Mike McG flatted, Julio stopped to assist, and in the hesitation…. “ do we stop? Do we go? Do we wait?” A group of 4 or five rolled off the front. Guido, Peter P, VQ Rob, and a couple of others. Behind, riders were strung out and isolated up the initial climb. Dillon P was leading what was now the peleton with Hacker and Hunter P right on his wheel. Hacker jumped up to make the bridge and took Hunter P along with him. That made a dangerous group of about 6 guys up the road. Behin d, the field was starting to come together and the chase was on thanks to Eric M, Little T, Joe K Josh G, and Empire Matt. Up the road Hacker, Guido, Hunter P, and Peter P were doing good work keeping the pace up. The chase was a good one though and with all thought of waiting for Mike McG erased, the break would eventually get caught a little past Cornwall Ave. From there, Hacker kept the pace high with Joe K and Empire Matt.

The pace stayed high on Moss Farms with plenty of guys doing work. Toward the end of Moss Farms, Josh G attacked and took Hutner P with him. Hacker jumped up as well as the 3 had a gap heading down toward the chicane. The field responded and moved to shut it down, Empire Matt, O‘Shea from Keltic, and Steve Grey at the front. The 3 were caught as everyone hit the base of the false flat to Marion. Hacker again stayed near the front, with Little T making his way thru in time to attack on the hill. Hunter P was right with him and Hacker jumped later and made it thru the corner with the 2. That trio formed a decent gap as well. ( plenty of good breaks today, but too much strength overall to keep the gaps ) They flew toward the industrial park, with Empire Matt, Yalie Adam, A newer guy on an older Trek, and Steve Grey doing a lot of chasing. The catch of the break was about to happen when Empire Matt shot off and thru everyone with an impressive dosage of speed. It was enough to kill the break and the will any one would have to try to catch him. Matt ended up staying off the front all the way to route 322 as the pace behind him slowed a bit for more cobbles. Again, not too many to turn off into the industrial park, though the fast pace of the night was definatly thinning the herd quite a bit. Onto Mount Vernon Road, CCR riders Chris B, Joe K and newcomer Matt Sack were leading it for the first sectors. The pace went up and down a couple of times, based on who was pinning it at the front. Hacker was absent, making sure his dropped and retrived Garmin was still registering power in the thousands, but Empire Matt and the Yalies kept the speed up along with Flaming Legs (?), Peter P and Steve Grey. As the ride turned onto Welch, CCR ers Joe K Chris B and Hunter P massed at the front for a run to the corner. Joe K and Butler then got a gap that Yalie Adam, Thomaas B, Guido and VQ Rob had close right as everyone hit the hill. Little T was up in the mix, being trailed by Hacker. Joe k had jumped for the corner hard but was passed by Guido, Little T and Hacker. Despite a furious charge by Little T, Guido gets the credits for this one, just holding it to the corner.

Hacker kept it going past the corner along with Little T and Crazy Chris but a severe headwind kept them from getting much of a gap. It was group bunched heading down West Street as Mike McG and Julio met back up with the ride. Once everyone recovered from the hill the pace went up quite a bit with Empire Matt and others tearing down the backside toward the highway. Mike McG had a brief go off the front with an antsy Josh G on Canal St but by the light at 322 it was all together again.

Heading up Peck lane, with Thomaas B and VQ Rob a little up the road, Hunter P rode off the front and no one was too concerned to try to catch him right away. He pedaled thru the uphill cobbled section of Peck alone and was caught by a now charging front end-o-the ride, led by MIke McG, Peter P and Young guy on Older Trek. The 3 had caught Hunter P with a bit of a gap behind them so that made 4 now up the road with a 6 or 7 second cushion for pushin. That gap held up to Route 10 were Hunter P and Older Trek attacked once more and got a gap heading up the hill by Cheshire Park. That was short lived though and it was all together once at the top of that climb.

Heading into the Stop n Shop sprint, thigns got spread out pretty quick as Little T, Guido, Steve Grey, Hacker and one other (?) all were going for the sprint. Little T had this one in the bag tho, taking it by a couple of lengths from Hacker. The rest of the ride into Hamden was slow cause of red lights. Everyone did a good job of taking up 65% of the total road and French Casey even gotta little motor pacing in.

Little T turned off on route 42 so that meant dollar signed poped up in everyone's head for the final test. And heading into that it was fast with a buch of guys looking for the right wheel. Guido however, needs no wheel to follow and was the last to hit the front with a solid 500 meters to the end and he railed it the whole time. Leaving Mike McG, Julio, Hacker, and others just shaking their fists in the now dusk skies.