Tuesday the 15th

Summer Vacation starts for the SG ride


The ride tonight started pretty quietly, got interesting a little bit and then ended quietly.

Right from the start, the 3 guys that were feeling up to the task of pace-setting were VQ Rob, Eric M and that new guy from Zane’s that no one apparently wants to I.D. The 3 were staying crisp at the front, perhaps trying to duplicate the magic of last week’s ride. Everyone stayed together though and there were no real attacks off the front. Hacker came up and brought the pace up a little along with Ciocci. All the while the 2 Zane’s riders were up there, pitching in where they could. Ciocci led everyone on the intial section on Mountain road and was followed up by Hacker, VQ Rob, Larry M, Chris C and the usual strong guys. Good to see Todd H out tonight as well.

It all rolled up to Route 68 together but as soon as the turn was made on Moss Farms, Hacker lit the jets looking to get a gap. He was covered well though by VQ you-know-who, Tim Ratta and the other Zaniacks. A little down the way he attacked again, looking to either get a workout in or to separate himself from the dude with the aero bars but again he was covered….. But just barely, the gap was open for a bit. It wouldn’t have mattered though cause there was a little traffic turning into the chicane. Everyone went thru there without incident and attack despite some strong guys up front riding unusually slow, albeit alert and ready. Call it the velo version of Mutual Assured Destruction. The ride moseyed over route 322. The speed picked up a little on Mount Vernon Road, but nothing leg shattering. The false flat section again triggered a separation with Rondo, Hunter P, Chris C, Mike McG, Ratta, Larry M, VQ, Todd H and a couple of others riding off. That was short lived though with Peter K and others chasing it down. It all was together for the rest of the ride northward. Hacker attacked right before Welch Road and took along the Eric M and the other Zane’s rider. Hunter P jumped on late as well. That was shut down pretty quickly by a few guys, Larry M, Ciocci, Chris C, the Innova rider, among others. That put a lot of guys in the running to contest the sprint, but this would be a proper battle with no fakers allowed as the black mailbox on the righthand side of the road at the top of the climbing is a long way away from the corner….. Rondo and Mike McG kept the pace up thru the corner for Little T and a select group… Chris C, Hunter P, Hacker and Steve Grey. This turned out to be a knock down, drag out battle…. The way a mid ride sprint should be. There was little time for cat and mouse games, after a bit of a pause, Little T hit it with only Steve Grey able to follow. Rondo and Chris C had faded, Hunter P was a little late in getting into the group and Mike McG had come off the front as well but was able to claw back a bit. Little T and Gray would go all the way to the line but it was Little T who was able to stay out in front, sprinting uphill 250 meters to do it.

After some shuffling, the front group hit the descent fast, but it was pretty much all together as there was some strong riding buy guys to cover the gaps. Going thru the traffic lights and heading back into Cheshire was ho-hum standard stuff. It got going again once back onto Peck lane for the false flat section there. There was a brief gap as Steve Grey put in a solid pull along with Eric M. For a little bit at the high point of the road there, about 7 guys had a small lead but that would get erased shortly and it was all together heading onto Route 10. Hacker was looking like he wanted to go after Cheshire Park, but no one would chip in. The leadout for Stop n Shop started soon after and it was full tilt. Ciocci was up there along with Rondo laying it out fast enough to set up Mike McG and Little T. The 2 punched it in unison as a gap was opened behind Little T. Hacker and Hunter P would kind of look alive on this one, but really the gap was opened so fast from Mike mcG’s sprint that Little T had no one to compete against for this one.

The group went pretty mellow through the rest of the lights. the pace finally picked up led by one of the wheelhouse riders. with about 1.5 to go the pace was pretty high and with about 1 miles to go mike mc g upped the pace to 30. he pulled off and rondo upped it to 32ish. he hung in there for a respectable time before pulling off and the vq rob took over getting all the way to 35 for about 30 seconds before he crumpled allowing eric m to ride the last 100m to victory with relative ease. the guy on the tt bike actually bested eric by a bit, but that doesn't really count!