Tuesday the 19th

New Equipment Day at SG ride.

    The heat index was pegged again tonight. It seemed to slim the crowd down a bit but anyone with half a brain for this type of thing could sense the fireworks coming down the road. The pace started up slow thanks to the rough stones leaving the access road. Everyone waited on route 10 for the most part to make sure the whole group was accounted for. Once on the backroads, Stage one and Guido were up front along with a new rider in a Yale Kit ( Andrew Adare ). Also present was Silent Steve, VQ Rob, sporting a new set of deeeeeeeeeep Zipps. He had along with him BikeShopBob and another CVC rider who was too tall to be CxC ( Mike Sernyak ). There was also new guy in a Amity Kit. Hacker was also up there along with MoMoney, French Casey and Hunter P ( also riding on some "new" wheels ). MaHoney would get hit with a flat and drop out. Everyone stayed together up until the approach for Mountain Road, when Jel!e Snoop took off the front all alone. He hammered out a small gap before the corner onto mounatin and the subsequent climbing.
      His attack drew the fire of some guys on the climb and soon after a small group got spit out the front. Eric M, Chris C, Dillon P and Guido. On the next section of rollers, Hunter P bridged up and that got everyone to pick it up and reconnect with the front. Pace making for the rest of Mountain rd wasn't too smooth and there was another group that rolled off the front late in search of the green light. Yel!e, Eric M, Dillon P and Little T. When Chris C and Hunter P bridged up, again the rest of the field jumped on it, not letting any hard to close gaps open up.
      Once on Moss Farms the deck got reshuffled a bit. Mike McG came up and along with Eric M, Hacker, Gerry O'Shea, and Joe K. When the pace slowed, Joe K attacked and Hacker went with him. The 2 got a gap quickly that they would hold onto past the Chicane. As they worked hard up front, the Cat n Mouse was going on behind as no one seemed to want to be the one to tack it back. Up the hill to Marion, Eric M was going hard, along with CxC, Yelle and Mike McG. The effort shredded riders behind and several were dropped. Hunter P and Chris C bridged up yet again, but this time, Mike McG has rolled off the front alone and caught up with Hacker and Joe K, making it a trio up the road. The pace dropped a bit with Zane's and Cheshire Cycle represented up the road, bringing it back just yet wasn't priority one. Joe K would come back a little ways after that as Guido was faithfully setting a solid tempo up front along with Mountain Man ( on a nice new Bianchi !? Not very woodsman of him ). Hacker and McG would cut the gas before the crossing of 322 and it was gruppo compacto.
       Eric M would jump along with Jacinto, Bike Shop Bob and Guido but that was short lived with VQ Rob, Hunter P and McG closing the gap before the corner on Mount Vernon. Then, once on Mount Vernon proper, pigs decided to sprout wings and fly! Little T attacked and attacked with vengeance. The chase wasn't immediately strong, VQ Rob and Chris C doing some work. LT kept on the gas for a solid mile and a half, and the rest were content to let him roast a little in the heat. Dillon P took it upon himself to bridge the gap quickly and then set out on his own flyer. He gave it up right as the false flat section started but managed to stay up front to usher the pack up along with Bobby German. The speed was way off from weeks past as everyone expected McG to start up an interval, but instead he sat in the pack. He would roll off the front along with Eric M once past the incline and more disorganization in the peleton meant that Guido had to be the one to bring em back.
      Heading onto Welch, Hacker attacked and his frat brother Guido went with him. A strong push that only CVC ( BikeSHopBob, Sernyak ) responded to. The foursome would bang out a decent gap as the field hesitated just long enough. Without anyone to really start the chase, guys like Jacinto, Chris C, an ever faster Robyn and Mountain Man would hit the front. Eric M and Little T showed attack right past the corner but got back into chase mode as it seemed the break would get it. Meanwhile up front the 4 were working well together, and Guido lead out Hacker before the corner, giving him a good jump on the rest. Hacker, not one to let opportunities pass by, was able to hold the gap convincingly and would immediately dedicate the sprint win to the national debt ceiling.
     Gruppo compacto as the usual lights slowed everyone down on West St. At this point the ride was down quite a few guys to maybe 25 total. Going back over 322, Eric M attacked off the quick green light, taking Guido, BikeShopBob, and the Sernyak with him. Hunter P, then jumped up and caught onto the back of the group, again setting off alarms in the pack. Jacob, McG, Yelle, and a few others chasing hard, not wanting to be left out of the fun. That led to a quick run up Peck Lane. Hunter P had a dig at the end but quickly got caught as he had no one to make the run to route 10 with.
      Once on Route 10, speeds went up and that scattered the field quite a bit. When the dust settled it was Hacker off the front with Jacinto chasing him hard. The 2 duked it out for the Stop n Sprint point but Hacker was able to fend off the challenge, making it 2 in row for him. The ride back into Hamden was fast and uneventful, besides Hunter P almost curbing himself, and Eric M nearly yard sale-ing over a dead racoon. VQ Rob, O'Shea, Middlebury Nate,  and the Suto's would do a lot of work up front, keeping the final kilo's quick. For the finale, an small group got a gap after Hacker and Guido had one last attack with half a mile to go. That led to Little T and Eric M fighting it out for the very last meters. Mountain Man used good positioning and a initial gap to take the hill prize over Hunter P.
     Good ride everyone!