Let's out-run and out-ride the darkness
A couple of guys were in the lot hoping for a last minute glimmer of common sense fomr the rest of the group, but alas, the ride left at 6 after a congregation's worth of of guys rolled in from Stop n Shop at 5:56. They made everyone else late. Everyone was a little disappointed to not see Rondo's lovable mug up in the group.
Gregg F and Dillon P got things going quick smart right after route 10. Hunter P was up there too along with Mike McG and John Pescatore, signalling to all that tonight was gonna be brisk. Going thru the crap road section, LIttle T and Koski charged off, but they would be rounded back up after everyone stopped for traffic turning onto North Brooksvale. Kudos to those that were able to whip out their smartphones and click on the SG blog advertisements in those few seconds.
The rest of the way toward mountain road was quick. Jelle Snoop was setting a good tempo followed by Mike McG. Some traffic turning onto Mountain road slowed most of hte field down so Hacker and Hunter P took advantage of that by immediately stepping on the gas once onto Mountain. Mike McG came along for the ride and by the end of the risers it was Mike and Hunter with a decent gap on everyone else. Tall John crushed the gap shortly after and joined up to make it three up the road. Behind the speed was ramping up with Little T, Snoop, Hacker and Jordan coming up. The 3 stayed out front for kilo or 2 and when they were caught a pause gave a chance for a new group to get up the road. Jordan, Antonio, Hacker, Little T, Special Ed, and Jacinto were working well to try to get to a green light before everyone else. Dillon P, Tall John, and Hunter P were all at different points stuck in no mans land but a red light at route 68 brought it all back together.
Once the light went green, Hacker went straight off without much response from anyone. He opened up the gap on the initial sections of Moss Farms and it took a little while before anyone would spear-head the chase. A bunch of different guys were up front and Hacker still maintained his lead. He would go into the chicane with about 7 seconds gap. That would finally get erased on the hill up to Marion. After the corner, Tall John was going good enough to get a gap with Jordan, Special Ed and Hunter P. That gap would get closed moments after everyone turned into the industrial park. Snoop hit the front and kept tempo up followed by Special Ed, Jordan and Jacinto.
Tall John would have antoher go once onto West Johnson and he had Antonio for company but they never made it very far off the front. The peleton barreled along at a reasonable clip toward the risers and Rienhard. MoMoney led all onto Reinhard and there was minimal jockeying for position behind him. Mike McG picked it up from there with Jacinto, Hacker, Little T, Dillon P and Hunter P right there. Mike started the sprint out but wasn't in it to win it. Hunter P went first as Little T had to get around some traffic. Jacinto, Hacker also fired the jets but it was quickly a 2-up with Little T right on Hunter P's wheel and T was able to come around with some room to spare. Hacker and a new guy with a Virgina U kit ( Justin Neuman ) kept it going on the descent and had a gap rolling down thru the cut up roads. They were soon joined by Tall John, Snoop and a new guy in a CVC kit (?). The new lead group was well organized and rolled onto Peck ln with a 6 or 7 second gap. The response was slow behind, with everyone taking it down a notch as the leaders were hammering it up Peck Ln. Back in the field, Hunter P came up on the false flat along with Antonio D and the 2 took a couple of good pulls to close down the gap to 40 meters or so. Up front, Tall John and CVC got disconnected leaving Hacker, Snoop and Justin N up front. Those 3 hit route 10 with a good gap and kept on it enough to stay out front going up the hill ( location of Cheshire CX 2011!!). Koski, Mike McG, Hunter P, Tall John, etc chipped in up front but the trio had the legs to stay out all the way to the base of the sprint. Just like a flat TDF stage the breakaway was sadly eaten up by a well timed kilometer chase from the pack. Within the field, Little T was able to keep aero behind bodies, surfing up to the front just in time to jump easily to get the Stop n Shop Sprint.
Any efforts to get off the front after the sprint were negated by red lights. It was time to roll the dice with the traffic and head back to Hamden in the dark. Plenty of lights and blinky things kept the peleton out of trouble for the most part... ( who flatted at 32 mph?! Thank you for not crashing). It was an interesting, semi-quick ride back into Hamden and after Dillon P flared out off the front with a couple hundreds meters to go, it was anyone's ballgame. Well, not anyone.... Maybe just 3 or 4 guys. Kudos to Antonio D for getting up there again after a strong ride. 5:30 next week. Don't listen to Mike.
PS - everytime you check out an SG blog advertisement Chris Horner finds another watt in his body.
