SG Ride finally grows a pair
Big crowd out tonight. Largest in a while. A few long lost faces reappeared and some new ones who keep coming back, so we all must be doing something right…..
Starting things off was the usual suspects. Dillon P, A couple of Yalies. ( start wearing name tags guys ), Hacker ( doesn’t need a name tag ), Jacinto and a couple of others. It was apparent early on there were guys ready to get some teeth chipped tonight. When Joshy G, Little T and Guido hit the front a couple of streets later, it was vol-gas. The pace, dictated by Joshy G and a Target Training guy, was high enough to start splintering a lead group on Mount Sanford but that didn’t last long with DJ Dan and Hunter P giving chase and sewing things back up. The pace stayed high all the up to Mountain road as Yelle Snoop!, Todd H and TargetTraining got a brief gap. The first chance to recollect came on the opening sections of Mountain Rd, but still, no one was stopping to smell the daffodils. Joshy G tore off a gap soon after the corner along with the Target Training guy. The response from the field was slow due to everyone being red-lined up till that point so the gap the 2 quickly went up to 60 meters or so. Hunter P shot across the gap on the 2nd set of risers and the 3 went to work to try to keep any type of lead. It was short lived tho as Little T, Guido, Hacker, and a couple of others were working hard to bring it back before the light.
Said light was red, allowing for a breather and the chance for everyone to touch Hacker’s tires for some healing power to be transferred. We kid cuz we care….. Big ol Congrats to the Professor for showing the middle-agers how it’s done in Battenkill. We’re all proud to share Tuesday nights with you Hacker! You and your sexy Scott Foil ( sold and built for him by Cheshire Cycle )
Once onto Moss Farms, no one was really surprised to see Hacker still at it up front. Joining him was the Target Training guy, DJ Dan and in pursuit, the nameless young guy on a Trek with the Amity Bikes throwback jersey. Amity would be absorbed by the chase once it got going but the 3 leaders stayed out there as the other Yalies up front who were thinking of their potential futures in the Hacker Administration 2020 decided to not chase down the Professor. It came upon Mike McG to really ramp it up and joining him was Hunter P. Those 2 ripped a gap off the front in chase as the ride came up to the chicane. The field was a bit slowed down by traffic at the corner but started up the pursuit as the ride came up to the corner for Marion Ave. Mike mCg powered away from Hunter P with a big bridging effort and cleared the gap just in time for the corner. The field was bearing down but not fast enough and the four up front would stay away a little longer heading into the industrial park. Once into the park back together, Target Training smelled blood and kept the pace high. Other Safety-Green-Heads ( and the Nuemotion rider in red ) were there to help out and very quickly, there was a high speed gap established to the group of about 5. Joshy G and Hunter P then flew across the gap which got everyone’s attention. As the corner for West Johnson came up and the field reconnected, Joshy G pushed thru and off the front, chased by a lone Bulldog. Behind, there was no real effort to chase them down, just a solid pace on the front with guys settling in for a fast sprint. As the corner for Reinhard neared, with the 2 up front just 30 meters or so, Chris C and Chris B jumped out and across the gap pretty quickly. Little T, Hacker, Eric M, and others were not far behind, squaring up the target sights. Little T timed this one well, and got a great jump on the at-their-limit break and was not going to challenged all the way to the corner.
Cue up uneventful descent on the backside toward Peck Ln. Once there, Joshy G once again pushed his bike off the front. That pulled things out single file all the up the false flat and over the old train tracks. Once the ride got back onto Route 10, there was a bit of a slow down + a an issue with someones show or something. This let a small group get a gap ( Gregg F, Chris B and one other ). The tailwind soon got everyone going again though. There were a couple of guys that tried to get a gap ahead of Stop n Shop. Nick G the Yalie (?). Tall Dennis, Chris C, Todd H etc. It was looking like a fast run-in to the sprint but a red light at Maple Ave stopped that in a hurry and Master Chief Dillon P breathed a sigh of relief on behalf of his Strava KOM segment.
Lots of guys were in place for the sprint. Eric M, Dillon P, DJ Dan, Matt Lang ( Twin Six ), a couple of yalies (both in their home jerseys and the away ones ). Little T was boxed in a bit, but busted out wide to take the lead ahead of Jacinto and DJ Dan. Despite the strong sprint, the officials there DQ’ed T for a yellow line violation so this goes to Jacinto.
The ride back into Hamden was fast. The group caught a bunch of lights in Cheshire, allowing a group of 3 ( Eric M, and ??? ) to sneak thru and start the long ride back. The chase was real and the group was caught with less then a minute of riding left. It was a four horse finish ( Hacker, Little T, Guido, DJ Dan ) but a near crash up front brought a mutual truce to the bunch and those 4 rolled in ahead of everyone else. Up the hill went the usual crew. Chris B, despite a last kilo push on route 10, still had enough to power over Hunter P and John Gregory to the top of the hill.
Great ride everyone! The way it should be...
