Tuesday the 13th

"My road racing season is over. Except of course for the SG ride"    

     The crowd seemed a little light today. Maybe vacations are in full swing. No one seemed in too much of a rush to get to steppin. Dillon P rolled off the front right off route 10 and was allowed to go clear. Julio L would end up start the jump to bridge up but ended up pulling the rest of the field into action and by the end of the crap road section, it was all back together again. From there the pace was solid with the usuals chipping in up front. On Mountain Rd a small group was started to get a gap, led by Todd H and The Gibertoni but that was short-lived.
      Onto Moss Farms where Jacinto jumped up and was the first to get going as the rest of the field had some trouble quickly getting through the messed up road. Hacker would soon make his way up front as well and that was enough to bring it all back. From there, guys like Chris C, Mike McG, Hunter P and The Full Nalini drove the pace thru the Chicane. Chis C and Hunter P led all up the hill to Marion with Hunter P continuing it fast enough to break off a group of about 4 but the group fell apart with dis-jointed efforts from Hacker and Hunter P at the very front. The field was bearing down pretty hard with it being an obvious threat. Once Hunter P was back in the group Hacker would try a couple more stabs before the light for 322, which was red.
     Once onto Mount Vernon, Guido took off with Gregg F and Rory D in check and that got things going. No one was attacking so the pace stayed level all the way to the false flat ( now 4 degrees straighter! ) and beyond. Danbury Audi took a dig after the construction section but the speed was too high to escape easily. A couple of fast guys took to the front as the peleton got close to the corner for Welch. Hacker, Chris C, Guido, etc. Even still, the pace on Welch was average and that let Hacker slip free halfway to the turnaround. He only had a handful of seconds going thru the corner as there was a long line of guys cued up behind. Julio L, Chris C, Jacinto, Mike McG and a little farther back was Little T and Todd H. More strong riding from the Gibertoni as he was up there as well. Jacinto would end up catching Hacker and there was hesitation as to who else would join them. That let the 2 slip away and with Jacinto up at front and setting a strong tempo, Hacker was able to collect the sprint points with little problem.
      As the group came down the backside, there was plenty of guys ready to get going. Tall John, The Gibertoni, and Hunter P hit the front looking to sneak away. They got all greens up to Jude Lane, which is a rarity. The field was right there though so no escape. The non-stop action was enough to pop a couple of guys though who would normally use the lights to make a collect call to the front.
     Once again Chris C jumped at the light going green by Jude and this time Hunter P went with him. Those 2 wokred up a gap of maybe 75 meters at max but with a slight headwind, and a chasing pack were not going to get far. The Gibertoni was right there at the catch and moved straight on by and was the only one to get thru the changing light before Atwater. He got straight to work on that gap by himself and even though the field paused for only a few seconds Gibertoni was nearly out of sight. Up front Young Keith from the Motoring Mullaly's was eager to get going and along with Wade B and Hunter P briefly had a gap on the rest but once Guido decided to step on the gas it was all back together in chase of the one leader. The Gibertoni held on all the way to the light, which was green, letting the field slip by without incident.
From there, the ride onto Peck Lane was uneventful. Dave Rustico, Julio L and Tall John were up there. Pitching in up front as well with more stick-his-nose-into-the-wind-riding from Keith I-broke-my-own-fingers-so-the-shop-would-”moto route”-my-bike-brakes Mullaly. From there to route 10 it was normal.
      As the ride went by Cheshire Park ( site of Cheshire Cycling's 2013 Cyclocross Extravaganza! ) a small group went clear but it was brought back as guys like Hacker, Mike McG and Little T squared up for the sprint. The run-in to the hill was interesting as there were a lot of guys going pretty hard up front. A couple riders decided to pull chute at the wrong moment and that gave everyone a little dodge for your life practice. The sprint was slow at first and contested by a few guys but Little jumped out in front quickly and hung on. No one was very close to getting clear thru the center of town. Once again, almost all green lights for a change and the field was quickly thru town in chase of Tall Dennis and Julio L who drilled it hard to get off the front.
      The usual fast guys ( and girl! ) on the flats help out up front and that led to a good sized group gunning for the finale. Little T jumped out in front but had to pedal extra fast to hold off a charging Completo Nalino.

Good ride everyone... Be sure to leave your words of motivational wisdom in the comments section!