Tuesday the 10th

You always get your money's worth at the SG Ride!
(So long as everyone keeps their helmets on)

    Near record crowds for the year tonight in the parking lot. Not too many new faces though. Right from the start, the Errace guys were out and up in front pushing the pace. Chris C also took his usual  place up there as well. While the pace was high pretty much right off rt 10, there were no real attacks. Sean Cahill "the Peacock", or is it Zebra? Marmoset? Platypus? One of those.... He took off trying to get an early break going, as his ERRACE mates patrolled the front.
    Sean was also amoung those that were drilling it up the first section of Mountain Rd. But it stayed all togetehr. Mike McG and Rob Dux  as well. Guido got involved up front later on Mountain and that kept anyone from attacking. No real change in the front on Moss Farms. More guys were getting involved.... Todd H, Nuemotion, Little T..... Everyone seemed to have a part tonight.
    Heading past the chicane and up the hill, it seemed like a couple of guys were ready to go but no one lit it up. Ciocci, Hacker, Sean Cahill, and others chipping in. Heading past the industrial park, Hunter P took a dig and Hacker went with him. The gap went quickly up but Mike McG started the chase soon after in earnest. He brought a couple of guys with him and once everyone rolled together going over the highway, disorganization reigned. That let everyone catch back on.... That and the red light on 322.
    Rory D and Sean Cahill took off right off the green light but didnt make it far. The field reacted quickly to Hacker and Nuemotion jumping off the short hill before Mount Vernon. Once thru the corner and the bend, more solid pace up front, stringing out the field but not really putting anyone under pressure. That steady pace continued straight up to and past the false flat, although Sean Cahill, Special Ed and the rest of the ERRACE crew looked antsy up near the front.
    Fast forward to the corner for Welch, where Hacker tried a couple of times to get off the front. Each time taking a couple of sacks of dead weight on bikes, so it stayed all together for the first half of Welch. As the corner loomed, Hacker was pushing off the front along with help from Joe K. Those 2 hit the hill with a gap as the rest looked around at each other a bit and decided to wait till West St to chase. Once everyone rolled thru the corner there was plenty of guys to chase.... Ciocci, MattFine, Rob Dux, Special Ed, Chris C, etc. Up the road though Joe K was hammering and Hacker was content to sit on for the most part. For the sprint, Hacker was easily able to come around Joe K for it, getting a small measure of revenge for Saturdays Masters race in New Britain.
    On the backside, although there were a couple of guys looking to blitz the ride back into Cheshire, it stayed all together. After lights by the highway, Sean Cahill, jumped hard, taking Rory D, The Gibertoni and a couple of others but they would be corralled by the bottom of the descent. The ERRACE team stayed up there for a while along with MattFine and Tall Dennis. Up the short hill under the highway, Hunter P took off, with Rob Dux in pursuit. Those 2 would work on up a gap but it started coming down as the light loomed.
    Once back onto Peck, Hacker and Guido were drilling it but no one was having that. Instead it stayed fast all the way up Peck lane. Ben Bruce and Nuemotion also tried to escape with no success. Once at the top of the false flat, 4 ERRACE guys ( Special Ed, Jordan L, Rusty, Sean Cahill)  found themselves with a gap and as the chase took a moment to sort themselves out, they sped off. Soon after, Hunter P jumped the gap with Hacker, sensing the potential for a runaway. That got everyone behind going again and the gap was coming down quickly by the corner for route 10.
    Up the hill, those 6 leaders stayed up front, keeping the pace high. An escape was brewing at the top of the hill as Hacker stayed hard on the throttle with Sean Cahill. As the lead group sorted itself out.... Who would drive it, who would chase... Hacker hit something, slipped off something, pulled away from something.... Something. It still in not quite know what, but he made contact with a rear wheel and quickly dropped on top of the bike and to the ground. He slid off to the curb and no one else went down.
    The ride stopped to make sure he was ok. Just superficial scratches, a dented helmet, and a broken spoke or 2. Thankfully, Hacker has Obamacare to back him up! The rest of the ride was sedate. The run in to the sit n sprint got things going again and Little T out-dueled Nuemotion for it.