Big Guns and Tiny Riders
The ride was at full volume tonight. It was by far the strongest field in a long time. It was great to see the Badger out on the ride. The NE Devo team was out in force, and the Haug duo was out there, Young Kieran and his dad Ryan. Kieran was breathing fire tonight and had several hard digs at the front. Brian "Chocolate Brain" Suto was there again. It was also great to see Rusty out and riding strong.
Off the start, Hunter P attacked as soon as the flag dropped and quickly tore off a gap that got up to about 20 seconds. Behind, the reply was slightly slow but it got going within a minute or two. Aaron B and Noah B, along with Tommy D were among the main chasers. Hunter P would eventually be caught on Mount Sanford Rd, by Aaron B. The two briefly kept it going off the front, but by the corner for Mountain Rd, it was all back together again. The next to hit it upfront were Kieran, Lucas H and Tommy D. A kilometer into Mountain Rd, there was s small gap to a group of leaders, and it was looking like it was starting to stick as some guys were making the deliberate choice not to chase. Hongster jumped across the gap as his Cheshire teammates were holding back a bit. Then Chris C and Dan Smith got going across the gap, which brought Hunter P over as well. That led to the entire field coming back together. Chris C tried to sneak off the front in pursuit of green light on route 68 but it was red for everyone.
Once onto Moss Farms, it slowly got going again, Chris C put in a dig that got him a gap, and everyone looked around at each other. Chris C worked the gap up to 10-12 seconds by the intersection for Jarvis. He kept it going up the hill to Marion, but it was coming back. Dan Smith, Hongster, Alan B, Hunter P, and the Blacks were smashing the pace. Once the catch was made, Aaron B put his head down and kept charging off the front. He ran up a 50-meter gap as the ride was passing the industrial park. The bridging attempts came quick and fast, with Dan Smith first, then Hunter P, then Tommy D, then Hongster. The field was strung out as Tommy D and Hongster kept on the pressure, but the light was red, which gave everyone a chance to reconnect.
On Moss Farms, the Devo team hit the front and kept it going. No breakaways, though. Alan B had a dig, as well as Steve B. All the strong guys were upfront while the pace wasn't out of control hard, it was fast enough. Aaron B and Hongster were upfront as the ride pushed onto Moss Farms. A group of 6 or 7 were rolled off the front and were allowed to a small gap. The last Mullaly closed down the gap for the chase, which set up a 4 or 5 guys in a good position to attack West St. Kieran was there but faded without knowing exactly was coming up. Alan B was there. Dan Smith was there as well. Hongster lit it up with a hard acceleration early on West St that initially no one responded to. The chase eventually fell on Aaron B, but he had no help from Hunter P, who was sitting on for Hongster his teammate. Chris would roll though the sprint with a tight gap. Alan B got into a position to sprint after Aaron B was done with the front, but Hunter P jumped to go across the line second.
On the backside and back into Cheshire, the ride was boring. Some surges here and there, but no hard attacks. The ride got a shot of excitement when Rusty appeared on Atwater St with his 10 buck prime. Chris C started got a headstart and only Dillon P challenged.... but came up short. The ride took a detour around the construction on West Johnson, and it will have to do more of the same for the next few weeks so take note. Straight on Peck, left on Schoolhouse, left on Reinhard, back onto West Johnson and the normal course, right before crossing route 10.
The next big moves were turning off of East Johnson onto Cheshire St. The Devo kids, Lucas H, Tommy D, Dan Smith, Kieran, and a couple of others charged off the front and were thundering away from the rest. Alan B, Brian Girard, Hunter P kept it close. Then Gibertoni went full plaid to get his teammates across the gap before the climb up route 70. Great piece of team riding, as Gibbers was cooked for the night with that effort. Alan B took advantage and surged thru the break as the climb started, with all the familiar guys in tow. His pull put more than a few on the ropes. Hongster then attacked, and only Lucas H, Hunter P, and Aaron B had the get up to go. The four rolled up the hill, rotating nearly flat out, with the chase behind going near flat out as well. The gap never got more than 50 meters, and Alan B chipped away at it until a few guys were able to make the juncture right before the light, which was green. Hongster stayed on the gas enough that no one had it to come around, and then Hunter P was able to jump out for the Hickory Hill sprint uncontested, with Hongster still going hard enough to back everyone else off. Alan was there to make it the second 1-2-3 of the night for the Cheshire squad.
Through the back roads, incident struck as Hongster and Alan B crossed wheels to test the shear resistance of their spokes (Guess what, it's not that high). At that moment, Aaron B jumped the pack, taking along only Lucas H. Despite an eventual full-flight chase from the pack, those 2 would end the ride alone, with Aaron B taking the sprint from Lucas, who is still working out where the line is.
GREAT ride everyone!
