Tuesday the 28th

Smaller Group = Clash of the Sprinters

More than a couple of stronger SGR riders were up at Rentschler Field, leaving just about 20 riders to push off for the ride tonight.

The pace was downright polite for the first 15 min of the ride. Big Red and Dan S finally had enough and started pushing as the ride got to Mountain Rd.

Dan S kept the pace going on Moss Farms. Hunter P and Little T had big efforts getting onto Marion. Despite a smaller group, and some solid pushes, everyone stayed together going over 322 and onto Mount Vernon. A few minutes into Mount Vernon, Dan S pushed off the front with Joe K. That was allowed to roll, and those two built up a decent gap and were holding it in front of a chase that had TF and CCR not chipping in all that much.

Big Red, Rusty, Chris C, Jason Williams and a couple of others were responsible for keeping it close. On the false flat section, Hunter P jumped across the gap, which got TF chasing. That morphed into Hunter P, TF, and Dan Smith off the front powering a real-deal gap with a few minutes left before the turn onto Welch. Dan S attacked the group a couple of times, which broke up the paceline and slowed it down enough to let the pack catch back on.

The pace on Welch was slow, as everyone was catching their breath and trying to figure out what was to come next. Little T jumped hard before the corner at the base of the hill, taking Hunter P with him. Others would fill in the gap. Little T rounded the corner alone and stayed on the turbo. Behind, TF wound it up after the corner and came around Hunter P, but could not catch Little T.

T, TF, HP thru the first sprint in that order.

The pace stayed fast heading over 84 and back towards 322. Dan S and Dillon P each had surges in the usual spots. Dan S had a solid dig off the front heading up to the route 10 crossing, and seemed like he was in a place to make the light but opted instead to discuss cornering principles with Chris C as everyone waited for the light.

On the backside, the action paused until the Greenhouse climb. Big Red once again was done playin, and kept the pace high early on. Hunter P,  and Chris C rolled through a couple of times as well. For the sprint it was a similar outcome as the first. TF got it started, Hunter P kept it going, Little T finished it off. Those three finished order, T, HP, TF.

On the backside Dan S took advantage of the lackadaisical pace and rolled off the front on the climb up Boulder. He pulled off an impressive final 7 minutes of riding to stay away. Behind, there were only 5 or 6 willing to, or able to chase hard on Tuttle. For the finale, TF jumped hard first but Little T had the timing a bit better. He rocketed thru the final couple hundred meters. Hunter P was on this wheel. Those two were in full sprint for 12-15 seconds as they went around TF and came up on Dan S.

Dan S by a couple of seconds. T and HP were too close to call, but leadout points go to Alessio.