Hot enough to burn a polar bear's butt
There was a decent crowd out tonight for the ride. Now that we're done with all that vacation and holiday crap we can get back to the task at hand. 30 or so riders slowly made their way into the back roads of Cheshire. It was hot out today so everybody was in. No rush to get going. Gibertoni, Henk from CVC, Chris C and a couple of riders from Team Mogododan were up there as well. It was good to see Brian Oliver out there from CW. He was up at the front as well pushing through on the early parts.
On Mountain Road, Brian O pushed off the front on the first slope. Hunter P bridged across on the next uphill taking along Steve B. That made for three up the road fighting hard to maintain the breakaway through the next intersection. Behind the chase was definitely on with Chris C, the Mogododan riders, and Neumotion pushing the pace. The light was red which brought everybody back together for the trip down up Moss farms.
Steve B kept the pressure on during the second half of Moss farms into the chicane and up into Marion Avenue, but there were no big attacks to create gaps. Hunter P jumped off the front going over the highway and had TF along for company. They barreled towards the light on 322. That light was red also, bringing everybody back together. The pace onto Mount Vernon started slow with no attacks in the early part. The entire ride down Mount Vernon was uneventful. Fast but with no attacks or teamwork to get anybody off the front.
Turning onto Welsh for the turnaround Brian O rolled off the front early on and was allowed to get a gap. He made the turn onto West Street with about 150 m lead. Little T jumped on the hill, taking a long Steve B and a couple of others. Brian O stayed on the gas, fighting hard, but would get caught halfway to the sprint on West Street. Little T was working hard but riders behind him were benefiting. He killed the throttle after going past Brian, leaving Steve B to take the sprint. Second through was Ben Bruce.
On the back side Hunter P and Neumotion tried to attack hard to get off the front through the highway section but another red light brought everyone back together. Steffen H then tried to attack along with Big Red going up to the second hilltop on West Street. On the back side flying downhill it all came back together again. The pace was high on Atwater but no attacks. The group got the green light going back over, which put TF and Ben Bruce in a good spot to push off the front going towards route 10 but it wasn't enough to get to the light first. It was all together past route 10. Steffen H once again rolled off the front heading towards Cheshire Road and on the hill at the end of West Johnson. Steve B jumped up and joined him. Those two set off the front and were allowed to get a gap. Steffen H came off the pace after putting in big pull for Steve B and dropped back halfway up the hill. At about the same time Brian O and Big Red pushed off the front of the chase. Steve B went through the sprint alone followed by Brian O and Big Red. Those three would group-up shortly after going through the intersection on route 70 making up a trio that would not get caught for the rest of the night. They wrapped up the ride off the front alone. Kudos to the breakaway!
