MidSummerDoldrums
Wild Bill started the evening off by surging off the front on Mount Sanford. A combo of Angels and CW up front, increasing the pace, eventually rounded him up once again. There was the usual separation taking place as the ride got to Mountain Road but it was all together with no one attacking on Mountain. George from New Haven was up front looking to attack at a couple of spots but there were plenty of guys (Greg the XC guy, Sean M, Noah B, Turner French, etc) keeping it close. Also helping out was the strong tailwind from the south, which kept the pace high without anoyone needing to crush themselves.
Things got going harder for the start of Mount Vernon, where Turner F, Hunter P, George M, and a couple of others ramped up the pace and drove a gap into the front of the group. That led to Brian O and two others off the front pushing hard with a gap going onto Marion. Sean M came up and thru, closing the gap with Hunter P and Noah B on his wheel.
It the chase was on and everyone would be caught soon after, and the pace reset as it came up on the light for 322. On the otherside of the light, heading to Mount Vernon, there were a few accelereations but nothing that was going anywhere. Once things settled down on Mount Vernon, the pace dropped down quite a bit. Either everyone was tired, being aided by the tail wind, or was thinking about the inevitable hammerdrop to come at the turnaround.
CW moved to the front at Welch and set a quick pace into the crosswind. Erin R, then Brian O, then Turner F. That drove the peleton into an unfamiliar single-file formation heading to the climb and the corner. Brian O took the front the corner, then Turner F took over halfway to the sprint. There were 4-5 cars lined up at the traffic light. Even though the light turned green before the sprinters arrived, getting safely around the slowly accelerating cars meant slowing down big time. The sprint to the mailbox on the right at the very top of the rise was negated.
On the backside, Steve B was using his postion at the front to get a look at pushing off the front. George M was moving up to the front as well, but red lights by the highway shut that down. From there, the group reset, came all back together, and went slowly as it headed back into Cheshire. The pace was downright leisurely at times. This allowed XC Greg to roll off the front getting onto Atwater and he held that gap for a km or so.
The ride crossed over 322 again without action. The next to attack was Grumpy Paul, who pushed off the front with Big Red chasing as the ride got up to the light on Route 10. Steve B also tried to sneak off close to thle light but it was red which killed that. On the other side, Tom Krol and a couple of New Haven Angels took off the front and got to work on a gap as the rest of the pack lazily got going toward the greenhouse. Then another group, with Tim Cormier and more angels got into the gap chasing. Behind, CW massed at the front, with Erin R once again making the early push to ramp up the speed.
CW controlled the front up to the base of the Greenhouse Climb, which set up Turner F and Brian O to lead the field up the hill. Vlad Z also chipped in with a pull. For the sprint, Steve B jumped, along with Little T and Hunter P. Hunter P came around with a few meters to go, with Little T, then Steve B 3rd over the line.
There were plenty of surges heading back into Hamden, but nothing that stuck. Little T got the final sprint again, with Brent DB just staying in front of a charging Steve B, who got third.
