Tuesday the 30th

 

New Faces, Same Speed

 Another big group out tonight with a few tos sveral new riders out. A couple of youngsters from Verge (Aidan Vollmuth and Stpehn Savino da 3rd) were out there to throw down tonight. Aidam coming to us all the way from New Jersey! He was active up front early on, joining the likes of Sean M, Turner F, Jon Fecik, and Chris Brits. 

 That said, there were no big moves off the front for the first 20 min or so, all the way up to Moss Farms. 

Turner F had another couple of digs on Moss farms and heading up to the route 322 overpass. A couple of times Sean M came to the front and steamrolled his way across the gap. Chris C also had a dig by the industrial park.

Onto Mount Vernon, where a group of four led by Steve B, pushed off the front but never got too far up the way. There were a few more gaps heading down Mount Vernon, but it stayed together more or less all the way to Welch. A gap opened up as guys were chasing to the corner, leading to a group of about six or seven hitting the hill with a small gap. From behind, in the chase, Turner F jumped across the gap and through the leaders on his way to taking the Sprint. David Lapierre tried to jump to keep him in check but came up a little bit short. Over the top of the rise and thru the line, it was Turner F, followed by G Money from New Haven Angles, and then Steffen H.

On the backside, it all came back together. Then near the end of the downhill stretch on West Street, Chris Brits jumped off the front before the double corner onto Atwater. He snuck away and made the light and was on his way solo. Behind, everyone was meh with the gap, watching Turner F, Sean Cahill, and Steve B instead. Brits made it count, and was able to hold it all the way to the light on 322, which he got across quickly. The pack had to wait, and that was all the lone rider needed to stay clear.

The rest of the drama for the evening was had by the peleton rolling over the chunky gravel on East Johnson. 3 or 4 flats happened in that stretch, taking out Dillon P, Chris C, and Cedric B. The ride will have to detour around this for a few weeks! Brits was not caught. Thru the greenhouse sprint it was Hunter P and then Little T next over the line.  For the finale, it was Little T in front of Steve B for 2nd and 3rd place points.

Tuesday the 23rd

 

SGR Rookie Ignites a Proper Showdown

Another good-sized crowd out today for SGR. Once again, the medium loop was chosen at the start. Long loop fans will have to wait for next week or the week after. 

Once the ride started, the pace was decently quick, with accelerations coming nearly right away from Steffen H, Steve B, Brian O, and a couple of others. 

On Mountain Rd Turner French hit the gas and that split off a group of about 7 or 8 of the strongest. The group kept the gas up the series of risers early on Mountain, but the gap would start to come down as enough guys were in the chase to bring the pace up. As the connection was being made, TF surged again, and only New Haven resident Andrew Suzuki stayed with him. Those two got a gap going as there was no immediate response. The gap was about 12 seconds at the light, which everyone got green. The chase was on now, but fewer bodies were willing to bring the pace up on Moss Farms. TF and Suzuki stayed on it and the gap was holding steady at 100 meters. 

The leaders had to do some traffic dodging right the chicane, but that didn't slow them down too much. Going past the industrial park, the gap came down to just a handful of seconds after Sean M had a long pull at the front. Even so, the two up front came into the light with a big enough gap that when they squeaked thru the changing light, the chase had to hold up. That was it for the night. The breakaway was back in sight briefly as the ride came back over 322 in the opposite direction, but once again the peleton had to stop and wait the light out. 

The leaders would roll the rest of the ride together. Behind, the next "action" was Brian O sneaking off the front at the base of the Greenhouse climb/sprint. He had the gap but eased enough to be nearly chased down by Little T right, meaning the two split the points.

Moving to the last part of the ride, Steve and Brian attacked again a couple of times. Sean M did a bunch of work reeling them back in. Steffen H had a solid dig off the front trying to play spoiler going into the final sprint. Steve B and the Little T were able to catch and come around though. Still well-behind the breakaway though for the 4th or 5th week in a row. Next week should be another barn-burner!