WW- take the lake

A new route for WW this evening and I think it made successful debut. The return of Mike Sherer and Ryan Knapp to WW meant it was a top quality group of 25+ riders who steadily wound their way via the bike route south of town with no traffic issues before turning onto Fairfax to pick up the pace. Avoiding Ramp Creek was a good decision as Fairfax and then Strain Ridge allowed a large group to get some good quality speed work, where the pace seemed to pick up significantly when Knapp got on the front.
As the Dam(n) climb loomed, the pace slowed before Ryan Shanahan attacked and led to the base of the hill with a small gap. As expected the group shattered on this steep ramp with a front group of approximately 8 riders getting a small gap on a ragtag group of chasers. A truce at the front allowed a 15 rider bunch to reform before the same separation occured on the next always-surprisingly-tough climb. The front group of Hamilton, Sherer, Knapp, Shanahan, Hays, Pilling, Rose, Golas kept the pressure on and gapped Neibler on Chapel Hill Road who then dropped back to the creeping second group of Hans, Parry, Lewis, Templeman, Quay, Allen and the Hoosier Climber.
This group stayed together until Neibler lit it up back onto SR446 definitively gapping Allen. Surprisingly the remainder of the group stayed together up the Causeway hill and toward the sprint where Neibler won it from Hans, Lewis and Parry as the group caught Pilling who had been gapped front the front group. I'm sure the 4th of July fireworks came early on the Causeway hill in the front group with a likely trio of Hamilton, Sherer and Knapp getting away to contest the finish although I might be way wrong with that! Any other thought of the route will be gratefully received. Next week- 446 circuit.