Gloucester Race Report (CJ, Ian and Evan)
Last week the Gran Prix of Gloucester took place in, you guessed it, Gloucester, MA. Commonly known as the “New England Worlds” of CX, this two-day event is one of the biggest and best CX races in the country. A few of our guys drove up to represent the shop and take a ride on the pain train. Below are their recaps. Thanks guys!
CJ’s Recap
I’ll be the first to admit it, I have been prodigal in my training. Fat and slow is painful and hilarious at a CX race, and Gloucester was no exception. I had driven up with my coach Roger Aspholm in his team van, and had been eagerly hoping for a wet, sloppy repeat of last year’s “perfect storm” of a CX race. Alas, even with a few days of rain leading up to the weekend, the course was bone dry on Saturday. I love this race regardless of the conditions: its a long course with great lines, the scenery is beautiful, it’s sponsored by a Beer organization, and the spectatin’ is off-the hook at the barriers. What more could you ask for?
I was set to race the 3 field, which being 120 racers deep, was destined to be a huge, awesome mess. Due to the fact that they use Crossresults to seed the startups (which i think its BS,) I started at the caboose of the field. That being said, it’s fun to be at the back of the race. you’re nowhere near the super-serious roadies who try and take CX too seriously, and you have to opportunity to pass people much more easily. When the races went off we shot through the starting straightaway and began our descent into the pain cave. I rode along suffering through the 45 minute anaerobic interval. The Gloucester course is preposterously long and a ton of fun. as I got into some semblance of a rhythm I started duking it out with my old foes. We passed each other back and forth, seeing who could push hard enough to drop the other. It was glorious. Here’s some footage of the first lap, with a glorious money shot of my “ghetto ass” chugging up the run-up:
Gloucester Day 2 Lap 1 from Threshold Cycling on Vimeo.
That’s what I love about this sport. Whether you’re at the front or the back, you turn yourself inside-out and leave it all on the course. Excuses are a dime-a-dozen, but at the end of the day you’re left feeling satisfied. Results don’t mean anything to me at this point (says the guy who is out of shape)- for me cyclocross has become a raw, cathartic act that revolves around a voluntary self-inflication of pain. On both days I finished in about the same place that I started in, or about 100th place. I probably won’t ever win a CX race, and that’s ok by me.
Evan’s Recap:
Day 1 was bumpy, technical and hot. I started at 99th and moved up enough after the pileup at the start to place 50th. Not bad but it left much to be desired especially since a mechanical took Ian out before the first lap was over.
Day 2 was a much smoother course so I knew I had to get an advantage fast (101st call up!) as the field would definitely stretch out and aggressively move up in the first lap. After Ian passed me with three to go I started running on fumes, forgetting to shift and cutting my leg on my own bike during the run up. I held on as best I could to my position finishing 31st. I couldn’t be happier with my first weekend of cat 3 cx. I probably owe this improvement from day 1 to 2 to our dope new skinsuits and look forward to a better call up for night weasels. Stoked!
Ian’s Recap:
Sunday’s course flowed much better than the previous day’s…at least that’s I’m told. A first lap mechanical truncated my Saturday – a solid 90-to-7 driving-to-racing ratio to start off the season!
We lined up for Day 2 in our sexy, fleece-lined, Batman-esque skinsuits courtesy of NYC Velo. Even from just one lap of “racing” in the heat the day prior, I was happy to have Sunday’s cooler weather once we got going, but on the line it was rock-hard-nipple cold.
The first lap was the typical slinky-fest and I ran a lot of sections I would have otherwise ridden. I opened up the 2010 crash-account by sliding out on an off-camber section and grabbing someone’s front tire to cushion my fall – and to my surprise, no castigation!! What a nice guy! The rest of the race is a blur. I remember being pleasantly surprised to see Evan in front of me (because he got shafted with his starting position and had to earn 70+ “kills” to finish in 31st), then sitting on his wheel for a bit. We had no idea where we were (I figured 40’s or 50’s) but it turned out at one point that I was racing for 20th after I got a gap on the run-up with two to go. A dropped chain here, being a pansy in a couple turns there…and I finished up in 27th.
I was happy with our respective rides, but feel like we can both be cracking top 25 soon. The highlight of my day was parking, by chance, next to Richard Sachs. For some reason his canonical New England hard-man reputation made me figure he’s a man to be feared (And to be fair, he does have a rather intimidating presence. Think Keith Richards x Captain Hook), but what a chill guy! – After he hooked me up with an ATMO hat, I was going to ask to indulge in his famed Twizzler stash, but didn’t want to push my luck after Saturday’s mechanical… Maybe next weekend at Prov Cx…