CX Gran Prix of Gloucester #2-Gloucester, MA

Stage Fort Park is on the water


Yo - yo.

No, I am not saying "hi" or trying to get your attention I am simply stating the only fact from the race today: I was a yo - yo the entire race.

The race started off like a shot except for this time I didn't hear blowing tires behind me along with the clanging of metal from wrecks occurring. A much cleaner start today I must say for us all. Amy D my teammate was off like a shot and never to be seen again. Oh yeah and on that note, the UCI lady said to us on the line not to go crazy up the pavement of the start because the race isn't won there. Are you kidding? Yeah it is. What's up with these strange lectures on the line anyway? Shouldn't they be taking the time instead to calculate THIS YEARS points so that we can line up accordingly .....instead of using last years UCI points to do this? For some reason (and maybe there is a darn good one) they wait until the first World Cup Cyclocross race (October 19th) to calculate this years points that you have been getting. So we are lining up this year on last years points. Sweet guys - yeah I will be sure to go slow on the pavement. I guess there intentions of being safe are all good though.

So yeah, Amy is off like a shot and takes the lead and I am sitting around 5th or 6th I suppose going into the first grassy corner.

Today we had the same obstacles as yesterday (sandpit and barriers) IN ADDITION to a run up. This run up was like the one in Lakewood, WA that I did a few weeks ago in steepness but thankfully not in length. This one today seemed like a hop-skip- and a jump compared to the other!

The very top of today's run up


Looking down the run up. The path to it down below is right on the water.


But the problem for me today was that I felt flat running the sandpit and running the run up. I was no gazelle....lets put it that way. And that left me getting gapped after EACH obstacle on EACH lap EACH time. It sucked!! Then in between those I would have time to chase down 2nd -4th and by the time I got to them I was tired and had to sit. Then the next obstacle would come and ....you got it .....they gap me a few bike lengths. It was a constant yo yo where I was attached to the group and then would fall off after the obstacle. It was so bad that it became predicable in my head as to exactly where on course I was going to catch back on. Ridiculous. I guess I need to look at it like: at least I had the oomph and gumption to get my tail back onto the group each time. It would be really easy to give up but I didn't and it did pay off because I could have come in 2nd if I had known what I was doing in the sprint finish at the end. Of course firing off all those matches to get back on the group each time didn't help anything........

At the tippy end of the last lap I successfully positioned myself into 4th place, one gal right behind me and 2 pulling. The 3 of us got a bit of a gap on the gal behind and I decide to attack Mo (in 3rd) on a pitchy uphill section that immediately u turns back down an off camber hill and then goes up again. Successful attack? - yes but she was able to counter that and we were back at square one sitting in (her) 3rd and (me) 4th. Hmmmm? Now I gotta think quick since that didn't work and the finish line is .....oh....you know....around the corner and up paved hill and its anyones game at this point. Not much time to get it done now!

And before I can begin formalizing a plan - BAM - 5th comes around like a shot on the pavement taking both of us. I was able to follow and pass Mo but it was over. 2nd - 5th place all came across the line within a few seconds from each other. I came in 4th. Meanwhile Amy D. was already napping after reveling in her 2nd win of the weekend. You go girl!

Meanwhile Sara got the same start position on the last row, passed on any fights with hay bales and let it fly coming in 14th!! Well done considering she isn't training with any intensity at all right now since her focus is La Ruta MTB Race coming up in November. Oh yeah, and after the race today she decided to ride her bike home 35 miles back to Boston. Yeah, I think I will drive thank you. :)

The venue


Some spectators sat on that rock to watch the races


Part of the mostly grass course.


Nice views of the Gloucester Harbor from the park




And while I was out East racing, Chris just went down the block from our house and raced the B Men 35+ in the Utah Cyclocross Series. It was cold and snowy out in Heber City but he still came away with his 2nd victory of the season! Check out a picture of him here. (in blue). Yey Chris!

Oh yeah...and this thing on my arm???? It is from doing something really weird when I go to set my bike back on the ground after shouldering it. I need to stop that.... and quick!

....now if they would just make "pedal pads" for the end of your pedal that DIGS into your lower back when you are shouldering. But since they don't make pedal pads I got something that looks like that thing on my arm on my back too!

Yeah!!! Pedal pads!! :) That'd look sweet! Or maybe just encase myself in bubble wrap. That'd do the trick!