Gloucester Gran Prix Weekend 2012 - amazing trip!

So I feel like I have to take divide this awesome experience into three main categories:

1. Before Gloucester (BG)
2. During Gloucester (DG)
3. After Gloucester (AG)

Before Gloucester:  
I was in planning mode a few weeks before the big trip.   Allyson T. and I had agreed to make the pilgrimage to Gloucester together, sharing expenses along the way, and hopefully remaining friends throughout the trip (our joke was that we would try to focus on remaining friends throughout each major stage of our journey).  We each are accustomed to our individual independence at races so merging our ways was going to make it interesting or so we thought.  

Becky Frederick had hooked us up with an awesome host up near the Gloucester race.  Becky had made the journey the year before and told me how awesome the Cotting's were and that I should def reach out to the family and see if I could take advantage of their hospitality.

Sandy Cotting, his wife Jane, and his daughter Sarah Anne agreed to host us and it was one of the best decisions of the BG phase! :-)

Meanwhile, Allyson and I kept an eye on the weather as we approached our departure date.   Monday 9/24 it was all sunshine and roses.  Midweek, chance of rain.  Friday RAIN.  

And well, Rain was the theme.   The big green blob followed us wherever we roamed.  From CT onward, it was rain, rain and more rain with some mild gaps of fog and cloudiness to break up the rain.

Conditions would be epic.
 
 

Epic Rain forecast for New England

BG - Car Ride North:   AT and I split driving on the way up.  We pushed off around 11:00A and by late afternoon learned that Kris Auer was about 30 minutes or so behind us.   We decided to find a local restaurant near Worcester Massachusetts to stop and grab dinner.

• Remember the Vegetarian Delight restaurant with what looked like bullet-proof glass...yeah....
• We were all using our Smart phones to locate another possible restaurant...smart phones didn't feel all that smart...maybe it was us?
• We landed at the Dancing Rhino, what a name, and was able to pull off our varied food diets of:
• Meat-a-tarian, no wheat 
• Vegetarian, no dairy
• Vegetarian

Funny really.   
Anyway, 2 hours later or so and we arrived at the Cotting's.   We met Sandy and his dog, Abbey, and quickly settled in to our new room for the weekend.    

 During Gloucester (DG):   Race Day 1
We woke early and looked out the window.  Yes, rain.
I went on the search for java bean almost immediately.   I have two major addictions in my life:  cycling and coffee.   After foraging through every cabinet, I located the beans.  Life was good.  (Thank-you Jane for being a coffee junkee, seriously!)

Sandy was racing the Men4 race at 9:00A so he was gone before we woke.   Our race was at 2:30P but we wanted to try to get over to the race mid-morning to setup, ride the course, and get ready.

We quickly found the C3 gang - thanks Arley, your camper made it super easy to find the group.

Day 1 setup behind Arley's camper

We pulled up and unloaded our ton of supplies and got ready for the day ahead.   

Surprisingly, Gloucester was fairly dry considering the large volume of rain they had received late in the week and into the day.   It rained throughout the morning but spared us in the afternoon.   We actually had the sun poke out for a short time before it ducked back in.   

View from our Setup Location

Call up time  - the raffle system.   If you don't have UCI points, you have to "try your luck" in the raffle system.   Allyson pulled #47 and wasn't too happy.....until she saw my number, #102.  Yeah baby.   call me freaking lucky, not!


I started 2nd from last and had approximately 50 fast and crazy Elite women riders ahead of me in the starting grid.  Yeah, this would be awesome practice and training.

The whistle blew and we were off.  Right up a hilly road into a nice roundabout right hand turn, still on pavement, and then quickly onto the grass with a hard left hander.

I don't know how I did it but I got a few inside breaks early in the start and was able to cut into traffic and gain position into both turns on the road.   I had AT behind me, doesn't happen often, felt good having "friendly company" somewhere near me at least  for a moment.   She was moving up quickly and held me for a quick second before yelling something like "let's go Jen" and made her pass.  I held her wheel until I bobbled in a set of S-turns, fell, and lost my chain.  After remounting she was gone on her attack and I chased.  That felt normal.  :)  Except me chasing included chasing 90% of the field.  Yeah elite in New England is an entirely different league of freaking fast.   Uber fast.  :-)

View from "the Rock" - one half of the course

The course was def faster on Saturday compared to Sunday.   Average HR was the usual Heart Attack zone 177-180 bpm.  My first lap was def pretty awesome, at least in my mind, but it def felt like I lost some go-go juice as the race progressed.  The course demanded attention.   Fast turns.  Ruts.  Run-ups. Twists.  Fast flats.  Fast road sections.  And lots of pressure to hold speed or the New England ladies behind would chew you up and spit you out.   

The C3 gang which included Mark and Diane and Auer screaming "go Tillman" from the pit every lap was awesome.  Matt Means had made the trip and I think I heard him throughout the race as well.  Thanks Matt!   The racing was awesome.  I closed the day in 37th out of 50+.  

Day 1 and Day 2 run up.   this picture doesn't do it justice!

Considering my starting grid 2nd to last position, considering the course and considering the field -- I was happy but it take me a quick second to find that ZenJen happy.   5 minutes after the race, I did my sulking.  Sulking about being/feeling slow.   But it didn't take long to switch that sulk to a positive mood.   After all,  I had my team C3 and all their support during the race. I had the experience of Gloucester with its crazy spectators.   I experienced a truly stacked field of uber Elite women racers.  I learned a lot.  I didn't get lapped.   I had a great travel friend.   We had a good race setup/tent.  Yeah eff-that bad attitude.  :)   Def turned rest of day into ALL smiles (and soreness and bruising).

We ended up back at the Cottings around 7p.   We all decided to grab dinner in Salem.   Again, we had to balance the Meat-a-tarian No Wheat with Vegetarian No Dairy with those (ha, the Cottings) who had no food rules.

We ended up having Indian at a cool little place in Salem.    It was a nice way to decompress and chat about our lives intermixed with a lot of cycling and post-race recap chit chat.  

Sarah Anne:  is that a challenge?  That quote became a theme for AT and me.   It was also immediately clear that Allyson and I related VERY well to a 10-year old maybe better in fact than the surrounding company of adults.  Ha. 


Day 1 to Day 2 Transition - Saturday PM into Sunday AM

• When you're wicked tired, you reach Stupid Hour or Silly Hour.   Why the heck were we screaming "Timmy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  to each other as we were falling asleep???  Who the hell knows.   All I remember is laughing so effin hard my abs hurt.  Good stuff.  eventually we got quiet, took a second.  :)
  
• And Note to self - Allyson crashes in her sleep.  I'll never forget the high speed crash into the side of my twin bed at O-dark-thirty.  Ha.   I don't even think AT said anything --- perhaps she thought it didn't really happen or was confused or something.    But yeah, this girl crashes in her sleep.   Or maybe she was practicing putting those New England girls into the tape.!

 During Gloucester (DG):   Race Day 2

50 yard  (or so) beach run then this on Day 2.

 Day 2 represented the day of process improvement.   We experienced the process on Saturday and refined the process on Sunday.

• Setup system was in place, check!
• Course inspection, via foot though, check!
• Registration and crappy raffle pick numbers, check!

 We had a ton of rain overnight and steady rain all morning into our 2:30P race.   Yes, today was muddier.   We both decided to forgo any pre-riding and save our bikes some.   

We walked the course during the 11 and 12p races and noticed the new challenges.   

• the beach run into the stairs 
• the s-turns on the front side of the course, from yesterday, were now mud slicks.  Yes, we knew that would be a run section.  And def smarter to run as we compared guys riding vs. running.
• The run-up on the backside of the course was still in.  And yes it hurt.
• The small set of stairs near the spectators
• The barriers were still in the same spot but the exit from them now put us right out on the finish area, the road.

so yes, at minimum, 4 dismounts per lap and REAL RUNNING (not this three steps and you're done crap.  No this was freaking running)  Lap times were dramatically increased too from Saturday.   I averaged 15 min or so I think.  Nothing impressive compared to the Brits and US elites.   But all I can say is:  Imagine yourself running for 1/3 of that, well it felt like a third.   Yeah, that hurt. 

Remember my start from yesterday?, I moved up just a few places. Ha.   Same start.  but much harder to find gaps and get ahead today.

The start too had changed.  After racing up the hill we all poured into the backside of the course.  Lots of turns.  Deep ruts.  Sloppy mud.   Yard sales everywhere.   It was difficult to move up positions while in those sections, at least for me.   I focused on staying loose and letting the bike do what it wanted to do.

Me, Allyson, Sandy and wicked smart Sarah Anne

Needless to say, Sunday was the hardest race of my CX career.  But it was also some of the most fun.   The mud was so crazy.  

 We ended up finding Sandy and Sarah Anne after the race.   They stayed to watch us and tried to pick us out of the 50 riders.   once they did, they were cheering for us like crazy.  thanks guys!

we all climbed up to the Big Rock and hung out while the last of the Elite men finished their final lap.  I really dig this picture.   Love the shoes Sandy!

And Sarah Anne, you're a bad-arse 10 year old.  Remember how you ran all the s-turns in your rain boots after the Elite men cleared?  I thought you were crazy and tough.  Awesome combo in my mind girly. :)  Tough little chick, yeah, watch out New England!

 
Other highlights:

• Post-race Kris Auer interview @ Alchemy.  I learned a few things but don't think my interview was all that good.  :)
• Lots of veg dish shared plates, pure awesomeness.
• Gin N Tonic direct to brain.  Only one.  One was enough!
• Italian bakery for Cotting dessert delivery
• Washing our kits 2x because 1x just wasn't enough!!!!!!!!!!

  After Gloucester (AG):   Day after Races, Monday

We rode out to the Beach with Sandy on one of his 1 hour routes Monday morning.  Super beautiful.  No rain, only clouds.   God it was nice just to spin, ride and take in the sites.

Allyson:   Sandy and I loved your run into the bay/ocean.   You had us for just a second...had us thinking you were going to strip and dive in that is.  Funny.  Yeah it was the day after an epic weekend and the three of us were feeling happy just to be riding in a relaxed way.  Everyone was light.

Awesome Monday road ride out to the Beach with Sandy.   Most relaxing part of the trip!

I won't write much more about the details other than to summarize via a few bullets:

• The Cottings rock, all of 'em.  Cats, dog and peeps
• The trip was freaking amazing.    Would I do it again?  Absol-freaking-lutely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• My travel partner rocked.   Our friendship survived and strengthened this weekend.  I've never seen AT smile so much.  Yeah.  
• Kris and the C3 gang are awesome.  Thanks dude.  
• Gloucester is epic.  You love cross?  Go.  That is it.  You got to try it.
• Massachusetts, New England.  Yeah, I love it.   Love the New Englanders.
• And well be careful on your return drive south.  Bronx parkway was not in the plan or so I thought! ;-D

 And there'll always be:
More to practice, more to learn.  More fun to be had.  More mud to experience. 
Next year repeat? 
Magic 8-ball says:  very likely

Peace.