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Gloucester Grind |
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Written by N. Williams
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Monday, 19 May 2008 |
Gloucester Grind
Gloucester, RI
5/18/2008
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The 2008 Gloucester Grind in Gloucester Rhode Island was a fun race for me. I got to meet fellow Bikemen and race in a new state. The weather was perfect and the rain held off for us racers. I raced Junior Sport in this EFTA race, the first race of the series for 2008 (and my first race for 2008.) I was really looking forward to it because the expert and sport classes would be racing equal distances, which is rare. To me, this was appreciated so I could compare my time with the experts and see how far I am from moving up a category. The kind folks at Back Bay Bicycles gave me a ride down to the race.
I got a chance to pre-ride the first half of the course and received a bit of info on the race from a fellow Bikeman racer (sorry, I’m bad with names and already forget who) which was very helpful on the first lap. There was only one other Junior Sport racer. The start was fast as always, but not ridiculously fast. At first, my strategy was to stay right behind the other Junior Sport racer for most of the race and zip ahead at the finish. On the first lap, I got pretty comfortable with the course and passed him, eventually opening up a gap between us. The first lap was the most difficult as all the racers were still pretty close together. As the race went on, I got more and more in tune with the course and learned the fastest lines. By the second lap, I had massive collections of snot and saliva on my chin, but I could not do much about it as both hands had to stay on the handlebar. There were roots, rocks and deep mud everywhere. On the third lap, my muscles came very close to cramping and everything hurt quite a bit. I was pretty excited when I hadn’t seen the other Junior Sport racer for a while, in anticipation of my first win in a race. I was worried though, fearing a mechanical and that he might sneak up behind me in a sprint. But, I stayed in first through the finish line with a time of 1:55 for the 18 mile “Grind.” Sure, I only had to beat one other racer for the win, but it still felt good to get first.
These trails are on private property and are open to bikers only on race day. The trails are apparently used by dirt bikers. Because of that, the trails were slightly less tight than other races and a bit buffed out with several mini-berms which helped us bikers keep speed in the corners. Supposedly, last year was much worse in terms of mud than this year. Some rain on Friday created mud in quite a few places and by the time the race was over, our bikes and bodies were covered in it.
It was a wicked fun race…I can’t wait for next year!
Nathaniel
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