Why I Love: GP Gloucester (RIP)
Jeremy Powers isn’t a rider I’ve ever really worked with. He dialed in as a guest pundit on our UCI Cross World Cup coverage a couple of times, I think, but that’s it. Last year he was a pundit again on Global Cycling Network Racing’s cyclo-cross coverage, interviewed during the otherwise interminable gap between the women’s and the men’s races. My good friend and former colleague Marty MacDonald asked him what his favorite cross race was. Rather than the sands of Koksijde or maybe the bohemian cool of Plzen, Powers bemused Marty with his answer: “GP Gloucester.”
I get it though, I do. It might have been my answer too.
For the Love of Gloucester
Gloucester is one of those wacky blue-collar towns that you thought only existed in American sitcoms like Schitt’s Creek or Parks and Recreation.
It’s an island beset by a legendary sea serpent. There’s an abandoned village in its center, where people used to hide from pirates, and which later became the famous home of boulders inscribed with vapid libertarian advice like “Help Mother” to motivate the people suffering through the Great Depression in the woods.
There’s a fish finger factory downtown that’s capable of stinking all the way up to the highway if the wind’s right. And once a year, the sons of fishermen dress up in drag, march down the streets chanting in Italian while drinking heavily, then have a contest to see who can walk the length of a greased up pole ten feet above the water and 50 feet offshore.
It’s a town with an island mentality. And leaving the island can be hard: The only cycling route on or off the island is over a bridge that gives priority to boats, leaving cars, bicycles, and pedestrians alike waiting up to 15 minutes at a time in the height of summer.
People know your business. One time when I was waiting for a train, I slid into a nearby bar close to the station. The bartender asked my name. No matter how many times since, no matter which person is behind the bar, I’ve never had to say my name again. My receipt always has my name on, and sometimes my baby’s name too.
And the number one sporting event in this town is? Well, the men dressing up, like I said. But number two is… when the firefighters and police have a rowing race. And number three is the schooner race. But number four was the somewhat random UCI-ranked cyclocross race that took place in October for two decades, sandwiched between two beautiful beaches and below a huge rock commemorating the first settlement of Massachusetts.
Settling Gloucester
I discovered the GP Gloucester in 2016. A week or two previously, I’d headed to downtown Boston to spectate at the final Boston Mayor’s Cup, where Curtis White vacuumed up all the primes before his teammate, and national champion, Brad Huff won. Frankie Andreu closed out his commentary by inviting us all to his next gig: the GP Gloucester.
It was a beautiful place. Half Moon Beach looked tropical opening into Gloucester Harbor, and the course had the riders spiraling in front of Cressy Beach, looking out to a dark blue sea that stretched out across the horizon.
The race was a professional gig. It was organized with intricate detail, as you’d expect of a major bike race (noting that bike races tend not to actually meet this expectation). Major teams and brands were in attendance. There was a Belgian-style beer tent with Ipswich Brewing beer.
I had eight years of attending US cycling events under my belt. They had almost uniformly felt underwhelming or foreign, but GP Gloucester felt familiar.
I stayed to the very end. The Mayor’s Cup hero Curtis White (and just all-round heroine Ellen Noble) won the first day of that year’s GP Gloucester. Afterwards, I headed to the brewery and walked along yet another beach. And then, a few short months later, I moved to Gloucester for a change of scenery.
It barely registers in the grand scheme of my reckless decisions, but “moved somewhere because of its bike race” is pretty on-brand. The bike race isn’t the only reason, of course, but I might never have discovered this wonderful place without those two days watching the cyclocross, grabbing a late lunch at the brewery, and then strolling along beautiful Main Street.
More Than a Race
Cycling’s a great leveler. Even as a complete beginner, there’s nothing stopping you riding the same roads as the very best Tour de France participants. Riding out to watch a pro race is pretty much the equivalent of being allowed to have a kickabout at the Camp Nou before a Barcelona match. But better, because you get to watch cycling instead of football.
Still, it’s rare that a race is so open to everybody, from rank amateurs on day licenses who barely crack 500 miles a year, all the way up to national champions racing for UCI ranking points. The GP Gloucester was an event that started early and ran through the day, letting everybody race. All the local cyclists took a crack at it. Not just the Cat 1s or Cat 2s, but anybody who had a bike to dust off in their garage. Our favorite barman raced it, put up to it by his wife. One time a two-year-old on a balance bike racked up about $150 in dollar bills by repeatedly hopping the barriers in front of the beer tent.
And it was a locus for the cycling community. For casuals, for local club cyclists, for top-tier professionals, and for cycling celebrities. Ted King enthusiastically chatted with me about it when I caught up with him in New Hampshire. People came from across the country to race. Route 128 was a stream of cars with bikes on their rooftops when the race was in town.
The usual thing that happens at Gloucester happened—tons of people came out to race, spectate and meet with old friends. I saw people who met their spouse at Gloucester. I saw a couple who got married after the UCI race several years ago. They brought their child to watch last year.
At Gloucester, I always run into people I rode bikes with 25 years ago at this race, some who still ride, some who don’t. Gloucester brought everyone out of whatever they’ve moved onto with their lives back to cycling for a day or two.
The people are why this happened for two decades.
Paul Boudreau, GP Gloucester Race Director
The GP Gloucester got a lot right.
The Cancelation
In 2019, after 20 uninterrupted years of successfully hosting one of the region’s best celebrations of cycling, race director Paul Boudreau decided to not hold the event.
“I hate to use this analogy, but it really was a perfect storm of sorts. Several reasons—city-related, financial, personal—all factored into this decision.”
Paul Boudreau, GP Gloucester Race Director
There was a small but vocal opposition to the race from residents close to Stage Fort Park. It manifested as traffic concerns, or worry about the damage to the park, or the lack of somewhere to walk a dog for a few hours, but ultimately it came down to a dislike of the event. These concerns, though surely sincere, weren’t particularly valid or substantial.
We secured a $10,000 bond to guarantee our landscaping work. We took before and after video, filed with the city, for reference. […] GP Gloucester is the only event that does any landscaping remediation after their event.
Paul Boudreau, GP Gloucester Race Director
And it’s true. In the days after the GP Gloucester, you’d never know a race had ever taken place. Well, actually you would: The areas in which the race took place were more verdant than the rest of the park.
But year on year it was getting tougher to run the race as the weight of oppositions got heavier. In a break from protocol, the council privately discussed the future of the race outside of a public hearing. Seeds of opposition were well and truly sown, and this document demonstrates the extent to which the race was becoming an uphill struggle for its organizers:
Stage Fort Park is a resource that’s otherwise untapped in October. Once the tourist season ends, it becomes a beautiful but barren spot for the occasional dog walker or a lone British ex-pat who works remotely and wants to drink his morning coffee surrounded by morning mist on a rock reaching out into the sea. And when winter really sets in, it becomes a snow farm.
“It was pointed out that this event takes place in the fall, considered a shoulder season, and is typically one of the last, or the last event held at the park the year. “
Gloucester Council Meeting Minutes. March 12, 2019
The event was eventually approved by 2:1 in a vote. But after receiving approval, the GP Gloucester shared that there would be an additional delay in opening entries. And then they finally announced the inevitable: The race was canceled.
There’s no running from it: This was an unpopular decision. The city’s hotels, B&Bs, and restaurants all took a huge hit during their quiet season, with visitors to the city canceling their trips.
“I lost a $800 vacation rental booking. I’ve had guests every year for this event. I know I’m not alone.”
Rebecca Borden
“If there is one thing cyclists are good at (other than cycling) it is spending money. Particularly on food.”
Barnaby Prendergast
The Future
It’s unlikely that the GP Gloucester will ever happen again. There’s certainly a desire among the local cyclists, and the race organizers did overcome the obstacles put in their way in 2019, even if it was ultimately in vain. But the odds are looking slim.
“Regarding the future, every year, planning for the calendar process for the international (UCI) calendar starts soon after the GP Gloucester. At this point we can’t say for certain that plans for 2020 can be finalized before the UCI deadline of December 15.”
GP Gloucester Press Release. September 3, 2019.
I love this blue collar, picturesque town. There are whales off the back shore in the Spring, some of the most pristine beaches you’ve ever seen in the Summer, great bike riding in the Fall, and in the Winter those same beaches frozen solid with a thick mist surrounding you and swirling sands cutting across you. The last one’s a positive.
Gloucester is amazing. I wish it still had the race it deserves.
Council minutes detailing the 20 conditions that the organizers had to meet
Council minutes detailing private debate of the event (pages 5 & 6)