That tradition formerly known as the Gran Prix of Gloucester took a bullet this year. TLD (the Lovely Deb) and I – and Buddy (the only Maltese dog with a UCI pit pass) were such fans that we always made reservations at The Vista Motel the second day of the weekend in order to secure rooms for the next version. Room 39 at the end of the white building overlooking Good Harbor Beach was ours, at least for five days. We always arrived early and made a small vacation of it. I’m writing this from that very spot as we kept the reservations despite the race not getting permitted for a twentieth iteration.
I don’t know the full back story but suspect it has to do with Heritage Trees and grumpy neighbors near Stage Fort Park. There was a time when many thousands of us came to town for the two (or more) days, had an über-beautiful time here, made memories, and spent a lot of money in the area. The merchants always welcomed us, and the downtown was filled with energy, the seed for which was planted by Paul Boudreau, his staff of workers, and ECV. Apologies from me for not knowing the exact pecking order re who did what. But it always worked.
Cyclocross was a BIG deal in Gloucester. To so many of us, cyclocross WAS Gloucester. Thank you from RSCX and the entire community for this. Thank you for all of this. After 19 years it’s time to do something else.
.
