Gas Town Grand Prix

[Davey Crockett]

Talking on the telephone to an old friend today, he told Davey that the
Gas Town Grand Prix, in Vancouver, Canada, is going to be revived this
year,

Last run in 2008, it was cancelled in 2009 after encountering
sponsorship problems.

It's a real gas too. The main obstacles, way back when Davey plonked his
wheel on the start line, were the danger of flatting on the needles the
druggies discarded around the circuit and the winos who persisted in
wobbling onto the course.

The whores plying their trade in the doorways was just a distraction.

Doubtless the situation has improved over the years and we wish
the organizers the best of luck.

--
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[Ryan Cousineau]

On Jan 18, 5:42 pm, Davey Crockett <r...@azurservers.com> wrote:
> Talking on the telephone to an old friend today, he told Davey that the
> Gas Town Grand Prix, in Vancouver, Canada, is going to be revived this
> year,
>
> Last run in 2008, it was cancelled in 2009 after encountering
> sponsorship problems.
>
> It's a real gas too. The main obstacles, way back when Davey plonked his
> wheel on the start line, were the danger of flatting on the needles the
> druggies discarded around the circuit and the winos who persisted in
> wobbling onto the course.

Aggressive gentrification has pushed the rank-and-file DTES crowd
about five blocks eastward. The remaining population are panhandlers,
about one a block, because it's the tourist district.

> The whores plying their trade in the doorways was just a distraction.
>
> Doubtless the situation has improved over the years and we wish
> the organizers the best of luck.

Gastown has been a fancy neighbourhood for many years. It's still
quite close to one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Canada, though.

As for the race, yeah, it's been a sponsorship issue.

Road racing in BC has been in an ebb phase lately: cyclocross and
cheap club-level races (midweek crits, spring series) have been
popular, but a combination of revised marshalling rules, rising costs
and prices, and clubs that don't want to host a race have made a mess
of the rest of the calendar.

But the Gastown GP (aka the Tour de Gastown, and now apparently aka
the Gastown Bike Race) was long a part of "Superweek," which was a
week of racing designed to draw continental-level pros (Healthnet et
al might send one or two riders, and Symmetrics routinely showed up
for this, their home races, in force). For local Cat 1/2s, it was an
opportunity to get pummeled by excellent competition.

The remaining anchors of Superweek are 3-day stage races in White Rock
and Delta (typically road race, crit, and a hillclimb or a prologue-
size TT). The midweek crit(s) have been events in Gastown, Burnaby,
and UBC over the last few years, depending on where sponsorship could
be found.

It's good that Gastown is coming back. The usual course includes a
fast 180 around the statue of "Gassy Jack" Deighton on slick brick-
tile. I think in 2007 or so it rained heavily throughout the men's
race, and there was at least one fall in that corner for 20 straight
laps. My buddy Kevin Noiles, a national-class cyclocrosser, was
thriving in the dicey conditions and staying with the lead group,
until he too fell down.

Ther are reasons for optimism at the amateur level. We hope to ride
the coattails of the roaring success of the Whistler Gran Fondo and
suck a few Fondoists into races, especially as training for a fast
Fondo time. Our club is restructuring our Spring Series to extend
through the summer, filling in some empty dates on the calendar, and
recruiting other clubs to do the volunteer work for an otherwise-
turnkey race day.