BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Cripes, how the heck do you inline an image in this piece? I want everyone to see the ridiculous rainbow unicorn picture I stole from Lisa Frank.

?img src="http://locationtoimage"?

Replace question marks with < and >

Yup, I tried that... unfortunately I did it using a relative reference. Doh!

i just want to let you know that this is the best flyer you have ever made dave.

wow dave - impressive!

Needs more glitter.

Ask, and ye shall receive.

i like the direction of this thread

Hey, where's Ziggy go?

Spokecard, front:



(the grey box is where the # goes)

back:

And, if things go as planned, there will be glitter.

Im thinking about joining the race on sunday but I have one question. How difficult it the terrain? I am what you would call a novice.

More details:

The pre-party:

I’m going to ride from my house (southside) to D’s, marking the trail heads along the way. This will be a medium paced ride with lots of stopping (to mark trails). I plan to leave sside around 9:30 to give myself penty of time to get to registration @ noon. Email/call if you want to do this pre-ride.

Registration opens at D’s Six Pax & Dogz (1118 S. Braddock St.) at noon, so beer & hotdogs from noon-1pm.

The route:

Both rides start at D’s Six Pax & Dogz (1118 S. Braddock St. in the Regeant Square neighborhood of Pittsburgh) at 1 pm. There is no fixed route, but you must complete the singletrack sections in order. If you rode last year, you might notice that this is for real backwards: reverse order and reverse direction.

The Race category singletrack sections are:

1. Slag Heap Loop (loop along ridge overlooking waterfront), west to east (the river on your right) (Frick Park)

2. “Beginning” Trail, uphill from 9 Mile Run Trail to Biddle Trail (Frick Park)

3. Zig-Zag Trail, uphill from Falls Ravine Trail to Lower Riverview (Frick Park)

4. Roller Coaster, downhill from Lower Riverview to Fire Lane Ext. (Frick Park)

5. Iron Gate Trail, uphill from Tranquil Trail (?) to the baseball diamond (Frick Park)

6. Bench Trail, downhill from the Fitnesse Circuit to Riverview Extension (Frick Park)

7. Nature Trail singletrack, uphill from Clayton Loop/Biddle Trail to Nature Trail (Frick Park)

8. Steve Faloon Trail, downhill from W. Circuit Road to Schenley Drive (Schenley Park)

9. Creek Trail, “uphill” from the Panther Hollow lake to the fireroad near the playground (Schenley Park)

10. Panther Hollow descent, downhill from Schenley fireroad to Panther Hollow (Schenley Park to Panther Hollow)

The Fun ride singletrack sections are:

1. Slag Heap Loop (loop along ridge overlooking waterfront), west to east (the river on your right) (Frick Park)

2. Zig-Zag Trail, uphill from Falls Ravine Trail to Lower Riverview (Frick Park)

3. Roller Coaster, downhill from Lower Riverview to Fire Lane Ext. (Frick Park)

4. Steve Faloon Trail, downhill (Schenley Park)

I will use course tape to mark the starts of the trail sections but that’s it. You’ll need to have some idea where the trails are, the tape is just to show where they officially start. The trails also fan out a bunch once you start. We’ll see what kind of riders show up at the start, the fun ride might end up as a group ride.

Be very careful going up Iron Gate, Nature Trail, and Beginning Trail! People might be going the other way, fast. Of course, unless you’re a beast you’ll probably be walking, so just step off the trail and let them pass.

Also watch out on Creek Trail and the Panther Hollow climb. Both got really washed out in those rains a few months ago. Be ready to do some walking. If you can manage to ride all of Creek trail I’ll give you a cookie (in addition to the beer if you win).

This is an entirely honor system based ride. There are no manned checkpoints.

Both rides end at OTB (2518 E Carson St). There’s currently construction on Carson and partially blocking the entrance to OTB, so you might have to lock up down the street a bit.

The after-party:

The ride ends at OTB (2518 E. Carson St.). The leaders should get in between 2 and 2:30pm. And then we hang out until everyone wants to go home. Feel free to just show up here and keep me company even if you don’t ride. If I feel particularly not-drunk I will ride the course backwards afterwards and cut-down all the trail markings. Anyone is welcome to join for that ride as well.

Equipment:

1. A bike

2. Water

3. A helmet

4. The will to succeed

A mountain bike is recommended. A cross bike is doable, though you’ll probably have to run some sections. A road bike and a track bike aren’t recommended unless you really want to run (I pre-rode last year’s course on a track bike to prove it could be done, basically I just ran all the singletrack).

Anything else?

BE CAREFUL!. The trails & roads are all open to the public so expect to see other people riding, walking & driving. Don’t be a jerk. And wear a helmet.

Willie: The only required technical obstacle is a built up log crossing at the base of the Zig-Zag trail, which you can dismount and climb over. Other trails have obstacles but you can ride around them.

Reversing the course means that there are now more hard uphills than sketchy downhills. That makes it harder on your legs but less sketchy in terms of falling on your face. Rollercoater does have some steep downhills, but they're rolling and fairly safe.

There's also no shame in walking. I've been to Moraine twice and Laurel Highlands once, and both times I spent about half the time running.

Results

1. Mark Tressler

2. Mike Tressler

4. Jonathan Kersting (admits to getting lost on 1 trail)

Special honors to Hammer for doing it on his brakeless fixie w/ his dog (Tank).

Thanks to everyone else who came out.

Apologies to the OTB bartender who I accidentally called “sir”, thus inidicating that she is 1) old and 2) a man. She is neither.

Thank you for hosting this race and for the guided tour. We had a great time. I hope to explore more of the trails up there later this week.