BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

thanks for doing this again this year dave

Hey Dave,

Climax isn't on your Bikely route. Still part of the race?

its on the checkpoints list... probably just an oversight.

Climax is definitely still on the course, I just accidentally routed past it when I fixed the course to Capital. Thanks for the heads up.

Bump! Sunny & low 70's... Mmm....

so excited for it not to be 80...

quick question... where is the checkpoint at the fireroad in schenely... i just looked at the checkpoints map and it goes way out into the woods... is it at that place where it splits if you're coming down the hill from the other side and gets steep for a sec?

It's where the intersection is with the main fireroad & the fireroad that runs towards the Panther Hollow lake. Basically if you take the fireroad it's the first intersection.

Good times / bad times... thanks for putting this on, Dave

Yes, thank you very much. That was easily one of the hardest things I have ever done.

BTW, I forgot to return your tube. Would there be a good time/place to return it to you?

Thanks!

I think this was THE hardest thing you could do in Pittsburgh. It was fun

Really a challenging route.

Some highlights for me.

1) Rallying all the downhill cobbles and the bit of fire road at the start. 2 wheel drift

2) Not getting smashed by the OLD lady in the blazer that ran into a parked trailer at the hard left on 18th right before the cemetery. I managed to turn around in time to see her rebound of the trailer and her bumper get pulled of and flung across the road. Glad I didn't climb any slower.

3) The view descending down into the North Side after Yetta street.

4) not getting lost and no flats.

5) My crappy road bike made it through another year.

low-lights

1) Realizing I lost a bit more fitness than expected after a month of steady motorbike commuting.

2) Almost crying when I got to the top of Kendal and no sandwiches. I was blown and needed calories. I was panning to just drop down to Morningside and stopping at home, but it is doubtful I would have continued. Fortunately the checkpoint with food and drink was a few blocks down the road.

3) Climbing Capital and than figuring it was quicker to go back down and descend W Liberty, not Pioneer. It wasn't and it hurt.

There are some really stupid cobble sections on this ride, Capital is really long, Buena Vista is surprisingly hard, Kendal is not even worth attempting that late in the ride.

Good stuff.

i got so lost! and then i didn't even get to attempt kendall or meet any of the unknown roads out near wilkinsburg.

congrats to everyone who showed up today, and then also to everyone who managed to finish. what was the success rate?

if next year's race has to be harder than this one, will dave just have the city and county strip all the dirty dozen hills down to cobblestone (belgian brick) and include them on the ride?

Definite highlight of my day was walking up capital next to scott (riding, same speed) who's grunting and cursing dave the whole way.

how do we get dave to actually try this one year?

For those who actually attended (unlike my lazy arse...sorry, Dave!), how did it compare to the Dirty Dozen?

I'd say roughly as hard. The DD is hard for 30-300 seconds with half an hour of standing around. This was gangbusters from the start and never let up. Buena Vista is easily as hard as anything on the DD, so was the climb off of 56th.

that kendall climb was definately as hard or harder than the hardest of the DD... and it comes right off of climbing those two hlls in the northside.

weather was great, and the ride wasn't too bad if done at a scenic dirty dozen style pace. all the same we're throwing a "make dave do a thousand push-ups" party soon.

This ride beat me up, and my legs are absolutely useless today because of it. I had a lot of fun riding with various folks throughout the 4 hours it took me to finish. Eric, sorry for leaving you behind on Laketon only to forget the Cordova checkpoint. That boneheaded move almost wiped away any sense of accomplishment I had at the end.

I've never done the DD, but I can't imagine that it's any harder than this year's Roubaix. I think this could become another cult classic.

Scott, no problem, it was cool riding on and off with you. I could see you ahead of me the entire way down Frankstown, but I didn't have the speed left in my legs to go fast enough to time the lights. Cordova was hardly worth the effort.

I feel surprisingly good today, didn't ride, but walked around the Zoo for a few hours and ate more ice cream. Recovery food of champions!

I think Dave deserves accolades for this course, next year he needs to ride it too.

Another classic unsanctioned Pittsburgh race! We should find an award to give the highest placed rider in all events

Crush the Commonwealth

Pgh-Roubaix

Dirty Dozen

Punk Bike

the three rivers four

Although I expected and deserved it, no one made fun of my bike. At least to my face. It's a mess. I know. It does have components from at least 4 decades installed right now.

Good name erok. Now what should the trophy look like?

A yellow teatowel that says "Bob O'Connor Golf Course" on it.

Results & pics on the web: http://pghalleycat.com/races/pittsburgh-roubaix-2009/#results

Short list:

Steve Kurpiewski

Mike Tressler

Eric Lundgren

Rob Lochner

Chris Mayhew

Avi Schreiber: 1st fun

John Heffner: 1st fixed

Dan Goldberg: 2nd fixed

…

Carlea Can: 1st woman

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

@Mayhew: you were eligable for a prize for 5th, so congratulation, you won a tube.

@Brad & Ted: I'm game, but I'd like to start with say, 300 pushups. I mean that's still a lot. Will there be prizes? And a PB&J stop?

As for the series, sure. I've got no idea for a trophy, but I always wanted to make a Terrible Trowel: a small black and gold shovel with the tip sharpened so you can shank Tony Siragusa in the bathroom.

Best prize EVAR.

this was hard. next year, the goal is get a full rolling enclosure. i also want bob stumpf to race it so i can just watch him gap me on every single climb like it is nothing.