As usual I haven’t updated my blog in a terribly long time. It’s been a busy year so far. Between racing, work and random side work, I’ve been very busy. Unlike this time last year though, it’s a good kind of busy. Work hasn’t been interfering with my riding as much, and I’ve had a good start to my racing season. I upgraded to a Cat 4 this year and have already gotten 5 points towards a 3 upgrade. That’s a pretty big improvement on last year.

I’ve been doing a ton of poster/side work this year. The majority of the posters have been for the bike team’s fund raising events but I also had an opportunity to participate in the CREHAITIVE RE/VISION Poster show to benefit victims of the earthquake in Haiti. I’m also working on an identity package for my moms catering company and an iphone application for Fat Heads.

I realized that my site is linked on the Steeltown Anthem website and thought it would only be right to get some more current work posted for any stray surfers that happen to stumble my way.

I’ll be entering some work in the Steeltown Stock poster show that being hosted by Steeltown Anthem at C-SPACE COLLECTIVE. I haven’t decided what to put in the show yet, but I should have that figured out within a week. Stay tuned for more details!

Geoff Roast
My most recent poster was a great project. The wife of everyones favorite Fat Heads manager commissioned me to do the invitation for said managers surprise birthday party. She wanted to do a Roast style party and I thought it would be appropriately obnoxious to do a caricature of Geoff. Anyone who knows him knows that he is quite a character so I had a lot to work with.

Iron City Bikes
I also recently decided to finally help out Bob with the bike shops website. With the help of Jacob’s web hosting skills and a little bit of love from Wordpress we were able to get the site up and running in just a few days. There’s still a bit of work to be done with it but they are just happy to have an updated site to help drive business. Take a look here.

Iron City Bikes Racing
I’ve also been hard at work trying to finalize all of the sponsorship contracts and jersey order for the 2010 season. Our latest sponsor deal to be worked out is with Magic Hat Brewery. They’ve come on board as our main beer sponsor/provider. We’ll be getting beer from them throughout the year to use in our fundraising events to help generate revenue.

Snowed In Black and Gold Sprints
Speaking of the race team and fund raising, the team and I are hard at work organizing our first event of the season. We’re going to be throwing another roller racing party at Over The Bar in January. I’m working on finalizing the poster for the event that will be printed by Commonwealth Press next week. There will be more information on the team site soon.  Here’s a little sneak peak of the poster:

I have some other projects brewing in the new year and maybe I’ll try and post updates about them. Keep an eye out for the printing of the Snowed In posters in the next week or two.

As soon as my Physical Therapist put me on a stationary bike I’ve been testing myself to see how much pedalling I could do without inflicting any additional damage. Starting with short 15-20 minute casual spinning sessions and gradually building up to full speed 30-40 minute rides on the rollers, I thought I should start to venture out and start to build back some of the strength that I’ve lost throughout the healing process. I quickly discovered that I have a long way to go before I return to my previous form. On Sunday I decided to venture out for a casual 5-mile ride on the paved trail down the hill from my house. I knew that getting down the hill would be the easiest part of the outing, but I wasn’t really sure how I would fare on the way back up. The weather was perfect and there was very little traffic on the way to the trail. I know it probably sounds cheesy, but the feeling of the wind on my face was something that I really missed. The ride went very well and I really didn’t experience any trouble or any flats.

After doing a circuit of the trails I stopped into Fat Heads to celebrate my triumphant return to the road with a few beers. I had recently finished my 10th round of their “Frequent Flyer Beer Tour” which, after drinking 75 different beers (not in one day), rewards you with a Fat Heads bobble head and your name on the famous “Wall of Foam”. Instead of my name, I came up with an appropriate ride-themed message to put on my plaque*. Following a few of my favorite beers, I figured I would make my way up the hill before my legs, or knee started to give me any trouble. Although I couldn’t get out of the saddle to climb, my road bike provided me with enough gear options to stay seated and pedal back up 18th Street with little discomfort.

With the success of my Sunday ride, the next step was to start riding to work. Public transit has been testing the limits of my sanity so I was anxious to start traveling on my own schedule as soon as possible. My doctor cautioned me against jumping in too quickly and suggested that I try to keep things in a semi-controlled environment. My normal route to work doesn’t quite fit that description but using Pittsburgh’s trail system let me avoid most of the treacherous portions of the commute. Things went well on Monday but due to a new exercise routine at therapy my muscles were a bit sore on Tuesday. After taking the day off, I’m back on the bike again today. I noticed that my average speed went up from ~14mph to ~16mph this morning so I suppose I’m making some progress.

Next steps: pedaling out of the saddle. I’m not going to rush that one, but that will be the next sign towards a full recovery. Depending on how riding goes over the next month, I might try to race cyclo-cross this fall. Having a goal to shoot for certainly can’t hurt.

*Next time you’re in Fat Heads, see if you can find my latest plaque!

Easily the most annoying aspect of my limited mobility is not being able to ride my bike. For a cyclist, especially one living in Pittsburgh, this is probably the worst time of year to be off the bike. Not only has the weather been great for riding, but this Thursday brings the start of the Bicycle Film Fest to the City of Champions. The upcoming holiday weekend also brings a number of other cycling related events including another installment of Black and Gold Sprints at OTB and a Bike Polo Tournament.

This Saturday also marks the start of the 96th Tour De France with the prologue time trial in Monaco. While I have started physical therapy—and have already noticed steady improvement—I don’t think that I’ll be back in riding form before the end of the Tour. I make this connection because one of my favorite things to do during the Tour is to go on long training rides that end at a bar to enjoy the replay of the days stage. There’s something to be said for the feeling of riding vicariously through the efforts of the best riders in the world. There is always a certain fire in your legs when you get back on the bike after watching an epic stage play out on the roads of France. This almost always leads to impromptu sprints down Carson Street on the way home.

Hopefully I’ll be able to harness some of that fire to put towards my rehab efforts. As I said, I’ve started on my road to rehab at the UPMC Sports Medicine facility in the South Side. So far things have been going well. I’ve mainly been working on range-of-motion and strengthening exercises that I can do with minimal impact or pressure applied to my knee. I was very pleased yesterday when my therapist asked how I would feel about trying the stationary bike. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to pedal (very slowly) with minimal discomfort. My knee felt a little tight, but not really painful. Lame though it may have been, those ten minutes on the bike were a big moral booster in terms of getting myself back to normal. If my knee continutes to cooperate maybe I’ll be able to ride to a bar stool to enjoy the Tour’s cruise into Paris.

Anyways, due to my new toy, i had quite a bit of extra baggage with me, so i called Jon, who had his work van to see if he was going to the race. I convinced him that he should go, despite the weather and i met up with him in the Strip district to get a ride out to the oval. For whatever reason, Im never very enthusiastic about going to race on Tuesdays. That usually changes by the time i get to the track, and definitely changes by the time the race is over. I guess it’s just nerves.

Of course, as soon as Jon and I arrived the clouds rolled in and greeted us with a downpour. I had been looking at the weather throughout the afternoon and was fairly confident that the rain would pass. The temperature had already dropped a few degrees since the afternoon down into the mid 40’s. I decided to sit in the fan while the storm passed to stay warm before the race. Once the rain ended i headed out in time to see the women start their race. The rain didn’t seem to be much of a deterrent as there was a pretty good field already signed in for the men’s race. I had signed up for a season pass earlier at work, which was being payed for through my “flex-fund” program, so i got to save my $10. That worked out well considering how the race played out. This year in the C races, there are a few new rules. The main change is the addition of five neutral laps at the beginning of the race to allow newer riders to get a feel for the close quarters of the field. I can see how this will also help people get into their pedals before the pace gets too high. Similar to last year, the races earlier in the season are relatively short at 32 laps (27 plus the 5 neutral).

I wasn’t exactly sure how i was going to feel once things got going. I’ve only ridden about 100 road miles since the beginning of the year. I suspected the pace would be pretty fast thanks to a few key players that, in addition to having a lot more miles on the year than I do, have already competed in a few races. As we rolled out for the neutral laps things felt pretty normal. The field had plenty of familiar faces, and the now slightly wet track, hadn’t changed at all. The marshals led us out at a steady pace of around 20 mph for the five laps before any attacks could start. And start they did with the onset of the race. Despite the pace climbing quickly, the speed felt reasonable. In fact, i was rather startled to look behind me after about 5 or 6 laps to see that the closest rider was at least 25 yards away. After about 10 laps i knew that i wouldn’t be able to hold onto the back of the lead group for long. I’d thought by then that a few other riders had caught back on and might be able to offer some help in the chase. Unfortunately, as is all to often the case, cooperation/coordiation of efforts was at a minimum. I did get a little help for about half of the race, but consisted mostly of new faces that didn’t quite get the idea of taking short pulls to conserve efforts. The field finally came around to lap the remainder of the now shattered field with around 15 laps to go. Again, i couldn’t seem to hold onto the back of that group due to my mainly solo efforts up to that point. Needless to say, with a group of about 10 in the lead break, i was destined to finish one lap down, somewhere in the middle of the field.

Considering my lack of training time, and my familiar pre-race lack of enthusiasm, I thought i had a pretty good race. My speed stayed consistent throughout the race and i didn’t feel like i had blown up at any point. After the race, as is the norm, I felt a sense of excitement to be getting back into racing this year. Hopefully, with a bit more dedication to training I’ll be right up there in the lead group in a few weeks time. Who knows, maybe i’ll even win one this year.

I was especially looking forward to this race since I had just picked up my new bike the day before. It is my first full suspension bike and I had only ridden it for about an hour on Saturday. It seemed to be dialed in, and I figured this race would be a good proving ground.  Sarah and I went to the Iggle to pick up ingredients to make some pesto pinwheels for the potluck afterparty. Using her extraordinary culinary prowess, Sarah worked on putting together the pinwheels while I wrote out the que sheet. Normally, I would expect to receive a manifest at the start of the race with all the important information, but I recalled the Pittsburgh Roubaix where we had no such luxury. I thought if it were a repeat situation, at least I would have the turns/trails written out. I rolled down the hill to Thick a little after 12:00 where there were already a few people gathering. Dave, as usual, was running a little late. Chris was doing his part keeping the crowds under control.

Dave arrived, with manifests, around 12:30 where the crowd had grown to well over 20 riders. The final rider count topped out at 27. Once we were all ready to roll, we headed over to the support car to drop off any potluck supplies that anyone may have been carrying. It was kind of like a weird mountain bike critical mass as we rolled through the southside and over the 10th street bridge to the actual start. The race’s official start was at the very begining of the “jail trail” behind PNC Firstside Center. We did a classic Le Mans style start with everyone placing their bikes in the circular area at the trail head. Dave casually told us “uh, go, i guess..”.

There was a good mix of mountain and cyclocross bikes and the differences quickly became apparent. The cycloscross riders accelerated immediately down the jail trail while those of us on mountain bikes slugged along the pavement. Once off the paved trail we rolled down into Panther hollow and onto a steep single track climb into the Schenley. Most of the riders were walking up this climb as the snow was making it difficult to hold traction. Once I got up into the park the pack had thinned out significantly. I rode solo on the fire roads through the park at a good pace and made my way out to the road behind the visitor center. From there it was an easy on-road ride along Darlington Ave. over to Frick Park.

I had never ridden in Frick before and wasn’t really sure where this section started. Fortunately, there were some other riders on the road with me that new there way to the entrance. As they were in Schenley, the trails were all snow covered and slick. I made my way through the park passing and being passes by various other riders. I ended up finding Chris and Carol about half way through the course and rode with them for the duration of the race. Before we knew it we were at the end of the course. We took to the road and headed for the finish line.

We arrived at Caitlin’s house and I went around back to lock up my bike. Chris wasn’t done riding so he headed straight back out to Frick to get some more trails in. Inside was warm and the beer was flowing. All three of the layers I was wearing were soaked in sweat. I shed as many as i could and headed to the kitchen to find beer. Pabst had provided the after party with four 30-packs and there was a bunch of delicious food. After a few beers discussion turned to the gyroscopic Powerball that Bob had at the bike shop. Since we didn’t have one of those, the next best thing was to do beer holding competitions. Rob has a good explanation of the rules and regulations of the sport here. In short, it involves holding a ‘pounder’ of beer at shoulder height to see who can hold it the longest. Its surprisingly difficult. I challenged the Champagne of Steves in the first heat. He cracked after a measly 5 mins 30 secs. Next up was Rob and Ted. Their competition was more more compelling lasting for over 18 minutes! Ted eventually cracked leaving Rob the winner. Steve and I then had a rematch with our opposite arms and once again I came out the victor. Its been said that this may become a staple in all post-alleycat parties. I think it has serious potential.

The party and race were both a huge success. Special thanks to Dave for planning this thing, and to Caitlin for housing a bunch of sweaty bikers for the after party. Till next time.

The Hot Metal Bridge bike/pedestrian crossing opening ceremony was today at noon. The new crossing, which utilizes the original refurbished Hot Metal Bridge, links the Eliza Furnace Trail (or, “The Jail Trail”) on the downtown side of the river to the Southside Trail via a bridge over 2nd Ave. Mayor Luke Ravenstal was on hand to do the ribbon cutting, as well as close to 200 cyclist, pedestrians, and rollerbladers. Bridge Entrance
The weather couldn’t have been better for late November. Sunny skies and mild temperatures seemed to put everyone in a pretty good mood. Most importantly, I think it greatly increased the number of people attending the ceremony. This shows the city of Pittsburgh that the people of the community really do appreciate the things being done to make cycling more accessible to everyone.
The Hot Metal exodus

Since i don’t really know who was responsible for this project, I guess I’ve got to thank anyone who was involved in its succesful completion. I’m looking forward to giving it some good use in the upcoming winter months.