Pittsburgh Alleycats

August is always a busy month for Pittsburgh cycling because of BikeFets: 10 days of bike events.

Amongst them is the Tour de Franzia which combines biking with cheap wine for a stomach churning adventure. Sweet!

Pittsburgh bikers: it’s time to turn Montana’s frown upside down!

Pisgah Stage Race facebook poll

In Montana’s words

Bike Fest is Pittsburgh’s annual celebration of bikes. Check out the schedule of events here:

Bike Fest

I don’t know if it’s on the Bike Fest calendar, but there’s also some conventional alleycat style racing going on too:

Pittsburgh Hardcourt Bike Polo once again welcomes you to spend 4th of July weekend with us. There will be tons of polo, grilling out, summer good times, and of course, FIREWORKS!

Find it on Facebook

The Zodicat: a Babes on Bikes fundraiser

Eryn is bringing her NorCal bike organization skills to Pittsburgh!

Who: Junior and High School students interested in cycling, and their parents.

What: Orientation and spin class open enrollment period through the end of this month.

When: Mondays and Wednesdays in March 2010 4-5pm, starting March 15. Group rides will commence when the trails dry on the same days of the week, adding Sunday to the plan. Join the email list to be updated automatically with group practice changes.

Where: Penn Hills YMCA @ 11817 Frankstown Rd. (between Lime Hollow Rd and Rita’s Ice Cream shop)
Bike Directions by Google Maps

Why: FREE during open enrollment the first few sessions, and scholarship available for club participation and group rides – try it out!

How: Attend spin classes, pass bike inspection, and join the club. Interested students may apply for Steward Scholarship participating in PTAG trail workdays for extra discounts on bicycles and accessories, deadline is March 31. Email Eryn Hughes to apply.

The club fee will be $200, which covers registration and insurance, club
jersey, 3 1/5 months of group rides, spin classes, skills clinics, including
mountain biking, road cycling, and touring. This program is designed to
provide a well-rounded spectrum of cycling, with USA cycling and First Aid certified professional staff. We aim to provide youth opportunity through cycling, inspire healthy lifestyles, environmental awareness and help improve the economy by providing alternatives to . We will be expanding throughout the Pittsburgh region and connecting with other regions in a race series and a potential state league.

Find out more at Velomuse.

Thanks to Urban Velo and BikePGH for bringing the 2009 Bicycle Film Festival to Pittsburgh! This should be an awesome weekend.

It’s that PBS-pledge-drivey time of year: would you, or someone you know, like to

• Make bikers happy?
• Support Pittsburgh?
• Be totally awesome?

All you have to do is sponsor some bike events! Just send me some stuff and it will get given. You can even ear-mark your prize for a particular race. For more information, email me at dave@pghalleycat.com.

Check out the list of 2008’s sponsors.

PS: and it might even be good for business. Local bike shop Thick Bikes started carrying Crumpler bags and Yanco framepads after seeing them in last year’s races. Go viral marketing!

PPS: that spokecard doesn’t have anything to do with anything, but I was looking at it the other day and thinking “that’s the most awesome spokecard I’ve ever made”.

I’m putting together a tentative schedule for pghalleycat.com. Why so early? ‘Cause I want a schedule together so when I write to people begging for prizes they’re like “oh, he’s not just trying to get 100 free copies of Momentum magazine for personal use.” Whatever prizes we end up with are shared between events. So you get prizes for your race, too.

Message me here or at dave@pghalleycat.com

Thanks!

24 Minutes of Creek Trail is delayed. It’s Dirt Rag’s women’s day at Ray’s (I think that sentence might have too many apostrophes). So women: go ride Ray’s. Guys: go ride Ray’s after 4pm.

Edit: just saw this at Urban Velo: Trek Warehouse sale. So women: go ride Ray’s. Guy’s: go get some deals at Trek then go ride Ray’s after 4pm.