Pittsburgh Alleycats

It’s over! Go check out the results!

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Unsanctioned, unsupported road race. Fast paced & long for the roadies, fun category for those with leisure in mind. Hills & Cobbles. Prizes & honor. Peanut butter & jelly. Oh my.

When: Sunday, 8/23/2009, noon registration, 1pm start
Where: Flagstaff Hill, Schenley Park
Cost: $5
Prizes: Yes!

More details on the internet:
The Facebook Event
The Bike-PGH message thread that just lists all the info
The Bike-PGH message thread in which we discuss the route

Details from previous years:
Pittsburgh Roubaix 2007
Pittsburgh Roubaix 2008

Route

Race

1. Start: Flagstaff Hill, Schenley Park
2. Schenley Visitors Center cobbles & Schenley Fireroad between Schenley Dr. & the turn off to the fireroad to Panther Hollow Lake
3. Joncaire St. between BoundaryS St. & S. Boquet St.
4. Bryn Mawr Rd. between Centre Ave. & the end of the cobbles on Bryn Mawr
5. Soho St. between Mahon St. & Centre Ave.
6. Climax St. between E. Amanda Ave. & Arlington Ave.
7. Capital Ave. between W. Liberty Ave. & Pioneer Ave.
8. Wyoming St. between Virginia Ave. & Sycamore St. (this isn’t the entire section of cobbles)
9. Grant St. between Blvd of the Allies & Liberty Ave.
10. Isabella St. between Anderson St./9th St. Bridge & Sandusky St./7th St. Bridge
11. Buena Vista St. between Amandale St. & Perrysville Ave.
12. E. Burgess St. between Osgood St. & Wurzell Ave.
13. Bessie Ave. and Mina St. between S. Side Ave. & Luella St.
14. Yetta Ave. between Hunnel St. & Wilt St.
15. Chestnut St. between Spring Garden Ave. & Phineas St.
16. Intersection of Mt. Troy Rd. & Hoffman Rd. (No cobbles here, just go through the intersection)
17. Kendall St. between Kent Way & Celadine St.
18. Murray Hill Ave. between 5th Ave. & Wilkins Ave.
19. Henrietta St. and LaClaire St. between S. Braddock Ave. & Trevanion Ave. (this isn’t the entire series of cobbles)
20. Laketon Rd. between Marie St. & Graham Blvd
21. Cordova Rd. between King Ave. & King Ave. (it’s a loop)
22. End: Washington Blvd bike oval. You must do 1 and a half laps (you must pass the finish line twice)

View Pittsburgh-Roubaix 2009 in a larger map

Here’s a sample route. You can take whatever route you want between the check points. You can even go the opposite way on the cobbles (uphill vs. downhill, etc.).

Pittsburgh-Roubaix 2009 on Bikely

Fun Ride

1. Start: Flagstaff Hill, Schenley Park
2. Schenley Visitors Center cobbles & Schenley Fireroad between Schenley Dr. & the turn off to the fireroad to Panther Hollow Lake
3. Grant St. between Blvd of the Allies & Liberty Ave.
4. Isabella St. between Anderson St./9th St. Bridge & Sandusky St./7th St. Bridge
5. Chestnut St. between Spring Garden Ave. & Phineas St.
6. Intersection of Mt. Troy Rd. & Hoffman Rd. (No cobbles here, just go through the intersection)
7. McCandless St. between Staton Ave. & Staton Ave. (not on the race ride, this is an alternate to Kendall)
8. Cordova Rd. between King Ave. & King Ave. (it’s a loop)
9. End: Washington Blvd bike oval. You must do 1 and a half laps (you must pass the finish line twice)

View Pittsburgh-Roubaix 2009, Fun Ride in a larger map

Here’s a sample route

Rules

1. You must ride the checkpoints in order
2. There’s no set route between the checkpoints
3. For cobbled checkpoints you must ride the entire length of the cobbles. Really.
4. You can ride the cobbles in either direction (uphill or downhill)
5. And when I say ride, I mean on the road, not the sidewalk. You can also walk if you want. And if you’re trying to ride your fixed gear up Kendall, you’re going to want to walk

Rankings

There are categories for Overall, Womens, Fixed Gear & Fun. The exact prize order will depend on how many people enter each category but will probably be something like:

1. 1st Overall
2. 1st Fixed
3. 1st Women
4. 2nd Overall
5. 3rd Overall
6. 2nd Fixed
7. 2nd Women
8. 1st Fun
9. …

After Party

The race ends at the Washington Boulevard bike oval around 3:30-4:00pm. There will be baked goods, fruit & cupcakes at the end. Mmm.

Volunteering

Don’t want to race but want to be involved? I’m looking for volunteers to work checkpoints. Working a checkpoint involves hanging out and writing down people’s spokecard numbers when they come through. Since it’s an ordered race you shouldn’t have to wait very long. Interested? Email me!

Results

1. Steve Kurpiewski
2. Mike Tressler
3. Eric Lundgren
4. Rob Lochner
5. Chris Mayhew
6. Avi Schreiber: 1st fun
7. John Heffner: 1st fixed
8. Dan Goldberg: 2nd fixed
9. …
17. Carlea Can: 1st woman

Or check out the full results.

It had started to drizzle by the time the first riders registered at Flagstaff Hill. The rain increased as the rider count did, ending at 23 when Carlea (2nd woman) showed up with celebrity domestique King Ted.

The Le Mans start wasn’t as exciting as normal since it started from the base of flagstaff (I had hiked down from the top of the flagstaff to flag down some lost looking cyclists). I watched the riders leave and talked to Erok (volunteer) & Brad (conscientious objector) before heading to the oval to set-up food & prizes.

I kept abreast of the race via text and it sounded like Mike Tressler & Iron City were in the lead.

Around 4 pm a ninja-clad Tressler popped out of the Elm Grove trail and promptly started riding outside the velodrome. I shouted at him to get on the track and he pointed to his chain, uselessly flapping against his stay.

Meanwhile, Steve K of Iron City had entered from the far side of the oval. As he was halfway through his first lap Mike appeared on the far side of the oval, followed shortly by Eric Lundgren (Iron City). It’d be great to imagine anyone would be strong enough for a sprint finish, but really the order held: Steve K, Mike Tressler, Eric Lundgren. A short time (10-15 minute?) later Rob Lochner (Iron City) and Chris Mayhew–a prime promoter of including Capital on the route–came in for 4th & 5th

Next Avi, the first and only fun rider, showed up… on a different bike. Turns out he destroyed the front wheel of his road bike and waited for a bike change. Luckily he had a support staff.

Next John appeared on his red IRO fixie. He did his two laps without challenge to win the glory of a painted rock. Sadly he wasn’t fast enough to impress his special lady friend (Betsy-Ann? I’m bad with names, but I think it had a hyphen) who had been at the track doing some triathalon training then stayed to talk and eat free watermellon & cupcakes and finally left 10 minutes before John showed up.

Also 10 minute late was Dan G, who showed up next taking 2nd fixed. Dan said he was with John at the beginning of the race and then they got separated at which point he said “either he’ll get lost or he’ll win.” Question answered.

Riders continued to stream in, including Mark Rawlings & Jacob Yundt who rode the entire course together (Mark was Jacob’s unwitting tour guide) and looked like the only pair actually in position to do some match sprinting. Unfortunately neither had the gas and it was a quiet lap and a half with Jacob in the lead.

Riders trickled in with varying degrees of DNF’ness.

At about 5(?) I called King Ted and got the status of then 1st placed lady Carlea. They were headed to conquer Murray Hill Ave. I told him to bring it in after that since 1) everyone wanted to get prizes and go shower and 2) Murray Hill is really the end of the hell (except for Laketon but that’s a fresh asphalt topped pancake compared to Buena Vista).

Shortly Ted & Carlea showed up with Jim Logan, brevet master extraordinaire and leader of the MS-150 team I ride with.

They did their laps and it was time for prizes. The standings were as above. Regrettably I missed Avi for the fun category, so email me, I owe you a beer. A beer also goes to Rob Lochner who won 4th as well as “Hardest Working Man, Literally” since he had to work from 5pm until 3am that same night. Zing. I would owe Mayhew a beer since he had to leave before he was up for prizes but luckily I loaned him a tube at the beginning and never got it back. Congratulations, Mayhew, you won the most useful prize ever: a new tube.

Sara (other woman) never made it to the end but she also deserves a special “More Brawn Than Brains” award for entering as the only fixed woman and also not carrying any water with her. Maybe I should have been more specific about the water stops: there was 1, and it was 25 miles (& 5 hills) into the ride.

Lastly the “Most Painful Honorable Rider” goes to Scott Bricker, who went on autopilot and rode last year’s route: straight from Laketon to the oval. Unfortunately this year’s route included Cordova, which was staffed by none other than his co-worker & pal Lena. When Scott–who had finished a strong 7th–realized this he left to ride Cordova. WHAT! He arrived back in 14th place; if he hadn’t skipped Cordova he probably would have come in immediately before Eric McKeegan and taken 10th. Tough break, Scott. But karmically you’re dyn-o-mite.

Special thanks to the volunteers: Louisa J & Will(?), Emily J & Randy, Sarah R, Caroline (who ferried PB&J to the food stop in her car), Erok & Lena. Special thanks to Casey for painting trophies, making PB&J, letting me use her car for two straight days and generally putting up with me being a bastard.

Thanks to all the sponsors: Allegro Hearth, Dozen & Right by Nature for sponsoring the food and PAC Designs, Thick, Subversive Cycling, Spokepunchers, Bicycle Times & Phantom of the Attic Comics for the prizes. If you’re saying “comics, what comics?” it’s because I’m an idiot, and not because of them. So yeah, you all should have gotten comics. Next year.

Some pics

Check out more on Flickr.

I didn’t get any video of the event, but here’s a re-enactment using professional riders from 2004:

Sponsors

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4 Responses to “ Pittsburgh-Roubaix 2009 ”

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1. Pingback from ndanger.organism :: blog :: Some past & upcoming cycling events
   August 17th, 2009 at 10:43 am

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   August 21st, 2009 at 12:48 pm

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3. Pingback from Pittsburgh-Roubaix 2008: results are in! » Pittsburgh Alleycats
   August 25th, 2009 at 3:54 pm

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4. Pingback from ndanger.organism :: blog :: I’m a (somewhat) Great Race(r)
   September 27th, 2009 at 8:56 pm

   […] the start I ran into Will, who worked a checkpoint with Louisa during the Pittsburgh-Roubaix and his friend Carolyn(?) who I met once at a Bike Pittsburgh fundraiser. She was an actual runner […]