The week so far

Sunday, was the Pittsburgh-Roubaix, otherwise known as the worlds hardest alleycat race. It ended up being about 46 miles, with 4600 feet of climbing... on effing cobbles! Check it out: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Pittsburgh-Roubaix-2009-w-Capital

Finished in just about 3 hours flat somehow. It really, really hurt. The Dirty Dozen is hard, but at least you get a break after every hill. This was just nonstop, and I thought that I might puke a couple of times. Buena Vista in the North Side may be the worst hill ever. I ended up with 4th place. Unfortunately, I couldn't stick around for the after party, because I had to go to work all night. It was a good time nonetheless.

Tuesday was looking to be a beautiful day, so I thought that it would be a good day to put in some long miles to get ready for the Shenandoah 100 in a couple of weeks. Found a route called The Thrift Drug Classic 200k. Pretty sick route. Five miles into the ride you have to climb up Sycamore. Ended up in the middle of nowhere on the way to West Virginia, dipping into Ohio for a few miles before heading back into PA. Route 68 pretty much sucks from Ohio to Evans City. Got back in time to hang out at the oval, and watched the women's race, before heading home for dinner. Managed to get 130 miles on the day. Sweet!

Wednesday was the last points race at the oval for the season, and it just so happened that we were going to be racing the P course. The last time that I tried it, I got dropped from the lead group pretty quickly, and got lapped fairly soon after, so I was hoping for a decent result this time.

Started out super fast as usual, and managed to hang on pretty well, despite being really sore from my long day in the saddle on Tuesday. Eric was working for me and Ted, as he could no longer score points in the B race, so that seemed to be working out helping me stay with the lead group when I had to take a little breather for a few seconds. Did pretty well, until with about 15 laps to go, Ted had his second unfortunate crash, right in front of me, and by the time that I caught back up, I was blown up. Hung back for a while, until a pack of guys who had been lapped caught up to me, and then I sat in with them for the remaider of the race. Very fun course, and one hell of a workout.

This weekend takes us to Charleston, WV, to hang out with Brad, and to do the Black Bear race. Hopefully I'll remember to take my climbing legs with me. Should be a pretty good time either way.