Today was our first pickup for the Penn’s Corner Harvest Share CSA. Our pickup location is down the street a few blocks, so Jen and boys took a walk before I got home from work. Apparently a local family is hosting a pickup, meaning the week’s share is in a box on their front porch–a […]

Posted on June 18th, 2008 by admin
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The Pittsburgh City Paper has an article about a house roughly 200 yards from where I grew up., designed and built by my uncle (who also built the first iteration of the dome houses mentioned in the article next door). The article doesn’t mention, however, that the house was seriously damaged by a fire roughly […]

Posted on June 13th, 2008 by admin
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Reasonable weather tonight, with temps in the low 80s with a bit of wind, and a large group of 29 racers. The pace was, as usual, fast from the start, and within two laps, there was a selection, and I was not in it. A few laps later, my group decided to have a go […]

Posted on June 10th, 2008 by admin
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Saxonburg-Middle loop, with strada sterrata variation. Early, early start–6:00AM–to beat the heat. That tactic was only marginally successful. I decided to explore Schaeffer Road, which branches from Cedar where Church Lane begins. This was about about a mile of dirt and gravel, generally in good condition, with a few washboard sections. There’s a fine downhill, […]

Posted on June 8th, 2008 by admin
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I left the house in the rain, reminded of why I prefer to ride with fenders when it is wet. Within a block, I was completely soaked from head to toe. At least it was warm. As expected, the rain kept some people away, and with only two women there, the C and Women’s fields […]

Posted on June 4th, 2008 by admin
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About 3 hours in Frick Park. So the “training” for the Wilderness 101 begins. The ride consisted of going up the double track from the hollow (ummm, Fire Road Trail, maybe?) to the Meadow, then riding back down via singletrack. Trail conditions were superb–dry, but a bit tacky. The top section of Iron Grate was […]

Posted on June 2nd, 2008 by admin
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After very warm, humid weather earlier in the day, the evening brought cool air and strong winds. Strong winds. The headwind on the back straight was going to make for a long evening, especially if (no, when) I got dropped from the group. After a few warm up laps, we lined up at the start/finish […]

Posted on May 28th, 2008 by admin
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C Race Results (Cat 4 & 5) B Race Results (Cat 3 & 4 ) The winner of the C race finished in 40:15; the winner of the B race in 42:03. Average lap time for the Cs was 1:08, and 1:12 for the Bs. Ugh. Here’s hoping the new Ultegra STI levers help me […]

Posted on May 27th, 2008 by admin
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In the interest of actually getting better at the Oval on Tuesday nights, I will begin to compile little “what I learned” lists after the race. So here’s what I learned on 20 May 2008: I need to shift more. Problem areas are the back straight and coming into the front straight. I tend to […]

Posted on May 22nd, 2008 by admin
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In the interest of maintaining (and maybe gaining) fitness for the Wilderness 101, I headed down to the Oval for another round of suffering in the C race (because what’s the best way to train for a 100 mile mountain bike race? Riding around a flat oval for 45 minutes, of course!). I really had […]

Posted on May 21st, 2008 by admin
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