Month of Mud #4 North Park Time Trail

North Park will be a short race. A one lap time trial and the course should run a little under 6 miles. The trails are more open than Bavington and this will certainly bring up the pace. I'm expect the winning time to be below 30 minutes compared to 42 minutes at Bavington. Where the top Bavington rider averaged 11.5 mph I'd guess the top pace at North Park to be more around 13.

Quick Brady's Recap and Grove City Forecast

Another Month of Mud record, biggest turn out ever for a Brady's Run race. Rain never came, and the course is bone dry. The prologue lap has the stragglers choking in dust. Celebrity appearance made by the Pflugenstein. Jerry wins the overall race with a narrow 20 second lead over single speeder Evan Perrone and earning top place points in the master's class.
Here's a couple of Brady blog posts:
The Bushwacka Report
Plug does a quick recap of his performance at the bottom of this post.
Fat Cyclist Rider G. Somerhalder's report

Up next the Grove City cross race. This is generally a fairly dry course, but a week of precipitation and 'a few showers' in this weekend's forecast and we may actually get some mud in our Month of Mud. Cross Race season, it's all about the mud.

Brady's Up Next Mother Nature Threatens Rain

Bavington time trails are done and Brady's is up on deck while mother nature is threatening to put some mud into the Month of Mud series with morning rains. A little bit of rain can turn Brady's quite messy. My first MOM race at Brady's in 2007 we barely had a misting but the timing was perfect (or couldn't have been worse) and turned the course into a slimy slippery mess. The thin muddy coating was mixed up by mountain bike treads before it ever had a chance to settle and soak making roots, log crossings and rocky terrain slick as ice. It certainly made the race more interesting and I kinda liked the challenge.

Month of Mud Schedule Released

The Month of Mud schedule has been released! The big surprise this year is the first ever North Park venue. There was a little talk and rumor about this but honestly I did not think it was going to happen. When the schedule came out I was shocked.. pleasantly surprise. This is exiting stuff. I'm going to speculate a little and I'm guessing the race will be held on the North Ridge. Quite a few miles of fantastic single track.

Celtic Cross New Date Annouced

ust scraped this from Celtic Cross Face Book page:

We're back on! The new official date is March 21st. Please continue to check back for updates and developments.
Join us at the Frick Park Slagheaps for an hour of Cyclocross Racing!
Cash & prizes for the winners.

Registration @ 12:00
Race @ 1:00
Awards @ 2:10
After Party @ 3:00 @ OTB Bicycle Cafe with $1 Straub Drafts and gift basket door prizes.


$5 to Race

The course is still being developed so stay tuned for more details.

Sponsored by:


Straub Beer
Thick Bikes
Dirt Rag
Eiscycle Handworks
OTB Bicycle Cafe

Pghalleycat: http://pghalleycat.com/races/the-celtic-cross-more-winter-cross/

Celtic Cross Postponed

The Celtic Cross has been postponed it is rescheduled for April 11th. March 21st. Apparently the snow was just too deep to make the course workable.

Everyone,

We just spent the last hour and a half trying to make the course work. We took multiple test rides and determined we need to postpone the race. The snow is way too thick. We're thinking late March or even sometime in April would be safer. Stay tuned for updates. Sorry it didn't workout!

Matt, Chris, Stik & Dave

Celtic Cross Sunday March 7th

From the folks that brought us the Cross'd Bite, the Pittsburgh Alley Cats present the Celtic Cross. Sunday March 7th at the slag heaps.

 

Get all the info here

http://pghalleycat.com/races/the-celtic-cross-more-winter-cross/

Cross'd Bite Race Recap

Cross'd Bite

Montana's Race Report N'Danger's Photo Set Cross'd Bite Home Page

Last Sunday was the Cross'd Bite. The hope was for snow but it was not in the cards. The mid winter thaw brought us mud and rain.

I road up to Frick and met Gregg at the official race rendezvous in the parking lot. It had already started raining hard. Looking at the radar earlier that morning Gregg  was hopeful the precipitation would hold off at least until the start of the race. His optimism lured him out. With it pouring already, encountering thick momentum sucking mud was an absolute certainty. Gregg was having none of it. Mud and pouring rain in the mid January cold was not his gig. He decided he was heading back home. Can't fault him for that. No one else showed at the parking lot. So I was the only one following Ted out to the start. We cut through Frick and then headed up to the slag piles.

Photo by N'Danger

This wasn't my first cross race but this was my first cross race with a cross bike. This was also the first time I road my cross bike anywhere but on the road. I quickly took to the cross bike feel, it was familiar, and not the first time I road this type of bike in off road situations. Growing up we took our ten speeds everywhere. I road plenty of places I should have not taken a road bike. Eventually me and Ted made our way through the park under the 376 bridge and up to the slag piles. I was pleasantly greeted by a large crowd of bikers and spectators. It was a pretty good turn out considering the rain.

Cross'd Bite! Winter Cross Race This Sunday!

Passing this along get all the details at: http://pghalleycat.com/races/crossd-bite/

Some winter cross ‘nat! An hour of riding, running & bunny hopping in the cold & (hopefully) snow. Cash & prizes for the winners. Potluck to follow.

And now… Straub for everyone! Thanks to Straub for chipping in some ice cold delicious “sports drink”, by which I mean BEER!

RACE:
Where: Slagheaps (Goodman Radio Tower in Frick Park)
When: Sunday, January 24th; 1pm start
How much: $5 to race, free to watch
Prizes: Yes. Overall, womens & jeans (for the hipsters)

If you’re confused about how to get to the slagheaps, or would rather Park somewhere convenient, there will be a guided ride leaving from the S. Braddock and Biddle Parking lot at 12pm.

POTLUCK:
Where: Highland Park (5484 Hays St, the house with the giant chainlink fence)
When: Sunday, January 24th; after the race… like, I dunno, 3?
How much: Covered dish
Prizes: it’s a POTLUCK