Month of Mud Schedule 2014 Finalized

Pulled from the Month of Mud Facebook page:

• 9/21 - Moraine State Park Cross Country
• 10/5 - Brady's Run Cross Country
• 10/12 - North Park Cyclocross
• 10/19 - North Park Cross Country
• 10/26 - Ohiopyle State Park Super D/Enduro

'2014 Month of Mud Schedule has been finalized! Thanks for your patience as we pulled together all the necessary details to make this season happen.' - Greta

They are looking for help cutting back the jaggers on the Month of Mud course, help would be appreciated. 

Month of Mud Face Book Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/50284499853/?ref=br_tf

9th Annual Crush the Commonwealth

This year it's Philadelphia turn to host the race start, the 9th Annual Crush the Commonwealth 2014 commences Friday April 25th at 5:00 AM at the Liberty Bell. Dozens of cyclist will show up to race unsupported from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh.  The clock never stops for 400 unsupported miles as racers forage their way across the state to the Point State Park in Pittsburgh.

• Race website: www.crushthecommonwealth.com
• Check out this sweet video from Crush the Commonwealth 2011:

Older posts, stories and more info ...

8th Annual Crush the Commonwealth

The 8th Annual Crush the Commonwealth commences April 19th at 5:00 AM at Point State Park. Dozens of cyclist will show up to race unsupported from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia.  The clock never stops for 400 unsupported miles as racers forage their way across the state to the Liberty Bell. The race now has it's own website and twitter feed. www.crushthecommonwealth.com

Older posts and more info ...

2012 Month of Mud Schedule Announced

The 2012 Month of Mud Schedule announced:

• September 23rd Moraine XC
• October 7th Brady's Run XC
• October 14th North Park CX
• October 21st Ohiopyle Super D

Check for updates on the Month of Mud Website and Face Book page.

2012 Tour de Strongland Roaring Run Mountain Bike Race

The 2012 Tour de Strongland Off Road race will be held Saturday September 8th at Roaring Run Park in Apollo, Pennsylvania.

The race will feature three categories:

• Expert - 15 Miles
• Intermediate - 11 Miles
• Novice - 3 Miles

This event is held annually on Roaring Run's challenging trail system.

Race Flyer
Tour de Strongland Web Page

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

Punk Bike Enduro 2009

The punk bike did not disappoint. Frozen mud caked to shifters and gears, bodies covered head to toe with dirt and slime, all sorts of revelry and of course beer!

My goal for the day was to earn at least one punk. Punks are awarded to the top 7 finishers of each stage and can be found hidden throughout the course. With guys racing for points like Chris 'Thick Bikes' Beech, Montanna 'Bananna' Miller and bicycle messengers like Stick Boy and Bare Chested Rob; capturing a top 7 spot in any stage was not going to be easy.

The Dirty Dozen - Danny Chew's Sadistic 61 Mile Tour of Pittsburgh

This was my first time on the Dirty Dozen, a 61 mile tour of Pittsburgh that includes stage races up 13 of some of the steepest hills in the area. It is the invention of Danny Chew, The Million Mile Man, and two time Race Across America winner. I shouldn't have been surprised by the fierceness and intensity of this challenge but I have to admit, I was a bit coy when it came to the ride. I'm a mountain biker, we live and breathe hill climbs and anything that could be paved, well it just seemed easy. I was wrong. Very wrong. Climbing these hills on a road bike was the hardest thing I've ever done. Nothing has ever been harder.

Many hills were inconceivably steep, but it just wasn't steep that made it so difficult, these hills were impossibly long. Just when I thought nothing could be steeper, I crested the next rise to find the hill was even steeper and longer still. It amazed me that some one thought to build roads up these inclines but such is Pittsburgh.

Hill number 5, Logan Street out of Millvale, was the biggest ego blow. I barely made it to the top struggling to hang on the entire way. The next hill, number 6, was Rialto across Route 28 from the 31st street bridge and rises straight up to Troy Hill. After Rialto I was certain I was never going to make all 13. My legs were spent already and I had another 7 hills and probably 40 more miles to go. Unbelievably, I was able to continue on.

50 miles, 5,000 feet and 4 Red Bulls at North Park

On Friday the doctor gave me the all-clear to ease back into exercise following a bout of bronchitis. I’d been off of my bike for 10 days and was feeling very antsy. After feeling great riding Friday, Saturday, and Sunday exploring Settler’s Cabin it was time to "ease back" into an Epic North Park ride. I’d been planning “Epic North Park” for some time and was determined to do a 50-miler before the end of the year. With the weather looking like it was going to turn-for-the-worse by the weekend I decided to take a day off work and go for it.

Starbuck’s and a blueberry scone for fuel I set off nice and early. I started slow as the trails were a little wet and slippery, but it wasn’t long before I was calibrated to the wet roots. Typically I’m a solo rider, but when I do ride with others it’s not long before they realize why I’m infamously named “the camel”. It’s extremely rare for me to carry fluid – I typically hydrate before and after a ride. Knowing this was going to be a long ride I stashed a four-pack of Red Bull in my car just-in-case.

click image to enlarge

My goal was to ride most the trails at North Park. I particularly wanted to take in the connector trail to Irwin Road, the Dr. J Trail and the trails in the northwestern part of the park as I had never ridden them before. I knew I’d have to have some trail duplication and have to ride some pavement to hook it all up, but it was mostly going to be ride-it-once single track.

I parked by the ice rink and started on the east side of the park by climbing North Ridge Drive and then taking in most of the eastern single track (and Irwin Road & connector). I crossed Babcock Blvd with 16 miles under my belt.

click image to enlarge

I proceeded to the southern trail system. Again rode pretty much everything – including the Dr. J trail – exiting this part of the park crossing Babcock Blvd at 26 miles.

click image to enlarge

After riding the Koto Buki and Police Academy trails I was feeling (unusually) a little thirsty and decided to take some pavement back to the Red Bulls.

click image to enlarge

32 miles down, 18 miles to go - I sucked down 3 Red Bulls at my car and headed on my way to ride the west and northwest side trails. I rode most of these and was back at the car at 48 miles.

click image to enlarge

As the goal was 50 miles I had another Red Bull and headed back to the east side to catch a little piece of single track I’d missed the first time around - back at the car at exactly 50 miles & 5,130 feet of climbing.

Post by Simon T

Allegheny County Park System

A fantastic resource for area mountain bikers

The Allegheny County Park System (website link) consists of almost 12,000 acres of land in nine regional parks within Allegheny County. These parks are located in various geographical directions within a 25 mile radius of downtown. This park system is an amazing resource for mountain bikers from the region, with excellent, well maintained, single and double track. The whole system contains about 176 miles of non-paved trails. We are very lucky to have such an excellent network of trails in such close proximity to the city.

click on image to enlarge

Blazing and Mapping Efforts

Countless hours of volunteer work - painting blazes on trees - has resulted in a significant proportion of the trails being very well marked (blazed). This excellent work not only included the actual blazing of the trails but determining which trails would be blazed. A lot of thought and hard work went into this effort.

click on image to enlarge

Follow this link (article link) for a good article on the mapping and blazing of the trails at North Park.

Allegheny GIS Department (website link) has done a fantastic job of making publically available free maps of the parks. These maps typically indicate the blazed and non-blazed trails and were developed using GIS (Geographical Information System) mapping with GPS (Global Positioning System) technology (maps link).

click on image to enlarge

Stewardship

In addition to having a fantastic County Parks System, a group of tirelessly working volunteers "blazing" the trails, and Allegheny County GIS Department making very informative free maps of the trails - we are also extremely lucky to have the Pittsburgh Trails Advocacy Group (website link) acting on our behalf in the area. PTAG is a local not-for-profit, all volunteer organization founded in 2001 to help protect and encourage shared use trail access in Western Pennsylvania. They especially focus on single track trails used by mountain bikers, hikers and equestrians. PTAG helps maintains, designs, and builds sustainable trails in the Allegheny Regional Parks. PTAG Trail Stewards for the parks are listed with their contact information under each respective park below.

WANT TO HELP with trail maintenance or blazing trails, then check out: 1. PTAG’s website (website link) 2. Pittsburgh Off-Road Cyclists Club’s (PORC) Trail Maintenance Forum (forum link) 3. Or contact the PTAG Trail Stewards directly (see contact info below)

ALLEGHENGY COUNTY PARK FACTS AND LINKS:In order of decreasing size:

North Park

Mountain biking trial description: By recent vote on the PORC trail Talk Forum (forum link) the most popular Allegheny County Park trails. Miles and miles of fantastic single track and home to the first purpose built freeride trail in Allegheny County – the "Dr. J Trail".

Park size: 3,010 acres

Distance from City of Pittsburgh: 13 miles

Miles of trials: 43 miles

Minimum elevation: 925 feet

Maximum elevation: 1,300 feet

Elevation difference: 375 feet

PTAG trial steward: Brian DelVecchio (sangwe@comcast.net)

GIS Map of All Trails: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/maps/GIS/np.pdf

GIS Map of Blazed & Paved Trails: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/maps/hwblazed2.pdfhttp://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/maps/npblazed3.pdf

Pennsylvania Dirt Trail Guide: trail guide link

South Park

Mountain biking trial description: Another favorite venue for local mountain bikers, home to great single track.

Park size: 1,999 acres

Distance from City of Pittsburgh: 10 miles

Miles of trials: 17 miles

Minimum elevation: 925 feet

Maximum elevation: 1,245 feet

Elevation difference: 320 feet

PTAG trial steward: John Hinderliter (dj@johnhinderliter.com)

GIS Map of All Trails: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/maps/GIS/sp.pdf

GIS Map of Blazed & Paved Trails: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/maps/spwalk.pdf

Pennsylvania Dirt Trail Guide: No guide yet – stay tuned

Settler’s Cabin Park

Mountain biking trial description: Currently only 5.4 miles of trails blazed. Although there is a lot of elevation to be exploited at the park, the blazed trails are fairly flat but fast. The "hidden gem" in the Allegheny County Parks System. Imagine a mini Raystown Lake or Mochican State Park 11 miles from the city – this is the potential that lies here.

Park size: 1,589 acres

Distance from City of Pittsburgh: 11 miles

Miles of trials: 22 miles

Minimum elevation: 865 feet

Maximum elevation: 1,265 feet

Elevation difference: 400 feet

PTAG trial steward: No Steward

GIS Map of All Trails: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/maps/GIS/sc.pdf

GIS Map of Blazed & Paved Trails: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/maps/scwalk.pdf

Pennsylvania Dirt Trail Guide: trail guide link

Deer Lakes Park

Mountain biking trial description: Intricate web of intersecting single track.

Park size: 1,180 acres

Distance from City of Pittsburgh: 21 miles

Miles of trials: 21 miles

Minimum elevation: 945 feet

Maximum elevation: 1,325 feet

Elevation difference: 380 feet

PTAG trial steward: Elizabeth and Lee Klevens (klevens@connecttime.net)

GIS Map of All Trails: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/maps/GIS/dl.pdf

GIS Map of Blazed & Paved Trails: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/maps/dlblazed.pdf

Pennsylvania Dirt Trail Guide: No guide yet – stay tuned

Round Hill Park

Mountain biking trial description: Reported as overgrown track overgrown? Check out PORC forum post: forum link

Park size: 1,101 acres

Distance from City of Pittsburgh: 15 miles

Miles of trials: 13 miles

Minimum elevation: 805 feet

Maximum elevation: 1,235 feet

Elevation difference: 430 feet

PTAG trial steward: No steward

GIS Map of All Trails: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/maps/GIS/rh.pdf

GIS Map of Blazed & Paved Trails: no map

Pennsylvania Dirt Trail Guide: No guide yet – stay tuned

Boyce Park

Mountain biking trial description: Superb spiders-web of miles and miles of intersecting single track.

Park size: 1, 096 acres

Distance from City of Pittsburgh: 17 miles

Miles of trials: 21 miles

Minimum elevation: 1,000 feet

Maximum elevation: 1,365 feet

Elevation difference: 365 feet

PTAG trial steward: Barry Jeffries (info@dirtyharrys.net) & Howard Mitchell (howardmitch@hotmail.com)

GIS Map of All Trails: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/maps/GIS/bp.pdf

GIS Map of Blazed & Paved Trails: no map

Pennsylvania Dirt Trail Guide: No guide yet – stay tuned

White Oak Park

Mountain biking trial description: Trails in development. Check out PORC forum post: forum link

Park size: 810 acres

Distance from City of Pittsburgh: 17 miles

Miles of trials: 4 miles

Minimum elevation: 830 feet

Maximum elevation: 1,265 feet

Elevation difference: 435 feet

PTAG trial steward: Leslie (lagrayski@yahoo.com) and Scott Gray (scottog@yahoo.com)

GIS Map of All Trails: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/maps/GIS/wo.pdf

GIS Map of Blazed & Paved Trails: no map

Pennsylvania Dirt Trail Guide: No guide yet – stay tuned

Hartwood Acres Park

Mountain biking trial description: Miles of fun and challenging single track holding a ton of technical features, including: rock gardens, log crossings, switch-backs, drops, and steep plunges.

Park size: 629 acres

Distance from City of Pittsburgh: 12 miles

Miles of trials: 15 miles

Minimum elevation: 980 feet

Maximum elevation: 1,315 feet

Elevation difference: 335 feet

PTAG trial steward: Maurice Tierney (publisher@dirtragmag.com)

GIS Map of All Trails: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/maps/GIS/hw.pdf

GIS Map of Blazed & Paved Trails: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/maps/hwblazed2.pdf

Pennsylvania Dirt Trail Guide: trail guide link

Harrison Hills Park

Mountain biking trial description: Perfect riding for beginners. Many well maintained and groomed trails throughout the park with not much climbing - with some single track, but mostly wider maintained tracks.

Park size: 500 acres

Distance from City of Pittsburgh: 25 miles

Miles of trials: 20 miles

Minimum elevation: 855 feet

Maximum elevation: 1,235 feet

Elevation difference: 380 feet

PTAG trial steward: John Hinderliter (dj@johnhinderliter.com)

GIS Map of All Trails: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/maps/GIS/hh.pdf

GIS Map of Blazed & Paved Trails: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/maps/hhblazed.pdf

Pennsylvania Dirt Trail Guide: trail guide link

Post by Simon T