Iron City Bikes Racing

10:00 AM-  The Washington Blvd Oval 180 some cyclist gathered in the cold waiting for the whistle from the Million Mile Man, Danny Chew to start the 26th annual Dirty Dozen. Eric Lundgren, Ted King-Smith, Brett Rothmeyer, Rob Lochner, Steve Kurpiewski , Mike Carroll , and John Heffner from Iron City Bikes Raceing were there to take part and ride the notorious 13 steepest streets in the city.

John Heffner- Photo Fred Jordan

Center Avenue was the first of the hills with its steep initial pitch then gradual rise that takes you to the top. The air was a brisk in the low 40′s and the wait for a record number of riders to register had many in the group with cold muscles that did not seem to quell the excitement for getting on the road. The pace quickened as the group waited for the first of many whistles blasts that would mean the race was on and to see who could reach the summit first.

#7 Suffolk / Burgess Street- Fred Jordan

The next few hills blurred together in a mixture of sweat, numb fingers, and pain. Over and over people would stop and ask if that hill was the worst or if they got harder. Yes was my answer to both. By the top of Suffolk the race was shaping up between Steevo and Sam Morrison who seemed to be swapping the lead on every other climb. With the halfway point reached it was time to head over to Mt. Washington for Sycamore and then off to Canton Street with it’s 38% grade. After 8 grueling hills Canton street feels like a literal wall. There is only one way up and that is with sheer will power. The cobbled street takes riders out every year only to walk back down to the bottom and try again and again. The energy on the street is boundless from a hundred other riders cheering you on from the steps that lead up the sidewalk.

With 4 hills left the points battle between Steevo and Sam was still tight,with the lead changing between just about every climb.  Steevo had the lead by one point going into the last hill, and also had the tiebreak unless Sam won the last hill.  Apparently Sam cracked at the bottom of Flowers and pedaled squares up to the top, Steevo remained strong on the climb to take 4th and the overall win for his 6th in a row.

The top 5

1. Steevo Cummings
2. Sam Morrison
3. Chris Mayhew
4. Darin Shriver
5. Bob Stumpf

Three was John Hefners number for the day: 3 3rd places for 3 points each, on High/Seavey, Rialto and Boustead. With 6th? place in the overall

Brett was 4th? on Suffolk, and had quite a few top 10 finishes on the climbs.

Marshal Ted finished real strong on Flowers/Tesla, With 2nd

Rob and Steve both finished without their lowest gears because of bent derailleur hangers.

Thanks again to Danny Chew for hosting this great event.

For the 2010 racing season Iron City Bikes is proud to announce the addition of  John Heffner, Brett Rothmeyer, Jacob Yundt, and Sharon Slovenec to the roster.

This rounds out the Men’s team at 15 riders,  and the Women’s team at 2.

Ted King-Smith 2009 Riverview Grand Prix. Oakmont, PA

Cat 2/3

Paul Carlson

Dan Greene

John Heffner

Steve Kurpiewski

Eric Lundgren

Aaron Meyer

Brett Rothmeyer

Cat 4

Scott Bricker

Mike Carroll

Justin Flagg

Ted King-Smith

Rob Lochner

Jon Lomax

Dave Petrak

Jacob Yundt

Women’s

Tammy Greene

Sharon Slovenec

For individual rider profiles check out The Team portion of IronCityBikesRacing.com

Free Ride’s Annual Kid’s Bike Build-A-Thon is a fun place to get your hands dirty

It’s that time of year again, when the Kids bikes at Free Ride, Pittsburgh’s recycled bike coop, start to pile up, forming that mountain of metal rubber and neon flower frame protectors, and we realize we need to give those cute little bikes away.

In order to get those bikes shiny and rideable Free Ride needs your help! We will be having two special days to fix the bikes:

• Wednesday, November 18th, 6 PM to 10 PM
• Sunday, November 22nd, 12 PM to 4 PM

Please show up during any of these times and we’ll put you to work. Although having mechanic experience helps, it is not necessary.  We still need people to help clean the bikes, pump tires etc. Snacks will be provided.  If you can’t make these dates, and do have mechanical skills feel free to stop in during regular Free Ride hours this week and next week to help fix these bikes.  Also, if you have a truck and are willing to help transport the bikes, please contact Scott at ssssscott@gmail.com.

We are still working on contacting organizations would would like to help distribute these bikes.  In the past they have gone to organizations like the Pittsburgh Refugee Center, the Housing Authority, and Tree of Hope.  If you know of an interested partnering organization please let us know.

Thanks,
Free Ride Collective Council

November 14, 2009

You will need:
•  $10 (to buy food)

•  A bag to carry said food

Registration starts at 4pm

Race at 5pm

Starts in the park next to REI in the Southside

It’s been too long since I’ve hosted an Alleycat and it’s especially been too long since I’ve hosted this alleycat.

The format is simple. I give you a list of grocery stores and a shopping list of non-perishable foods. You race around the city collecting items from the list, keeping the receipts, and return to the finish line. All of the food collected will be going to the Jubilee Soup Kitchen in uptown.

At the finish you will be greeted with amazing praises, prizes, and drink specials from the one and only OTB!

For this year’s Alleycat Soup, there will be a special prize for most weight carried to the finish line. Please feel free to ride any bike you want! Cargo bike, baskets, paniers, all are welcome. However, there will be penalties for paniers, baskets, or cargo bikes. More details on this the day of the race.

There was a great turnout for this race in 2007 (yes, it’s been that long) and I hope to have an even better turn out this year. Feel free to leave any questions in the comments.

We also like beer...

The team attended the annual ACA Racing Banquet this past Sunday. In addition to eating a ton of delicious food (catered by Big Burrito Group) and a healthy quantity of beers, we also had a good showing in the award portion of the night.

In the B race series, Paul Carlson took MAR (most aggressive rider) for the season and Steve Kurpiewski took 6th place overall in the points competition. And, in the A race series, Dan Greene took 6th place overall in the points competition.

The biggest honor of the night was awarded to our entire team as Best New Team of 2009! This is a testament to the efforts of everyone on the team to help make last year an amazing season of racing. We look forward to continued success in the ACA Racing series next year and can’t wait to get back on the track.