Sunday, November 22, 2009

2009 - Update

Hello Everyone,

As cliche as this may sound; I feel it must be done...

I'd like to apologize for the prolonged inactivity. I cannot offer any good excuses as the Team has been incredibly active over the last six months. All I can say is... I will consciously make an effort to update the blog at least once a month until Road Season; at which point I will try to blog each weekend.

Team Highlights:

Pitt Cycling is consistently growing! Once again I expect Pitt Cycling to hit new highs as there is already a considerable interest in racing. Sweet.

While most of these new faces are just entering the racing scene, we do have some positives. A few of our returning cyclists have put in lots of hard work over the summer and are coming back faster than ever. For the first time since I don't' know when, Pitt Cycling will have an 'A' Team. We definitely are still lacking in depth but it is a step in the right direction. As of right now I expect to have four Men's A riders and one Women's A rider. I'm super pumped. Go Pitt!

Another highlight to Pitt Cycling... This is the first year that I know of that Pitt has sent a rider to Road Nationals, Track Nationals and MTB Nationals. Sweeeett! Congrats to Nik Reinart(track) and Zack Brehm(mtb).

In others news, Pitt should be sporting some new kits this year. Look out ^^

Some thoughts on the recent rule change:

I am super bummed that the Aero equipment rule was reversed! Bogus! I feel that racing as a college student should not come down to 'who has more money to spend on bikes' but rather on 'who has more talent'. While Pitt Cycling is growing, I'm realizing how incredibly hard it is to put together a competitive 'A' team. (props to all the teams out there who have done it) But for those who are trying to come up through the ranks it's incredibly challenging to find everyone a TT bike. Nevertheless, we are on a hunt to find all of our 'A' racers TT bikes so we can compete on a level playing field.

Other things of interest:

While most of people enjoy their Thanksgiving Holiday with friends, family and lots of food, there are a select few who come out each year and choose to suffer in a local race known as The Dirty Dozen. Truth be told I could probably talk about how awesome this race is all day but I will lay it out simple... It's a nonsanctioned race held every year the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It's quite differnent than any normal race being you only race up hills... the 13 steepest hills in Pittsburgh! One of which is recorded as the steepest road in the world. (Don't believe me) Each year people turn out in masses to race up these hills to try and earn the title as the Dirty Dozen Champion. This year Pitt was represented by Andy Seitz, Coach Brodie and myself.

Andy having a good time.





















Me on the final climb.



















Brodie on Canton.




















Deck the halls,
Bob