Monday, February 07, 2011

"Fast" Laps Were Sweet!

I am going to start up this super wicked blog as Pitt Cycling prepares for the coming road season.

This past Sunday a group of new studs on the Pitt team made the trek to the Bud Harris Oval. The BHO was in remarkable shape with only a couple patches of ice in the banked turns so I made a Vice-Presidential decision that the clinic would go on.

We covered some basic skills like pack riding and pacelining as we avoided the treacherous ice. I beleive that this heightened awareness will prove to enhance the skills of our fledgling riders. After getting a feel for the oval, Nik "G.N." Reinert and Samson "The Shaman" McHugh (me), went to the front to speed up the group and we began our race simulations in earnest.
With such fabulous prizes as a pair of socks and energy gu, the group was whipped into quite a frenzy during our intermediate and finals sprints.
While the more experienced riders rotated within the group to provide insight into tactics and safety, the wind against all our faces was a welcome change from the stale fan air. This also provided many on the team to try out the warming balm and chamois creams provided by embrocations.com. With many attacks by riders from About Time Cycling and our own Jordan Steelman; riding away with both prizes was Kevin Ordons who I promised would be plotted against such that complete dominance would not be repeated.

Some of the team's CAAD10's are trickling in from Pro Bikes and Andrew Vogeler showed up flossin' big time atop his pearly white steed.

We wrapped up our ride with another 25 miles giving this group of ~12 riders a solid 45 and some much needed intensity outdoors.