John Cotter of Freddie Fu kicked off his season in Ohio on Saturday by winning the Cat 4/5 Knox County road race.

The Pitt team had some good results this weekend at Rutgers.  The best was probably Steph Stambaugh taking 4th in the Women’s A crit.  The team also won a straw poll for best new team kit.

Sinead Miller continued her thrashing of the MWCCC this weekend by winning all 3 races.

It’s March and people are starting to think about racing.  That means it’s time for Racer of the Week (ROTW), where we will highlight a local racer on a usually-but-don’t-hold-us-to-it weekly basis.  It’s not about results and not a full blown interview, just a tip of the hat to the many awesome local racers. And don’t worry, we’ll get your permission before we post anything.  Now, taking first honors…

[Photo by Fred Jordan]

Bob Stumpf, Pitt Cycling/Indiana Regional Medical Center

Bob is leading a team of Pitt collegiate A racers at the ECCC season opener at Rutgers in Piscataway, NJ.  Bob had an amazing first season as an A racer last year, finishing near the top at several road races, including 6th at last year’s conference championship road race at Penn State, and qualifying for collegiate nationals.  Bob made the trip to Fort Collins but had a very unfortunate crash that prevented him from showing his stuff amongst a stacked field.  This year Bob is determined to improve on his results from last year and repeat his qualification for nationals.  He will aided by new Pitt A racers, Andrew Seitz and Samson McHugh.  Everybody wish him and the guys good luck this weekend.

It was recently announced that the first of the IUP crits has been cancelled and the other two are in doubt.  This series represented a new addition to the early spring races in the western Pennsylvania region.  But what about the others?

[Mingo Creek 2009 - Photo By Fred Jordan]

In a recent PA Cycling Association email, it seems as though the event permitters are just as curious as we are:

Spring Race Series – Where Are You?

If you are planning to promote the following 2009 spring race series in 2010 please let me know so the PCA can help with the permit process, get the calendar updated, and most of all get the word out!

Mingo Creek Spring Road Race Series
Lake Ontelaunee Time Trials
Aliquippa Crits

Mingo Creek and Aliquippa have been the foundation of every Pittsburgh racers’ early season racing for the past several years.  So far, there has been no official announcement that they will be taking place again this year.  It would surely be sad if they didn’t given the fact that race attendances have been on their way up the past couple of years, especially for women and juniors.

[Aliquippa 2009 - Photo By Fred Jordan]

To be fair, these races usually took place in early April and on into May, so hope is not yet lost that they will be seen again this year. But as mentioned in the PCA email, an early announcement means more publicity and we’d sure love to be providing it.

Now it is March, the snowiest February in Pittsburgh history is behind us and there are 17 days left until the first day of spring. So what does the current spring racing schedule look like?  The East Collegiate Conference kicks off this weekend out east and will be attended by Pitt Cycling and CMU Cycling. Other collegiate conferences have been racing for weeks, including the Midwest Conference where Sinead Miller won two races this past weekend.

But for the rest of us there won’t be any races within a 3 hour drive until April. The first race in the area promises to be a hilly showdown with our West Virginia neighbors as part of the Appalachian Road Race Series:

Saturday April 3rd – Morgantown Road Race ARRS#1 – Morgantown, WV

Until then, stay tuned to pghracing.org which will be covering any race announcements or developments as they arrive. For more race dates, check out the pghracing.org calendar.

Sadly, it looks like the first race of the season will not be March 7th. The IUP Cycling team has decided to cancel the first race of their series, with the other two also in doubt.

[Via IUP Cycling]

Just got news that the first race of the year in the area will officially be Sunday March 7th, hosted by the IUP Cycling team.  These guys have been working frantically to put on these races, and it would be great for everyone to come out and support this new race series.  Read their official announcement and see their flyer below:

Dear Cyclists,

On behalf of Indiana University of Pennsylvania Cycling I am proud to announce the long awaited arrival of the first annual IUP Crimson Criterium Training Series. The races will be held on the following Sundays in March: 7th, 21st, 28th. The race course will be run directly through IUP’s campus. This is a USAC sanctioned event open to all racers as this is *not* a collegiate race.

A copy of the race flyer can be found here: http://iupcycling.blogspot.com/2010/01/crimson-crits-spring-training-series.html

One can register through BikeReg here: http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=9962

Please email me with any further questions about the race or IUP Cycling. Thanks and I hope you all can join us for this exciting kickoff to the 2010 racing season!

John B. Churan
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Junior, International Relations/ Economics
IUP Cycling
Media Relations
txbp[at]iup.edu

There is a new team looking to make an impact in the area this year. The new DPS Penn Cycling team was formed by Keith Hower, who works for DPS Penn, an oil and gas company based out of Canonsburg, PA. He says his motivation for forming the team was to “focus on building a strong cat 3 team within the next 2 years” by developing young cat 4/5 riders in a strong team atmosphere.

The most experienced member of the team is Darin Shriver, a Cat 3 road/cyclocross racer and notable climber.  Keith showed his potential last season when he won the Morgantown Cat 5 road race and Whiskey Island Cat 4 cyclocross race.  The rest of the team consists of Greg Tarr, Donald Splitstone, Nick Rossi, Dan Shields, and Rob Riddell, owner of West Liberty Cycles, along with newcomers Eric Vowcheck and Jason Berardinelli.  Keith says the team will focus on Cat 3/4 road and cyclocross races in the area and plans to promote at least one race of their own this season.

They are supported by West Liberty Cycles, Greg Tarr Photography, Tri-State Voice and Data, and Visit Washington County.

Throughout the season, check out their blog at http://www.washangelescycling.blogspot.com/ for video interviews, team updates and more information on DPS Penn Cycling team.

And stay tuned on pghracing.org and facebook as we bring you additional team profiles and features as the season gets under way in the next couple weeks!

Pittsburgh legend, and 2 time Race Across America champion, is currently harvesting his nephew to be … Chewish. Steven Perezluha, of Florida, finished 4th in the RAAM qualifying division of the Sebring 24 hour race.

Though he may have set the under 20 year old world record, he came up less than 5 miles shy of qualifying for RAAM.

[photo by Rob Lochner]

By the looks of it, it’s still winter. The 20 inches of snow on the ground from last night will probably be around for some time. What we want to know is how did you keep up your training during SnOMFGeddon 2010? Did you opt for the 4 hour snow shovel workout? Did you hit the roads and do some snow plow motorpacing?  Did you stay home and create a stockpile of homemade bagels? Leave your story or links to photos in the comments.  Best story/photo wins a high five.

I recently attended a lecture by local cycling coach Chris Mayhew (JBV Coaching), at Pro Bikes. The talk was based loosely on an article that Chris wrote for Cyclocross Magazine.  I and about 22 other people listened to Chris discuss clothing choices ranging from the standard warm weather jersey and shorts down to the multiple layers you would need for cold and wet conditions. I particularly liked his approach to layers: 1) Moisture management layer (wicking base layer) 2) Insulation layer (something warm) and 3) Barrier layer (blocks the wind). Some other useful tips I heard:

• When shopping for long sleeve jerseys, get something with a high collar to keep your neck warm
• Wear a cycling cap in the rain
• Don’t buy all black, don’t want to look like a ninja at night
• When buying winter shoes, go up a 1/2 size or so to leave room for thicker socks
• Use embrocation to feel warm, but not for long rides as the effects wear off quickly

There are two more lectures around town this week, both given by Steel City Endurance coach, Suzanne Atkinson, MD.

Feb 3rd (Wednesday) at Trek Shadyside at 7pm: Practical Applications of VO2 Science: Threshold and VO2 max Training Demystified

Feb 5th (Friday) Pro Bikes at 7pm: Take it to the next level: 5 Ways to become a better cyclist

Global Ride is a company that produces “virtual cycling” DVDs for watching while riding your indoor trainer. This past year, they tagged along at the Dirty Dozen ride in Pittsburgh.  The ride traverses 13 of the steepest hills in Pittsburgh, which happen to be among some of the steepest city streets in the world.  There is a highly competitive points race up each of the hills. Here is the trailer for their Dirty Dozen DVD:

Pre-order here. Profits from the sale of this DVD will go to the Lance Armstrong Foundation.  Check out the Global Ride blog for more videos.