Dirty Dozen Power Details.

For anybody who is from out of Pittsburgh reading this, the Dirty Dozen is a 30 year old group ride in Pittsburgh up 12 of the steepest hills. One is arguably the steepest in the world. It is a group ride with a winner, as they track the top 10 Men (5 women) up each hill. Low cadence out of the saddle steep climbs benefit me, and I have won the event 9 years running. Im old. Yes I have won a group ride. Anyway, this is not a bragging post, because all of the numbers except a few are relatively mediocre. Here are the power numbers:

Hill 1 High St 4:15 . 375 watts = 5.978 w/k (Cracked 3 mins in.)
Hill 2 Ravine 4:54 . 357 Watts = 5.69 w/k (Cracked 3.5 mins in)
Hill 3 Berry Hill 1:10 610 watts = 9.724 w/k (1st)
Hill 4 High/Seavy 2:27 . 402 watts = 6.40 w/k (1st)
Missed 5
Hill 6 Suffolk St 3:23 409 watts = 6.52 w/k (1st)
Hill 7 Sycamore ST 2:58 409 watts = 6.52 w/k (2nd)
Hill 8 Canton Ave :58 510 watts = 8.13 w/k (3rd)
Hill 9 Bousted St 1:57 446 watts = 7.11 w/k (1st)
Hill10 Welsh Way 1:47 458 watts = 7.30 w/k (2nd)
Hill 11 Berry/Holt 3:07 412 watts = 6.57 w/k (2nd?) Mathematical Lock
Hill 12 Flowers 5:17 324 watts = 5.16 w/k Open Road to final hill.Lots of attacks.

The times are taken from when my power spikes and declines. Don't compare these to Strava. If you do you are lame.

My power over 3 minutes was lower than last year.My power under 3 minutes was my highest ever. Im impressed with Berry Hill and let down with the first two. My weight was about the same at 137/138. Bike setup was the same as last year with the exception of lighter skewers.

Canton Ave filmed by Matt Dayak

Dirty Dozen Race 2011-Canton Ave from Matt Dayak on Vimeo.

It was great racing somewhere that my family could see me. My Dad showed up to watch his first bike race in about 20 years. Amy wanted to watch 1 hill but watched like five. Im thinking Matt will have another video of Canton this year.

The Niece doing recon for future years.

Its not what you have... its what you do with what you have.

So this is a story of a 320 dollar bicycle.
Amy was in the hunt for a bike in 2001. She was basically broke. We scoured ebay and found a Jamis Aurora touring bike for her. It was a funny bike. 26" front and 700C rear. Shimano Sora throughout.

She got it on her birthday March 20th. (3/20... $320)... The stars aligned.
I know a lot of people want to hate on cheap stuff. Yes it is heavy. Yes it can break, however, I have found the light stuff breaks too.

Anyway, I took her on her first bike tour, an overnight camping trip. Then we rode to DC. Then we packed up the bikes and rode around Europe for 9 weeks. She also commuted on it everyday. After 10,000 miles the sora shifters died. TEN THOUSAND MILES.

The bike got stolen, and then recovered.

Then she and her best friend rode Pittsburgh-San Francisco together. Same 320 dollar bike. At this point it has new wheels, shifters, rear derailer, chainrings and cassette.

Life is about what you have done, not what you own.

Still set up to commute and carry stuff.

Under a bridge to avoid rain somewhere in germany. Taken with an analog camera.

An agreeable sound...

So about a year ago, I posted a video of me "singing" Love is a Battlefield and Amy doing time after time. My buddy Matt who makes the movies was in California and filmed my brother in law. I think it might be my second favorite after Amy's.

An Agreeable Sound : Brian from Matt Dayak on Vimeo.

The rarest of blog updates

If you are reading this, my apologies for not updating. A few things that have prevented this:
- Space bar on my computer broke. This makes typing anything more than an email annoying. - Nonstop travel to race / work / grown up stuff

Anyway. I have to do a post about cyclocross.

Earlier this year at a mountain bike race, I was talking to East Coast cyclocross legend Ryan Leech. I told him that I was going to be super serious this year. He responded "more serious than last year?" which was a huge compliment on my natural abilities and self coaching technique. The answer was simply "yeah".

SOO... Since Mid July all cycling has been for this CX season. C3/Athletes Serving Athletes is the team again and I am getting coached by Kris Auer (ADG). We are riding specialized bikes/tires/helmets/shoes with Enve wheels. Yes, Enve Wheels.

At this point "half way" through the season, I have raced about the same amount as I did TOTAL last year. My results are better, I feel stronger and I am having a ton of fun. The team is great. The people on it are great. The people at races are awesome. I travel with Ed or Brett and they are awesome. Basically its fun and all good.

So far I have won some local races, a regional race and scored a few UCI points. I have had some good luck, some bad luck and some good days and bad days. Basically just normal bike racing. Pretty stoked to be able to do all this while still working full time.