Purgatory Road Race 2012
What can I say about Purgatory? As with last year, it was a tough race!
Only this year, I actually had a good bike to ride! This race marks my one year anniversary as a road cyclist. When I signed up for 2011′s Purgatory Road Race, I had just gotten back from Iraq within the month, and I had no road bike. I definitely didn’t have any decent training to speak of. But sign up for it, I did with excitement.
I showed up on a chromium 1997 Trek 1220 with 2×7 gears, and the wheel off my wife’s 8 speed cruiser (to give my a larger gear, but only 7 of 8 cogs were usable by the derailleur). At the time, that bike had one major flaw for the race. To quote the guy I bought it from, “The previous owner wanted to make the bike faster, so he removed the smallest ring.” This left me with a 52, and a 48, up front, and 12-28 in back. 48 is way too big to get up the monster hill at Purgatory!
This year, I raced a 2011 Cervelo S5 with compact gearing, 11-28 cassette, andZipp 303 tubular wheels. Talk about a world of difference! The race still hurt, only more so this year, and I still got dropped, but I definitely improved.
And most importantly, I had fun with my friends, riding bikes. 
You can find the results at Road Results.
