Type 2 Diabetic. Cyclist Flâneur.   Coffeeneur.    Errandoneur
A bike / map geek with a gadget obsession and a high-viz fetish.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Pillars of Sand

07/4/12 242# 27m

Met my friend M at the Bastille at 0730 in an attempt to beat the heat and the crowds attending today's Pittsburgh Regatta. (because, yinz gotta Regatta n'at)

It was a great morning for a ride. At the Science Center we saw about a dozen riders in Bike and Build jerseys, they do rides that support the affordable housing movement in the US.

Passed the stadiums, rode out to the 40th street Bridge, hoped for a coffee at Espresso a Mano but they were closed for the 4th, rode the Strip district which was unusually empty so I took advantage of the situation to take this photo of a mural on the side of the Hermanowski Building:


Rode the Jail Trail where I was happy to see some new signage at the north end of the trail at Grant Street. Hot Metal Bridge, Baldwin Borough Trail, Keystone Metals, reverse, Big Dog Coffee which was awesome as always, I had a blanca mocha and split a cookie with M. Coming outside we talked with two riders, both with Surly LHTs, who are riding to DC in a few weeks.

Trail to Station Square, noticed a trail closure and a well-handled detour where the open-air Tribune Amphitheatre used to be (U2B). Rode around via Route 51 to the approach ramp for the Fort Pitt Bridge, met two other opposite-directions bicyclists who were trying to simultaneously squeeze between the elevated crosswalk and the fence, I took it as a positive sign that we're getting more bicyclists.

Descended into Point State Park (aka Pittsburgh's Front Lawn), I'd really like to understand the variety of flags they fly there - today was a red flag with a Union Jack in the corner. We saw this completely awesome sand sculpture:



And then we realized that the crowds for the Regatta were building quickly. We rode across the Ft. Duquesne Bridge and the North Side, and there were an awful lot of people on my the trail. It was a good time to be getting out of town.

Coming around the Science Center I saw a rider on an E-Zip electric assist bike, first time I've seen one of those on the city trails.

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