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

Friday, December 20, 2013

Pyrite Boa and Jingle Bells: December Flock Ride

Friday 12/20/2013 33m
Started at the Bastille at 1300, and S and I spent a certain amount of time rigging our bicycles for the Flock of Cycles ride later in the day. We decorated the bikes with Christmas lights. We had some Christmas tree garland, which S put on the bike and I wore on top of my rain cape like a pyrite boa. I strung Christmas bells across my handlebars. Very Holiday Festive.

Between the rain cape and the boa I imagine I looked somewhat like an aging, porcine drag queen wearing a high-vis moomoo. Not exactly the image one hopes to project, but hey...

Went to Pittsburgh Steak Company for something to eat. I had eggplant over pasta, S had a roast beef hoagie; very good.

We rode out on the Baldwin Borough Trail intent on going out to Costco, but there was quite a bit of ice just north of Keystone Metals and we chose to reverse there.

Stopped at REI for shopping. Picked up some gloves that promise to be waterproof, breathable, and extremely warm. I have warm gloves, but they're not waterproof and on a rainy day they're compromised pretty fast.

Met the Flock at Schenley Quad between 1800 and 1830. Very sad to learn that MM was injured while enroute to the Flock Ride, a driver cut him off and he went down with drastic results. Couldn't walk and had to cat-walk on all fours to get off the roadway. Heal fast, M.

The Flock Rides feature a boom box on a bike trailer, and this is a link to the playlist for this ride that consists of contributions from many of the riders; as the titles and dates suggest, it's an eclectic group.

It was a good ride. We usually ride into Market Square but today's ride avoided that due to the Christmas Market going on, so we rode through PPG Plaza instead.

We rode out on Forbes and through the Armstrong Tunnel, named after Pittsburgh Mayor Joseph G Armstrong.

It's very cool to ride bikes through the tunnel. Then S and I departed the Flock and navigated back to the NorthSide, while they rode the SouthSide and ended at OTB. A very nice ride.

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