Leetsdale Snowflake Mystery and Tracer Chain Links

11.23.2014 29m 63F

Today was so mild and warm, 63F; it was a wonderful day for a ride.

Rode from Center to Route 51 South. Saw another bicyclist ahead, and another opposite direction. In Beaver County that's really unusual. I managed to pull up to the same-direction cyclist, Joe from Hopewell, and we had a very nice chat about local roadways and n'at.

Took the Sewickley Bridge across the Ohio River. Stopped in Sewickley Starbucks for respite and a few honey packets. Departed via Beaver St to Ambridge, which is a fave road segment of mine.

Riding through Leetsdale, which really should have at least one Leet roadsign (Welcome to 733lsdale), there are snowflakes painted on the ground. They've existed for quite a while and I've decided: I can't live with the uncertainty.

This is an unpainted Leetsdale road snowflake. Could it be that AlQueda oops ISIS oops Khorasan is using steganography to convey messages?

This is an undated and more recent Leetsdale road snowflake:

In Leetsdale cyclist John caught up to me and asked about my Design Shine tail light (it was dark by that time). We discussed my route home via Route51 and he suggested there's a little-used road from Crescent Township, looks like Cherry Alley in South Heights (just north of 151) then via Woodlawn until at least Franklin Ave. John said there's a way to poke further north to West Aliquippa.

All the drivers were very nice and extremely courteous. I would mention red Cadillac land-yacht with PA tags HTY5630 who gave me a 3-foot pass rather than use the empty lane to their left as somebody who might need an awareness upgrade. It was certainly a safe and non-threatening pass, it just seemed stingy compared to all the other good souls.

Riding home in the way dark, I look down occasionally to see if my chain is really in the rings and cogs I think it's in - generally before a major shift moment. In the dark it's problematic, although the helmet-mounted head lamp is a big help. I think I want "tracer links", like every x-th link needs to be reflective or glow-in-the-dark, so I can look down and see my chainline without having to puzzle out the various dark bits while I'm not looking at the road.

I was way too warm today, I dressed for 40F and encountered 63F and my kit wasn't compatible with delayering. Great problem to have.