Pittsburgh's New Angle on Christmas Homeless Giving

Wed 12.09.2015 5m
Thurs 12.10.2015 28m
Fri 12.11.2015 26m

Wed was a short ride, just around Squirrel Hill but it prompted a concept by YaleC about localized sharrows markings for Squill:

The Roberto Clemente Bridge and Millvale have already implemented customized sharrows and bike lane markers. I think Yale's idea would be a great contribution to the Squirrel Hill bike-ped plan.

Friday I started riding with RC. We rode around SouthSide, the Bluff, Duquesne Univ. As we rode out along the north bank of the Allegheny River I was startled to see an implementaion of back-in angle parking which is a fairly new concept and bleeding-edge by Pittsburgh standards.


Under the 31st Street bridge, on the North Shore Trail side, there's a Christmas Tree for gifts for the homeless. Along the top of the photo you'll see some cases of PopTarts, granola bars, trail mix, a bag of apples, bottled water, and other gifts.



There's another one on the SouthSide Trail, under the 10th Street bridge. The initiative for the project comes from a small business called The County Line. I think it's an excellent concept.



"new angle" for "Christmas giving", I see what I did there.

Pittsburgh Chanukah Bike Ride 2015

12.06.2015 8m

Sunday was a day of too many opportunities and I couldn't get to them all. Had a Flock meeting at 10am, very cool. There was a bike-coffee-beer group ride at noon that I very much wanted to get to - start at a roastery, get some beans, ride to a park and everybody demonstrates their particular technique of bike-coffee production - but I couldn't get there.


I did see the group riding as I drove into Oakland, it looked like a great bunch of people and I'm glad Kindred Cycles and Commonplace Coffee had a good event. Very excited to see this developing.

So, Chanukah begins at sunset and today is the Menorah Car Parade and Bike Ride. This is the 4th Annual Chanukah Bike Ride in Pittsburgh, for those keeping count. Each year we get more participants.

At the ride start I had a technical snafu, I couldn't get my Droid phone to BlueTooth the playlist to the audio trailer. Fortunately technomage JoanneP stepped in and set things aright.

In the middle of the ride, we stopped and waited to intercept the vanguard of cars.


My wife Karen rode a Pittsburgh HealthyBikePgh bikeshare bike.


A gentleman who rode a unicycle (while carrying an Ultimate Wheel with a Star of David) on his back, Jim Leonard with his Light-Up-Coat, and Ben Yogman. (photo by Barbara Jensen)





We had a lot of excellent support from Pittsburgh Police, and in particular from Officer Howard McQuillen who was just awesome.

Video from JoanneP:


Video from DinoA:


Video from my bike, looking back over the audio trailer

Bride of Penn Avenue, Destiny of Sand Sculptures, Risk of Bike Naps

07/12/12 #241 70m

Two rides today, one 45 miles and the other 25 miles.

Started in the morning at the Bastille, rode south into Point State Park where against all expectations the sandy mess of the previous day, the debris of the remarkable artwork of the previous week, had somehow not been cleared away but had instead become more organized into a pile, somehow resisting the famous forces of entropy.



Rode south on the Station Square Trail, Waterfront Trail, Kennywood Trail, to the Riverton Bridge. Reversed and rode north to the Hot Metal Bridge, Junction Hollow Trail, Fifth, Wilkins, Murray, and Forbes. Poked around at PghProBikes.

Departed Squill crosstown in search of the mural, The Bride of Penn Avenue, by Judy Penzer and Jill Watson. Coming within a few blocks of it, you can see the mural of a bride entering the building.


When you get closer, you can discern that the apparent building is a mirage painted upon a flat wall. The visual continuation of the row of buildings is a head-fake. Very impressive.



Tragically, the two artists died in the crash of TWA800 on July 17th, 1996.

Rode Penn Avenue to 24th Street and the Cork Factory, the Convention Center Trail to the Point once again, where the irresistable forces of PeopleWhoWantFridayOff eventually overcame Inertia and both the wreckage and the sand sculpture itself was just a memory.


Rode north to the Bastille and my car for 45 miles on the bike so far. Moved my car to Oakland for the afternoon's logistics, then proceeded to take a well-deserved bike nap. Taking a bike nap is not without risk; well-meaning passersby may assume you have passed out or entered a diabetic coma. Word: if you're bikenapping and wake up to the sound of somebody saying "CLEAR" in an authoritative voice, shout out NO! NO! NO!



Rode around town some more, then rode through the South Side Works River Front Plaza, which is almost too many words in one placename; saw that the cooling mist generators (CMGs) were active.



Rode to West Mifflin for a friend's celebration. 837/885 up the hill was a great workout; coming back down was a lot more fun. The day's second ride was 25 miles, for 70 miles total.

Squ'ill Latte, Two Murals and a Mystery

07/10/12 239# 38m

Rode from the Bastille at 0600 using the Ft. Duquesne Bridge to get to Point State Park, where a nondescript pile of beach sand sat in a mess, the remains of a once-brilliant sculpture. It was a bit early in the day for "this, too, shall pass" but we takes what we finds.

Crossed the Ft. Pitt bridge, Station Square Trail, Baldwin Trail to Keystone Metals. There was a well-written summary on the Bike-Pgh forum explaining the status of the Keystone-Sandcastle trail. Reversed, Hot Metal Bridge, Panther Hollow Trail to CMU.

Fifth Avenue, Wilkins, Murray, and Forbes into Squirrel Hill (aka Squ'ill). Commonplace Coffee for a lavender vanilla latte and Allegro Hearth Bakery for pastry. Doesn't get any better. Highly recommended.

Forbes, South Braddock, into Regent Square; found this mural, Bird's Eye View, by artist Kristin Williams in 2003.

It wasn't until I took a minute that I realized it was a bird's eye view of the neighborhood I was standing in, very effective.

Lancaster Street, Frick Park, Nine Mile Run Trail. (Why is it called Nine Mile Run? I don't know!) Intercepted Duck Hollow Trail, crossed the railroad tracks to Second Avenue.

At Second Avenue and Elizabeth Street, saw this mural called Piece by Piece, Step by Step, by artist Kip Herring, on the Elizabeth Pharmacy:

There's a lot to this mural and I'd like to understand more about it.

At Hazelwood Avenue, turned and joined the new Hazelwood trail segment. While riding along this brand new trail, I saw something that I couldn't identify, but it reminded me of an iconic image from my youth:


I think it looks a lot like the Apollo Lunar Module (LEM), but perhaps I am just getting into my dotage --



Continued on the Hazelwood Trail to the Hot Metal Bridge. Rode the Jail Trail to its northern end at Grant Street, was pleased to see some new signs offering guidance to itinerant bicyclists.


Rode to the Smithfield Street Bridge, ducked down the ramp to the Mon Whorf Trail, took the ramp to Point State Park - where I saw a mini-gaggle of DPW folks preparing to clean up a big wet sandpile.

Joined the Convention Center Trail along the Allegheny River. Rode out to 28th Street, reversed, back to the Point, and the Ft. Duquesne Bridge. Saw a group of very athletic people participating in either some sort of exercise-boot-camp or some sort of a hazing ritual, doing such things as climbing down the bridge walkways face-first, head-down - which looked really strenuous to do. Rode back to the Bastille for 38 miles.