A Modicum of Diversion Keeps Ennui At Bay

02/15/12 #233 27m 39F 2h24m

It's Pittsburgh on a somewhat blue-gray cloudy February day and I found myself wanting something different in today's route, since of modicum of diversion keeps ennui at bay (which is a funny thing for a monagamist to say).

I started at the Bastille, rode around the stadia and took River Avenue to the 31st Street Bridge, then broke new ground to the amazement of the watching throng by riding Penn Avenue and not turning onto Butler Street.

Penn Avenue was a great ride, a nice gentle climb and before too long I was rewarded with an unexpected mural at 3613 Penn Ave, Thoughts On a Blue Sky, Sept. 2009, by John Pena and Brian Brown:



I continued along Penn until I reached the "new" Children's Hospital, and poked around until I found the second mural of the day at 4202 Penn Ave, Lawrenceville, Fabric of the Commmunity, Sept. 2004 by Jackie Kresak:


Having bagged two murals, I reached my limit for the day, and any future mural sightings would be saved for future documentation.

I continued east along Penn into Bloomfield-Garfield, which I'd never been in and I have to say WOW, how come I didn't know about this? Totally awesome, and I finally got to see Kraynick's bike shop. I saw at least three murals in Garfield, including one which I believe is by Shepard Fairey, and an intriguing coffee shop (Voluto Coffee) which I'll need to check out on my next visit.

My sketchy plan was to penetrate on Penn until such a point that I might hit Squirrel Hill, because I wanted to ride Greenfield down to Second - I'd just bumped into that street a few weeks ago and thought it would be a nice ride.

I turned right on South Negley, and when S. Negley crossed Fifth I encountered once again the Hill That Makes Me Want To Cry. Once again, I am chagrined to say, I did not ride all the way up, and needed to dismount and walk. It is a poor artisan who blames his tools, and I am not blaming my Granny gear for her insufficiency, but that hill kicked my ass - to the point at which when I reached the summit (and it can only be called a summit, or perhaps a peak) a city fire truck driving by stopped to see if I was OK (which was extraordinarily kind of them).

I rode into Squirrel Hill and along Murray Avenue, which is a high-distraction, target rich environment and unfortunately, I'm one of the targets. I did notice a bike policeman at Murray and Forbes.

Crossed the Parkway and took Lilac Street to Greenfield and it was a very pleasant descent, I did see one more mural in Greenfield which I'll have to return for another day. This was the route across town:



At the bottom of Greenfield I took the Jail Trail and the Hot Metal Bridge, rode out to Keystone Metals and back, and rode north along the SouthSide Trail.

At times I feel like an inobservant clod. Last week, for the first time I noticed a dog park at the Southside Riverfront Park. It doesn't look new, and I'm through there pretty regularly, but I never noticed it until I saw some people working through the double-gate.

Today, after I rode the Ft. Pitt bridge and was descending into Point State Park, I noticed that the American flag being flown was decidedly non-standard, possibly 13 stars I'm not sure. If it's been that way forever and I've just noticed it I'm going to feel very stoopid.

Across the Ft. Duquesne bridge, back to the Bastille, and the car was still there and it started (always nice). A great ride today in 39F. My chain is skipping, jumping, and dropping under load pretty frequently, it's time for a drive train overhaul. Fortunately, when I came home the nice people from UPS had delivered by new 20-tooth, 5-bolt, 58bcd small chainring, and now the overhaul can begin.

Grannies, Turbines, and Bents

01/10/12 #239 29m 45F

show-hide

6 pancakes w/syrup 1100 2 biscuits 1300 hershey bar 1400 snack bar 1600 yogurt, peanut butter 2000 two slices pizza, 3 chicken wings

Rode 29 miles on Pittsburgh paved trails with S and S in a blue-sky, 45F day. Our group started at the Bastille, road around the Casino to the 31st Street Bridge, and took Railroad Street to the Cork Factory and the Strip District Trail.

I don't know what to call the Strip District Trail - the Strip Trail, the Convention Center Trail, the Lawrenceville Trail, the Larry Trail (I like that).

We continued to Point State Park (still, still under construction) and used the Mon Whorf Trail to the Jail Trail. It was a beautiful day.

At the south end of the Jail Trail (88 Swinburne Street) we rode around via Second Avenue to the Junction Hollow Trail. This was a very nice climb, but it prompted a discussion of yesterday's FatCyclist post in which matriarchs "of a certain age" object to using the term granny gear to identify the bailout gear, aka the lowest gear, aka the little ring in the front and the big ring in the back.

We are informed that alternative terms include Easy Gear, Geezer Gear or perhaps The Gear Formerly Known as Granny. One story calls them vegetable gears.



As we climbed Boundary Street we saw a vertical axis wind turbine on the CMU campus, it looked like a Helix turbine, very cool indeed. I would like it even more with a red stripe so it looks like it's screwing itself into the ground.

We reversed and descended down through the Junction Hollow Trail, and as we started riding to the Hot Metal Bridge we started seeing quite a few cyclists, almost as if the afternoon school bell had rung and they were coming out to play.

As we rode south on the Baldwin Trail to Keystone Metal we saw a few novel bicycles, a recumbent (with a bicyclist talking on his cellphone, I think), two recumbent trikes that looked very fast, and a LWB recumbent.

As we stopped at Keystone Metals for a snack I realized that I'd lost track of my time and I needed to get back to my car in order to make a meeting, so I left S. and S. and rode north with (what amounts to) dispatch. I took the HMB, the Jail Trail, First Avenue, the Ft. Duquesne Bridge, back to the car. This was a really quick pace for me, I would not ordinarily have done it and it made for a really good workout.