Making Tracks

06/09/12 244# 32m

Thursday morning my good orthopaed stuck a big needle in my left-side knee and injected some fluid in an attempt to reduce the fluids in my knee, which seems counterintuitive but he's the Man and he's very good at it, so I took Thursday and Friday off the bike.

Before I go on, here's a link to Stu's (Musings) post, which I think is brilliant, an elegaic transport prequel that asks, 'what if this doesn't last?' It's always good to examine assumptions and foundations, and he writes about the scale of investment based on (personal, multi-car) automotive suburbia and asks, what would happen if that bubble pops? Good reading; not a Cassandra, but food-for-thought especially in light of what we're doing to mass transit systems.

Today I rode 32 miles on the Montour Trail, from Boggs out to Morganza Road where the new trail bridges are being built. Trail conditions were excellent and there were a lot of people out, which is a good thing.

I was emboldened to go out and stand on the Morganza Road bridge, just to see where it's at and because I could. The deck is complete; it still needs side railings and the ramps that lead up to the bridge deck. It's going to be awesome.

I am still marveling at the rail-and-trail being built between mileposts 19 and 21, just north of Venice and Route 50. (It's a Marcellus fracking infrastructure project.) The rail-and-trail is very nice, although I think some spots are going to have erosion problems. Two things really impress me: the lack of theft and the track technology.

There's a lot of supplies stored out in the open along the trail; big creosote-soaked timbers and all sorts of materials. In the place where I grew up, all that stuff would be stolen and repurposed for residential landscaping, so there'd be guards on the site 24x7. It's nice to live where that doesn't seem to be an issue, although I guess that makes me the skeeviest person in the room.


This is a photo of an old-school rail joint, using a "fish plate" to connect the two rail segments, "dog spikes" and "timber sleepers" and I can't make any claim to understand that stuff. Certainly it's an evolved, workable solution that has stood the test of time.

The new track technology is very impressive, because it seems to result in a seamless track. This is a photo of the new track being built around MP20:



It seems like they lay the track down, and then after it's aligned and set in place they place a filler plug in the gap and weld it into one continuous piece. Other than this one gap picture above, there isn't any other interruption in the track for two miles. It'll probably make for a much quieter track, but I wonder about expansion/contraction. If any train gurus have any insight I'd sure appreciate hearing about it.

---

June 9, 2012 Week 22 this week: 159 miles

244#

2nd Qtr 1435 miles

2012: 2450 miles

Bicycling Pittsburgh's Quantum Gap

06/06/12 244# 45m

Pittsburgh has a bike trail called the Great Allegheny Passage. In fact, America has a bike trail called the Great Allegheny Passage, but we're rather parochial here and we like to think it's all about us, that they've built the trail because all those people in Virginia want to ride their bikes to Pittsburgh n'at.

This year's non-trivial puzzle is: can you depart Pittsburgh via the GAP? Can you enter and get to Point State Park via the GAP? Remarkably, the answer is simultaneously both Yes and No.

You can't ride in or out of Pittsburgh via the GAP because the GAP is incomplete; ask any Authority, or anybody wearing a YJA. At the same time, you can easily ride in and out of Pittsburgh via the GAP, and every day dozens of riders use the same route for local travel.

It all depends on the Observer's perspective. If you want a legally valid answer, then you cannot enter or depart Pittsburgh via the GAP. If you want a pragmatic answer, you can enter or depart via the GAP as many times as you'd like.

In preparation for an upcoming adventure, today K and I started riding at the Bastille and then pre-rode our route from Point State Park to the Durabond Bypass. We had a very nice ride and I got a great workout out of it.

As we stopped at the Durabond plant, a passing cyclist stopped to inquire as to whether we needed help or directions, which was very kind of him. He spent a minute in conversation with us, then joined us on the return leg and that is how we got to ride with trail guru and bike advocate Yale C. I have read his words many times but it was a real treat to meet him and get to ride with him.

We returned via a slightly different route, demonstrating that there are multiple paths in the duality. It was a great day for a bike ride, and at times the map looked like this (other times, it didn't)

Wickes-Wuz to Venice

06/05/12 244# 35m

Rode 35 miles on the Montour Trail. Started near I376 where Wickes once was, and rode out to Route 50 in Venice.

There's some very nice new trail being built in a rail-and-trail configuration the last two miles north of Route 50, but there does seem to be a likelihood of poor drainage and erosion on the non-train side of the trail.

Reversed and found a major headwind around Boggs. For some reason, the climb section from MP13 to MP11.8 seems more arduous than the numbers alone would suggest. I don't know if it's the isolation out there or the exposure to the wind, but that always seems like a lot of work.

I'm still really enjoying riding the bike without the four panniers.

Riding in Mufti to a Fecund Mural

06/04/12 242# 14m

Rode around the city today, starting at the Bastille (Western Penitentiary, aka SCI Pittsburgh). I was astonished to realize that I'd forgotten to bring my kit. No bike shorts, what to do?

I channeled my inner Grant Peterson and remembered a time when I did, in fact, ride a bike without a strange outfit, so I rolled up my starboard pant-leg and rolled in mufti. I considered using a marker to draw a black circle on my earlobe, hoping to pass it off as a gauge-ring among the EEHG, but I don't think I'd be fooling anybody.

Apparently I can still ride a bike wearing dungarees. Rode from the Bastille around to Millvale. Noticed that Mr. Small's bike/skate course is closed, and apparently replaced by a Venture Outdoors activity. 40th Street Bridge, Butler Street (I mean, with the pant leg rolled up, had to touch LarryVille, right?)

Took this photo of a Sprout Fund Mural at the Midwife Center, 2825 Penn.


Rode to Point State Park, checked out the Arts Festival. Back to the Bastille, 14 miles.

And finally, closing the loop by going back to the notion of developing my inner Grant Peterson:

Boggs McDonald Burgettstown

06/03/12 244# 33m

Rode with my friend K today, started on the Montour Trail at Boggs, intercepted the Panhandle Trail at McDonald, rode west of Burgettstown until we stopped and reversed because of time constraints.

Trail conditions were excellent. We are really fortunate to have the Montour Trail and the newly rehabilitated Panhandle Trail.

I rode my Surly with no panniers on it, it felt like a road bike compared to the weight that was on it for the previous week. A very nice ride and good to ride with K.

Washington DC Pittsburgh Bicycle Trip Summary

06/02/12 241# 0m

Daily bike trip reports from Washington DC to Pittsburgh:
Day1, Day2, Day3, Day4, Day5, Day6, Day7.


I had a much better ride than the last time I did this in 2010.
I had a really good time (and in the end, it's all about me, right?).
I was fortunate to be among really good people.

A specific goal was to get some "non-hotel" touring experience and that certainly got accomplished.

The equipment worked well.
The weather was normal.


I think the big lessons sink in over time, but my initial take-aways are:

• Everybody has to find their own path up the hill.
  
• On the trail you wear "green blinders"; you don't know what's on the other side of the green tunnel. Smartphones and coverage are awesome, and so are people with local knowledge.
  

Technique Issues:
The thermal mat may not be as important as a sleeping bag for summer use.
The Ortlieb panniers are great, but top-loading is not uber-efficient

Casualties (things that were damaged):
I sheared one leg off my Esge-Plesche two-legged kickstand
the new 10-Liter solar shower leaked along the seam, but I'll replace it
handlebar wrap gone in the rain


Treasures: (things I was very glad to have)
solar shower
kitchen sink
JetBoil stove, Knorr-Lipton rice packets, tuna
Six regular Water Bottles


ToDo:
Analyze what I used / what I never used
Write down what to do differently next time


To Devise/ Obtain:
Windscreen for stove
foot powder
a better rig for hoisting the solar shower.
internal compartments for panniers

Some personal opinions:

• If all other issues (logistics, travel) are equal, I believe that Pittsburgh-DC (eastbound) is the preferred route.
  
• The GAP with its modern design and materials is much safer than the C&O Canal, which is a Civil War donkey path whose historic status prevents upgrades.
  
• If a Pittsburgh group wants to ride 300 miles over six days, they should ride to Cumberland, round-trip.
  
• Hancock, MD is doing the most of any town to embrace the Trail Economy - by building the WMRT and pursuing the expanded PawPaw-WMRT project
  
• The wayfinding resources between McKees Marina and Pittsburgh are insufficient
  

---

July 2, 2012 Week 21 this week: 307 miles

241#

2nd Qtr 1275 miles 20.5 mi/day2-QTR

2012: 2291 miles

Day Seven: Rainy Bike Ride, Cedar Creek Park to Pittsburgh

06/01/12 39m

We knew that we were going to get rained on today (since it is the first day of the Arts Festival), we just wanted to get to Pittsburgh before the really severe weather which was predicted for the afternoon. We started breaking camp at about 0430 and were pedaling away at 0515.

After some time there was enough light that it seemed like a reasonable endeavor, riding through the rain so early in the morning. About a dozen miles into the ride we came to the Buena Vista convenience store but it didn't open for a while, so we pressed on.

In Boston we came to a restaurant that served breakfast but we were too early for that, so on we went but we were all getting pretty hungry and I was hoping we'd find something prior to the EatNPark at the Waterfront.

As we approached the Boston-Versailles bridge we decided to deviate from the trail in search of breakfast, and we ended up at the Versailles McDonalds. We had one of those funny kind of trail encounters - it's a McD's so there's a handful of older folks drinking coffee and they see out kit and they say, Hey we were at the Big Savage Tunnel on Tuesday what did you think of it? The trail cuts across a lot of niches and assumptions.

After eating and considering our position, we continued on the road along Route 148 to the McKeesport police station and rejoined the trail. Riverton Bridge, Steel Valley Trail, stopped at the Pump House where I believe we met Swalfoort and also a group of recumbent tourists, then joined the Waterfront Trail.

Took the Sandcastle parking lot and walked the railroad line along Keystone Metals, rejoined the Baldwin Trail to the Southside Trail, and took the Hot Metal Bridge.



Jail Trail to Smithfield Street, First Avenue, Gateway Center, Point State Park, Arts Festival, and... finished. No fatalities, no injuries, I don't even think we had any hurt feelings. No flat tires, no significantly damaged bicycles, no calls to first responders.

We had an excellent trip plan from QR, we followed it but not dogmatically, CA was an info-wizard in changing situations, and I was pleased to get to see a lot of very good decision making.

This was a really nice time, driven by the quality of the people involved, and I look forward to doing it again.