Night Ride

08/11/12 235# 36m

A cool, evening ride for a change of pace.

Started at the Bastille around 6.15pm. Rode through some people making their way to a Pirates game, then continued out to Millvale. There was a big party going on in the Millvale Park. 40th Street Bridge, a few back streets to about 46th Street, then I popped out to Butler Street.

I was surprised to see a concert on the lower field at the Allegheny Cemetery, which my Mad Google-Skillz later discovered to be the R.A.N.T. Lawrenceville (rock all night tour), very cool indeed.

Continued east to Allegheny River Blvd, took a right turn and climbed away from the river up to Bakery Square. Stopped at the coffee shop for some icewater then reversed back toward Dahntahn via Penn, 40th Street, Butler, Penn, 24th, and the Strip District Trail.



There were quite a lot of boats in the water, I imagine for the fireworks display after the Pirates game. There was a barge positioned in the Allegheny River which I suppose was the pyrotechnic platform.

Point State Park, Blvd of the Allies, Grant Street and the Jail Trail. Hot Metal Bridge at 9pm, at which time it was a truly night-time ride and I was enjoying my lights. While the Jail Trail gets a lot of ambient light from the adjacent highways, the trails on the west side of the Mon are darker than the inside of a cow (as my friend J would say).

Baldwin Trail down to Keystone Metals, saw an awful lot of SuicideBunnies who wanted to play DivineWind with my front wheel. Managed to avoid hitting any. Reversed course at the trail's end; rode around South Side Works for a few minutes, there was a band and an outdoor beer event going on.

Hot Metal Bridge, Jail Trail downtown, hoping to get past the Casino before the baseball game started disgorging disoriented baseball fans (which I did). Ft. Duquesne Bridge to the Bastille at 10pm, 36 miles.

Aug 11, 2012 Week 30 this week: 164 miles

236#

3rd Qtr 939 miles

2012: 3957 miles

Western Panhandle

08/09/12 239# 40m

Rode the Panhandle Trail, McDonald to Wierton round-trip.

Started in McDonald early with R and K. Rode west uneventfully, trail conditions were excellent (especially in the recently upgraded sections) and the last 8.5 miles are descending.

Stopped at the western terminus for a break and a snack. Each time I go out there, I think that I should investigate the local roads and try to see what's involved in continuing to Stuebenville, but the local folks in the trailhead weren't very encouraging so we left that for another day.



Departed eastbound. It's a persistent climb coming out of there, and with the effort our conversation tended to lag a bit. It was a bit hotter and muggier than I expected. It was the height of luxury to be able to pull out a bottle of mostly-frozen water for the last quarter of the ride.

Back to the trailhead and bikes on cars just in time for the rain showers to start, perfect timing. This year the Panhandle is every bit as nice as the Montour Trail.

Mind the GAP Escort Service

08/07/12 235# 38m

Something a little bit different in today's ride: pro bono escort service.

Officially, technically, wink wink the trail from Pittsburgh to DC suffers a 2-mile interruption at Keystone Metals and Sandcastle, near the Glenwood Bridge. It's the gap in the GAP Trail. Persons concerned with formalities, litigation, and liability tell bicyclists that the DC-Pittsburgh trail ends in Homestead.

Practically, realistically, there's no significant problem riding from the Point downtown all the way to DC; there's just a widely used if unauthorized alternative route across the interruption, and a general absence of wayfinding cues.

Today I got out at oh-dark-hundred and drove to McKeesport, parking my car at the police station and riding my bike toward Pittsburgh on the trails. I met S. enroute at Keystone Metals, and we continued to Point State Park.

At 0830, transient cyclist Scott appeared with his bike, ready to ride to DC. And we rode with him past the Vale of Ambiguity and Swirling Confusion to Boston PA, and wished him Bon Voyage, and then reversed to my car waiting nearby.

Late in the day, the email genie brought news that he'd successfully made it to Ohiopyle. I hope he has a good adventure, and I hope the GAP is formally completed soon.

Verdant Fecundity and an Ouchie

08/06/12 236# 50m 3+48

Started the day off bikewise by stopping at my LBS and ordering a new bombproof wheelset, tandem hubs and 40 spokes and mondo rims, I'm looking forward to seeing how they ride.

A beautiful day. Started at Enlow on the Montour Trail, indulged myself by listening to the radio on the trail, NPR/EPR. Got to hear a sponsormercial from Range Resources, they're like the Borg. Rode out to MP32 and the Farmhouse Coffee/Subway McMurrary MegaBikePlex. The outdoor seating area is so green and lush right now, a very cool bike ride destination. Wifi, ice cream, coffee. Subway across the street. Wow.



I Got An Ouchie On the way back, I managed to make several cascading bad decisions in quick succession and ended up careering into the new steel grid fence along the trail at MP20-ish, just north of Galati Road. I wandered into the soft trail edge and was moving into the fence, and instead of behaving like a 50-year old - unclipping, braking, and degrading gracefully - I tried to play it like a 20-year old and attempted to bounce off the fence. Cue the Bad Decision Dinosaur.

A bit of scuffing here, some road rash there, and my chainring took some bites out of my ankle, so perhaps I'll learn from this. I did get a pretty good adrenaline rush out of the crash and used it to keep up a great pace for the rest of the ride.

This year, I'm average a significant fall from the bike every 1000 miles. That's pretty easy for me to estimate, because today I crossed 3800 miles this year, and this is my fourth fall of 2012 - I mean, even I can figure this one out. A few years ago it was one fall every 500 miles, so I'm making progress.

They're replacing / upgrading a lot of the trail bollards that are placed to keep quads etc off the trails; the new ones have a lower profile, much less likely to grab your handlebars, it's a real improvement.

City Trails and Ice Water

08/04/12 236# 46m

Got out on the bike trails early today, starting at the Bastille with S. around 0630. Rode out to Millvale and back to the Ft. Duquesne Bridge, Blvd of the Allies to Grant Street, Jail Trail to Swinburne Street and then back to the Hot Metal Bridge.

Rode south to Keystone Metals, Sandcastle, and in the Waterfront we stopped at McD's to use the ice/water in the soda fountains to refill my water bottles. Kennnywood, to the Duquesne pipe plant. Reversed and rode to the Waterfront, used BH's shortcut around the back of the complex to Amity Street, and went into Homestead looking for cookies at Nancy B's but alas, they're closed for a week's vacation. Noticed a Homestead police car with a bike strapped on to the back of the car, that was pretty cool.

Back to Amity Street, took the other half of BH's shortcut behind Macy's, Sandcastle and Keystone Metals. Met two bicyclists who have recently arrived in Pittsburgh from overseas, two very nice guys and I was surprised when they said that what brought them here is the Marcellus industry.

Rode north to South Side Works and REI and met R. A lot of people were picking up their packets for tomorrow's PedalPgh. Noticed that Saturday Yoga was relocated to the new plaza since Tunnel Park is excavated.

Departed solo, Station Square, Ft. Pitt Bridge, Convention Center Trail out to the Cork Factory and back, Ft. Duquesne Bridge, back to the Bastille.

At the trailhead I met a very nice couple of bicyclists who had a bunch of ice left over and were asking other riders if they could use it, so I greedily filled up a bidon with ice cubes, that was very thoughtful of them. On the way home I had a cold drink of ice water, that was luxurious.

Aug 4, 2012 Week 29 this week: 141 miles

236#

3rd Qtr 775 miles

2012: 3793 miles

Grand Funk Railtrail

08/03/12 236# 42m

It has been a stupid dangerous week for Pittsburgh bicycling; a few fatalities, a few hit-and-runs, a few other driver-hits-cyclists, much more than the usual. No charges filed.

My frustration at the apparent open season on cyclists led me to a certain malaise about riding in the city, which led me to stay off the bike for a few days, and the languid ennui wasn't at all helpful to my attitude. Today I resolved to shrug it off and get back on the bike.

I went out to the Boggs trailhead and was very pleased to find my friend K just about to depart on his own ride, so we rode together; a serendipitous treat. It was a very warm afternoon and we found ourselves riding quite fast, and after a while we toned it down to a more reasonable rate. We had hoped to find M. on the trail but the intercept didn't work.

K. was called to other (parental) duties so he turned around a bit before I did, and I continued in search of ice water and refills for my bottles. I rode to MP32 and Subway and FarmHouse Coffee, sat in air conditioned spaces, drank cold drinks and ate some ice cream.

I made the mistake of checking the web and found two fresh new stories, "Bicyclist Chris Carnevali survives being hit twice this week on Penn Avenue", and also "Driver flees scene after striking 6 year-old child on bicycle". That didn't help to expunge the funk.

I did have another pleasant ride back to the car. I certainly went through several water bottles. Trail conditions were excellent, and with the heat there weren't that many people out today.

It was good to be back on the bike.

Open Season and A Tale of Two Cities: Bike-Haves and Bike-Have-Nots

Last Wednesday July 25, at 0530 a driver hit a bicyclist on the 7500 block of Penn Avenue and then fled the scene, leaving James Price to die alone on the curb. Monday afternoon 7/30 BikePgh led a memorial ride and placed a ghost bike along with Mr. Price's family.

Saturday 7/28 a successful Pittsburgh real estate developer and bicycle advocate was killed in a charity bike ride near Frederick MD. There were no cars or other bikes involved in the incident. Because he was highly regarded, a true friend of Pittsburgh bicycling and a money guy, influential people have made a big thing of this.

Tuesday night 7/31 at 1030pm the driver of an SUV ran over Anthony Green, a 47-year-old bicyclist from Wilkinsburg on the 7700 block of Penn Avenue, and then drove into a phone pole and came to a stop. Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Green died of his injuries from the second Penn collision.

Wednesday morning, 8/01 the mayor's office put out a communique urging people to be careful and saying that an alternate bike route would be developed to get bikes off Penn Avenue.

Wednesday at 11:45 a.m. at the intersection of Church Street and South Braddock Avenue in Swissvale, the driver of a truck hit a bicyclist and drove away from the scene.

Thursday at 6:30 pm, a police officer on a motor cycle was patrolling in the area in response to the accidents. He was hit by the driver of an SUV. Uniformed policemen, official vehicle, blinking lights; yes, he was wearing a helmet.

Friday 8/03 at 2:15 pm, Driver flees scene after striking 6-year-old child on a bicycle in the 200 block of Alter Street, East Carnegie.

Saturday 8/04 at 7pm, another cyclist hit by a driver in a hit-and-run, in the 2200 block of Perrysville Avenue in Perry North.

For those keeping score: Five drivers-hit-bicycles, one driver-hits-cop, two deaths, four hit-and-runs: No charges filed.

My first conclusion for your consideration is: It's open season on cyclists. There are no repercussions for a driver who hits a bicyclist with their car in Pittsburgh.

My second conclusion is that when it comes to bike safety, we've got two Pittsburghs: the Bike-Haves and the Bike-Have-Nots. One is Most Liveable and Bike Friendly-Bronze, and the other one is Most Likely to be Tragic. There is truly some wonderful bicycle stuff happening in Pittsburgh - but it's not in any way evenly distributed. (to paraphrase William Gibson).

As often happens, progress and benefits are distributed along existing lines of political, class, and economic structure, and so our bike infrastructure and our bike friendliness tend to mirror (through the invisible hand) the existing power structure.

First look at where the bike trails and bike lanes and sharrows are - and frankly, that's where I ride. I'm a bike-safety-Have.

Then look at where the Pittsburgh bike deaths are, look at who's dying, and look at the actual activity in response to it. (telling the bikes to move away from the speeding cars).