Ghost Bike Recon Run

Wed Nov.4 2015 7 miles

I got to ride in a new area today and meet a new-to-me cyclist, Lance L.

I needed to do a recon ride for an upcoming Memorial Ride. I was fortunate that an experienced local cyclist took me out and showed me around. My pre-conceived notion for the ride would not have worked; major hills would have split the pack up too much.

This is the route for the memorial ride for Brandon Ortmann, who was killed while riding home from work at 7pm on a Friday evening. He had a bike light on, and was riding contraflow. It seems like he might have crossed to the wrong-side of the street to get into position for an approaching left turn, but that's speculation.

Day of the Dead Ride 2015 Pittsburgh

Sun 11.01.2015 13m

I'm involved in a bike activism group called 412Flock! which was sort of resurrected out of the dying remnants of a previous group called Flock.

When we decided to invest the time to keep 'Flock' running for a year, and continuing to offer welcome, safe, slow, silly rides in streets with traffic we emphasized making new outreaches to communities not traditionally embraced by mainstream advocacy.

Back in January I said, Day of the Dead ride! We had a few 'new-to-us' rides: Cinco de Mayo, Gay Pride, a Cosplay Ride, stuff like that. And in December there's a Chanukah Ride.

As Nov.1 approached, a Pittsburgh cyclist named Susan Hicks was gruesomely smashed between two cars and killed. She was waiting in the lane, behind a stopped car, for the light to change. There was another car behind her. A third car rammed into the trailing car, sending it smashing into Susan and the car in front of her.

What a tragedy. It's a six-lane road and we can't find enough space to make cyclists safe. There was some thought of: how do we do a Day of the Dead ride so soon after a killing? But we decided to open the ride with a DOTD altar in memory of Susan Hicks.



Folks got dressed up and really got into the spirit of the event:



We ended up at New Amsterdam, because: mural!


Tremendous soundtrack from Spotify. Another thing I love about the folks who come out on these rides: nobody talked about the Steelers or the day's game. Nobody said if they won, or lost, not anything. I love that.

One Year since Hit-and-Run Killing

Sat 10/31/2015 19m

The prompt for today's ride was marking the one-year anniversary of Taylor Lee Banks' being killed by a driver in a hit-and-run. No charges ever filed; no public statements.

This is the route of the ride:


This was the scene at the courthouse:



After the ride, Y said he had not ridden around Beaver County too much, so he joined K and I for a ride. We rode the little-known Beaver Falls Bike Trail, shown in this map on the right and also in the video below (at double-speed)




Then we continued north, up the Geneva hill (aka College Hill) to Beaver Falls Coffee & Tea. This is a very nice coffee shop!

Disloyalty Coffee Cards

10.27.2015 Tues 2m
10.29.2015 Thur 21m

On Tuesday I only rode 2 miles. I stopped at Thick to get a Specialized pizza-rack put on the front of my bike.


Then rode over to Big Dog Coffee and did some Wifi time. It rained pretty heavily, and when it was time to go I just remembered the lesson of Ghost Dog:


Later I stopped at 4121 Main to pick up some tea, and saw that they have disloyalty cards! I am so into that!


On Thursday I met my friend Y and we rode around for a while. Then he had a meeting, so I rode the just-Reopened Strip District trail. I poked a bit further along the Allegheny River than the actual trail permits, and came across the coolest little quiet yard in the back of Pitt-Ohio Trucking.

They probably can't uproot the tracks, but they've filled the tracks in with soft mulch and it's a wonderfully peaceful space.

I saw where the Penn Ave bike lane is being extended to Stanwix. Saw a sign, "bikes use vehicular signal" and I really didn't understand that, but friends have explained that some intersections have signs telling cyclists to use pedestrian signals so I guess this adds clarity.

Coffeeneuring 2015-7: KLVN Coffee

10.25.2015

Didn't plan to ride today, then I saw a facebook post advertising a coffee tasting from a new roaster and that's too cool to pass up.

My wife Karen and I started at Schenley Plaza. Rode by the just-placed Ghost Bike for Susan Hicks. There was a rear blinky attached, still flashing; it's a very nice touch.

Coffeeneuring 2015-7: Oct.25 2015. KLVN coffee roasters. Melwood Screening Room, 477 Melwood Avenue. 3 miles. Sampled Honduran, Guatemalan, Kenyan, and Ethiopian coffees, with alfajores (an Argentinian creme pastry).


This was really excellent coffee and a fun rollout event. Great to see the Pittsburgh coffee economy expanding.



This Coffeeneuring was free. Earlier this month in a Pittsburgh cyclist facebook conversation, there was a discussion w/Kitaira about scrounging free coffee at hotel lobbies, car dealerships, waiting rooms, etc. Bill suggested: free coffeeneuring as a theme, then TriciaC leveled-up to the elegant phrase cofFREEneuring. I think that might be my 2016 coffee theme: CofFREEneuring, scrounging 7 cups of courtesy coffee (no thefts!).

Belly of the Whale in the Pinkerton Tunnel

Wed 10.21 13miles
Fri 10.23 31miles
Sat 10.24 31miles

Wednesday I rode from the Bastille to Thick Bikes for a kickstand, and thence REI for some winter pants. Met Chris and Marko. Simple short ride.

Friday I drove out to Confluence with Karen. We parked at the town square. Stopped at Sweetie's after SarahP's strong recommendation re: cookies. Rode uphill to see the new Pinkerton Tunnel. Maybe it's just me, but the ribbed interior has that belly-of-the-whale aesthetic going on.

Had espressos at Rockwood Opera House. Very good. Rode further uphill. Just short of the Salisbury Viaduct, encountered a flock of rather noisy birds. Could not identify them, but my friend Yale tells me they are (1) birds and (2) turkeys.

Friday I learned about the death of a Pittsburgh cyclist. Daylight, clear skies, straight road; following the rules, waiting for the light to change. So pointless, so violent, so unnecessary except: cars.

Saturday we rode the reverse course from Meyersdale to Confluence. Since I hit the top of the hill in Meyersdale doing about 2.3mph, I noticed the new outdoor toolpost by the caboose. Once again, espresso's at Rockwood. There were quite a few people out on the trail. The foliage in this section has mostly fallen from the trees. Trail conditions were excellent.

Coffeeneuring 2015-6: Bookshelf Cafe, Morningside

10.20.2015 23m

Started off at the Bastille with my wife Karen. Rode through downtown and Oakland to an appointment. Kind of a brisk morning, about 43F when we started; pretty and clear weather. Near PPG Plaza we saw the beginnings of a protest march forming up; so cool to be in a city.

We rode out to East Liberty and I took Karen to see Olive & Marlow, purveyors of artisanal olive oils and balsamic vinegars (also, ice cream sandwiches). It's amazing to me that a store selling those two products exists in East Liberty. Also pleased to see two Pittsburgh bicycle police officers, pretty much hanging on a corner and talking with locals; very cool.


On Colin's suggestion, we rode to Morningside (which I've never poked around in before) and The Bookshelf Cafe at 1806 Chislett St Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15206. It's right down the street from St. Raphael's, which has an interesting exterior - I've never seen a Catholic church with that kind of architecture.


The Bookshelf Cafe has a bike rack out front, outside seating, wifi and all the things you'd expect. Great coffee shop.


For #Coffeeneuring, we had a Green Tea Chai Latte and a Double Espresso, along with Thai Pumpkin soup (which was excellent) and some sort of a crumb-bun which was also great. ++recommended.