These are my fave color belts in Pittsburgh:
I think these deer were playing Pokemon Go:
The prosecutor was tremendous. He asked the expert witness, was the bike seat found in the debris? No. Do you think he rode without a seat? No. Oh, so not finding wreckage is different from it not being there. Then the prosecutor said, Do you think that the driver being intoxicated was a factor in the cyclist's death? The expert witness said: that's outside of the scope of my assignment. Nice guy, who established his credentials with being a LAB LCI.
Friday I drove with Karen to Meyersdale, PA. Climbed 8 miles to the Continental Divide, descended 8 miles to Frostburg MD, climbing a heart-breaking half-mile to Broadway and SHiFT, a farm-to-table foodery. OMG.
Karen had a corn-potato-OldBay soup, and I had chilled gazpacho. We both got salads. This is such a tremendous place. A bit of a climb up from the trailhead - I need to figure out a different approach. It doesn't seem necessary to start up on top of the mountain, descend to a point 500' below the main drag of Frostburg, then climb back up.
However, on the list of local supplies: Accident, MD?? Really? Can't we change that to Crash, MD or Collision, MD?
Rode back to Meyersdale. Found a voice message that the driver had been found guilty on all counts.
Stopped in Rockwood at the Rock House Inn. A completely different experience than the localvore chow we'd had for lunch, but we got pizza and wings and it was good. I'll eat there again.
Saturday, 8.20, rode 6 miles around Pittsburgh.
Tuesday Aug. 16 began inauspiciously, with me falling off the bike onto my helmet on Shady Avenue. Remarkably, there was nobody else around. I compressed the helmet and so that's the end of that. #FallDownGoBoom #BumblesBounce
Wednesday Aug 17, I was riding to an appointment. Detoured to SouthSide to look at helmets at Thick. Encountered Karen riding on Jail Trail. Went to OTB for bean cakes and shrimp tacos, very good. Got stuck in a heavy downpour on Ellsworth, took shelter under a hotel awning. There was another cyclist there too, although we only exchanged nods.
It felt a lot like the temple scene from Rashomon. Finally the other cyclist said to me, "My chain is broken". He seemed to be a student and didn't have a lot of English. He had a real nice Raleigh, probably from 1975-ish.
His chain had come off the front chainrings, and wrapped around the crank but it was jammed in place by a bolt holding the chainguard. Between my handtool and his being able to see (my glasses were all rain-spotted), we freed the change. Kind of a nice moment.
Friday Aug.12 I got to escort a group of sleep-apnea engineers around Pittburgh on a team-building session. Nice ride. My ride-partner Becky showed me a brilliant Pittsburgh piece of go-along-to-get-along High Viz: a terrible towel tied to the back of her CamelBack. Absolutely inspired; no Yinzer could stay mad at a cyclist flying the colors.
We stopped to take a look at the Pannier Building, site of the Union Paper Box Company fire of 1915, (more) which was Pittsburgh's version of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire of 1911.. In both cases, women employed in building with sealed windows and locked doors burned to death, or fell to their deaths.
Then we rode to Penn's Brewery and the Heinz History Center. Nice ride, great group.
Saturday Aug.13th I got to escort a group around the South Side. The visible homeless camps have been cleaned out, and the 31st Street ridge camp seems evacuated. Looks like the tents are back on Second Ave.
