12Q2 Begins and Velocio on Rain

04/01/12 243# 46m 48F

And so the second quarter of 2012 begins, with 46 miles on the Montour Trail.

I met K. at the former Wickes and we rode west, marking the unobtrusive near-camouflage of the fracking operations at MP16 and MP18. We rode the alternative trail north of Venice, and checked out the bridge construction in progress at Morganza Road and Georgetown Road, then reversed course.

About the last :45 minutes were in the rain, and while the conditions were certainly not epic they called to mind the wisdom of Paul de Vivie, writing as Velocio:

After a long day on my bicycle, I feel refreshed, cleansed, purified. I feel that I have established contact with my environment and that I am at peace. On days like that I am permeated with a profound gratitude for my bicycle. Even if I did not enjoy riding, I would still do it for my peace of mind. What a wonderful tonic to be exposed to bright sunshine, drenching rain, choking dust, dripping fog, frigid air, punishing winds!

It was a great ride, and we got off the trail in the last moments of twilight.

One Down (and enjoyed)

03/31/12 245# 35m 42F

Rode 35 miles, which brings my mileage this year (and this quarter) to 1014. An informal goal had been 1000 miles in the first quarter, so I've squeaked by that succeeded at that. I am not doing well on my weight goal, ending the quarter at 245 pounds, heavier than I started it; this is not a good thing.

Today I rode from Aliquippa to Coraopolis, stopped at Starbucks where it was warm and wifi-y and I really didn't want to leave to ride home but I did. This ride had 2.5 good hills and I enjoyed the work. A large portion of this ride is on State Bike Route S, which people in cars know as Route 51 and for all practical purposes it is a no-shoulder highway for about five miles. Everybody (driver-wise) is very courteous out there, but they should really not advertise that as a bicycle route.

Took the center lane at a major intersection with a left-turn lane, a through-lane, and a right-turn lane, and then a town policeman pulled up behind me. I was wondering if he was going to question my being in the middle of the road, but maybe my two rear blinkies and my Magic Orange Triangle^TM convinced him I might be quasi-responsible or at least, trying to not get killed.

Passed by a tavern with a banner proclaiming Wednesday night "Bike Night", I think they mean motorcycles but I may have to go over with my Surly and my bike shorts, just for the photo opportunity if nothing else.

It was a very nice day for March 31st, 42F dry roads light winds and overcast, sort of gloomy, and it seemed inhospitable only in contrast to the recent Florida weather we've been having.

		3/31/12 Week 12    this week: 94 miles	245#	1st Qtr 1014 miles 11.1 mi/dayQTR (wow-binary!)		2012: 1014 miles

Connellsville Ohiopyle Confluence

03/26/12 241# 59m 44F

Rode 59 miles on the Great Allegheny Passage from Connellsville through Ohiopyle to Confluence and back, a great ride. This is sort of a "showcase" route with a lot of great and varied scenery, good towns with lots of support available - it's a destination ride rather than spending the day in a "green tunnel" that takes on the attributes of an "endless swimming pool'.

S,S, and I rendezvoused with B at the Connellsville Bottling Company trailhead, and rode through the amazing barrier-protected bike boulevard they've built, stopping at the only traffic light on the GAP between Pittsburgh and Cumberland, and then joining the trail. Connellsville's commitment to the bike economy is unquestionable, as shown by their signature artwork representing the transition from coke ovens to bike wheels.


It had rained the three previous days, and I was apprehensive that the trail might have been soft but it was in excellent condition. There was quite a lot of waterfalls, more than I've seen there before, probably resulting from the rainfall. The combination of no leaves and lots of water combined to good effect.

The scenery was wintery: the trees were stark and bare, there was a lot of visibility through the woods, it was a view of this trail that I had not seen before.


In the photo above you'll see a tree on the right that started to fall across the trail until it was caught by the trees on the left. If you were able to look closely at the base of that all-but-fallen tree, you'd see the photo on the right. IANAN (I am not a Naturalist) but that looks like the work of either a critter with sharp teeth (a beaver?) or a very patient person with a Dremel tool.

We rode into Ohiopyle, known as the second-best rest stop on the GAP (after West Newton Station, of course) and made our way to the general store for a snack. Cups of wedding soup were just what the day's temperatures called for, it was very good. When we got back to the trail B departed our group to return to Connellsville for other obligations.

We continued to Confluence, trail conditions were great. As we pulled into town our first attempts at lunch were unsuccessful; River's Edge doesn't open for the season for a few more weeks, and Sister's Cafe was closing for the day.

We did meet two bicyclists travelling from DC to Pittsburgh, one had a Surly and the other was riding "rack-free" using a frame rack in the triangle, a wedge pack, and a backpack. She said the space constraints forced continuous attention to economy, and that she was riding with a backpack in order to rring her sleeping bag along, but she enjoyed riding the bike without the parasitic weight of the racks.

Stopped at the most excellent Confluence Cyclery to look around and ask advice, and they recommended we go to Sweetie's Bakery and Cafe for lunch which was very good advice. It's about six blocks off the town square, there's a surprisingly large bakery with a dining room and an adjacent pizzeria, and if you get pizza you're welcome to use the bakery dining room. Very good food; I had two slices of pizza and a cocoanut almond biscotti, delicious.

When it was time to go we reversed and headed west and into the wind. On the first leg we were climbing with a tailwind, and on the second leg we were descending with a headwind. While we were eating the overcast had cleared away and the sun was shining, which was very nice. The conditions on the second half, with the sun shining and a slighter higher temp (45F) later in the day, were almost ideal and preferable to the morning.

We rode to Ohiopyle and saw more people on the trail this time, either because of the time of day or the warmer temps. Back to the general store and this time I fortified myself with an ice cream cone (overly generous) and a Starbucks in a bottle, figuring to load up on sugar, fat and caffeine for the last leg.

We had a nice ride back to Connellsville and got a bit of headwind practice in. We had taken an unhurried ride and unrushed stops, so this took most of the day and it was a very nice ride.

Smoothies, Helmets, and Trail Maps - Oh My: Pittsburgh Bike Expo

03/25/12

9 months until Christmas. Just Saying.

Attended the Pittsburgh Bike Expo today with M. and I'm really glad I went. It was a much bigger event than I anticipated, the parking lot at the hotel was quite full, and it was a good event.


Although many of the displays were worthwhile, very few were arresting or completely novel (that's hard to come by) but one local bike shop did well with a trainer kludged up to a blender and letting people hop on to make smoothies, that was pretty cool.

Local bike shops were well represented, and what really pleased me was that businesses and representatives from outlying trails came in to town for the Expo - B&Bs from along the Great Allegheny Passage, lodges in Maryland, etc.

There were reps there from Lizard Head Cycling Guides (more), for instance, very cool and I never would have gotten to see them and what they do if they hadn't come out.

Mary Shaw and Roy Weil were there, and they had "final draft" 2012 versions of their famous "Linking Up" planning guide for the DC-Pittsburgh bike trip that they were selling, I was fortunate to have Herself autograph mine.

There were several regional trail groups there that I've been interested in but haven't been able to find info about - the Butler-Freeport Trail, the Red Bank Valley Trails, and the Ghost Town, Hoodlebug and West Penn Trails, and the Armstrong Trail, and they all had newly updated maps and I may just have a fetish about bike trail maps.

These are the current "open" sections of those trails, and to me it looks like with a little bit of on-the-road connect the dots, you could build some interesting long trips out there:


I was very pleased to see Fiks: Reflective, a Pittsburgh startup funded via Kickstarter that produces reflective wheel rim strips. I bought a set for two of my bikes, I think they'll be effective.

Bandbox was there presenting hats that are actually helmets, or helmets that look like hats, take your pick. It really looked like a boutique hat display and not at all like a rack of helmets. I think they get their market (and it's not me, btw) because they'll do things like mix/match strap colors to match the customer's hair, etc. If there is a term for a female Fred, that would be their spokesperson.

It was a very good Bike Expo.

Not the best of weeks; not the worst of weeks

0 miles today. This was not my best week; an assignment that I accepted got the better of my timing and I missed some great weather to ride. I did get two great rides in with friends, and I did make progress with the bikes and gear, so the 2012 version continues apace with room for some positive-delta on the project management skillz.

Frazz, as you may know, is a comic strip by Jef Mallett that, on the surface, is about school custodian Edwin "Frazz" Frazier and the school where he works, but which, according to Mallett, is really about discovery. Some people believe that Frazz is the grown-up version of Bill Watterson's character Calvin, of "Calvin and Hobbes"; there are physical similarities and parallel developments. Frazz rocks, on many levels, and in the last few days the strip discusses the road-car-bike interface:

Road Rage


Moon Shot (Dedicated to Jason)


What we have here is a failure to communicate...


Wanton Lawbreakers!

		3/24/12 Week 11    this week: 84 miles		1st Qtr 920 miles 10.9 mi/dayQTR		2012: 920 miles

Surly LHT Reloaded

03/22/12 40m 75F

I have my four panniers on my bike and I'm starting to move my overnight gear on board, in a month I have my first scheduled overnight and it's almost time for me to start figuring out where everything goes. I've done it before, so I'm reloading the bike, but I've got new/more gear to pack. The bike is heavier and so a little bit slower, but it does seem that the Surly LHT's reputation for handling even better with a bit of a load on the frame is well deserved.



Rode the Montour Trail and the Panhandle Trail today. Started at McDonald under the Trestle and rode the Montour south-west, listening to local NPR station 90.5 talk about the local bicycle scene - very nicely done. I like listening to NPR on the trail; it's a two-fer. Wore my SPD sandals today, I thought I'd embrace the high temps while they were here.

Approaching Route 50 I left the trail (as the signs indicated) for the on-road detour, only to find that the road was also closed also. I applied "veteran's privilege" and continued, but it should be simpler than that.

Met R. at the trail near his house, and we continued together to trailside Farmhouse Coffee for coffee and biscotti. Top-notch as always, I really like that place.

Reversed and rode back to Route 50 together where we parted ways. Rode the detour route again, except this time I took the offered alternative trail route. Descending and turning on the temporary trail I hit an extended spot of deep soft gravel, couldn't maintain speed and couldn't get my feet out of the pedals fast enough so I fell down ('doing the Artie Johnson, for people of a certain age, aka the horizontal track stand for people of another niche).

I have been so overdue for a fall. I generally fall once every 500 miles and it's been quite a while. No injury, just some road-rash on my forearm. Looking back on it, I think I was foolish to not consider that by exchanging my shoes (with worn-down cleats) for sandals (with fairly new cleats) I was increasing my clip-out time latency. Lesson learned (again), and pretty easily: complacency is the hunter.

I returned to McDonald and rode the Panhandle Trail westbound. They're resurfacing and widening the trail from the Fort Cherry Ambulance Station east, and it looks like they're doing a very nice job of it. I saw that when the Panhandle passed by the Midway VFD with its fire siren tower, there's a rough path that leads to a gas-station convenience store so I got a cold drink and a snack.

Continued on the Panhandle out to the Cataney Airport, where I parked the bike and found a seat. I had my cold drink and Kellog's rice krispie treat and watched RC-airplanes fly around. For a while there were two helos in the pattern, one doing acrobatics and the other doing tactical manuevers. I wondered if these operators would find their skills in demand as the domestic drone industry gains a foothold. After the helos, there was a yellow R/C taildragger giving an airshow. Very impressive.

Got back on the trail and returned to McDonald. 40 miles and a very nice ride.

Bike Rebates, Boats, and Butterflies

03/22/12 241# 0m

No riding to write of. I took on a software project and I needed to actually spend large blocks of time on it and accomplish and deliver. (check, done)

But a few bike things of note. Oh, oh, the REI people sent my rebate and a coupon, and as fast as you can say Ortlieb you know I placed an order for panniers and a sleeping pad, 20% off each.

Saw this totally awesome photo at SheBicycles:



and I thought that was the most awesome thing the day could bring me - Surly, double kickstand, boat! - until I checked out the Bike-Pgh forum, as is my wont while waiting for my code to compile, and this is just the most awesome high-viz bike gear I've ever seen:



This is, of course, the Bike Butterfly, a product developed by Corke Wallis, and I am in awe of the breadth of his vision (and wingspan). While this photo does focus on their 'Wiz Kalifa' model in Pittsburgh black-and-gold, other interesting treatments are also available on their website.

I totally would ride with one of those, even if it is somewhat reminiscent of The Tick's sidekick, Arthur the Moth, and even if his winged suit was a metaphor for his unrealized yearnings.