Breakfast Destination Hot Metal Diner

4/17/11 #233
28.2 miles

Today I rode 28.2 miles in 2h30m, 50F, quite windy. The first section of my ride was the Destination Breakfast at the world-famous Hot Metal Diner on Route 837, so I rode from the Hot Metal Bridge to the Hot Metal Diner, a distance of 6.6 miles with a bit of a climb at the end.



Great ride and I really enjoyed climbing the hill. The food was excellent and the atmosphere was colorfully quirky (in a good way) at the Hot Metal Diner. I had a western omelette (excellent), hash browns (wonderful), corned beef hash (meh). This will be a ride-to-food that I'll do again. Very pleasant experience and great food.

Bicycle Wheel Grabber Killer Drain Gratings on Route 837

On the way back down the hill I crossed over the railroad tracks in Hays, using the new bridge lanes that had recently been rebuilt with stimulus money. I had to stop on the road, because the new drain gratings on the new bridge were absolute Bicycle Wheel Grabber Killers.



There's almost no way you could avoid putting one of your tires into these things. There are five or six of these on the newest lanes going from Hays toward the river. I need to find out who to contact, because there are absolute bike accidents/injuries waiting to happen, especially at night or in the rain.

2011 Steel City Showdown, Bicycle Criterium Race

I rode from the Hot Metal Diner back to the Baldwin Borough Trail, Hot Metal Bridge, Jail Trail, Ft. Duquesne Bridge to the Steel City Showdown, which is a bicycle criterium race. Very cool, well attended, very well organized.

It was very windy, presenting strong gusting crosswinds on the long legs across the bridges. I didn't see a lot of echelon riding, and I didn't see any wheel disks, which I suppose is to be expected.



I watched for three laps, there was a breakaway, a chase group, the peleton, and then a few stragglers. An announcer on the platform with a sound system did a really nice job of calling the race and explaining the nuances to the crowd. Very well run event, I hope they do it again.

The Rest of the Ride

I rode north along the Ohio River, past the Casino and up to the Western Penitentiary. Then I reversed and enjoyed a tailwind, took the Ft. Duquesne and Ft. Pitt Bridges, the Station Square Trail to the Southside trail, and the Hot Metal Bridge to my car — which started, so life is good.