Pittsburgh Bike Museum, Pamela's, VIPs, 1500 miles YTD

Fri 6/24/11 #222 34miles

0800 McD Burrito 1000 Pamela's Strawberry Pancakes 1200 banana 1600 yogurt, crackers 1730 tuna fish, cheese 1930 two cheeseburger patties, strawberries, carrots

Rode 34 miles in Pittsburgh, in the rain at the start, 75F.

As we approached the start at Western Penitentiary, we took a detour to see the new Bike Museum at 1800 Preble Street. It's a bit of a needle in the industrial park haystack but we found it, and the sign said "Grand Opening, July 2, 10am". I'm looking forward to that.

Here's a 1999 article by Brian O'Neill about bike collector Craig Morrow. Here's a 2009 story in the Trib-Review about Craig Morrow's bike museum, which is called Bike Heaven.

We (J,M,K and I) met at 1000 at Western Penitentiary. Our ride started in the rain (today's cartoon, below, is appropos). As we rode past the Casino we saw the VIP motorcade crossing the Ft. Pitt bridge. We ate at Pamela's Pancakes in Millvale, rode back to the stadia after checking out a Pittsburgh Protractor on the Washington's Landing switchback ramps.

Rode the Ft. Duquesne bridge to the Strip Trail, then rode Penn Ave to Market Square. The ride in downtown traffic was a change of pace from the trail. We joined the Jail Trail at Smithfield Street, and as we worked along the Mon we noticed that the cars on the Parkway were stopped for the VIP motorcade leaving the city. It was a Yehuda Moon moment to ride along rows of stationary cars.

We rode the Junction Hollow Trail up to Oakland, took a break outside the Carnegie Library, then returned down Panther Hollow to the Hot Metal Bridge. We rode the Southside Trail to the closure and then reversed and rode to Station Square.

We crossed the Ft. Pitt Bridge and the Ft. Duquesne Bridge, and coming off the north side of the Ft. Duquense bridge my bike's chain had a disagreement with the front derailleur cage and the der-cage lost. We pressed it into position so it wouldn't rub, and I rode back to the cars in the big ring up front.

The ride ended uneventually, we all had a good time, and right after we got into our cars the skies opened and a heavy rain began. It's remarkable to me that you can ride 34 miles along the rivers on (mostly) trails.

Also, today I crossed 1500 bicycle miles in 2011, year-to-date.


I stopped at Pittsburgh's Best Bike Shop, the Ambridge Bike Shop and they were able to repair the damage. Excellent local bike shop, I really appreciate them.

BTW, six months till Christmas Eve. Just saying.