| 9/03/11 44miles |
I've been off the bike since riding last Saturday with an injured left knee. I've had advice (which seems valid) that it's an overuse injury exacerbated by lack of stretching. For a week, I've been eating Motrin and elevating/icing the knee and it's been feeling better.
Today I got back on the bike. As I drove out to Oakland I kept the knee wrapped up to keep it warm, and for the first twenty miles of our ride I wore my winter pants with the same intent. I don't know if that was necessary, but it seemed prudent and unlikely to make things worse. The knee felt good, and it felt better as the ride progressed.
Our group (R, M, myself) formed up at the south end of the Eliza Furnace Trail (aka Jail Trail) (GPS address: 88 Swinburne Street, Pittsburgh 15207).
We rode the Jail Trail, Hot Metal Bridge, SouthSide Trail, Baldwin Borough Trail, walked along the train tracks adjacent to the metal recycling yard, and rode through Sandcastle's parking lot to the Waterfront Trail. We rode the Kennywood Trail to Duquesne, crossed the Riverton Bridge, took the trail through McKeesport to Boston, and followed the Dead Man's Hollow Trail to the green Boston Box Car, where there's a nice trailhead and a visitor's info booth (staffed by a volunteer).
We were very pleasantly surprised by the number of people out on the trail (and at a relatively early hour). Many of the people were riding to Ohiopyle, and they ranged from college students with milk crates for panniers to geezers (people my age).
We reversed course, got to Southside Works and saw the outdoor Yoga class at Tunnel Park, SouthSide Works. Sidebar: Yoga shows some benefit for diabetes
There's always something different going on along the trails. R and M stopped at REI for some shopping, and I took the chance to get a new 2011 Pittsburgh Bike Map (version 4.0) by BikePgh.
After that we meandered to the base of Junction Hollow, then rode to the Point and back to the original trailhead. This was the first time I saw other bicycle riders on the Mon-Whorf Trail.
It was a great day for a ride, there were a lot of people out, and I was grateful that my knee was playing nice.
| 9/03/11 Week 34 | this week: 44 miles | [3rd quarter: 1382 miles] | 2011: 3073 miles |
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