Type 2 Diabetic. Cyclist Flâneur.   Coffeeneur.    Errandoneur
A bike / map geek with a gadget obsession and a high-viz fetish.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

No Smokestacks or Chimney Plumes over Pittsburgh

10/22/2013 #218 30m
Just a remarkably blue-skies, sunny day in Pittsbugh.

Fooled around with the location and loading of my bike gear a bit. Moved my rear trunk bag to the top of my front rack, which should permit me to place my rear panniers (when I carry them) on and off the rear rack without messing with the trunk bag. (My front rack has a separate level for the top-shelf and the panniers.) I think I'm going to like this, although I need to see how it affects my light beams.

Started at the Bastille, rode around the NorthSide to the 40th Street Bridge and crossed the Allegheny. Rode inbound to Point State Park, took Blvd of the Allies to the Jail Trail and the Hot Metal Bridge.

The wind was strong but shifting and I instinctively looked around to find a smokestack, which was something Ron Farley had taught me a million years ago; look for smokestacks, chimney plumes, flags and trees to tell the wind direction, but there just weren't any smokestacks or chimneys giving off any smoke at all. The once "smoky city" was emission-zero; nothing but unstained blue sky.

Finally I spotted the flag at the FBI building and it promised a headwind on the final leg. I spend a few minutes remembering Ron Farley, he was a good, funny man.

Rode the Baldwin Borough Trail down to Costco. Reversed; this time stayed on the west bank of the Mon up to the Ft. Pitt Bridge, across the Ft. Pitt and Duquesne Bridges and back to the car that was still there. 30 miles on a very pretty day.

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