Never Get Between Two Groups of Noobs

4.26.2014 #222 48m

Rode with my neighbor Jack, who's preparing for the MS150 in another six weeks. Started at the Bastille, encountered a significant cluster of cyclists including two on hand-crank recumbent trikes, a few really nice Dutch-style ebikes, and a few Surly's. Diversity on the bike trail. Turns out, one of the cyclists (Cathy) is the owner of Aero Tech Designs Cycling Apparel in nearby Coraopolis. I felt at a loss, she asked if I'd been to their store and I've been by it quite a few times but I assumed it was a B2B operation. (wrong, apparently). Cool to meet a bike kit manufacturer on a Pittsburgh bike trail. She's riding in the Big Ride Across America this June through July.

At Point State Park we saw the progress of Ed Trask's mural, "heART this city":

Took the Ft. Pitt Bridge over to the South Side Trail, took a picture of my road bike with some springtime tulips:

This is the first time I've had the road bike out in quite a while. I enjoyed the reduced weight, the relative nimbleness, the 28 tires vs the 35s. I miss the cross brake levers and the rear-view mirror, and I miss the body-english that I lose with the nose-less saddle.

We went out to the Riverton Bridge and Jack wanted a few more miles, so we went out to Boston PA and the green boxcar. To return via a different route, we crossed the VerSails Bridge and returned via the McKeesport Loop.

The headwind on the return leg was pretty strong. It had me feeling for the cyclists out doing Crush The Commonwealth, who got rained on all day Friday and who have to fight this headwind all day Saturday.

A terrible thing happened and it completely was my fault. A parent and a little boy were walking his new bike along the trail. They asked, got any tools? His pedal keeps unthreading? So we stopped. They needed a wrench and I didn't have one. There was a cluster of a dozen noobish riders approaching, so I called out, anybody got a wrench or pliers? The first rider said, I do! and was so eager to help he locked up his brakes, causing a predictable confusion behind him and one gentleman took a hard fall on the pavement. I should never have gotten between two groups of noobs.

Today reminded me how very much my left knee resents clipless shoes (the kind that clip in, naturally) and I need to change the pedals on this bike. Other than that, the road bike was great.