Wednesday, I rode around Exurbia where I live and people aren't used to bikes. Everybody played nice.
May10, rode to GTB, then went Southside, met Rusty. Rode to Thick, stopped at Big Dog, rode to Costco. Great day.
May 13, got to ride with some folks from the Duquesne Club all around town.
May 15. Short errandoneur type-ride; rode to a meeting and the barbershop.
May16, rode around town. Saw Ray, met Handsome Kyle. Stopped at OTB. Saw a Rivendell Cheviot and a pair of Farraday electric bikes which looked really sharp; belt drive and internal rear gearing. Wow.
May19, rode around town with some folks attending a seminar.
I can't believe it's the second half of May and I've only got 568 miles.
The cyclist was wearing a helmet when his head struck the pavement.
There's kind of a contretemps in Pittsburgh politics, with a year-old video of a cyclist on the North Side getting honked at, then getting into a brief argument with, a City Councillor who's a candidate for Mayor. She drove away, and the cyclist gave vigorous chase, catching the Councillor at the next red light and re-engaging.
I know the cyclist, and he's a good person and an experienced bike commuter.
I've done that, chased down a driver and re-engaged them. Lately I'm thinking: you should never chase down a driver to argue with them. You should never chase anybody via any mode to argue with them, because: what if you catch them? How does that end well?
How does that end well when they have a legal firearm, a concealed weapon permit, and the PA Castle doctrine recognizes cars and vehicles as areas where lethal force is authorized if you feel threatened for serious injury?
A story in three parts: The Cyclist and the Castle, (2 roles, 1 Male 1 Female)
Part One: The Initial Exchange. The Cyclist is taking the lane on a street with one lane in each direction. There's no bike lane on the side. There's no generous shoulder. There's a slight incline.
The Driver is late for a downtown public meeting. They're listening to a few voice messages while they're driving in. Traffic is backing up. The sun is bright on the dirty front window, and the Driver is squinting into the glare.
The car ahead turns off the road, and now the Driver is following the Cyclist. Just one lane. No chance of crossing the yellow lines to pass, because there's continual opposite-direction traffic. Hit the brakes. Honk at the cyclist. Lose track of which message I'm listening to. Honk again. No way they're going to be even almost on-time for the meeting.
Coming up to a stop sign. The Cyclist shouts, What's your problem? The Driver shouts, Stay in the damn bike lanes, that's what they're for! The light turns green, the Driver passes the Cyclist. The Driver moves much faster, and in a second is out of range. Event One is over.
Part Two: The Pursuit. The Cyclist is emotionally dissatisfied at the state of affairs. He takes off, intent on catching the Driver. For five blocks, the video shows the Cyclist striving mightily. His Strava recording shows that he crossed the five blocks much faster today than he usually does.
The Driver is stopped, third in a queue of six cars at a red light. She's got the phone out, sorting through emails. She's texted her staff that she'll be late.
The Narrator speaks from the wings. Analysis will conclude that at this moment, the first exchange has been concluded, the actors have been well separated, nobody is at risk, and the Cyclist has gone to great effort (as documented by the heart rate monitor) to pursue and catch up to the Driver. This sets the stage for The Second Event.
Part Three: The Second Event The Cyclist squeeks to a stop right next to the Driver's open passenger window. Over-exerted, spittle flies from his mouth as he shouts into the open car window. He intends to have another word with the Driver.
The Driver is startled at the shouting, turns to see the Cyclist with neck veins popping and chest heaving at her open window, and fears for her safety. She is trapped, boxed in by other cars. She reaches for her concealed-carry pistol and shoots the cyclist twice in the chest (fortunately, not striking his chest-mounted video camera). Blown back by the impact, the cyclist falls to the cement.
Media coverage will include the phrase, The cyclist was wearing a helmet when his head struck the pavement. The Driver will tell the police, "I was afraid for my life". The Prosecutor will find no reason to file charges.
I just don't think it's safe or prudent for a cyclist to chase a driver to argue. I've done it in the past, but I've stopped doing it.
The reader may care to read the PA Law on Castle Doctrine, more recently known as Stand Your Ground:
Tuesday May 2, I rode around downtown to two meetings. Got to hang out in Gasoline Street Coffee for a while.
Saturday May7, I escorted a couple from New Mexico from their downtown hotel out on the GAP to Boston, PA. Living in the desert, they were really impressed at all the springtime greenery along the trail.
I like this painted cement barriers used to define the trail. They look like Easter M&M colors.
This is on the Smithfield Bridge ("inbound" as they say), and the land on the bank of the river is being cleared for the new switchback ramp they're going to start building this year. No news on whether the transition between Mn Wharf and Point State Park is going to be upgraded, but this switchback in itself is a huge improvement.
Errandonnee 2017-12 : Personal Care. I had a crown that ejected from my person last night, so I rode to the dentist to get it re-installed. And with that: Errandonnee 2017 Complete! 12 Errands, Seven Categories, 30 miles.
Total Errandonnee Miles: 34, of 30 required ✔
The categories, Seven of Which Must be Satisfied, with Four Six Seven Accomplished:✔
Errandonnee 2017-11 : Non-Store Errand. Rode to the Taylor Lee Banks Ghost Bike on Route 51, State Bike Route A. Being out in the elements, especially the wind, has blown the ghost bike around. A few zip ties and it was "ship-shape and Bristol-fashion".
Total Errandonnee Miles: 30, of 30 required ✔
The categories, Seven of Which Must be Satisfied, with Four Six Seven Accomplished:✔
Errandonee 2017-09 Work: Rode to Crazy Mocha, made some Gig-Economy Flex-Work phone calls.
Total Errandonne Miles: 17, of 30 required
The categories, Seven of Which Must be Satisfied, with Four Six Accomplished:
Errandonnee 2017-07: Social Call. Stopped at Chilren's Hospital to visit a friend.
The categories, Seven of Which Must be Satisfied, with Four Six Accomplished:
Errandonnee 2017-1: A Store. REI for no-finger gloves on the first day of spring.
Errandonnee 2017-2: Arts & Entertainment. I read at Barnes & Noble for a while. Disappointingly little is new.
Errandonnee 2017-3: Work. I made several work phone calls and did some Cloud-Google-gig at Panera's.
Errandonnee 2017-4: Personal Business. My silver-gray locks needed whacking.
Errandonnee 2017-5: A Store. Stopped at Staples to retrieve a ship-to-store audio cable.
The categories, Seven of Which Must be Satisfied, with Four Accomplished:
Errandonnee 2017 is upon us, 12 errands in 12 days with at least 30 miles, sounds like fun!
Reworked my cockpit, replaced my old sun-faded rainbow tape with some new Pride Tape which is for sale in the retail shop at the PPG Hockey Arena. Have to see how it holds up.
This is the location of a new power plant proposed for the Buena Vista area on the GAP:
Sat if was 58F outside and I just don't know how to dress for that temperature.
Sunday I rode around town. Saw a cyclist on a nice Specialized bike, turns out it's an e-bike:
Hooked up with YC for a few miles. Rode around Point State Park to discover (for myself) an access tunnel that MvD identified in her Frigid Bitch video. I had no idea it existed.
Stopped in Bloomfield for dinner. Afterwards, descending 40th Street from Penn in the dark, I hit a pothole and my Ortlieb pannier broke it's main mounting bracket. I've had this one in continual use for six years, I really can't grip about it.
Monday I rode around town. Picked up some great olives at Salonika Imports. Really a pretty day:
Thursday I rode south to Federal Point. Less windy. The drivers here are cooperative.
I've been getting a little experience with campfire technique, and I've done some batoning for gee-whiz (and without cutting off any personal parts!) Campfire building is something I want to develop this year.
You can Bike, bye and bye,
on that Bike Lane besides the fray;
'twill be done on that great Someday;
So till then, keep your place,
can't ask cars to slow their pace;
don't yinz know this ain't Amsterdam?
There's no budget, there's no rush,
folks in Power want no fuss;
they'll get to it: When They Can.
Politicians shout Complete Streets,
autonomous cars are in the fleet,
but we lose when parking is the fight.
But for now: Take the lane! Ride inside!
cars will bully, friends will die;
we'll mark the scene with a white Ghost Bike.
Join an Advocacy Group, go Ride in Silence,
whistle to block out the violence;
you'll have Bike Lanes in the bye-and-bye.
We rode out to the Heinz Plant, and then rode the new-to-me bikeway/walkway along Route28 from Penn Brewery to the 31St Bridge. It was a nice ride. Then we rode out to the 40th Street Bridge, and out to Caffe d'Amore for great coffee.
Back inbound, stopped at The Clemente Museum in Engine House 25, which none of us have been to, and we need to check it out:
Stopped at Kindred so RC could ogle some hardware. Saw an amazing, old, wonderful Chinese bicycle with pushrod brakes.
Smithfield Street Bridge, Southside Trail, and I felt a bit of squishiness in my rear tire. Fortunately I got back to the vehicle while it was still rideable. This is my second flat in this set of Schwalbe's.
Started in Millvale. Crossed the 16th Street Bridge and noticed this monstrosity of a Borg-structure being erected.
This is just butt-ugly. People may build what they want, I suppose, but what I wonder is: can Pittsburgh possibly have used waterfront property for another car parking garage?
Rode to Point State Park, where the rivers had receded and the debris was being cleaned away. Rode over to Thick Bikes, to see the new signage, with letters constructed out of bike frame elements.
I think - although I cannot speak definitively on the subject - that a topiary will be installed in the framework. It is unwarranted speculation that the Living Wall will feature medical marijuana, and there is no basis for asserting that the Stairway to Nowhere at Thick will provide access to a planned Medical Dispensary. Just Saying.
It was a very nice ride. The Mon-Yough Trail Council does a tremendous job on the trail. The Red Waterfall and the White Waterfall were both doing their thing and looked like they'd be cleaned up. The trail was very clean. Not too many people out, but a few.
In the Things that make you go, unnghhhh. category, some driver left the roadway on State Bike Route A and smashed a roadsign before getting back on course. They also smashed the Ghost Bike for Taylor Lee Banks that was affixed to the road sign.
About two miles south on Route 51, which is also State Bike Route A, there's another Ghost Bike for Arthur Bell which was struck in the last year by a car that had departed the roadway. It's incredible how much out-of-control driving is going on.
To me, bicycles belong on trails, parks, playgrounds, etc.
If only "those people" would stay in their proper places. Barbara must not have heard of the "Bikes Belong" campaign. Perhaps even more to the point, perhaps Barbara never considered whether somebody from Robinson should be advocating for "her" parking spot in a city she's not a resident of. But I digress.
I've had a hard time aligning riding conditions (temps above 25F, dry?) with opportunities, and today I saw the chance to ride my bike to meet a friend for lunch in Carnegie. So I parked the van in Robinson and biked to Carnegie. It's a surprisingly easy connection via Campbell's Run Road. Although it's a two-lane with no real shoulder, all the other road users played nice.
Obligatory Control Tower photo, at the Campbell's Run Road, Railroad Avenue, Mansfield Blvd interchange. An operator used to turn the road-lights red as trains approach. Imagine the train company saying, To me, cars belong in parking lots. Imagine the drivers saying, To me, trains belong in the rail yard. I would think we'd have a lot of very cross vehicles and operators.
I prefer multi-modal inclusion:
Parked at the Panhandle-Montour Connector and rode west on the Panhandle to Burgettstown, thinking I would go to Walden Family Restaurant, get some chow and warm up, and reverse. Discerning humans know that whenever a story begins with "what I was thinking was...", the original path will not come to pass.
Walden's was closed when I arrived, as the sign listing their hours clearly states. But now I was kind of in a jam because it was VFC (very f'ing cold) and I really needed to warm up before reversing. So I tried the door at the newly opened Shoppe Along The Way, a general store on the Panhandle Trail which was open, heated, and smelled like coffee.
Very nice people. I'll be back there again. I think they're in a perfect spot once springtime gets here. A fair amount of cross-country riders use the Panhandle to get to the Montour Trail, to get to the GAP Trail, to get to DC and eventually Yorktown, Virginia which generally is understood to mean the East Coast. I think The Shoppe Along The Way is in a good position.
But more than anything, I'm grateful that a business that was staring at closing time on a slow day, extended hospitality to a cold transient who was hoping to warm up.
The ride back was great. No wind, fortunately. It was dark by the time I was strapping the ECR onto the bike rack.
This afternoon's rain never really stopped as much as it transitioned into drizzle fo shizzle. Between the warm temps, the presence of a lot of melted-snow-moisture in the ground, and the low winds it was kind of a gray day and it turned into a bit of a low-visibility afternoon. Still, it was 45F.
I rode the LHT out to Five Points in Hopewell. I usually avoid Broadhead Road, because it's congested and single-lane, with lots of businesses but I thought it was more prudent than Route 51 with it's high speeds. So I rode Broadhead to Five Points, and it worked well. Everybody played nice.
I was so over-warmed when I got to Five Points that I pulled into McD to get a cold drink and cool off. Changed to lightweight gloves. I definitely should have been wearing a light (rather than a medium) wool sweater. There are two lasting truths:
