Saturday Morning Burgh, Evening S24O Entertaining

05/19/12 243# 36m

My plan of the day was to ride in the city in the morning, and in the evening go out on the Montour Trail for an overnight campout to shakedown my gear.

Started 0900 at the Bastille with M, who's been working out of town and it was a welcome reunion. Rode around the northside, stopped at some sort of health-walk at the stadia, went out to the 31st STreet bridge and then back through the Strip District. Stopped at Point State Park which was hosting a Venture Outdoors celebration.

Saw some tri-types in a sort of bicycle urban orienteering competition, it looked like they were really working hard at it. Saw a bicycle skills course being laid out and another vendor was queing up electric-assist and electric-shift bikes for demo rides.

Rode out on Blvd of the Allies to Grant Street, took the Jail Trail and Hot Metal Bridge. Cruised the newly opened AEO-HBH plaza, checked out the OTB bike corral, went to Big Dog Coffee for the coffeeneuring phase of the ride (photo). Biancha mochas and elephant ear pastries, very nice. A young couple had just become engaged and asked us to take a photo. Rode to Keystone Metals (wish they'd open that mini-segment), reversed to Station Square, crossed Ft. Pitt bridge, crowded Point State Park, Ft. Duquesne bridge, rode back to the Bastille, 27 miles. It was great to see Mark and get to talk with him, and doubly so on bicycles.

In the afternoon I tried to re-assemble my bike kit, which is actually about a hundred different items that may or may not remain in formation. Last week I took geat out of their normal places to gather my TOSRV supplies, and then on the return it was hither and yon for drying and cleaning, and it became scattered.

I stopped at REI for some MRE-type meals, bought a pouch of mandarin orange chicken and another of spicy sausage pasta, by Natural High. There really isn't a place for overnight parking along the Montour, so I parked in McDonald and hoped for the best (it was fine). I spent at least a half-hour sorted gear into panniers and trying to get my stuff together.

I was unsure of water availability, so I carried an extra half-gallon container from a convenience store. Between the four panniers, bedroll, and the water jug it was a pretty heavy bicycle when I started out on the trail.

After a few miles my front fender support failed. I'm guessing the weight on the bicycle flexed it a bit too much. No damage and I consider it part of the reason to do a shakedown, and I'm glad it happened now and not when I'm halfway between DC and Pittsburgh.

Crossing Route50, my cellphone range and my friend K was on the trail behind me and had seen my car, so we agreed that he'd catch up to me which was no great leap of faith given my speed.

I reached the Montour Trail's Kurnick campground around MP25.5 at almost the same time that D. arrived from the other direction, he was doing the same thing - checking out his gear for a DC-Pgh ride.

All five campgrounds were unoccupied so I started checking for a site with optimally spaced trees and chose Site2. D chose Site1 to set up his REI tent. My friend K came up the trail on his mountain bike and I got the hammock up pretty quickly, it really does only take about three minutes. That was pretty cool, established for a few minutes and hosting guests.

We had a nice visit, I hadn't seen K for a few weeks, and then he had to go as he had miles to make before it got dark. I continued setting up camp, rigged the stove, arranged some gear etc when my friend R. stopped by on his Rivendell. He lives a few miles out on the trail and came bearing gifts of bug spray and a water jug, both of which were very thoughtful.

I "made" coffee (which means, I boiled water and invoked the Starbucks Via ritual) and it was pretty good. I "cooked" the spicy sausage pasta; it was pretty good for an MRE, it certainly had a variety of tastes for the palate and probably better for morale than a PB&J, but nothing you'd ever be happy to have at a restaurant. As darkness began R. departed and I did a bit of camp clean up.

I climbed into the hammock and it was immediately obvious that the trees I'd used weren't far enough apart, the hammock had way too much of a bend in the middle. I thought, give it a few minutes but it didn't get any better it just got darker, so I got out of it and searched for another spot.

I was using a Petzl headlight, several years old and dim by contemporary standards but quite workable, and it was an awesome tool. I found two trees on a slope, took down and re-rigged the hammock. I realized I had the entry side of the hammock on the wrong side of the slope so that it was five feet up into the air, so I took it down and hung it the other way, and it all went well and I feel a bit more proficient at hanging the hammock in the dark.

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May 19, 2012 Week 19 this week: 117 miles

243#

2nd Qtr 861 miles 17 mi/day2-QTR

2012: 1877 miles

Marshmallows and the Patina of Faux Legitimacy

03/07/12 32m 62F

32 miles on a sunny warm day, 62F on March 7th. Met my friend K and we started riding at the Bastille. We rode the Casino Trail, the Ft. Duquesne Bridge, and while crossing Point State Park we saw a row of kids building fires.

It seemed a very well behaved group and unlikely to be Anarchists (NTTAWWT) so we stopped and asked, and it was a high school Outdoors club on a field trip building campfires and cooking marshmallows. They were kind enough to give me a marshmallow, and so the ride started with an unexpected treat.

We took Blvd of the Allies down to Grant Street, and then worked our way across town to the co-location of the Civic Arena (the old hockey facility being demolished) and the Consol Energy Center (the new hockey center). There was quite a crowd there for the unveiling of a statue of Mario Lemieux. There were three or four news helicopters orbiting overhead, quite the event and an indication of how the region fetishizes professional sports.



If I understand correctly, what's really happening in this photo is they're associating the new building with historical acts that took place across the street (in the historic building they're demolishing) in an attempt to make the new building more credible and profitable. Then they'll develop the land under the legacy facility for fun and profit, and put a Nordstroms and loft spaces where the deeds were done. Get Me Rewrite!

From our position on the periphery of the crowd we couldn't see anything. Although the crowd had their back to it, I took a picture of the partially demolished Civic Arena (above). What an impressive mechanism the rotating and opening roof was, and how brutally indifferent the march of progress time is. Someone once said, 'the saddest three words ever written: that was then...'

We departed, joined the Jail Trail and the Hot Metal Bridge, and went to Southside to partake of the offerings at Big Dog Coffee. K got to talking hockey with owner Nikolay. I had a white-chocolate mocha (extra shot) and biscotti, K had a latte and a cookie, it was all excellent (as it seems to be every time there).

We departed, rode the new AEO-HBH (american eagle outfitter - hof brau haus trail) and rode north to Station Square, where we arrived pretty much on time to meet our friend B. coming off work.

B. has a beautiful aluminum Trek 7.3, a very nice bike, and he wasn't familiar with the downtown trails so we took off exploring. Down to the South Side, saw a Pittsburgh Bicycle Policeman (very very cool). We tooled around South Side Works and the Steelers' training field, the Hot Metal Bridge and the Jail Trail.

As we rode the joint-use-sidewalk between the Jail Trail and the Smithfield Street Bridge we encountered a bicyclist with Donkey Boxx panniers on her bike, very cool. Went to Point State Park (the marshmallow folks were gone), the Strip Trail, under the Convention Center (the fountains were off, unfortunately) and then out to the 31st Street Bridge.

Across the Allegheny River, and came back in via the Northside trail. We encountered quite a gaggle of kids, I think that maybe a high school class was out talking a walk on the trail.

We rode past the Heinz plant to the Stadia, and the Ft. Duquesne and the Ft. Pitt bridges back to Station Square. That's one of my favorite bike routes in the cities, going from the North Side to Point State Park to StationSquare in (probably) eight minutes, you can't do it that quickly in a car.

The trails were somewhat congested later in the ride, so we got a bit of use out of our bells requesting to pass. We rode 32 miles and it was a very nice day for it.

Friday Fence Crossing

03/02/12 #235 22m 53F

Rode with my buddy M. Started at the Bastille and took the Casino Trail, the Ft. Duquesne Bridge, the Ft. Pitt Bridge and the Station Square trail. Encountered two opposite-direction Segway riders. I don't have any problems with Segways on the trails, I know some people do. To me it's a bit problematic for bicyclists, who protest hey we belong too! to say "sorry you can't be here". I get barring quads and dirt motorcycles (damage and risk), and I can anticipate legal implications in acquiring land for a bike trail and permitting other uses, but I think the Segways belong. they steer, they're here, get used to it! < /rant off>

Continued on the trail to South Side Works. Took the new AEO-HBH (American Eagle Outfitters - Hof Brau Haus) trail plaza to Hot Metal Bridge, then rode over to my favorite southside coffee shop Big Dog Coffee for mocha blancas (mochas with white chocolate - creamy goodness!)

All the bike racks out front were filled (with among others, a very nice Surly CrossCheck), we made due with an impromptu mooring. We spoke with (I believe) the owner's wife out front, and then went in. The coffee was excellent, the biscotti was wonderful, the vibe was way cool. I really like Big Dog Coffee. Later in the day, I found this photo of our bikes on the Big Dog Coffee facebook page:


Departed and rode south to Keystone Metals. I enjoy riding with M, I've ridden with him more than anybody else and I think we both have a good sense of what each other are going to do, it's nice to not be riding defensively vis-a-vis your company (among other reasons).

Sometimes you see a curious thing up ahead and you wonder "what is that" and bicycling gives you a moment to appreciate the puzzle before you get there. In today's instance, on the Baldwin Borough Trail abeam Becks Run Road, we saw a bicyclist climbing the fence between the trail and the railroad track. And then he came back and climbed it again, stopped and taking a position at the side of the fence, and as we approached (and stopped) it was clear that he intended to reach down, pick up his bike, and self-portage over the six-foot chain link fence. This was, indeed, a hard-man cyclist.

We stopped and asked if we could help and he was very appreciative. He explained that he routinely rode the trail to this position, where the gate was consistently closed but unlocked, and transitioned across the tracks to Becks Run Road. He was surprised to find the gate locked today.

I so wanted to take a photo of him reaching down and lifting his bike (which was a nice bike) but it seemed poor form to take a photo of somebody in difficulty prior to helping. So we eschewed the photo and embraced the karma, lifted his bike over to him and he went on his way. I was really impressed at his resolve to get himself and his bike over the fence all by himself.

We got down to Keystone Metals, reversed with the feeling of a few rain sprinkles and rode via Ft. Pitt and Ft. Duquesne Bridges back to the Bastille. It was great to ride with M.

Coffeeneuring Ride: Big Dog Coffee, Southside

01/24/12 #232 30m

Rode 30miles in 38F today, a marked difference from yesterday's ride but still a great opportunity. Started on Neville Island right under I-79 at the Fairfield-Marriott, rode south along Neville Island and into McKees Rocks.

Tragically earlier today in McKees Rocks the body of a young man was found, shot in the head. Two days in a row, bodies found along my bike route. That trend needs to stop, people.

From McKees Rocks south on 51 to the West End, then Carson Street to the Station Square trail. Continued south on the trail to Southside works, took a right on the street that REI is on, and continued west of Carson Street.

What I love about "west of Carson Street" is that while there may be some gentrification, it's an authentic Pittsburgh neighborhood rather than a generic aspirational-upscale retail facility (AURF) where you can't tell what town you're in.

My path took me just beyond the world-famous Nadine's, which I love but that's more of a breakfast stop for me. Herself was outside and waved as I rode past. Took a left on Sarah and found myself at my coffeeneuring destination, Big Dog Coffee at 2717 Sarah Street.

The location was bike friendly, two Three Rivers bike racks out front - and something I hadn't seen before, a cleat for securing dog leashes, very nice. There's an outside seating area but it wasn't getting much use today.

The interior is really very nice - roomy, high ceilings, well lit. Much more of a residential vibe than, for instance, Espresso a Mano. Wifi, pastries, pleasant staff, great bagels. Big Dog Coffee is now my favorite Southside Works coffee shop.

They're very serious about coffee, as they probably should be. The queue at the counter moves quickly. I really like the layout of rooms.

I left Big Dog Coffee (resolved to stop again and again) and joined the trail at the Hot Metal Bridge, and rode south to Keystone Metals. I really hope that some path through Sandcastle is available this year, even if it's just the new dirt trail by Keystone and a jaunt through the SC parking lot. It makes me think of the old world maps that had monsters and typhoons on the margins, except that on the Pittsburgh trail system the impassable maelstrom is pretty centralized.

Turned north into a strong headwind, which I hadn't really noticed as a tailwind on the first leg. North to Station Square, north on 51. There's a lane restriction where 51 goes down to a single lane south of the McKees Rocks Bridge, but it's only fifty yards and it wasn't a significant issue.

I wore a lightweight wool layer today and ended up a little bit cold in the torso, and that's not necessarily a bad thing; it's better than overheating.

Rode through the Rox and Neville Island, and stopped at I79 in the hotel parking lot. 30 miles on the computer and 38 on the (virtual) thermometer. Longest ride of the year to date (LROTY).

Today's ride also puts me at an average of 10 miles/day for January, which is pretty cool.

After the ride I stretched the comfort zone and washed my bicycle. It actually looks very nice when it's all clean and you can see the details rather than the accrued crud.