55, Bike Shorts, and a YinSter

01/23/12 #233 26m

Yesterday there was five or six inches of snow on the ground. Terribly rainy and mild temps this morning followed by several hours of bright blue skies and 55F, so the surface was very wet but atmospheric conditions were wonderful.

I skipped the long pants, the shoe booties, the wool layer, and the jacket and ended up riding in bike shorts, a UnderArmour ColdGear shirt, and a bike jersey.

Rode from the Bastille around to the Science Center, where the trail was closed for some police activity that involved boats in the water. But they did a good job of closing it, bright markings and an officer telling you where to get back on.

Rode around the stadia on the paved trail, and when the trail turns to dirt I went on the road to avoid the wet, slushy muck. Used the 31st Street Bridge to cross the river, and took the photo above. (Ordinarily I'd crop the gratuitous blue sky at the top of the photo, but in December January in Pittsburgh I'm not cropping any blue sky, thank you.)

Took Penn and Butler over to Espresso a Mano, excellent coffee and atmosphere as always. The sun was so warm I was tempted to remove the UnderArmour.

Riding toward the Cork Factory along Railroad Street I had a very positive experience, a police car coming from behind slowed way down rather than passing me and stayed back at my 8:00 position, I thought man, what's this going to be? so I stopped, and he waved me on explaining that he just didn't want to right-hook me. Totally unexpected.

I rode the Convention Center trail behind a young rider (potentially a YinSter, the famous Pittsburgh Yinzer Hipster, it's really obscure you probably haven't heard of it) who had a beautiful bike with a really nice wooden fender, the type you find at ClankWorks, which was keeping the spray off his messenger bag.

Rode to the Point and around to the Mon Wharf Trail. Instead of portaging up the staircase as has been my routine, I rode the ramp up to the street as S. recently showed me and it's a much better transition.

Jail Trail to Hot Metal Bridge, where I saw the new snow shovels locked to the fence for bicyclists to use; very nice. Hung a left onto the Baldwin Borough Trail. The very southern end of the trail, just north of Keystone Metals, is in quite a bit more shade than the rest of the area, and so there was a lot more slush/snow still on the trail.

Came back via Station Square, and it started raining as I crossed the Fort Pitt Bridge, Point State Park, and the Fort Duquesne Bridge. The rain stopped as I got down to the river on the northside. The trail was open now at the Carnegie Science Center, and as I rode along the Ohio there was a beautiful rainbow. And I rode back to the Bastille uneventfully.

My bicycle is getting really dirty, and in spite of my commitment to not cleaning it I may have to wash it, it's almost disrespectful to let it get this dirty.

Nine Mile Run and Duck Hollow Trails

7/4/11 #223

0900 yogurt 1300 Clif Bar 1500 Chai Tea, Lemon Cake 1700 Grilled Steak-GreenPeppers-Onion Pita 1930 nuts

Rode 40 miles in Pittsburgh, mostly trails. Started at the Western Penitentiary, and the Jail Trail (the cooling mist station was operating at the Jail Trail Bike Rental, very nice!), and rode Junction Hollow up to CMU.



I was caught in the rain coming up Junction Hollow, and when the rain got heavy I was standing under the semi-shelter of a bridge. I got to meet a father-and-son riding together, and a CMU student going back to campus, who were also waiting out the rain and we talked bikes. Finally I felt like getting on with it (I guess I lost the patience contest), so I launched into the rain (which immediately got heavier). I ended up soaked in a major way, and remarkably it didn't kill me.

After Junction Hollow I was breaking new ground as far as places I've ridden before. I went crosstown via Fifth, Wilkins, Forbes, Murray, Shady, Starbucks, Forbes (actual bike lanes!) to Frick Park.

I've always liked Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill, it reminds me of the time/place I grew up (except we didn't have Russians). I wanted to check out the BikeTek shop but it was closed for the holiday weekend. I enjoyed tea and a slice of cake at the Forbes Ave. Starbucks.

Frick Park was amazing, there was very little sense of being in a city. Navigation within the park and its multiple trails is a bit of an orienteering exercise, but I ended up on the Tranquil Trail and then the Nine Mile Run trail to the edge of the park, and then picked it up outside Frick Park. The intercept of Duck Hollow Trail was easy, Duck Hollow Trail is a great trail. DHT terminates in a place where if (IF) you portage across five active railroad tracks you end up on Second Avenue. Then I rode Second Avenue, bada bing bada boom, back on the Jail Trail.

Crossed the Hot Metal Bridge to the South Side Trail. I expected it to be closed at the American Water Works project but I was rewarded for my efforts by finding the trail open until the traditional endpoint, just short of the Glenwood Bridge.


Rode back to SouthSide Works, where I discovered that Pita Pit on Carson Street is an excellent place to get some food and fill bidons. (I am only using French words because of the TourDayFrance.)

Today we are pleased to introduce the first entry in an occasional series called "Cool Graphic of the Day", for Shop.412 (blog) which is an urban lifestyle boutique adjacent to REI. They've got the 412 area code, a hypocycloid (part of the Steelers logo), very nicely done. Somebody from Pittsburgh would get it. Somebody from New York City probably would not. They may be working the ironic yet iconic Hipster-Yinzer-Mullet niché.

I stopped at Golden Triangle Bike Rental at SouthSide Works to glomm a copy of their new Pittsburgh bike map:


Rode the trail to Station Square, crossed the Ft. Pitt bridge. I had hoped to ride the Strip District Trail but it was shut off due to the Regatta at the Point, so I crossed the Ft. Duquesne Bridge and rode the trail out to Millvale and back. The afternoon's baseball game had just ended and there was a lot of foot traffic, so I used a few streets and rejoined the trail at the Casino.

It was a great day to ride.