Steel City Cycling

I'm approaching my 500th consecutive day of riding a bike outdoors at least once a day. Through mostly unplanned happenstances, the milestones have tended to occur around unique circumstances (for example, day 100 was in NYC, Day 400 was in Philly). The family and I found ourselves in Pittsburgh a few days ahead of day 500, but we'll call it close enough:

That photo was taken on Sunday, the morning of day 498. As you can see, neither one of those are a bike owned by me. I owe a debt to bike share systems for allowing me to keep this streak alive. Off the top of my head, I think this past weekend was the third different bike share I've utilized on this journey. This particular incarnation is called Healthy Ride:

Side note: I had a chance to ride one of these more than 4 years ago but didn't. Anyway, it's pretty similar to most bike sharing systems. In this instance, you DO have to create an account and enter a credit/debit card before checking out a bike, which keeps the kiosk system much simpler (as you can see above). All of the data entry is on the rear of the bike:

You can use the app and QR code, but because I don't expect to be here very regularly, I chose to use my phone number and pin instead. The bikes are actually a little less unwieldy than most other bike share systems I've utilized, with a modest cargo space on the front:

If you happen to find one of the newer bikes, they actually have SEVEN speeds! Most only have three:

If you look closely above, you can see the cable lock. This method allows you to lock the bike anywhere if you need to stop at a store but don't want to lose your bike (similar to the Blue Bikes I rode in New Orleans). That can be pretty handy, but it can also lead to some pretty clumsy lock jobs when bikes are returned to their docks:

All in all, I really enjoyed using the system. It might even be my second favourite bike share out of all my travels.

Anywho, on Saturday morning I was flying solo. I wanted to head eastward from Downtown on the Great Allegheny Passage for a few miles before heading back through the south shore:

As you can see, it was a pretty great morning to be on the trail. The GAP has long been on my list of cycling destinations, and even though I was only on it for about 3 miles, I can say I was there. I still want to do the whole thing one day.

From there, I headed south over the Monongahela River via Hot Metal Bridge. I love the name, and it's actually got a pretty interesting history if you care to read the above link:

You know what? It even looks cool. It also provides a nice view of downtown if you cross it on a nice day, which I was fortunate enough to do:

Once on the southern shore, I decided to venture OFF the trail and through the neighborhoods because I'd read something about this thing called a "neighborway." It turns out that they're basically bike-friendly roadways with a few extra qualifications. I didn't mind it though. The area was quaint. Kinda reminded me of Near Northeast Philly a little:

This "detour" enabled me to find some neat bike rack art along the way:

And another nice view of downtown before I headed back to our apartment:

We spent Saturday sightseeing (not on bicycles) with Faith, my mom, and stepdad. It was a very good day, we saw and learned about many fantastic things, laughs were shared and good times were had, but there's still nothing like seeing a city on a bike. 

There's also nothing better than getting others to share in the joy. Sunday morning, I was able to convince Rae to go along for a ride with me. We decided to head the opposite direction, this time heading west on the Mon Wharf:

Overall a nice trail, especially because it wasn't flooded (ha!) but there were a couple narrow spots. Yikes:

Not so bad, tho. We stopped briefly at Point State Park:

Before heading across the Allegheny River via the Fort Pitt Bridge:

What awaited us on the other side was a chance to visit Mr. Rogers looking over his neighborhood:

This was an unexpectedly moving experience. The park completes the atmosphere by playing recordings of Fred Rogers singing and talking, just like most of you probably remember from your childhood. It was pretty damn special. I wish we'd had more time to stick around. I guess we'll have to come back. ;)

We headed back across the river via the Roberto Clemente Bridge, which features adorable bike lane paintings:

A notable aside, Roberto Clemente is one of my favourite baseball players of all-time. I highly recommend you read his story as well.

We headed back to our apartment to get ready to head out for the weekend, but not before taking in one more very fun sight in the afternoon:

Despite losing the first two games of the weekend series, my beloved Philadelphia Phillies were able to awaken their bats on Sunday and pull out a huge victory in one of the most beautiful stadiums I have ever had the pleasure to visit. 

It's so strange sitting here writing this because it's taken me an hour, and I feel like we saw so much this weekend, yet we barely scratched the surface of this charming old city. Like I said above, I guess we'll have to go back. ;)

Tomorrow will be my actual 500th day, but this weekend will count as the honorary celebration. Cheers to another ride, 500 more days of adventures, and hopefully many more.

Hitch Your Bike to It

I'm sure you've heard the phrase "The adventure is its own reward" many times by now. Let me tell you, getting a trailer hitch on a car is quite the adventure these days. For our purposes, we're not using it for a trailer, but rather a hitch mounted bike rack. As you can see below, we did get it installed and loaded successfully:

The pic is a bit of an optical illusion. The bikes aren't that much wider than the car. Anyway, the adventure I was speaking of was the one that took us about a month to complete in getting the hitch actually installed on the car. I'm throwing this out there as an informational statement for any of you who are planning big vacations later this Summer and might be considering such an upgrade to your car.

It began in mid-May, a few weeks after Rae had traded in her Chevy Trax for the Equinox you can see above, hiding behind four bikes (side note: the used vehicle market is decidedly in the buyers' favour right now, so take a look around - you'd be surprised what kind of great deals you can find). The intent was to increase the in-car capacity and also add a trailer hitch to maximize that extra space. Soon after exchanging cars, I booked an appointment with U-Haul to get a hitch installed.

On a Wednesday afternoon, the day before the installation, we got a call that the part was not in stock and was on order, hopefully to be shipped within a day or two from a store not too far from ours. They said they would call us when the part was in to reschedule our installation. No big deal, right? We still had almost a month until we left for the beach.

Well...the weekend passed and so did Monday without an update, so I called. There wasn't much new information available; the part was still on order, and supposed to be in soon. On top of that, their chief hitch installation technician was on vacation for that week. I was starting to get a little concerned. I waited a few more days, called again, and was told the same thing. After a third try, we decided that we had to go into the store to speak with a manager directly.

Before you get the wrong idea, we didn't go full Karen on the guy. We explained that we simply wanted an update on the situation and what we could expect, because we were now just a little over two weeks away from the trip. As is common in this day and age, manufacturers can't keep up with demand, so almost every hitch that they sell is on backorder, with requests filled ASAP. The staff at U-Haul actually recommended that we look into plan B if we had one.

Thankfully, we did. We found a hitch on etrailer.com that matched our car and decided to do a self-install. I had considered doing this anyway when U-Haul said their technician was away, figuring I could grab the hitch and save some money. If you have the tools, the capability, and the time to do the work, I highly recommend going this route. Our hitch was delivered in less than a week and we were ready to install as soon as it arrived:

I do recommend having an extra set of hands to help in the process (thanks to my neighbor for being that extra set of hands). The process really wasn't all that difficult. All the parts were included, and the etrailer website has installation videos for just about everything they sell. And so, after about a month of back-and-forth, we had our upgrade:

It is also worth noting that if you're looking to buy a bike rack, they're also in short supply these days. We bought this one used at an estate sale towards the end of last Summer. In hindsight, I'm really glad we didn't install it on the old car.

I wanted to get it installed a few weeks early so we could test it out around home before making a long trip. Though I didn't get to do as much testing as I would have liked, it did all work out in the end, and the bikes survived all the way to Delaware:

This is a good chance for me to mention my friends at First State Brewing, who just opened late last year. If you are passing thru Middletown, DE, I highly recommend stopping in. The food (and beer) are fantastic, and it's extremely family-friendly.

Anywho, I'm writing this whole thing from Bethany Beach, DE, on the final day of our vacation. It's gray and rainy outside this morning after almost a full week of beautiful sunny days. In an interesting twist, it's been so hot and sunny that we've wanted to spend most of our time at the beach (go figure), so the bikes have been mostly sitting idle at the bike racks for the majority of the trip. I'm not complaining at all. I just find it amusing.

That's not to say there hasn't been some bike activity. Of course, I have been making sure to ride every day around the neighborhood at the very least:

I took one ride to the beach for the day when the kiddo and Rae were feeling like staying out of the sun:

Rae and I took a quick ride to pick up breakfast for the family one morning:

I was able to sneak in one longer-ish ride down the Coastal Highway to Ocean City, MD to visit friends a couple days ago:

And finally, Rae and I took a 5AM ride yesterday to see the sunrise over the ocean on what will probably be the last nice weather day of this trip:

And of course, now that we have the carrying capacity, this is just the first of what will hopefully be many more adventures with our new toys. The majority of Summer lies ahead, and I am excited to see what we'll see...

Coffee & Normalcy

After all of these years riding and blogging about my adventures, it's rare that I experience a "first" these days. That said, there are still plenty of firsts to be had, and I had one today: my first ever coffee ride. For those of you unfamiliar with this type of ride, it's essentially what it sounds like: it's a group ride to get coffee.

If you know me well, you know that I'm no stranger to group rides. I join as many as I can fit into my schedule. So why haven't I participated in a coffee ride before today? It's not that I didn't want to, but it's just not my preferred riding style. My ideal weekend day involves having breakfast and coffee at home, and then heading out for a ride. So in that regard, it was kind of outside my comfort zone to join in one this morning.

I found out that the good folks at roll: were resuming their coffee rides thru a personal invite from my good friend Jason, who used to work for them. Timing is everything, because I have been really itching to get back to some semblance of normalcy in a post-COVID world. This seemed like as good a time as any:

A modest turnout for an early Sunday morning ride, but a good one nonetheless. Also a gorgeous morning to be on a bike:

Our destination was Roosevelt Coffeehouse in downtown Columbus, about 4 miles away from the starting point in Bexley. Not a bad way to spend a morning at all:

In addition to coffee, they had some delicious handmade vegan "pop tarts" that were a perfect mid-ride snack:

I don't know if I've showed off my new sasquatch bike riding sticker here yet, but just in case, here it is:

Most everyone dispersed from there, but as the weather was still relatively pleasant, I didn't want to miss out on an opportunity to get in some more miles. I headed off briefly with Jason and my new friend Joseph to peep this neat mural nearby the coffeehouse:

They branched off from there and I kept riding around central Columbus. It's always nice to see a change of scenery from the same boring suburban roads I frequent every day. ;) After a nice couple of hours in the saddle, I ended up at a beer garden of course:

Gemüt Biergarten, to be exact. We passed by it on the coffee ride, and I decided I'd head back here for lunch and an adult beverage towards the end of my ride. In addition to being a neat-looking old building, there's the added benefit of ample bike parking:

And of course, a picture perfect kolsch on tap for a balmy late Spring day:

I headed home from there to finish some adulting I'd started yesterday. Overall, a pretty solid Sunday if I say so myself. Mayhaps I need to re-evaluate my weekend riding routine. I'd absolutely do another coffee ride the next time it rolls around (pun intended).