"I'm bringing my bike."

The office was having it's annual 'Retreat'. This year it took place in State College. The retreat is a meeting of all the satellite office employees and the folks from the chapter we'd just merged with. This was the 3rd or 4th time they'd planned this elaborate and too expensive (in my humble opinion) overnight 2-day meeting. In years past, I'd weaseled out of bunking overnight in a hotel room with a co-worker. I'm not crazy about the thought of sharing living quarters with someone I'm not related to. Also, 'Teambuilding' exercises are involved in the plans. *shudder* All of these shenanigans are an introvert's nightmare. I was being ripped away from my routine, my bed, my spouse and dogs. I loathed all of it.
Commence the teeth-clenching!

Additionally, they wanted me to share a ride up there with the one employee who has max points on her driver's license for speeding, distracted driving (cellphone use and makeup application at 70MPH!) and various other moving violations! Not only is she a dangerous driver, but she's consistently late, for everything, which is a quality I cannot stand. Nope, sorry... I'll avoid being her passenger again.

The Late Tangent

< tangent > Why do I dislike tardiness? I can thank my father: he always said that the Navy instilled in him an insistence on organisation and an adherence to a schedule. He is always a few minutes early.
When I was a rebellious teenager and at the age where I didn't quite have my act together (some would argue I still don't, but...) I was in the habit of staying out past my curfew and forgetting my keys. I would come home late and find the door locked. I'd have to wake my parents up to let me in and he didn't take kindly to this disturbance from his daughter. At some point, he put his foot down and told me that if I was late (he locked the door at a certain time) and forgot my keys one more time that I would not be let back into the house... that I would have to sleep on the picnic table in the back yard. So, the next weekend, I found myself trying to get comfortable on the picnic table at 1AM and vowing never to be late for anything, or forget my keys...ever again.
They called that 'tough love' back then.
< /tangent >


So, to bring me some sanity and avoid riding with Ms. Tardy-Crappy Driver, I decided to take Fizz. "Sorry, gotta bring the bike with me, can't ride up with you!"

I based my decision on the fact that State College is very bike friendly. There were bike lanes on East Park Ave which would be my route from the hotel down to campus where all the action is. I scoped out GoogleMaps Streetview and from the looks of it, there were bike racks and bike lanes/sharrows everywhere.  I called the hotel and asked if I could bring Fizz into the room with me. They didn't bat an eyelash... "Of course!" they told me. Yes, the bike would be my respite from the torturous, maddening nonsense I was enduring at the hands of my employer.

I arrived and locked Fizz up to the rack provided outside the reception area.

In the smoking area. Yuck.

After our day-long meetings, it was 'free time' for a few hours before dinner time and a party was being hosted over on the other side of town. I biked there instead of using the hotel shuttle. I had plenty of extra time to putz about the town. I just followed my front wheel, there were so many bike lanes, parks and trails all over the campus and city to explore. Wow.

The only hurdle I had to jump was the highway interchanges between the hotel and the campus/town. It's a tad daunting to cross highway exits and entrances to get through the interchanges for most folks, but this wasn't a big deal to me. I also had to dodge a dead skunk there. I'm glad I didn't run the bike over a semi-freshly dead skunk. Phoo!

11 miles for the evening

I explored campus and whoa, lots of bikes being used!

Every rack on campus was so full! This one had a repair station.

I think they play some sport in this building.

Bike Way!

Bike lane!

Bike trail!

One of the many trails through campus/residential areas.

The ride back was in the dark. I employed all of my lights, blinkies and a reflective vest. I hauled it back down Park Ave at a nice clip. All the cars were cooperative and patient, most of them changed lanes fully to pass me. Impressive.

All dressed up with someplace to go

It's here! It's here!

Last week, our custom-made bike rack for the office arrived. I can't wait for it to be installed.

 The Dressed-up ride:

I don't often break out the pearls. They come out when we're going someplace fancy: the Symphony, brunch at the Ritz Carlton, etc...
Mind you, I inherited these pearls. I still consider them my MILs. I don't claim ownership; I'm not worthy to consider such an exquisite item 'mine'.
At any rate, the whole office was needed to work at our annual Women On The Move luncheon. It takes place at a local high-end restaurant or golf club and many local socialites break out the giant hats, the press shows up. Not my cup of tea, I'm just working to make things go smoothly there. So, I've gotta step up the wardrobe a bit for this shindig. Lookin' sharp in a blazer, skirt and pearls, I set out to LeMont, which is UP on Mount Washington. There's no way I can haul my ass up a mountain dressed up and arrive not looking sweaty and haggard, so I employed the use of the Duquesne Incline. It's one of two inclines that date back to the 1870s to take passengers up and down the steep hillside along the bank of the Monongahela river.

Wheeeee! I hope we don't have a landslide!

The incline building still uses a woodstove for heat?

I'm glad I pared down the panniers and basket as I had to carry the bike up two sets of steps once inside the Incline's lower building. Ooof. They didn't make things wheelchair accessible back in the 1800s!

It has a stunning view from up there.

The valet guys were sufficiently impressed. They're not accustomed to seeing people arrive on a bike.
The remarkable thing was, only one of my co-workers was all that stunned that I rode my bike over. They have become so used to seeing me on a bike that they thought nothing of it. "Oh hey, you rode your bike up here? Cool." "You made it over here faster than we did in the car."
I liked the nonchalant attitude. I'm de-sensitizing them.

Afterwards, I decided to take the famous Sycamore Avenue back down. Sycamore Ave is one of the Dirty Dozen streets.
I can imagine how brutal this street is to climb up. Going down was an unfamiliar obstacle course of potholes and sharp blind turns. I rode the brakes the whole way not knowing what was in store for me around each bend.

Bike Pittsburgh is using my "Little Girl in Training Wheels in the Bike Lane" photo!

"Excuse me, did you drop a scarf?"

I noticed an abandoned scarf on the Ft Duke pedestrian bridge.

Further ahead, I noticed someone who might be the owner, she had her coat draped over her arm and I guessed that her scarf had also been draped there and had dropped a few yards back.
I was right.

Park(ing) Day and Flock

Su, Marko and I met for a day filled of riding around to most of the Park(ing) Day spots located all around the City. We started at the Mayor's Spot, which was beach-themed.

 

Lifeguard duties.

The Mayor himself made an appearance, but only briefly as he went to his car.

He returned our wave.

Off we went to visit the Spots, there were a few interesting ones along Liberty Ave

Then off to Lawrenceville for the mini-golf overload.

 Here's some shots Su took:

We escorted Su back to her car and then we were off to the South Side.

The Pièce de résistance was Thick Bikes' Spot; Chrissy went all out with sod, trees, plants, audio of birds chirping. It was chock full of awesome. Bravo.

Chrissy explained that the gnome was mooning the car.

Marko and I were starving so he suggested tacos on Atwood. Delicious, but I forget that Mexican food frequently uses Sazón, which has MSG. Not awesome. I got a minor case of the dizzies.

Flock was essentially a tour of many of the new bike lanes, minus the Saline Street lane, which we'd used to get up to Oakland. I hadn't used the Schenley Lane yet, so this was a bonus for me!

Some shots taken by my fellow Flockers:

Ian, me and Marko. Ian really *is* that tall.

We stopped at a grocery store to get some snacks to enjoy at the end of the ride at Point State park. Mikhail, having no panniers or bags on his bike asked me to carry a few items, and of course, I said yes! I'm a pack mule! I loaded Mikhail's purchases into my panniers and basket and we were off, but I guess I didn't secure his paper plates well enough... going through Lawrenceville, they leapt out of the basket and rolled through the street. The Fly6 camera captured it.

Interesting thing is, I had to lay the bike down to go retrieve the errant plates and this triggered the Incident Protection Function. This works when the Fly6 is tilted over more than 45 degrees for more than 3 seconds.




I started out the day talking with Su about leg cramps and dammit, I got a vicious bout of them in my thigh at the end of my night. I had to stop in the Penn Ave bike lane and stretch it out. My fellow Flockers asked if I needed help, but I told them I was just working out a leg cramp. Mick was kind enough to circle back and ride with me as the whole group was a few lights ahead by the time I'd gotten over the cramps.

The ride ended at the Fountain and I had to get going, it was a long day that started at 11:30 and took me 40 miles all over the city. So much fun with friends on a day off from work that I dedicated strictly to biking.

The Pittsburgh Left

I took the new bike lane down to the Strip for some groceries. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to exit the bike lane and get down to the shops. The lane ends at 16th street and it becomes one way so you can't continue. I think I may try to take the alley (Spring Way) or simply exit the bike lane earlier because what I tried this morning didn't work:







I signaled a left and waited for the oncoming cyclist to pass, but she, being courteous I suppose, slowed to allow me to turn and the officer manning the crosswalk made traffic stop for me. Wow. Well, I kindly refused her offer to Pittsburgh Left in front of her then I thanked the officer as well and went on my way only to discover that this was the road with cobblestones next to Wholey's. I hate cobblestones when I'm on a bike. You can see in the video how jarring those damned cobblestones are.

I'll avoid this turn in the future.


I found some bread for my bread baskets (AKA panniers).

The bike lane in training wheels, and vice versa

Friday, I made a local newscast:

http://www.wtae.com/news/city-bike-lanes-grow-along-with-frustration-in-pittsburgh/27903504

They caught me using the temporary Warhol bridge bike lane; I also caught them catching me:

How not to wear a messenger bag:

You'll see me adjust my bag on the newscast. I was getting rather frustrated with the bag sliding down my back. I figured I wasn't wearing it correctly and did a bit of research. Yes, I was wearing it as if I was left-handed. No wonder it was sliding around!

My backward-thinking brain assumed the best way was to wear it was slung over my right shoulder, but I was wrong. My brain also thinks the best way to hold a guitar is the left-handed way too.

Growing pains and training wheels

The bike lanes are having some growing pains, drivers are getting used to it's presence, cyclists are adapting to shifting lanes to hop into it inbound (16th Street) and out of it outbound (14th Street? I haven't figured out this maneuvering yet.)
Essentially, the new lanes still have the training wheels on.

On Sunday, we were due to have fabulous weather, so I made time for a day-long ride. I began at base which is transformed into a Tailgater's Heaven on football game days.

Before I left, I wanted to load the Trucker up with all the waterproof baggage I'd gotten for long, wet trips. I think it'll do well for multi-day trips on the GAP that I hope to take.

But, will it carry all my stuff?

 I also hooked up my new u-lock tote from Dill Pickle. I used it all day and I love it. It doesn't rattle a bit!

I ventured off to McKeesport via the new Penn Ave bike lane, stopped in the Strip for a coffee and fruit, then to the South Side and pittstops at REI's and the PumpHouse's bathrooms. I made a turnaround in McKeesport and noticed a pizza place that had dedicated bike parking. Awesome! I have to patronize this place for lunch! However, they had no pizza and 2/3 of the items on the menu were crossed off. Scary. I won't be going back there.

The bike rentals will close up shop soon.

Gorgeous weather!

I met hubby for dinner, DINNER? I left before lunch...it seemed I was out for 8 hours putzing around in the out-of-doors!

On the way back to base, I saw the most heartwarming thing in the bike lane:

I made good time and got a new PR

When I made it back to base, the animals that were tailgating left a mess:

I was forced to move someone's slobbery glass beer bottle placed behind my car in order to leave my parking spot. Gross.

43.3 miles, a kick-ass day.