Coffeeneuring #7, no goat and 'Bikespreading' is a Thing

 We rode to Lawrenceville for some coffee and decided on Caffe D'Amore. We locked up, placed our bags and helmets near a table and then sat at the bar. Our bike stuff took up two spots. I love the coined term 'bikespreading' for this thing that we cyclists do: our stuff takes up almost as much room as we do in a restaurant. Such an awesome word.

It appears this is my final required Coffeeneuring trip. I understand that a change in the rules asks us for a theme. It seems that Marko was my theme... he accompanied me on every trip and had coffee each time except for the Crazy Mocha trip to Brentwood. I somehow encouraged/suckered him into participating in Coffeeneuring for the first time. Yaaaa! Even if he was Coffeeneuring by proxy, so what?
We have just one more trip to complete his challenge.

Later we needed some food and we meandered around until we rode past Salim's in the Strip and I dragged Marko in for falafel, I changed my mind and decided on goat but we were told "Goat is only on the weekend." Confused, because this was Sunday. Marko later told me Friday and Saturday are the Muslim weekend.
So, chicken tandoori and saag paneer instead. No goat for us!
Marko deliberately photobombed my food photo.

Well, that's attractive.

Yes, our stuff takes up a second table. Bikespreading!

 Noticed the Poet Tree is dressed for Halloween. Awesome.

Coffeeneuring #6, new infra, GOATS! and another damned ghost bike.

The Christmas trees are going up BEFORE Halloween. There is something very wrong with this.

I noticed this tree at Heinz Field on October 23rd. OCTOBER_TWENTY_THIRD.

On Saturday, we rode to Big Dog Cafe on the South Side (Pronounced 'SAH-sahd' by the locals) for some late-morning caffeine.

Your cup is so big, Marko!

Yes, mine is smaller.

We rode into town and found city workers working on the extension to the Penn Ave cycletrack, the asphalt was still warm. I love the smell of new infra in the morning!

Riding back through the Strip, we found the petting zoo set up again.

Moo.

GOATS!

Marko pets dinner

Later that evening we attended a vigil for a cyclist, Susan Hicks killed in Oakland, just 24 hours prior and not far from the start of many of our group rides.

Marko and I are holding the sign in this Post-Gazette photo

OpenStreets, Closed Bridge and other weekend fun

The Strip District trail _promises_to_be_open_"soon". October 31st was the date that they say it'll be open no later than. We rode past one morning and found a City worker taking down the fencing and clearing brush. WOW. This trail's been closed for aver a year and half and it would be nice to have an alternative on my commute.

Friday was Flock and Angela rode in a unicorn onesie. Nice.

Ray's choice of The Cramps for the trailer music delighted me, I'm a big fan of The Cramps.
The band, *not* the horribly painful involuntary muscle contractions.




Saturday, we woke early and rode out to Brentwood for this South Hills suburban community's Open Streets celebration. We met up with Jonathan and Dino on the South Side and then climbed 18th St up into the South Hills. Marko likes to say at the top of each hill: "Last hill, I promise."

It was gawdawfully cold and I just couldn't handle standing out in the cold all morning, I wimped out and found an excuse to go inside for a few hours: I needed a haircut in a bad way, it had been 18 months since my last haircut!

County Exec Fitzgerald addresses the group.

I decided to grab some coffee and make a coffeeneuring stop out of it.

A stop for a warm beverage at Crazy Mocha of Brentwood

Later that evening, we checked out the farewell party to the Greenfield Bridge. We could only tolerate a short period of time out in the cold again before we desperately needed some warmth.

Sunday brought a need to go grocery shopping and a coffeeneuring trip. We chose Shadyside for the density of coffee shops, but every table was taken at Coffee Tree Roasters and we eyed Pamela's Diner across the street for an oppurtunity for bacon and eggs to accompany our coffee.
Bacon for the win!

(biking to) A Night at the Museum

Marko and I set out to the Carnegie museum to take advantage of the Free Nights in October, but before we made it there, we had TWO encounters with angry, horn-happy motorists who felt we had no rights to the road. The first motorist on the Blvd of the Allies tried to deliberately run me down.

He felt we should have been on the sidewalk and running me over was a good punishment for being in his way

She felt we should have been in the right-hand cycletrack even though we were making a left turn and honked incessantly.

Why, people... WHY? Where is all this hatred of cyclists coming from?

Determined to enjoy ourselves in spite of angry, miserable people we found parking and toured the art, architecture and natural history portions.

I was taken with this Pinkerton Riots painting

I also found a Gustav Klimt there! (I'm a big Klimt fan)

"Get on the sidewalk!" *RAWR!!* "Get in the bike lane!"

321 Ride and Coffeeneuring #2 and #3

On Sunday, I'd volunteered to help marshal the 321 Ride. As a noob marshal, they paired me with Mikhail and we were stationed out in Highland Park. It was a hairpin, 180 degree turn in the park where if a cyclist took this turn too fast, they'd have a bad time. So, our job was to slow them down, verbally. I suppose we did a good job, as no one ate pavement that morning on that bend.
Afterwards, we rode back to the starting point and snacked and socialized. I got a massage from a tattooed man in a utilikilt.   Yeah!

On our way out to Highland Park, I needed a bathroom and I asked Mikhail if we could stop at Tazza D'Orro. Unfortunately, this would not count for a Coffeeneuring stop because we were just using the bathrooms for bladder relief and a place to take layers off as the temperature was rising.

Soon.

Afterwards, Marko, Geoffrey and I rode over to Market Square for Coffeeneuring stop #2

My official Coffeeneuring socks

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Monday, was a holiday and I had the day off from work, so Marko and I needed to get out and ride, find coffee and enjoy the weather. We stopped for coffee at Schenley Plaza. I noticed that Conflict Kitchen had a one-day Indigenous Peoples Day menu with things like venison stew, pemmican and other Native American dishes.
I like that more folks are using this day to honor Native Americans and shunning the tradition of Columbus Day.
I asked Marko to swing back to Conflict Kitchen after our ride when the line wasn't 30 people deep.

 We hit a few hills, saw some lovely vistas too.

After our ride, we ate venison stew, pemmican with fry bread and an all-too-sweet okdeahgi (root) tea. We weren't sure if it was sassafras, sarsaparilla or licorice, the sugar overpowered the flavor. I think that counts as a coffeeneuring stop too, but rules are rules and we could only count one stop today.
Good, interesting foods with good, interesting company.