It was inevitable: the hi-viz pink reflective vest. I hate the orange, I'm at peace with the yellow, but I really wanted a pink one too.
I really love my Endura jacket, but the thing's BLACK. I prefer to more visible... much more visible. I like a nice hi-viz reflective vest over it.
Finnegan checks out the new duds
Reflective mode: ON! *SHA-POW!*
You might see that Endura added some reflective piping to the jacket. Can you see it? It's near my wrist. Look closer.
Yeah, that tiny bit of reflective piping doesn't meet my needs.
Our conference in State College wrapped up mid-afternoon and I had another opportunity to ride around town before heading back to Pittsburgh.
I decided to head back onto campus and get a Coffeeneuring trip in. Saint's Cafe was my destination.
My natural inclination is to check out the other bikes at racks. I
noticed two of them had the same green sticker on them. Bicycle Licenses? Further
investigation needed!
I stopped at the coffee shop and got a refill for my mug. Every table, stool and chair was occupied by a student and an Apple laptop. No seats for me!
While I was adulterating my coffee with half and half and sugar, a man walked up to me and asked "Are you touring?"YES! I look the part! WIN!
We spent a great deal of time talking about touring around PA and MO, mayor Peduto, trips I'd wanted to take, trips he suggested for me, RORO on Amtrak. Very nice conversation. Before we parted ways, he told me about a bike shop around the corner called FreezeThaw.
This would be a great place to ask about the bike licenses. An employee, Paul greeted me and complimented Fizz and answered my question about the licenses: they're 'strongly encouraged' (AKA: not legally required) by the University so they have some idea of who's locking up on campus. He also told me that my locking to a sign post was a no-no and that the City would cut my bike lock and haul the bike away for locking to a street sign. Yeesh. The racks nearby were full too!
I thanked him and asked him which way Park Ave was. He told me I could cut through campus to get there. Riding on the sidewalks there is very common; heck... even the bike shop told me to do it!
Weird.... riding on sidewalks is OK, but locking to a streetsign is verboten?
So, I rolled through campus, slowly.
Lots of foot traffic.
I encountered a cyclist in soooo much hi-viz pink: pink helmet, pink bike, pink water bottles, pink tires, pink jersey. My eyes!
I gave him a "Love the pink!" shoutout and he acknowledged my greeting with a smile and a point... It must be the secret handshake variant for the Hi-Viz Pink Cyclist Club.
I loaded Fizz on the car and drove back to Pittsburgh. The sun was low on the horizon and I need the visor and sunglasses badly. But there was something odd about the sun... I kept staring at it....whoa! An eclipse!
Not my photo, but this is what it looked like.
I never get to see solar eclipses due to weather or some conflict, this was my first! Yes, I blinded myself for a while, but I got to see a solar eclipse!
Thursday I rode back to Conflict Kitchen and finally got my shredded beef, beans rice and plantains. NOM. I rarely get to have Latino cuisine, hubby never takes us to those restaurants, his adventure into exotic food goes as far as Asian/Chinese (yawn) and Indian.
After I left, I got the closest buzz to date I've ever had the pleasure of encountering.
There's the front view and the rear view, they came within 10 inches of me. Jeez.
On Friday, I was all set to go to a Pirates game with hubby, I was certain we had tickets and it was on my calendar. I need a calendar, I'm not so good at remembering dates long term.
So, when I asked him what time we should meet after work, he said to me: "Um, we don't have tickets, do you have your days confused again?"
I was rather disappointed in myself for screwing up another scheduled event, I'm getting really bad with this memory stuff!
The good news was, I could go to Flock! I'd missed it the last 2 months and was delighted not to be missing 3 months in a row.
On the way there, hubby called me: "You were right, we do have tickets for tonight's game." I was sad we were wasting tickets, but glad I wasn't losing my mind.
Oh, wait... hubby's starting to lose his faculties! *Sigh* I guess I signed up for that marrying someone 14 years my senior.
I had a chance to enjoy MORE of Conflict Kitchen's deliciousness. I had a fish salad and more fried bananas while I chatted with Marko, PaulB and Ian.
Flock was awesome as usual. I got to see a few more parts of Pittsburgh I hadn't before. I was amazed at how torn up Penn Avenue was. It looks like they're doing an archaeological dig!
"Hey, Marko, that camera's recording us right now. How much ya wanna to bet this shows up on her blog?"
LOVE PaulB's hi-viz pink. It's not just for the ladies, fellas.
K and VB practice 'Bicycle Face'
These ladies suspected I had a camera on the bike. They weren't wrong.
I had to bail the ride early and head back so hubby would have to pick me up well after his bedtime. On the way there I encountered a child trying to steer his bike down Liberty Ave in Bloomfield carrying a bag and a half case of Pepsi and failing. I stopped and asked if he needed help, I mean, look kid, I have panniers!Don't kill yourself! But he declined my assistance, he said he wasn't very far from home.
Today, I went on twogrocery runs. The first was to the Strip before work for fruit and a stop at PennMac to check out the fancy imported Italian cookies I've recently developed a taste for. They're fairly low in sugar and don't have ingredients like hydrogenated things and high-fructosy crap. Oh, and they're delicious. I like to keep cookies, crackers, dried fruit and nuts in the bike feed bag.
On the second run, after work, I went out to the Giant Eagle at the Waterfront: a 25 mile round trip grocery run.
I discovered the Labyrinth near the PumpHouse. Neat. I sat on the benches overlooking it and had a few cookies and re-hydrated.
I locked my bike to a signpost at the Iggle and went in search of fancy things in the dried fruit arena. Cranberries, papaya, dates and wasabi peas caught my eye. I was back on the roads and heading past Sandcastle when I saw a woman riding towards me in a full pith helmet and beekeepers netting around her head. Whoa. Yes, the bugs *were* bad. This woman was serious about not getting bugs in her face. I called out a "That. is. AWESOME!" to her and she replied with a "It works!"
I wasn't doubting thatone bit at all.
I, too, was sick of the damned bugs. I ate a few recently and wasn't very happy about it. Thick was still open and carries the bug-buffs. I decided a stop was in order.
Adam greeted me and said that they did have bug-buffs... and OMG, a PINK one to match my jersey. Right below the buffs were a pair of hi-viz PINK fingerless gloves. They're killing me, how am I going to save money for a new bike if I keep spending on stuff I MUST have?
I've achieved a new level of dorkness:
I feel like I should be holding up a bank. *snap* A really fabulous bank.
31 miles and lots of nice snacks for upcoming rides. Nom.
On Saturday, I tried riding via the North Side's RiverWalk, but the recent rains caused the Allegheny and Ohio to flood thier banks.
Amazing Cafe Grand Opening
I rode over to the South Side for lunch at the Grand Opening of what was already my favorite restaurant. Amazing Cafe! It was an official opening with fanfare, free samples and balloons! I sampled the vegan cupcakes... I hadn't known they had desserts there!
I chose a rosewater/pistachio cupcake, which was divine.
Also stopped in Thick Bikes to see if they could replace my almost-broken mount for my B&M taillight. My favorite mechanic not only found me a replacement mount, but he fixed my stripped screw issue for the plate cover... at no charge! I think the tipping is working.
The merits of a 'girly' color.
I saw they had in stock an item I'd been looking for for some time: a hi-viz pink short sleeved jersey! I had to get it. I'd fallen in love with my hi-viz pink winter jersey. I'd gotten tons of comments from everyone about how awesome it's hi-vizzyness was.
Pudge likes the hi-viz pink too!
Can you see me now?
Adam and Chris at Thick have often said they want hi-viz pink items for men and have asked their vendors to start making them in men's sizes. Yale even commented that he wanted to get some HVPink items, and weighed the pros and cons of a man wearing pink. In regards to the harassment from drivers, he said: "Well, they give us cyclists enough grief, wearing pink won't make much of a difference."
I'm still on the lookout for a HV pink small size reflective vest. The adult size yellow reflective vests are way too long for someone of my height. The vest gets caught on the saddle every time I stop at a light. HV pink seems to be very popular in the UK, I gets tons of hits on eBay UK when looking for pink vests.
I noticed the "heART THIS CITY" mural has been moved over by the Hot Metal Bridge.
I got hit with a cloudburst on the way back, but I was prepared.
WASH ME!
The grime and gunk on Ruby was bugging me. I decided that since I was
bringing her back to the house for tomorrow's trip, I would hose her off
in a do-it-yourself car wash. I spent $1.75 to see if the tire soak
solvent would get the black brake goop off the rear wheel. It got some
of it off, but not as much as I'd like.
