Off balance overpacked loads up a mountain= not good

Another overnighter trip! This will most likely be the last until Spring.
I drove to Cumberland early having packed 3 panniers and 2 bags (stop laughing!) the night before and was on the GAP before 9AM.

I stopped for Coffeeneuring trip #4 at Cafe Mark

This was my first real use of the new front rack, I used one pannier on my new rack.

I am reminded when I do things like... load ONE pannier on the front rack... that I'm still a clueless noob. I spent the day trying to figure out why on Earth I was having horrible arm pain.

The weather conspired against me too, it drizzled and spit and misted the entire morning and much of the afternoon. Sometimes it spit-izzled and others it mist-izzled. It was cold too. Even though I was well-dressed, the cold and wet got to me after 6 hours outdoors hauling gear up a mountain. 45 pounds worth.
While the trip was long and tiresome and dreary, I made the best of it. The fall colors were amazing despite the poor visibility from the top of Savage Mountain.

The traffic was awful.

I hope we don't exceed the weight limit!

It was tiring going up the mountain, there was one well-worn firmly packed path on the trail; my side was soft and rutted from washouts and full of rocks. I tried desperately to get some relief from the bad side of the trail and ride on the 'wrong' but delightfully-easy-to-ride-on side. However, cyclists coming down the mountain were always kicking me out of the firmly packed side when they bore down on me at 15-20 MPH while I was limping along at 6 MPH. Oh, how I wanted the other side of the trail.

Eventually, I was able to ascertain the cause of my arm pain: the off balance load! I once drove a car on a regular basis that needed a front-end alignment and my right arm always hurt from pulling the steering wheel to one side to compensate for the wonky alignment. Logically, this translates to bikes too! By now, I was 25 miles into the trip. I switched the pannier over to the other side in the hopes that I'd give one side of my upper body a rest from the strain... but it still ached in spite of the switch. WAIT... this pannier doubles as a backpack!
I turned the pannier into a backpack and strapped it on. No luck, I was so tired and sore by then that any weigh on my back was an objection as well. I arrived in Meyersdale a little after 2 PM and was too early for a check-in at the B&B, so I hung out at the Museum and enjoyed the wifi.
The hours between 2 and 4 are rough in Meyersdale if you arrive hungry. Thankfully, I brought snacks and fortified myself along the way.


I rode down to to Levi Deal Mansion bed and breakfast after I checked my email and met Jan, the inkeeper. She showed me the guest room where I'd be staying and the codes to get into the garage where I could store Fizz.

I showered and rested... I was so very tired and needed a lie-down. A hot shower helped to get my core temperature up, but I was still chilled.

Note to self: take photos of your room before you mess up the bed and don't leave dinner's leftovers in your shots.

The room was decorated in a Asian theme.

I think those are two monks.

I shivered and my teeth chattered on my walk down to the Morguen Toole for dinner. I was still penetrated by cold. I couldn't get warm. They were out of the Octoberfest entree I had my eye on, so I opted for the burger and Jameson's again.

The wifi at the Levi Deal wasn't reaching the guesthouse, I was resigned to walk down to the Morguen Toole and linger outside in range to pick up a signal.

I slept hard and soundly even with the trains going by and blasting horns every 20 minutes.

32 miles, and an agonizing lesson learned.

Leap-frogging through Pedal Pittsburgh and Serenity 2.0

Today was Pedal Pittsburgh, a large, supported event bike tour of Pittsburgh.

This would be my first Pedal Pittsburgh and my first experience as a cyclist in a large scale ride. For the past 12 years, I've been on the Staff side. It would be strange to be She Who Must be Served.

There are 4 choices of routes.  I had trouble deciding which route to take, I would definitely have trouble with the 62 mile route, both in stamina and the hour at which one had to start. There was a 25 mile route with a 45 mile option. I'd have to tack on the 13 miles to get to and from the start line, so I would wind up doing 60+ miles anyway! There was also the 25 mile route, but that didn't include much territory that I hadn't already seen. I wanted to hit new places, like... Highland Park, Riverview Park, Frick Park. These were all places I'd not yet been, so I gritted my teeth and chose the 45 mile route.
It was hilly; really damned hilly.

Today's efforts earned me my first 30K steps badge at Fitbit! W00t!











Would you believe I wore wool? It's August and I'm wearing wool. I'd understood that wool is awesome to cycle in even in the summer, so I took the advice of seasoned cyclists and invested in some wool. They have nice summer sale on right now, so I got some winter base layers and some summer shortlseeves, a dress and a skirt. They're no warmer or cooler than the synthetics, but they cause you to slide around on the seat much less. They dry quickly too. Love the wool skirt. I'm somewhat anxious to wear the longsleeve wool dress and baselayers, but I don't want to rush the seasons.

At the start, I crossed paths with VB and Mrs Q. I got hung up at waiting for a train to pass through the South Side before we could continue, so I thought I'd never catch up and we wouldn't cross paths for the rest of the day, but I kept running into them in an accidental game of leap frog. I'd catch up with them, they'd ride ahead, I'd catch up and get ahead of them and they'd come up from behind and leave me in their dust again. I think it happened at least 4 times, funny. Naturally, I ran into Yale because: he's everywhere. I also played leap frog with Dan Y, he was at EVERY rest stop I stopped at except the first one in Riverview Park. Goes to show you how hard event staff work. Met Ms Garrison of BlackGirlsDoBike who was volunteering at a water stop and said hello to Mr Woods of Major Taylor again while he was running SAGs. He looked at Fizz and said "I see you've upgraded!". Waved at Mikhail while he barked from his marshalling station. Marko kindly drug Fizz out of the poor position I'd dropped her at the finish line where he was volunteering... she was just too heavy at the end of a long day to try and prop up. Volunteers are awesome.

Along the way, I got some nice shots of the new bike against some interesting scenery.

Flocker Street!

Needed to get the Trucker in front of the Serenity sign.

Another day in paradise

I'm hoping the top tube pad will be covered in patches one day.

I'm finding that the Trucker is prone to depositing grease on my right inside calf. I'd show you a picture, but I'd already scrubbed off the grease.

Imagine it looks something like this:

...But on a bruised, chubby, oddly-shaped Popeye calf sporting lots of red and blue spider veins.

I'm having a hell of a time scrubbing it off too. I spent quite some time scrubbing away and some marks just weren't coming off no matter how hard I rubbed. Then it dawned on me: that's not grease, those are bruises and spider veins. Soap ain't fixing those!


The ride was rough, but fun. Everyone was friendly... like this couple:

The day's mileage was 60.29. I hit 60 at the casino on my return to base. I wanted to get a shot of the 60.00 on the computer, but I overshot it. A record!

I noticed today that I have FI'Zi:k bar tape on FIZZ. Huh.

Critical Mass goes West and I get my QOM back.

Well attended... there was our leader Stu and Marko, Mikhail, KD, Buffalo² and Yale. We did have another woman who I'd not yet met, but she dropped off not long after the group met me at the Carnegie Science Center. No issues other than impatient drivers on the McKees Rocks bridge.

This picture doesn't do the hill justice.

The Steuben Street hill was my most challenging climb so far. I looked up as we approached and feared I'd be walking the bike up that thing. I toughed it out, but my thighs are rather angry with me the next day. I had one short bout of muscle cramps a few hours afterwards. I'll live. I'm getting much better at hills.

HOW does Endomondo know I was cycling with Mikhail?!?

I bothered to update Strava and learned I've regained both my Queen of the Mountain titles on Polish Hill. So awesome. When I first lost my QOM to someone, I thought I'd never beat her time, but I have. Yes, I'm definitely getting better at hills.

A Noob, a NewYorker and a New Climb

I must look like I know where I'm going. 
I went out for a morning ride Wednesday and encountered a young man new to commuting by bike on the North Shore. He asked me how to get over to First Ave. Ironically, I was going that way and offered to show him. He expected there to be a connector between Point State Park and the Mon Wharf, but I explained that was in the planning stages. He said he was reluctant to get out in traffic and rode the sidewalks mostly up the Boulevard after he got his bearings. *cringe*
I've never been on the Eliza Furnace Trail early in the morning, so it was interesting to see all the Oakland and South Side commuters coming in to town and observe the makeup of this group. Some had lots of bags and panniers, some were already dressed in work clothes.
On the EFT I saw BurghMan rollerblading. We gave each other hearty greetings. I've only seen him in his full suit and cape once. He was just wearing a BurghMan tee shirt today. I like the fact that he wears a rear-view mirror on his helmet and waves you past on his left. Most rollerbladers couldn't give a hoot about anyone trying to pass them and weave all over the trail with earbuds in.

Under the Smithfield Street Bridge, a man on a nice road bike stopped me and asked how he could get to the GAP, he explained with an accent that he was here on business from NewYawk and wanted to ride our trails while he had down time. I gave him his options and wished him well. Afterwards, I was kicking myself for not giving him my BikePGH map! Arrgh!

On my way back between the Science Center and the Casino, there were two idiots on motorized dirt bikes. I gave them a "WTF are you doing?!" gesture and I hope I don't see them again.

On my agenda for the day was to practice riding up 18th Street on the South Side after work. It was part of an upcoming Critical Mass ride that I was considering going on. I knew 18th Street was steep and looking at the altitude stats for that climb raised an eyebrow with me. I would definitely need to practice this climb.
Then, I saw a Facebook post by an experienced, strong rider that said "I was huffing and struggling up 18th Street". Jeez, what am I getting myself into?
I looked at the Strava info on the 18th Street climb vs a climb I'm used to: Polish Hill.

• 18th Street is 1.1 miles of 6% grade
• Polish Hill is .4 of a mile on a 7% grade.

I calculated this would take 16-17 minutes to climb going by my Polish Hill time.
Dang, this is going to be hard.

The weather was set to downpour on me. I rode over to the OTB cafe in my raincape and pondered the rain and if it was such a good idea to ride an unfamiliar hill in a thunderstorm or, at best, a hard rain. I noshed on seitan wings safely ensconced in the back of the bar and watched the baseball game and stalled while the storm blew over.

Encouraged by "Riders on the Storm" and a radar map with not so many red blobs on it, I set out to climb that hill.

I didn't feel a burn in my legs until I stopped to take a picture of the South Side Slopes mural:



My time was 14:41. It wasn't so bad a climb, actually. It just took forever...

I'm not in last place!

If it were warmer, I might not be saying that. The downhill was... WHEEEEE!

Meet the former Queen Of Polish Hill.

Today, I got an email from Strava.

I was left to wonder. "What the heck is my QOM and how did I lose it?"

I quick Googling and I discover it means Queen of the Mountain.

Well, that's interesting. Strava has leaderboards for segments and hills, I learned after I poked around. As it turns out, I was the only woman to track a segment up Polish Hill. I was QOM by default... and I didn't even know it... until...

Um, yeah.... I won't be breaking her record up that hill. My head might explode. However, I will be thinking about beating my own record the next time I haul my ass up that hill. Thanks, Strava!

Currently, the KOM is 1:44. Dang.