Type 2 Clydesdale Cyclist

A Blowy Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:27:00 +0000

02/27/12 #236 28m

Rode 28m in 48F with R and S.

Mild tempts, mostly cloudy and quite windy, the clouds were blowing by at a good clip.

I met S and R at the Bastille, and we rode the trail along the Casino and along the Allegheny. The trail surface was better than I expected, not really mushy at all. We crossed the river using the 40th Street Bridge.

Coming off the bridge we noticed a brief trail segment along the south bank of the Allegheny, shown here in Google Maps. This looks like an outpost of the eventual Point-ConventionCenter-Strip-Lawrenceville trail.

(to see bike trails in Google maps, click Directions, then Bicycle)

We took Butler Street to Espresso a Mano. As we were locking up the bikes I commented on a poster in the window, "Pittsburgh: 3 Rivers, 6 Rings, 19 Libraries" about a recent budget brouhaha and I really liked the placard, and I found myself in conversation with the coffee shop's poster maven who was sitting outside with her dog. The place was pretty filled with people sipping lattes and laptops sipping wifi, but we found a few seats in the back. Very good coffee.

After we came out of the coffee shop we rode to the river to see if we might intercept the trail segment but we had already ridden past it. We rode to Smallman Street and Railroad Ave to the Cork Factory and the Convention Center Trail, then the Ft. Pitt Bridge where we encountered Bob Miller of Grupetto Pittsburgh. A nice day brings riders out in February. We continued to SouthSide. It was very windy and it seemed to be coming from a variety of directions.

At Southside we decided to continue down to Keystone Metals, just short of Sandcastle, and we also decided to eschew the ride up Junction Hollow. We reversed at Keystone Metals and turned north into the wind. It was a bit of work to get back to the Ft. Pitt Bridge.

Took the Ft. Pitt Bridge (passing a diamond-frame and a 'bent rider), the Ft. Duquesne Bridge, and home via the Casino Trail.

HofBrauHaus Vantage Point

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:04:00 +0000

02/22/12 #238 28m

Rode 28miles in 41F.

Started at the Bastille riding on my road bike, an aluminum Trek1100 that I really haven't been on with since June. It was nice to be reacquainted, I really enjoy the light frame and the consequent acceleration. This bike has a noseless saddle and there's quite a loss of control from not being able to apply body english through the seat.

Rode around the Casino and out Washington's Landing, then the 31st Street Bridge. Rode Railroad Street to the Strip Trail, then popped out into the Strip District to check out PrestoGeorge for some tea shopping, very nice shop.

Back on the trail, Point State Park, Ft. Pitt Bridge, Southside Trail down to Keystone Metals. Reversed north under somewhat ominous skies, just a few drops of rain, nothing more came of that.

At the Hot Metal Bridge, the path around American Eagle to the new trail section appears to be open (the ramp from the bridge is still fenced off). Took the new trail around to the main plaza behind HofBrauHaus, it's all very impressive, see photo above.

Continued along the new space, past the large ingots and rejoined the SouthSide Trail to Station Square, Ft. Pitt and Ft. Duquesne bridges, and back to the Bastille. A very nice ride, it was great to be on the road bike, and it was a treat to ride the new trail segment behind American Eagle and HofBrauHaus.

Embedded Wayfinding and Navigation Support

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 01:11:00 +0000

02/19/12 #235 0m

Navigation through unfamiliar spaces is a familiar challenge, and we have all sorts of standards and devices to support wayfinding in an urban environment. From The Atlantic Cities, this way-cool manhole cover from Seoul, South Korea:

How cool would that be, riding through an unfamiliar city and the manhole covers are embedded navigation?

Plush, Pleasant Saturday Two-Fer

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 00:07:00 +0000

02/18/12 #236 34m 38F

Rode 34miles in 3h14m (pi-time!) in pleasant weather.

Started my own riding from the Jail Trail at Swinburne Street to take a picture of two murals, one of which I've passed a hundred times and never noticed (not noticing is a recurring theme for me). One photo was of the "Unauthorized, Unfunded Mural" at the top of this post.

This second photo is an amateur composite image of "Walk on Through", a 2004 mural by Gerard Tonti, located on the Jail Trail between the Hot Metal Bridge and the Swinburne Street Trailhead:

Started a group ride with Gruppetto Pittsburgh along with Janie, Bob, Frank, Denny, Gil, Carol, and Kim, departing from Swinburne Street and crossing the Hot Metal Bridge and the Station Square Trail. Across the Ft. Pitt bridge and the Ft. Duquesne bridge, and the Chateau Trail to the Bastille.

Pittsburgh Southside - Allegheny Observatory bike ride

From the trailhead we took Westhall, turn right New Beaver, immediate left on Eckert, underpass, turn left McClure, turn right on Woods Run Ave, which keeps a persistent yet humane climb up to the Allegheny Observatory.

At the top I realized I had a time crunch, as did Kim and Bob, so we departed the group and descended Perrysville Ave. and Federal Street Extension down to Allegheny Center. Then we took Ridge Ave and Allegheny Ave to the Ft. Duquesne Bridge, where I parted company with Kim and Bob. This was an excellent descent and a quick route from the top of Riverview Park down to the Point.

At Point State Park I met S, who'd been volunteering during the day and we rode down to the Hot Metal Bridge, and took the Baldwin Borough Trail down to Keystone Metals. Although we noticed no tailwind heading south, when we reversed and turned north it felt like a considerable headwind.

Approaching Station Square, in a parklet abeam South 6th Street on the river, somebody had decorated the chairs, benches, bike racks etc with a collection of stuffed plush doll/figures, it was very colorful but I'm not sure what was going on there.

We took the Station Square Trail and the Ft. Pitt Bridge, and from Point State Park we each headed to our respective cars.

I took Blvd of the Allies, Grant Street, and the Jail Trail back to the Swinburne Street trailhead. As I was packing up a long van pulled in carrying Roy Weil and Mary Shaw, which is a bit like being in the parking lot at the Rome airport and bumping in to the Pope. (no disrespect) They were using their really cool long wheelbase tandem recumbent trike, which is a string of words that does not ordinarily come in a single phrase.

It was a very nice day for bicycling for Pittsburgh in February.

		2/18/12 Week 6 this week: 89 miles		1st Qtr 477 miles 9.9 mi/day_QTR		2012: 477 miles
		Weight: Sun:237 Sat:235 Trend: BAD

A Modicum of Diversion Keeps Ennui At Bay

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:42:00 +0000

02/15/12 #233 27m 39F 2h24m

It's Pittsburgh on a somewhat blue-gray cloudy February day and I found myself wanting something different in today's route, since of modicum of diversion keeps ennui at bay (which is a funny thing for a monagamist to say).

I started at the Bastille, rode around the stadia and took River Avenue to the 31st Street Bridge, then broke new ground to the amazement of the watching throng by riding Penn Avenue and not turning onto Butler Street.

Penn Avenue was a great ride, a nice gentle climb and before too long I was rewarded with an unexpected mural at 3613 Penn Ave, Thoughts On a Blue Sky, Sept. 2009, by John Pena and Brian Brown:

I continued along Penn until I reached the "new" Children's Hospital, and poked around until I found the second mural of the day at 4202 Penn Ave, Lawrenceville, Fabric of the Commmunity, Sept. 2004 by Jackie Kresak:

Having bagged two murals, I reached my limit for the day, and any future mural sightings would be saved for future documentation.

I continued east along Penn into Bloomfield-Garfield, which I'd never been in and I have to say WOW, how come I didn't know about this? Totally awesome, and I finally got to see Kraynick's bike shop. I saw at least three murals in Garfield, including one which I believe is by Shepard Fairey, and an intriguing coffee shop (Voluto Coffee) which I'll need to check out on my next visit.

My sketchy plan was to penetrate on Penn until such a point that I might hit Squirrel Hill, because I wanted to ride Greenfield down to Second - I'd just bumped into that street a few weeks ago and thought it would be a nice ride.

I turned right on South Negley, and when S. Negley crossed Fifth I encountered once again the Hill That Makes Me Want To Cry. Once again, I am chagrined to say, I did not ride all the way up, and needed to dismount and walk. It is a poor artisan who blames his tools, and I am not blaming my Granny gear for her insufficiency, but that hill kicked my ass - to the point at which when I reached the summit (and it can only be called a summit, or perhaps a peak) a city fire truck driving by stopped to see if I was OK (which was extraordinarily kind of them).

I rode into Squirrel Hill and along Murray Avenue, which is a high-distraction, target rich environment and unfortunately, I'm one of the targets. I did notice a bike policeman at Murray and Forbes.

Crossed the Parkway and took Lilac Street to Greenfield and it was a very pleasant descent, I did see one more mural in Greenfield which I'll have to return for another day. This was the route across town:

At the bottom of Greenfield I took the Jail Trail and the Hot Metal Bridge, rode out to Keystone Metals and back, and rode north along the SouthSide Trail.

At times I feel like an inobservant clod. Last week, for the first time I noticed a dog park at the Southside Riverfront Park. It doesn't look new, and I'm through there pretty regularly, but I never noticed it until I saw some people working through the double-gate.

Today, after I rode the Ft. Pitt bridge and was descending into Point State Park, I noticed that the American flag being flown was decidedly non-standard, possibly 13 stars I'm not sure. If it's been that way forever and I've just noticed it I'm going to feel very stoopid.

Across the Ft. Duquesne bridge, back to the Bastille, and the car was still there and it started (always nice). A great ride today in 39F. My chain is skipping, jumping, and dropping under load pretty frequently, it's time for a drive train overhaul. Fortunately, when I came home the nice people from UPS had delivered by new 20-tooth, 5-bolt, 58bcd small chainring, and now the overhaul can begin.

GPS Bike GeoGlyph and Zen Pannier Racks

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:27:00 +0000

02/14/12 #235 0m

Following up on an earlier post on GPS-bike geoglyphs, and via ForTheLoveOfBikes, we have a Valentine's Day GPS-Bike GeoGlyph by Payam Rajabi for his girl Clare:

I've been seeking advice about bicycle camping, aka bike packing (vs. backpacking), in preparation for what I hope to do this spring and summer.

I've asked about the best tent/sleeping pad combo, and I've been getting a lot of feedback that the best tent isn't a tent, it's a Hennessy Hammock:

I've also been asking advice on other equipment, and I've been given another Zen-like paradox: rackless bike bags. Why carry the weight of racks?

So much to learn, and so much to unlearn.

Monday Mileage

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:48:00 +0000

02/13/12 #238 28m 2h28m 34F

I was experiencing a bit of cabin fever because it's been about six days since my last ride (although there's no complaining about this year's winter) and I was eager to get a ride in today, because the next few days are not promising. Today was cold and dry.

I drove to the Bastille trailhead and got my togs on. In deference to the low temperature I wore my mid-weight wool sweater, my Wombat gloves, and I put chemical toe warmers inside my booties. Inevitably, I lifted my bike off the rack and found a flat front tire. Argghhhh.

I couldn't find a leak anywhere, and it seemed like the valve core itself was loose so I tightened it and hoped for the best. Generally you don't use pliers to fix tires. It did seem to fix the problem, although I was not sanguine at starting a ride in 34F with a questionable wheel.

I rode around the Casino and the stadia, and encountered a trail closure at the baseball stadium - fortunately, the Friends of the Riverfront had advertised the closure (concrete work, Feb 6 to April 1) on their Facebook page so it was no surprise.

Continued along River Street to the 31st Street Bridge, then got back on the trail. It looked as if somebody had used the volunteer's shovels to clear the snow from the new concrete piers, very nice job. Went into Millvale looking for the mural, "A Walk Through Millvale" (2003) by Sandy Kessler Kaminsky, located at 112 Lincoln Ave Millvale, PA 15209.

It's a great mural. I can identify Marc Chatellier's Bakery, Mr. Small's Funhouse and Recording Studio, the Lincoln Ave. Pamela's, the 40th Street Bridge, and possibly St. Nicholas' Church.

Crossed the (actual) 40th Street Bridge, and rode west on Butler Street. At 3711 Butler Street, the location of Elisco Advertising's Creative Cafe (fresh ideas served daily!), I saw this mural which I believe is in the parking lot for an adjacent hair salon:

No information available on the work's title or artist.

Joined the Strip Trail at the Cork Factory, there was more snow on this than I expected, and rode around to the Point. Used Boulevard of the Allies to Grant Street, and the Jail Trail to the Hot Metal Bridge.

It appeared that on both ends of the Hot Metal Bridge, volunteers had used the shovels provided to clear a path through the snow, many thanks! I took the Baldwin Trail south to Keystone Metals, entertained hopeful thoughts about the Sandcastle Solution, and then reversed and rode north through South Side Works.

Quite a few runners out, not too many bicyclists. I did see one bicyclist, opposite direction in an orange jacket, who gave an excellent demonstration of the effectiveness of a good front blinky - it caught my eye much earlier than he would have otherwise.

Dropped my chain climbing around the curve to the Ft. Pitt Bridge, this is happening more and more, the Long Haul Trucker is due for a drivetrain overhaul in the near future.

Took the Ft. Duquesne Bridge and the Casino Trail back to the Bastille, saw a few more bicyclists out. It was a pleasure to get off the bike at 5:40 pm and still be in daylight.

This was a great ride that I really needed. The toe warmers were extremely effective, I wasn't cold at all on this ride.

Newly Recognized Invisibility Effect Causes Hundreds of Bicyclist Deaths Each Year

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:55:00 +0000

02/11/12 # 0m

You may be familiar with military research over the past few years moving from stealth technology into invisibility devices, the very "cloaking devices" of science fiction. For instance, a Japanese team is working on an "invisibility poncho" that includes cameras and projectors to make the poncho's wearer somewhat camouflaged, if not invisible.

European scientists have taken another approach to the issue, focusing on making vehicles invisible, initially attempting to duplicate reports of Albert Einstein riding an invisible bicycle in Prague:

Some progress and in fact success was made in this European research, although a few persistent problems proved insoluble:

bike manufacturers resented it
bicyclists look stupid without bikes
they kept losing the bikes

An American inventor was able to develop a somewhat invisible bike by using transparent lucite rather than carbon fiber:

His work proved to be commercially unsuccessful because while he appealed to several market niches — hipsters liked the single-speed configuration, minimalists liked the spare design, and bearded Unix-admin recumbent riders liked the sandals — the niches were mutually exclusive and the conflict was intolerable. He did, however, win a design award from Hincapie Sports for introducing clothing that normalizes traditional bicycle kit.

While interesting or amusing, these approaches did little to advance the body of knowledge. Inevitably, a British researcher solved the problem by using Google to search the amassed content of the internet. His technique? He did Google searches on driver didn't see bicyclist.

His initial search strings were "driver didn't see bicyclist wearing helmet" and "driver didn't see bicyclist no helmet", but then realized that the terms relating to helmet use were redundant since every single article seemed to invoke them.

The research, to be published in an upcoming issue of The Royal Scientist, indicates that in order to achieve invisibility of both rider and bicycle, the following items should be assembled:

brightly colored clothing
bright yellow jacket
body visability augmentors- reflective anklebands, helmet blinkies, bright gloves, etc
a brightly colored bicycle
reflectors
lights (either battery or dynamo powered, no discernable difference)
one additional element of bike schwag - a messenger bag, a U-lock, a spoke card, etc

Apparently, the integration of all these items into a single quantum unit moving on a paved road at a speed over 8 kilometers-per-hour (kph) introduces a special field effect that renders both the bike and bicycle invisible. The effect is not noticable on unpaved surfaces such as trails.

In response to circulated drafts of the peer-reviewed article, public safety experts are alarmed that this newly described phenomena may account for hundreds of previously unrecognized (and preventable) tragic deaths each year.

(Thanks to The Invisible Visible Man for inspiration.)

		2/11/12 Week 5 this week: 80 miles		1st Qtr 388 miles mi/day_QTR		2012: 388 miles
		Weight: Sun:237 Sat:237 Trend: BAD

Two Andy's, Occupy Pittsburgh, Trojan Horse and Bike Police

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:59:00 +0000

02/07/12 #21 1h52m 21m

A shorter ride today; I'm playing the Recovery Ride card. I started at the Bastille and wanted to seek some variation in my routine, so I went south over the Duquesne Bridge. I intended to ride the Mon Whorf but Point State Park has a lot of new barriers up, so I took Blvd. of the Allies over to the Smithfield Street Bridge so as to begin my quest for the intersection of Smithfield Street and Strawberry Way, which promised an urban mural.

As I rode along Smithfield Street with the Mon River at my back, I was pretty sure I'd find Strawberry Way but as I continued across town my certainty started to waiver. I started looking for a Pittsburgh policeman or a Fedex driver to ask about Strawberry Way when I saw a bike cop ahead. He was moving along pretty well, but I caught up to him in traffic and he gave me an exact description of where I was heading.

As I came upon the scene, and saw the mural on top of Weiner World. On the street in the foreground, a flower vendor was working his business, and before I took any photos I approached him and said, Hey I want to take a picture of that mural, if you don't mind. I don't mind, he said, but let me get out of the way; don't need to have my picture taken. Which was, of course, exactly why I'd asked - maybe he had called in sick from his other job, who knows.

Here's the photo of "The Two Andy's" from 2005 by Tom Mosser and Sarah Zeffiro at 628 Smithfield Street:

The flower vendor man is standing beside me as I take the photo, and he says You know, I've been standing under that for two days and I haven't really considered it. To me, the eyes remind me very much of 'American Gothic'. I was taken aback; American Gothic, I asked? Being very courteous, he said Yeah, you may not know the title but you've probably seen the photo, farmer and his wife, pitchfork, very severe. I think their eyes are aligned a lot like the eyes in this mural. Funny thing.

And so I came home and looked up American Gothic and checked the eyeballs, and the flower man was quite right about the eyes:

So, it's two Andy's of Pittsburgh, Andy Warhol and Andrew Carnegie, two very different people. To me, Warhol's face looks a bit Marilyn Monroe-esque; I'm not sure what's up with his right hand; the book is by August Wilson, and the back cover seems to represent Pittsburgh and its bridges. Andrew Carnegie's hands are soaking, perhaps to get the blood of Homestead off his fingers (oooooo, I went there!)

So that was very interesting. I rode across town to the site of Occupy Pittsburgh, which is supposed to be vacating the premises of Mellon Park today. The Occupiers have erected an apparent Trojan Horse, complete with unicorn horn and brushy tail and left it in the park:

It was a very quiet and a fairly desolate scene, there were still a half-dozen Occupiers on the scene, mostly packing up and moving a few tables off the Mellon property on onto adjacent public space. See the photo at the top of this post. No agita, everybody was very nice, no police presence visible of any kind. Several news vans standing by.

Continued on Grant Street toward the Mon, where apparently a vehicle drove into the PNC complex about an hour after I passed through. Rode the Jail Trail to the Hot Metal Bridge, and continued south past the Steelers training facility.

I passed a cyclist on a recumbent, and I was passed in turn by a rider on a hybrid/touring bike carrying heavy panniers and a full trunk bag and boy he was moving at a good clip, and he was in a pretty vertical position too. From his baggage I thought he was a through rider going to DC, and as I approached Keystone Metals he should have been about a minute in front of me at the dead-end but he was nowhere to be seen. I guess he must have portaged over the tracks to Route 837.

Continued north on the SouthSide Trail where I exchanged happy Hello's with bicyclist Frank, then crossed the Fort Pitt Bridge, and the Fort Duquesne Bridge. Approaching the Bastille I encountered two more Pittsburgh police officers patrolling on bicycle, I think that's a great thing.

On a weight-loss note, Doghouse Diaries completely describes my problem with their award-winning weight loss solution.

Blissful Start, Painful Ending: Great Ride

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:35:00 +0000

02/06/12 #234 25m 2h38m 30-40F

I've been riding on urban trails quite a lot recently, mostly because they're paved and they offer more alternative options in cold weather than the country trails, but today I decided to ride the Montour Trail.

There brush along the trail was covered with hoar frost as I started out at MP0 in Groveton. As WinnipegCyclingChick points out, hoar frost is both an attractive phenomenon and a lot of fun to say out loud. The trail surface at the start of the ride, with a temp of 30F, was hard frozen and a bit irregular so it was a jarring ride.

As I continued west I encountered a variety of conditions; at times the trail was clear, in the shade it was sometimes snow-covered or had a cruddy permafrost, and as the sun and the temps rose it became wet and quite soft.

I took this photo just west of Gene Mine Road:

I continued to the Boggs Trailhead, where I stopped under blue skies - not quite Carolina blue, but close - and ate a banana and drank some hot coffee out of my thermos. Sunny and now 40F, good food and a warm drink, listening to Byork on WYEP, life is good.

I reversed course and descended to Enlow, and the surface was noticably mushier. I decided to depart the trail at Enlow and indulge a curiosity I've been nursing and ride a route that seemed to make sense, and I figured riding on the road might be more pleasant than slogging through the wet trail surface.

In the beginning... (all stories should start that way.) In the beginning the alternate route (orange line on map below) was great. Hills, to be sure, but they were fun. I brought out the Granny gear, and Granny was up to the task. It was a beautiful blue day, and the effort of climbing kept me warm.

I passed by the Guard base and took a picture of my bike with the vertical stabilizer of a KC-135. I think it's just the tail, I don't think there's an airplane buried there.

Descending east, I encountered a character-building climb that switchbacked up a steep hill (parts of the ride that made me want to cry are noted in red on the map below). It was terrible. Granny and Me were not up to the challenge. I did not get up that hill without stopping.

It was terrible. (I was terrible) On the other side of BizLoop376, where the route turns red again, I stopped at the green-X to drink some coffee, take some honey, and lay down in the sun for fifteen minutes just to collect my thoughts. It was not pretty.

Back on the bike, Ewing Road. I was popped, cooked, done. I think I understand what Jens Voigt means about pain. I told my legs, Shut Up, Legs! but they would not listen.

Two things:
Now I know why nobody suggests using those roads.
I need to take my legs back there again until they get it right.

It was a great ride on a beautiful day, and a welcome change of scenery.

Trying to Discern the Meaning of Wheeling Heliocentric Orrery

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:05:00 +0000

02/05/12 #238 34m 41F

A remarkably beautiful day in Pittsburgh. Started riding from the Bastille in Manchester, and as I rode around the Science Center I took the picture above. About one inch in from the left margin, you may note a Goodyear blimp loitering over the Lawrenceville-Bloomfield area.

I rode along the trail to Millvale, and then transitioned to the 40th Street Bridge and across to Butler Street, and turned east into Lawrenceville. At 49th and Butler I took a photo of this mural, by Eric Luden for Zombo Gallery:

Continuing further east I took this photo at 5165 Butler Street:

Wheeling Heliocenter Orrery by Kevinn Fung (sic) 2004

I like the mural but I'm not sure I can meaningfully correlate the work with the title, "Wheeling Heliocenter Orrery".

An orrery is a mechanical device that illustrates the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons. In 1704, the first modern device of this type was given to the Earl of Orrery — whence the name came. If the sun is presented at the center of the planets, it is considered a Heliocentric Orrery.

Does it intend to convey that the universe rotates around Wheeling, WV? Or, as I prefer to think, does it signal that the universe rotates around the center person wheeling on the bicycle? Insufficient info for conclusion, unable to find much via the Goog, I'd love to know more about it if anybody has more...

It seemed like two mural photos should be a limit of some sort, so I reversed and rode to the Strip, at the Cork Factory I joined the Strip Trail, and continued to Point State Park. It looks like major earth scraping is still in progress around the fountain.

I took Blvd of the Allies to Grant Street, which is a complex intersection, and then joined the Jail Trail south to Swinburne Street. I rode around the corner and took the Junction Hollow Trail up to CMU and refrained from shoaling a bicyclist at the light. Took Fifth, Wilkins, and Murray to Squirrel Hill.

From Squill I took Forbes and South Braddock around to the Nine Mile Run Trail, which showed signs of recent work on the southern half. Rode down to the River, and took the Duck Hollow Trail to the railroad tracks. Cross the tracks, Second Avenue to Greenfield Street, and back on the Jail Trail.

Took the Ft. Duquesne Bridge and the Casino Trail back to the Bastille, 34miles in 2h53m. All along this route there were a lot of people out enjoying the weather, bicyclists, joggers and walkers. An excellent outing.

Wrenching Results: Mounting Rear Lights

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:36:00 +0000

02/04/12 #237 0m

I am not a good mechanic but I do enjoy wrenching and find great satisfaction in those events when I accomplish small results without permanent damage, resorting to professionals, or trips to the emergency room.

My Jannd Expedition Rack does not offer a mounting platform for a rear light - which would be insufficient anyway, as I wanted to mount two rear lights.

I am enamored of both the Cateye TLD1100 and the PDW Radbot1000 and so to use them both I kludged a DIY solution using seatpost mounts and PVC pipe (see photo at left). This was a completely functional and yet decidedly inelegant solution that was completely discordant with the LHT aesthetic.

In fact, it was a cry for help, a call for intervention, and I could ignore it no longer.

I found out that on their respective websites, both Cateye and PDW offer "small parts" that offer alternative rear rack mounting options, so I ordered rear mounts and then faced the problem of how to affix them both to the Jannd racks.

Inevitably, Google had the solution to my problems and when I searched images for "L-shaped support brackets" I came upon the image to the left, which was obviously a rear bicycle light support bracket that somebody had re-purposed as a curtain rod bracket.

These brackets were not too expensive, strong, and black (all good) and with a bit of hacksawing and drilling and just a few hand-to-head moments, I had usable brackets to mount above and below my rack. Also, I learned that the ubiquitous and universal bike bolts are "M5 .8", knowledge of which pleases me greatly.

One factor in the change is that the seatpost mounts allow you to rotate the light to ensure a truly vertical alignment, while the rear rack mounts require that the bracket/rack combo deliver the correct angle. Fortunately, we were OK on that.

The new install is stronger and less likely to fail, weighs less, is less conspicuous, and ~~offends the sensibilities~~ sucks less.

		2/04/12 Week 5 this week: 67 miles		1st Qtr 308 miles mi/day_QTR		2012: 308 miles
		Weight: Sun:236 Sat:237 Trend: BAD

Pletscher ESGE Bipod Kickstand and Surly LHT

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:27:00 +0000

02/01/12 #235 0m

Kickstands are objects of disdain among roadies, weight weenies, mountain bikers and 'cross riders - all for good reasons - but for the type of riding I do, it's wonderful to have a kickstand on the bike. The weight isn't an issue; I have a lot of pounds to lose on moi before I start worrying about a two-pound kickstand.

What I love about a two-legged or bipod kickstand is that you can take a wheel off to repair a flat without laying the bike down. The bike is supported by the other wheel and the two contact points of the kickstand. That's huge, and you can't do that with a one-legged kickstand (although some people do love their Click-stands, they confer no benefit in changing a flat).

Recently I've seen a few new "townie" bikes with bipod kickstands, and I'm particularly enamored of the seat-tube kickstand on the Giant Clip (photo at right). I think it's a really elegant approach, uses an unused space and keeps the bike looking clean.

Pletscher ESGE kickstands have a mixed history with Surly LHT's; sometimes people crush the chainstays, which Surly addresses on their blog. Surly is pretty adamant about not putting a kickstand plate onto their LHT frame, and in the absence of that plate the kickstand requires almost too much torque to stay in place.

The nice folks at The Bicycle Business sell the Deluxe Pletscher Kickstand Top Plate for $8 and it has a good reputation, and I was very fortunate to receive one from Santa Claus this year.

In fact, while Santa was shopping he also brought me LRTs (little rubber things) for my kickstand, which attempt to keep a heavy bike from sinking into the dirt like a motorcycle on hot macadam.

Intallation was pretty straightforward. I'm pleased with the results so far and very happy to have a kickstand again.

Neville Island to McKeesport

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:51:00 +0000

01/31/12 49m

Magnificent day, started at 48F and ended the ride at 60F, winds out of the west. Short pants, UA ColdGear and a YJA jacket, light gloves.

Rode from the RMU hockey complex south along Neville Island then via Route 51 through McKees Rocks, continuing on to the West End and Station Square. Joined the Station Square Trail to Southside Works, then went "roadie" onto Route 837 South to get past the trail closure at Keystone Metals / Sandcastle.

Riding on 837 is a thrilling experience, and the drivers were very nice. I did have one fool yell "get off the road" to me at the 837/885 cloverleaf, which is built like a highway interchange; I attribute it to their riding around with their car windows open on a mild day.

Speaking of which, fascinating piece on Why Some People (drivers) Get Angry at Bicyclists. He argues that bicyclists are the Other, just like gypsies or immigrants, and so they are easily targeted by those who need to disapprove of another group to assuage their own insecurities, and he further suggests that the very act of cycling is perceived by the Angry person as a refutation of their (car-based) lifestyle, which makes them... angry. I'm not sure if these generalizations about angry drivers are any more valid than generalizations about punk bicyclists.

Continued on 837 through Homestead, where I took the photo to the right. There is quite a bit of street art in Homestead but I haven't found any large murals yet. It was interesting that (again) the current painting was layered over a previous painted advertisement. VLNUS.

In Homestead I turned left on Amity Street to enter the Waterfront Complex. What a remarkable difference from one side of the tracks to the other. From Amity Street I went directly behind the Eat N'Park onto the Steel Valley Trail.

The dirt-surface trail that runs through the Waterfront shows clear signs of maintenance since I was last through there in the fall. As I came around the Pump House I saw a few people taking bikes off cars and getting ready to ride.

I rode the bike lanes around Mahumnahumna? Steel and joined the paved trail that runs below Kennywood. There were quite a few bicyclists out on this section of the trail, including one "ambassador" that I see every time I'm out there.

I stopped in the middle of the Riverton Bike Bridge, and took the photo at the top of this post. It's a beautiful spot.

I turned around to ride north at about 2pm. I don't know whether it was the time of day or the balmy temperatures, but there were quite a few people out on the trail. Same route in reverse; north along the Steel Valley Trail, out on Route 837 to the FBI / Homeland Security complex, and back on the trails.

At South Side Works (SSWx?) I noticed that workers were assembled a gazebo on the plaza adjacent to HofBrauHaus. It will be great when that trail segment opens, I have to imagine the American Eagle people are getting tired of dodging bicyclists.

Riding north there continued to be a lot of people on the trail. Station Square, West End Circle, McKees Rocks, and Neville Island.

Neville Island is a barren, industrial place and I love it. It's flat, paved, good shoulders and excellent sight lines; there's a Subway and some big parking lots at the RMU Hockey Complex.

My computer showed 49.8 miles in 3h38m, so I figure it's 49. I had planned to ride 50, but I wasn't going to get back on the bike for another mile; that'll be another day.

Today's mileage put me at 318 miles for January 2012, which puts my average miles/day at 10 which is excellent for Me in January. In 2011 I didn't have 300 miles until March 18th.

Lest I become smug, the blog titled I Love Danny Chew, dedicated to Pittsburgh bicyclist Danny Chew, brings news that his January 2012 mileage is over 1000 miles. Incredible.

New Amsterdam and Erwin Lanpher's Reservoir

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:41:00 +0000

Gosh, ToTo, we're not in Mt. Lebanon anymore!

01/30/12 #237 18m

Rode 18miles in 42F. Started at the Bastille and rode the trail around the stadia. As I rode around the entrance to Heinz Field there was flotsam and jetsam from the recent high-river flooding. Which led me to peruse and wonder, which is what? Can you have just flotsam and not jetsam?

Turns out that the debris was not flotsam and jetsam which are types of shipwrecked materials. It is also not marine debris, which is man-made.

I am inclined to consider it tidewrack, which describes the materials completely - but alas, there is no significant tidal action to account for it. For now, driftwood will have to do. Where is Etymology Man when you need him?

I continued along the Allegheny, past the 31Street and the 40th Street Bridges, and rode into Millvale with the intention of exploring the land route to Sharpsburg.

Climbing up to Evergreen Avenue my front wheel didn't want to stay down, the bike wanted to rotate away from the slope. It was an interesting experience. I tried to correct by standing on the pedals and moving my well-established center of gravity closer to the front wheel. That did not help, and being clipped in to my pedals I felt a bit precarious. Fortunately, I ran out of hill before I ran out of balance and inertia. Baby got inertia.

As I worked my way around on Friday Street I came upon a vast expanse of concrete which would make an excellent playground or a field for stickball or street hockey. Turns out to be the Lanpher Reservoir, named in honor of Erwin Lanpher, a waterworks engineer who made remarkable contributions to reducing typhoid deaths in Pittsburgh by improving the quality of the water supply.

In 1907, Pittsburgh had 648 Deaths from typhoid fever (125.2 per 100,000 residents).
In 1927, Pittsburgh had 12 Deaths from typhoid fever (1.8 per 100,000 residents).
The change is attributed to Erwin Lanpher. (We consider this an effective rebuttal to those who say, Wait a minute - the Government shouldn't be running the water supply!) Chapeau Mr. Lanpher!

I turned south and crossed the Allegheny on the Route8 bridge, and turned west on Butler Street back toward downtown. At 45th Street I came upon the mural shown at the top of the post, which puzzled me because I always associated New Amsterdam with New York City. This mural is along one of Lawrenceville's new establishments, NewAmsterdam, which Mr. Munch enjoyed.

It's an interesting contrast to Saturday's Mount Lebanon mural. Also of interest, the recent mural is painted over an old, faded ghost sign - a painted advertisement for Uneeda Biscuits.

Rode Butler Street, Penn, and Railroad to the Strip Trail and Point State Park. Crossed the Ft. Duquesne bridge and rode back to the Bastille. A thoroughly enjoyable ride.

Ancho Mex Latte @ Blue Horse Coffee

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:20:00 +0000

01/28/12 #236 8m

School activities provided me the opportunity to drop my Daughter off at Seton-LaSalle high school for an activity, and then pick her up a couple of hours later, so I saw it as a chance to ride around Dormont and Mt. Lebanon, which are places I'm not very familiar with.

I was pleased to see a Pamela's P&G Diner where I took the photo above, and although I expected to meet somebody that resembled Lovie and Thurston Howell I didn't see anybody like that.

Today's coffeeneuring destination was Blue Horse Coffee at 1535 Washington Road, somewhat across the street from the Galleria. I mean, any coffee shop that ends its "About Us" message with an exhortation to "ride the day" is a place worth checking out.

I asked the folks behind the counter to recommend a drink that might be considered the shop's specialty, and they quickly suggested an Ancho (AHN-choh) Mex latte, saying it was a mixture of coffee, chocolate and chile powder. I've never developed an appreciation of chile peppers, but her enthusiastic recommendation persuaded me and I'm glad I tried it.

The ancho chile latte was a strong taste and a very pleasant surprise - a mix of Mexican cocoa, ancho chile powder and espresso. This was a very effective bike-ride drink on a cold and somewhat gray morning.

The shop had a good selection of pastries, Wifi, and a very nice seating arrangement. It was certainly bike friendly, you could leave your bike on the patio and have it in sight from every seat in the house.

The clientele seemed to skew somewhat older/richer than I usually see, but that's the local demographic; the shop certainly seemed open to all. I'll definitely stop there again.

Back on the road, there wasn't much in the way of a usable shoulder and the local drivers didn't seem very familiar with bikes in traffic, but they certainly made room. My standing rule about being circumspect about riding to places with names like South Hills and/or Mount Lebanon was validated by the local topography.

This was certainly my shortest ride of the year (SROTY) at 8 miles, but it was what the situation permitted. It was great to be able to enjoy the time that I otherwise would have spent in the car listening to NPR.

		1/28/12 Week 4 this week: 83 miles		1st Qtr 251 miles 9 mi/day_QTR		2012: 251 miles
		Weight: Sun:234 Sat:236 Trend: BAD

Ancient Geoglyphs Explained By Baltimore Bicyclist?

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:59:00 +0000

01/27/12 #236 0m

PacTom7 is a website documenting Pittsburgh runner Tom's effort to travel over every single bit of paved street in Pittsburgh, running through the city's grid like a PacMan character (hence, PacTom). He tracks every run with a GPS and uses his quest as a tool for continually changing routes.

He produces remarkable artwork with his GPS data:

There is very little new under the sun (VLNUS); using terrain to create artwork that shows up on maps has been around. Geoglyphs are large designs or motifs produced on the ground, typically formed by rocks or durable elements of the geography, such as stones, stone fragments, gravel, or earth. In a way, PacTom's artwork produces virtual geoglyphs.

The cultural significance of the "legacy" physical geoglyphs for their creators is unclear due to a lack of documentation. The 'Works of the Old Men' in Arabia have been described as geoglyphs. Recently some geoglyphs have been discovered in the Amazon Rainforest, in Brazil, among the Megaliths in the Urals. Other areas with geoglyphs include South Australia (Marree Man), Western Australia and parts of the Great Basin Desert in SW United States. Hill figures, turf mazes and the stone-lined labyrinths of Scandinavia, Iceland, Lappland and the former Soviet Union are all types of geoglyph.

The most famous geoglyphs are the Nazca Lines, a series of ancient geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. Scholars believe the Nazca Lines were created by the Nazca culture between 400 and 650 AD. The hundreds of individual figures range in complexity from simple lines to stylized hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, fish, sharks, orcas, llamas, and lizards.

Although there are as many theories as PhD candidates explaining the meaning and purpose of the geoglyphs, there is no generally accepted understanding. It may be that the puzzle of the Nazca Lines has been solved by a Baltimore bicyclist, who has created virtual geoglyphs.

Baltimore cyclist Michael Wallace uses his bicycle and his GPS to make the streets of Baltimore into his own canvas by planning, riding and tracking creative routes.

For instance, The Jellyfish Invasion by Michael Wallace:

The Hammer by Michael Wallace:

Post 9-11 Tribute to the Manhattan Skyline by Michael Wallace:

Bicyclists do amazing things.

Shit Cyclists Say: Noise and Signal

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:43:00 +0000

01/26/12 #233 0m

One of the barriers to any new activity involving equipment is the jargon, which starts off as words to describe that which must be described but morphs (for some) into social code-words that signify standing.

When you begin with the activity you hear the words and you try to figure them out, and you refrain from using them until you're sure what they mean, and you read lists of "~~widget~~ cycling terms".

And the problem with is that among certain people a certain portion of their speech is just bullshit. If you're listening to a word stream seeking knowledge, how do you know what's noise (bullshit) if it's indistinguishable from the signal?

And so, with that intro, this excellent YouTube on Shit Cyclists Say, which starts with the universal "intro to a sad story", I was just riding along...

Drivers say, I was just driving along when...
Pilots say, I was just flying around when...
Bicyclists say, I was just riding along when...

Coffeeneuring Ride: Big Dog Coffee, Southside

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:07:00 +0000

01/24/12 #232 30m

Rode 30miles in 38F today, a marked difference from yesterday's ride but still a great opportunity. Started on Neville Island right under I-79 at the Fairfield-Marriott, rode south along Neville Island and into McKees Rocks.

Tragically earlier today in McKees Rocks the body of a young man was found, shot in the head. Two days in a row, bodies found along my bike route. That trend needs to stop, people.

From McKees Rocks south on 51 to the West End, then Carson Street to the Station Square trail. Continued south on the trail to Southside works, took a right on the street that REI is on, and continued west of Carson Street.

What I love about "west of Carson Street" is that while there may be some gentrification, it's an authentic Pittsburgh neighborhood rather than a generic aspirational-upscale retail facility (AURF) where you can't tell what town you're in.

My path took me just beyond the world-famous Nadine's, which I love but that's more of a breakfast stop for me. Herself was outside and waved as I rode past. Took a left on Sarah and found myself at my coffeeneuring destination, Big Dog Coffee at 2717 Sarah Street.

The location was bike friendly, two Three Rivers bike racks out front - and something I hadn't seen before, a cleat for securing dog leashes, very nice. There's an outside seating area but it wasn't getting much use today.

The interior is really very nice - roomy, high ceilings, well lit. Much more of a residential vibe than, for instance, Espresso a Mano. Wifi, pastries, pleasant staff, great bagels. Big Dog Coffee is now my favorite Southside Works coffee shop.

They're very serious about coffee, as they probably should be. The queue at the counter moves quickly. I really like the layout of rooms.

I left Big Dog Coffee (resolved to stop again and again) and joined the trail at the Hot Metal Bridge, and rode south to Keystone Metals. I really hope that some path through Sandcastle is available this year, even if it's just the new dirt trail by Keystone and a jaunt through the SC parking lot. It makes me think of the old world maps that had monsters and typhoons on the margins, except that on the Pittsburgh trail system the impassable maelstrom is pretty centralized.

Turned north into a strong headwind, which I hadn't really noticed as a tailwind on the first leg. North to Station Square, north on 51. There's a lane restriction where 51 goes down to a single lane south of the McKees Rocks Bridge, but it's only fifty yards and it wasn't a significant issue.

I wore a lightweight wool layer today and ended up a little bit cold in the torso, and that's not necessarily a bad thing; it's better than overheating.

Rode through the Rox and Neville Island, and stopped at I79 in the hotel parking lot. 30 miles on the computer and 38 on the (virtual) thermometer. Longest ride of the year to date (LROTY).

Today's ride also puts me at an average of 10 miles/day for January, which is pretty cool.

After the ride I stretched the comfort zone and washed my bicycle. It actually looks very nice when it's all clean and you can see the details rather than the accrued crud.

55, Bike Shorts, and a YinSter

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:40:00 +0000

01/23/12 #233 26m

Yesterday there was five or six inches of snow on the ground. Terribly rainy and mild temps this morning followed by several hours of bright blue skies and 55F, so the surface was very wet but atmospheric conditions were wonderful.

I skipped the long pants, the shoe booties, the wool layer, and the jacket and ended up riding in bike shorts, a UnderArmour ColdGear shirt, and a bike jersey.

Rode from the Bastille around to the Science Center, where the trail was closed for some police activity that involved boats in the water. But they did a good job of closing it, bright markings and an officer telling you where to get back on.

Rode around the stadia on the paved trail, and when the trail turns to dirt I went on the road to avoid the wet, slushy muck. Used the 31st Street Bridge to cross the river, and took the photo above. (Ordinarily I'd crop the gratuitous blue sky at the top of the photo, but in ~~December~~ January in Pittsburgh I'm not cropping any blue sky, thank you.)

Took Penn and Butler over to Espresso a Mano, excellent coffee and atmosphere as always. The sun was so warm I was tempted to remove the UnderArmour.

Riding toward the Cork Factory along Railroad Street I had a very positive experience, a police car coming from behind slowed way down rather than passing me and stayed back at my 8:00 position, I thought man, what's this going to be? so I stopped, and he waved me on explaining that he just didn't want to right-hook me. Totally unexpected.

I rode the Convention Center trail behind a young rider (potentially a YinSter, the famous Pittsburgh Yinzer Hipster, it's really obscure you probably haven't heard of it) who had a beautiful bike with a really nice wooden fender, the type you find at ClankWorks, which was keeping the spray off his messenger bag.

Rode to the Point and around to the Mon Wharf Trail. Instead of portaging up the staircase as has been my routine, I rode the ramp up to the street as S. recently showed me and it's a much better transition.

Jail Trail to Hot Metal Bridge, where I saw the new snow shovels locked to the fence for bicyclists to use; very nice. Hung a left onto the Baldwin Borough Trail. The very southern end of the trail, just north of Keystone Metals, is in quite a bit more shade than the rest of the area, and so there was a lot more slush/snow still on the trail.

Came back via Station Square, and it started raining as I crossed the Fort Pitt Bridge, Point State Park, and the Fort Duquesne Bridge. The rain stopped as I got down to the river on the northside. The trail was open now at the Carnegie Science Center, and as I rode along the Ohio there was a beautiful rainbow. And I rode back to the Bastille uneventfully.

My bicycle is getting really dirty, and in spite of my commitment to not cleaning it I may have to wash it, it's almost disrespectful to let it get this dirty.

Sunny Sunday Sojourn

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:55:00 +0000

01/22/12 #234 19m

Rode 19 miles in 34F.

Today was a bright blue afternoon, highlighting the still-white half-foot of snow on the ground. With a temp of 34F and a promise of rain tomorrow, and with not having ridden for six days, I really needed to ride.

I rode on streets in Beaver County (Center, Hopewell, Aliquippa) that don't see a lot of bicycles compared to the city, and furthermore with the recent snow the shoulders weren't rideable, so I was taking the lane in an area not used to it.
Everybody was very nice - which I usually find in cold temperatures, as long as they can see you they give you a little more of a bubble when you're out in Rule5 weather.

It's interesting to me that (with the exception of toes and fingers) the most frequent issue in winter riding is overheating.

The ride kicked my butt a little more than I thought it would, I'm not sure whether it's de-conditioning over a 6-day layoff or an incipient flu that's been hinting for a rollout. I'd like to play the normal bicyclist's card and say "this was a recovery day" but that's a stretch after a 6-day layoff.

One man (surprise!) yelled something at me, I chose to think it was a compliment on my front blinky. There's a lot of grit and runoff on the roads from a recent storm, hopefully tomorrow's rain will clear that up.

It was good to be back on the bike.

Sat 1/21 wrapup

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:51:00 +0000

Sat 01/21/12 #234 0m

		1/21/12 Week 3 this week: 25 miles		1st Qtr 168 miles 8 mi/day_QTR		2012: 168 miles
		Weight: Mon:239 Sat:234 Trend: good

Yarn Bombs and One Shot Facades

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:02:00 +0000

01/16/12 #239 25m 43F 2h02m

I love riding a bicycle but it does take up significant blocks of time. Throw in sunrise/sunset times, a few obligations, and the vagaries of "partly cloudy" and it becomes difficult to get in a significant ride.

Today I made it out to the Bastille (Western Penitentiary) on the trail at 3pm just in time for the rain to start. I knew the forecast for the next few days would be worse to I started pedaling and after a few miles it was great to be back on the bike, just like it always is.

I rode around the stadia and out to Millvale, and took the 40th Street Bridge and Butler Street. At 3629 Butler Street, just a few doors down from fave coffee shop Espresso A Mano, I saw one of the now-ubiquitous Three Rivers Bike Racks in front of a clothing boutique named Pavement (fb , TribR), was no ordinary bike rack.

This one was very cool, and instead of my bike having to scratch up against a coarse and frozen bike rack, my bike was welcome with a warm and soft bike rack.

The bike rack had been Yarn Bombed, aka guerrilla knitting, urban knitting or graffiti knitting, which is a genre of street art that employs colorful displays of knitted or crocheted cloth. It's the way your Aunt Betty might do graffiti.

I've seen one previous incident of yarnbombing in Pittsburgh, when somebody had knitted a red sweater for the Mr. Rogers statue by the stadium. Sometimes it's the little things. My compliments to the Crochet Commandoes.

{Pavement is (according to the website) a locally-owned, neighborhood boutique featuring a creatively curated selection of shoes, clothing and hand-made accessories. If they're the people responsible for the knitting on the bike rack I think that's very cool.}

I continued along and joined the trail at the Cork Factory, but as I passed the Strip District I saw some unusual things: uniformed American GI's conversing with Middle Easterners in traditional dress, hobnobbing and making happy talk as if the lion had lain down with the lamb.

As I slowed to see what was up, I also saw a Humvee parked next to some sort of a Middle Eastern house. The bright lights and the Burgh accents from the people standing around helped me to realize that this was filming for the movie One Shot, based on the book by Lee Child and due in hexamegaplexes on Feb 8 2013.

A friend of mine J. works as an extra in these movies and I milled around trying to see if he was there. I was surprised that nobody asked me to leave, and then I realized that with my black pants and freshly clean yellow jacket, I probably resembled the Pittsburgh bike police on the scene. (Some people derisively refer to my type of jacket as a YJA, but I can't fail to use the high-viz). Something about my physique must have suggested donuts.

I got back on the trail, rode to the Point, Blvd of the Allies, Grant Street and the Jail Trail, Junction Hollow up to CMU, and back down the hill. Going north on the Jail Trail I exchanged waves with bicyclist Kordite, I was pleased to see him in a "seen-at" sort of way; for a long time his trip reports were the only thing you could find online about riding Pittsburgh to DC, and we really benefitted from his reports.

Continues north on the Jail Trail, across the Ft. Duquesne Bridge and back to the car. 25.2 miles, mostly in rain (but I needed a little Rule 5 time after wussing out the last two days), An excellent ride. It is always good to get on the bike.

Securing Rear Bike Lights on Bicycle Racks: Bring Me My Windows 3.1

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 02:26:00 +0000

01/14/12 #239

19F and snowing today, and so I permitted my superior judgement to permit my superior skillz to take the day off.

There's a Phoenix bicyclist that I enjoy reading at http://onespeedgo.blogspot.com/, he seems a well-composed and thoughtful person, and when I saw a recent post headline I became quite excited: Rear Rack Taillight Standardized Mounting Dreams Made Real.

Could it be true? Have the stars aligned? Is it a foreshadowing of the Mayan end times? Mounting bicycle tail lights on a rear rack has been a vexing issue for me.

Unfortunately, the blog post did not bring news of an emerging industry standard. No, we did not adopt the Euro rear light/reflector mounting standard. The writer had taken tools in hand and fabricated his own (and fairly elegant) kludge, and (rightfully) he considered it an accomplishment.

Generally, we end up with people with really nice bikes who hand-fashion one-off solutions, which often involve fashioning a support that appears to be a seat tube, since all the lights provide mounts for seat tubes:

It's crazy to me that you can spend $50 and up on a rear light that will not reliably affix to your rear rack. Yes, you might zip-tie it and you might clip it onto a bag strap or a coat or a messenger bag, but then the now-remarkable optics will be askew and you'll end up projecting a powerful beam of light up into the air and not into the eyes of the truck behind you.

I really want Them to fix This. I'd like to have one or two templates for what the mounting points on the back of a rear rack might be, and then have higher-end lights be compatible with those templates. I think it might help me to avoid being killed, or at least to maximize the Guilt upon the Driver who does kill me.

This morning I contemplated the great buggery of it all, and then it struck me: I've seen this problem before. When 8086-PCs first came out, none of the devices/software could work together; you needed drivers to intermediate the process. It was a goat-rope; your WordPerfect 4.2 might not have a driver for your HP DeskJet+ if you were still running DOS-5. Every software producer was chasing the swirling range of hardware, and every hardware producer was flummoxed by the upgrading versions of software, and it didn't work very well. It was very frustrating.

Then we got Windows 3.1. Not only was it a graphic user interface, but it provided a standard platform; if your hardware worked with the Windows 3.1 specification, and if your software worked with Windows 3.1, then you could be assured of functionality (UGMT- usually, generally, most of the time).

The hardware people and the software people now only had to worry about a single dimension of change; what would Windows change? And there was really a great improvement delivered by the all-promising Windows.

As happens, after ten years the solution becomes the new problem 2.0, and we've forgotten how glad we were to have Windows 3.1 back in the day.

Somehow, I find myself wishing for Windows 3.1 for my rear bike light / rear rack interface. It's a curious turn of events.

Since I'm fantasizing, I also want to see a standard for a bicycle electric supply. Bicyclists are carrying AA, AAA, recharger packs for proprietary batteries, USB dongles (both mini-USB and USB-2, btw), hearing aid batteries for the new LEDs, and none of them work with each other. I've got ~~three~~ four different power sources running on my bike: AA, AAA, hearing aid, and proprietary.

I'd really appreciate a standard platform that allows me to operate all my lights, either on batteries or on a dynamo circuit. I would pay a premium for an electric/light platform that offers some robust diversity in power sources - yes, you can run your dynamo, and if the dynamo craps out you can use your rechargeable AAs or your solar panel- and all your lights would have compatible connectors. I would really like this.

And if you were using rechargables, they should all accept the same mini-USB jack as cellphones do; every traveling cyclist is already carrying a cellphone charger.

Please.

		1/14/12 Week 2 this week: 78 miles		1st Qtr 143 miles 10.2 mi/day_QTR		2012: 143 miles
		Weight: Mon:241 Sat:239 Trend: good

Eve of the Eye of the Sturm of the Century

noreply@blogger.com (Vannevar) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:13:00 +0000

01/12/12 #240 26m 45F

Rode 26 miles around the city, figuring that after the last two days of rain the Montour Trail would be way too soft.

The next two days promise the Sturm of the Century, which is a pretty easy standard to achieve since we're only 12 years into the Century.

Started at the Bastille and I got a good look at the site where an old warehouse has just been taken down, somebody just got a beautiful riverfront property to do something with. I really appreciated the way they handled the truck traffic and the trail during the project, and I kind of miss the alternate route they constructed because with its mud and orange snow-fence, it was as close as I'll ever get to riding on a cyclo-cross track.

I rode around the Stadia to Millvale and the 40th Street Bridge. Railroad Avenue, Point State Park, Blvd of the Allies, Grant Street, Jail Trail.

Second Avenue, Junction Hollow Trail where I fell into conversation with a bicyclist riding home from work. He had a very effective front light, a CygoLight, and he was explaining that it was expensive and he'd bought it for his wife to use but he ended up getting to use it, sort of a two-wheel Gift of the Maji thing. I would have enjoyed continuing to talk with him but our routes diverged.

Rode up the hill via Boundary Ave to CMU, turned around after catching my breath and descended back to the Jail Trail, Hot Metal Bridge, SouthSide Trail, Station Square Trail, Ft. Pitt Bridge, Ft. Duquesne Bridge.

On the way back to the Bastille I encountered a dense flock of ducks who just didn't want to get out of the way, and in spite of my yelling "Move Duck Move" in my best Jens Voigt voice I ran over one with my rear wheel. I got off the bike to see what was up, and to see if it was suffering or dead, but none of them seemed to be the worse for wear.

The victim was probably calling Attorney Edgar Snyder.