The Urban Century

If you’ve never ridden your bike around Pittsburgh, you should, just to put this all into perspective. For those cyclists that live in or near the city and have no other choice but to ride there, I feel for you. If I were in that category, I probably would be fighting hard with the city of Pittsburgh to make it a more bike friendly city.

Our journey began in the parking lot of the Pittsburgh Zoo in Highland Park. There were two others riding with my Dad and I that day who we met on Facebook – Jason and Bob; both enthusiastic cyclists happy to be spending the day, along with us, on our bikes. Jason, being from and living in the city, had a route planned out for us that would amount to 100 miles while keeping us on virtually flat roads the entire time. If you’re from Pittsburgh, you will understand that even finding a short stretch of flat road can be a task sometimes, so 100 miles is impressive!

Our route began crossing the Highland Park Bridge, and I discovered that there are joints that go across these bridges with teeth that seem just wide enough to eat your tire, or so you’d think. Fortunately though, we rode right across with no problem. I realized then, as I would throughout the day, that I am definitely not an urban rider. From there we headed out Freeport Road, which, even on a Sunday, is by no means a low traffic road and was a bit nerve racking at times. I don’t know that it was necessarily the traffic that was causing my distress or if it was the constant swerving, jerking, and jumping that my bike and I had to do to avoid the potholes, construction, barriers and other random obstacles that we came across. I knew as a driver how bad the roads are here, but had no idea what that meant for cyclists. Riding here in the city requires focus, quick thinking, and good bike handling skills. Otherwise, you, or your bike, will soon be broken. I'm sure though that this was due in part to it being so early in the season. Most of the road crews have not even been out yet to fix the winter damage, especially since the snowflakes are still falling!

We did have a few stretches of road that were smooth and free of potholes and we thoroughly enjoyed those sections of road. It gave us a chance to do some pace lining as well. That was the only time I felt comfortable all day in a pace line. There were just too many craters to watch out for and I wanted to be able to see what was coming in front of me. Even on the Jail Trail pace lining was difficult as we had to watch out for walkers, bikers, joggers, skaters, children, and dogs, all of whom seemed to not be paying the least bit of attention to where they were going. And, for some reason, shouting from behind, “on your left!”, does not inspire the sense of urgency I would like for it to in most people.
I nearly had a head on collision towards the end and was thankful to be back on the open road!

Although road conditions were poor, we had a great time on our bikes and made some great new friends. I think having to stay so alert and in tune with my surroundings helped me to keep my mental focus, at least, until the very end. By mile 84, I could “smell the barn”, as my Dad would say, and was quite ready to get back to the car. We’ve done a century on flat roads now; next up, bring on the hills!