Introductions - Hi from Pittsburgh

Hi!
I have a similar story to many others here, I guess. I'm 59 years old and live in the Pittsburgh area. I biked as a kid and then got away from it but about 7 years ago started riding again on bike trails for fitness. 3 (or so) years ago a friend introduced me to road riding and I fell in love. Last year I did my first multi-day tours, one supported and one not, and completed my first century. I'm now doing about 2000 miles a year and wishing I had time to do more. Wonderful sport.

Hello GF2, have you found all the forums of interest yet? There's a forum for 50+, and I see you found Road Cycling as well. Don't forget to visit the regional forums to say hi to the rest of the PIT folks.

Welcome to BF!

East Hill

Thanks, I'm looking through them. Huge amount of stuff but lots that is good.

If you can't learn a new thing every day here, you aren't trying!

East Hill

Hi!
I have a similar story to many others here, I guess. I'm 59 years old and live in the Pittsburgh area. I biked as a kid and then got away from it but about 7 years ago started riding again on bike trails for fitness. 3 (or so) years ago a friend introduced me to road riding and I fell in love. Last year I did my first multi-day tours, one supported and one not, and completed my first century. I'm now doing about 2000 miles a year and wishing I had time to do more. Wonderful sport.

Hey Greyfox. Many welcomes an at! (I saw that you are from the Pittsburgh area)

... Brad

I envy you your hills. Pittsburgh and surrounds must be awesome biking country. I'm pretty familiar with the area, but have never biked there.

You're right. Pittsburgh is nothing but hills so if you can't climb you can't ride much. Its not really a great bike town, though. Because of the age of the infrastructure and the topography they haven't done a lot with bike lanes. If you enjoy Rails to Trails riding there is a good trail system. And that's one place where there are no hills.

Welcome to the forums Greyfox! Even though I've moved a little south of the city, I still enjoy a weekend day ride up there at least once a month. Pittsburgh's traffic is virtually non-existant if you get a nice early start. If you plan your route out, you can get a lot of virtually flat miles in, and see a lot of the city while doing it. Of course you probably already know that :D

Enjoy the forums,

Denny

I tried the Greenway Sojourn sponsored by the Rails to Trails Harrisburg office. Left from Station Square on a Saturday and returned there a week later. A fully supported and suberbly organized ride with 500 participants from age 3 to 89. Great fun, great company, essentially summer camp for adults. Try it next year. Stan W

You're right. Pittsburgh is nothing but hills so if you can't climb you can't ride much. Its not really a great bike town, though. Because of the age of the infrastructure and the topography they haven't done a lot with bike lanes. If you enjoy Rails to Trails riding there is a good trail system. And that's one place where there are no hills.

Welcome GF2.

Funny, I dated a girl in Pittsburgh for a couple years a while ago and since getting into biking this year I was thinking about taking a trip back there. I remembered the hills and figured it would be a hell of a lot of fun - and challenge but after reading this I remembered how right you were. The roads didn't leave much buffer by the curb and most were in pretty rough shape. Although I pretty much stayed between Point Park, Southside, Oakland/Squirrel Hill, and the Waterfront when I was out there - maybe the other areas are better?

Still thinking about it but maybe the commuter would be better than the roadie?

Anyway, good luck with the riding and congrats on the century!