BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Live would be an understatement, you'll see. Stu?

Stu's your guy. He'll be along any minute I expect...

@Courtney, Stu is definitely your best shot at good local routing from the North Hills.

He'll probably want to know what part of Ross you are in. The community has an interesting shape, and what works well from one part of the community may not work well from another.

Just checking in here. We've probably seen each other at one point or another.

I'm coming from just into McCandless; Perrymont Road area. My usual path is Perry to the corner of WView Park Drive, dismount, carry bike up the steps, roll through the woods, then rejoin Perry Hwy up by WView Water. Not recommended for days after an inch of rain, though. (1.13" in my rain gauge this morning!)

I sometimes use Center to Bellevue to Balph, into downtown Bellevue, L Calif/Lincoln, L Benton, R McClure, L Orchlee, R Shadeland, L Woodland, R Stayton, L Hodgkiss, R Brighton to get into the North Side; definitely the flattest method, and well worth considering in reverse if you don't care to climb hills.

I also use Babcock frequently, esp if heading east-ish, like Oakland. Getting to and across the 40th St Bridge is getting easier by the day.

I've been commuting almost daily recently, so would be glad to accompany you on any trip in. Where roughly are you?

Glad Stu's got it covered.

I'm on Connie Drive which is basically 3 immedaite right turns off of 279N (from the Perrysville highway exit). I have a road bike, so I'm not sure I'm equipped to 'roll through the woods' haha. But if its a decent trail I'd be down. I typically try to ride in Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. I leave pretty early (about 6:00/6:30) on those days. If thats reasonable for you, let me know! I'd love to see some alternate routes.

Ah, Connie Drive. You're already south of West View, so the horseshoe curve coming out of there is not an issue.

If you're already climbing Connie to get to Perrysville, that's probably the toughest part of the trip. I'm sure you've also tried the Bascom Ave method. I haven't biked it, but it looks narrow.

Since you're headed to Oakland, my method would be to skip Downtown altogether on the way in, climb Connie to Perrysville, L then R onto Ivory, L Evergreen/Peoples Plank Rd, R Babcock, wiggle through Millvale, onto the 40th St Bridge (often abbrev'd 40SB), straight up 40th, L Liberty, R Bloomfield Bridge, L Bigelow, then Bigelow or Craig into whichever end of Oakland you're aiming for.

Going home, I would go through town on the Jail Trail, into Point St Park, Ft Duq Br sidewalk, wiggle over to Brighton, then up Charles St to Perrysville (to Bascom to Jacks Run) to Connie, though I suspect you know that one already.

There is also that back way out of your area, using Jacks Run Road to Brighton. I haven't biked this either, but if you can manage the narrow twisty backroads of southwest Ross Twp, and climb that hill past the Giant Eagle up into Brighton Heights, the path from there isn't too bad. Might be a decent alternative in getting home, too.

Whatever you try, keep us posted. This is a part of the territory that hasn't been well covered by the board, and I think I've read nearly every post since 2008.

After climbing up 40th, the bridge is a bit of a bear--though maybe if you're warmed up it's better; I ride to Oakland almost daily from near Penn & 40th, so I'm still pretty cold then.

My route from 40th is usually Penn or Howley to Main (which avoid the dip in Liberty between 40th & there), then L Liberty, R Millvale. Depending on traffic, I either go R Centre, L Neville, R Bayard, L Craig (avoiding both the rise in Centre to Craig and the horrors of the busses and beer trucks at that corner), or L Centre, R Devonshire, R Ellsworth, L Neville.

i go up that hill from the 40th street bridge every day, and 40th is probably the worst option, main being second worst. i prefer to go up fisk (it's in between the two aforementioned streets). it's much calmer, and there's a library halfway up! mind you, this is only for the ascent. 40th or main are probably the best for the descent. i come down main in the morning, usually.

you might, if you go that route, also consider the wiggle if the hill seems too much at first. go a block up one street, cut over a side street or alley to a block or two over, continue your ascent there, and do the same. it gives you breaks in between attempts at tackling the hill.

Wow! This input is awesome! Now I feel obligated to explore and report back! haha. Maybe tomorrow I'll try going through Millvale (though passing Jean Marc's bakery will only tempt me to stop!) and take 40th street bridge rather than go through downtown. The ride in is always great, its basically uphill the whole way back, no matter which way you do it! At least that's my impression from driving/taking the buss. haha

Your input would be most welcome. As you've noticed, there are quite a few of us, we've traveled lots of different ways from lots of different Points A to Points B at varying times of day.

Myself, I've never had a problem with climbing the hill on 40th, but given what others have said, maybe I should change it up a bit. That said, I know 39th to be a much quieter street than 40th, and not that much out of the way. I'm just usually on the upstream sidewalk coming over the bridge and can't be bothered getting over to make a right on Butler if traffic is busy.

stu, if you're coming along the upstream sidewalk, make the left onto foster street, then the right onto 41st, then right on butler, left on fisk. you're on butler short enough that you can just hop across the street to the other sidewalk while traffic is gridlocked, but i have never had to do that. it's usually pretty easy.