BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Is the 31st bridge still a good place to watch. I might go there tomorrow.

in a kayak on the Allegheny

I usually watch at the bottom of the Duquesne incline at Station Square. You're right on top of the barges where they set them off. Afterwards it's a little crowded until you get to the Smmithfield street bridge, but then then the jail trail is smooth sailing...

Why 31st and not 16th or Rachel Carson? Are they overrun with pedestrians?

you can park in the parking lot of bicycle heaven museum bike shop,,,just up past the rivers casino,,take a bike on the trail to the fire works if needed,,,craig bicycleheaven

This weather graph shows that the wind will be out of the west, and light, which favors viewing from westerly locations, and not downwind locations like 6th/7th/9th/16th/31st St Bridges.

Bicycle Heaven would be an ideal location to view from, and doubly so if you arrive by bicycle, since you can get much of the way home on uncluttered trails.

A group of us rode down to the casino parking garage for the first night fireworks. Worked out rather well, but I belive I'm going to try that little park off bigelow

Would the Birmingham Bridge be to far away.

A bit. 10th St Br might be a good spot, though. Anyplace along the Mon, especially the south bank, is probably going to be pretty good. The farther downstream, the better. Fort Pitt and West End Bridges would be awesome vantage points, but likely jammed with people.

I don't think I wanna be out in the heat again. I may just try to watch on tv.

I think I might take Stu's suggestion and try the 10th street bridge. It's close enough to Station Square if it doesn't have a good view.

we'll be at 31st street bridge, despite stu's useful weather tips. mostly because it's near to us and i am right tuckered out from work/ frolicking in the river. maybe see some of yinz there. we will have bottle rockets!

31st street bridge is completely closed. The sidewalk is not accessible any longer I just came from there an hour or two ago.

ah yes, so it was! ended up by the convention center. lots of people down there but it was a rad view. yay fireworks!

Ended up driving down, daughter at the wheel, and watched from the West End Bridge. We would have gotten home a half hour sooner if we could have parked at the lot under PA65 by Beaver and Island. Biking down to the WEBr from there would have been sooo easy. As it was, it took 45 minutes to get from Cardello Building to open road up on Perrysville Avenue.

No way would I ever drive to the fireworks again. I learned a few years ago how much of a cluster it is.

Also, why weren't them fiuuureworks zambelli's n aht?

The city owes Zambelli money. I hear the city uses cheaper companies now.

Thanks Stu for suggesting the 10th street bride.

Uuuuuh, I should not have drunk the different things that I drank. Holiday on a Wednesday is stoopid. Uh.

The company that did the "Flashes of Freedom" display was in the news bragging about all the new shapes of exploding projectiles they had imported from around the world, but mostly from China, for the show. Goes well with the American flags sewn in the sweatshops of our privatized prison industry by what is essentially slave labor. WOOOOO FREEDOM! GO MERICUH!

A few notes for the many folks on the Board here who may not be from the area (from the Google machine, courtesy of Wiki):

"Zambelli Fireworks is a fireworks company based in New Castle, Pennsylvania, part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area."

"Pyrotecnico is a professional fireworks company based in New Castle, Pennsylvania." (This is the company that did the fireworks last night.)

If you Google the terms "Pyrotechnico imports fireworks" and "Zambelli imports fireworks" you will find multiple pages with information showing that each company is a major importer of fireworks from China.

We don't really make much do we?

Websites?

http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/

The Google machine has stories that say we manufacture 40% more than China. It also has stories that undermine that claim by describing how misleading the "Made in the USA" label can be, as many items are simply "assembled" here from parts and pieces imported from around the world.

All my websites are built from scratch in the USA. My tools however were made overseas.

This also holds true for bikes. The country of origin on the "made in" label is defined as the country where the majority of value was added to the product. So guess where that "made in Italy/Spain" carbon fiber race bike actually started out as a raw frame. Hint, they don't speak Spanish or Italian.

Slightly OT, but IT IS SO FREAKIN' GREAT that there are racks on the busway buses. So if you are wiped out after a downtown event, wait in front of the steel tower for. P1 and get you & your bike back to E liberty in about 15 minutes.

[edit] I also wanted to mention that I have full fenders and a front rack and did not have any problem securing my bike on the bus rack.

biked up to schenley oval with my special lady friend, where we laid out a towel and drank a beer while watching fireworks from all arahnd tahn. pretty nice view of dahntahn, as well, though it's not the same since without zambelli.

then, after the various displays were running down and we were leaving, some genius shooting umbrellas up into the sky had his thing tip over, and we had a fireball shoot pretty much directly at us. it hit a tree and rebounded up into the air, where it exploded a few dozen feet up, mostly safely. there were some kids between us and the tree, so they probably would've been at ground zero. also, someone's pimped out suv took a fireball off the side door. pretty awesome stuff, if you ask me!

HV, something like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDSR4cxskUo

The parking lot behind the science center was almost empty (of people; full of cars), and had an interesting view.

More photos and videos. Animated gif conversion via gifninja.