BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I sent 311 an inquiry.

Saw water from a fountain yesterday in the new(?) section along the south side of the mon near the hot metal

Point Park's fountains are on.

Point Park's fountains are on.

the one nearest to the penn/commonwealth intersection was definitely not working yesterday at about 5 pm. has this since changed?

Beats me. When I was there on Weds the two I bothered to notice were on.

Maintenance responded to my 311 and will be turning on fountains next week.

Sheetz all have free water. A lot of convience stores have free water. Sinks by coffee stations, water tabs on pop fountatins, and drinking fountains are what I look for.

I was really bummed to see the drinking fountains at the trail-head to the Eliza Furnance Trail apparently boarded up on my ride the other day. Those fountains are like in THE perfect spot, they can't be serious about shutting those down can they?

they board those things up every year. it starts sometime around november, and they don't get unboarded until, well, actually i don't know when. but hopefully sometime soon.

Thanks, sloaps. Every time I rode past a fountain, I see a runner or cyclist try to get water from fountains and see their frustration when no water comes out

I get frustrated when I have to fill the cap of my water bottle and bail that water in to the bottle itself because the fountain is not made with a high enough spout to fill any sort of container. I was doing this at the Allegheny Observatory yesterday.

At least I can hold my thumb over the opening and spray water in to my bottle at some of these fountains (I'm talking about you, highland park fountain).

YEAH! I thought I was going to have to start carrying 2 water bottles around when I went running. Stupid 80 degrees in March...

I think I chronically dehydrate during warmer weather- I hadly ever drank during running workouts, and never carried water. Not saying it was a good thing, but I just don't understand having to stop for water during a 5 to 10 mile run.

Cooling effects are a different matter.

Helen,

I used to be the same way. Then, I did a ride over 60 miles, and I don't remember the last 20 miles of it. Cramps aside (which are horrible by themselves), it would've been rather dangerous to ride home if I weren't with another person. If you've ever been blacked out (or near that) after a night of drinking, it's like that. I make sure to stay hydrated and eat plenty now, that's not an experience I wish to repeat.

I actually tend to over-hydrate. (Hyponatremia is not fun, but those little nuun electrolyte tablets are great!) But I also adapt very poorly to heat, so I start sweating buckets as soon as it hits 70 degrees, even when I'm not exerting myself. As in, walking a mile from downtown to the North Shore to work this week required an extra shirt. I will never understand how people can merrily bike down the Jail Trail in work clothes in the summer and get there still looking professional. In the winter I can run 6-8 miles with no water, but even then I like to have it just in case. Ironically, I'm now sitting in an office building wearing gloves and drinking tea thanks to overzealous use of A/C.

Along with water fountains, we need public restrooms!

jeg - pretty much the same here, it sucks and it's kind of an embarrassing problem to have.

So, I'd say to helen s, everyone is different. I can maybe run 5 miles inside on a treadmill without water but outside in the heat, or any longer distance, no way. I try to drink a ton of water but it can be a challenge carrying enough water to keep hydrated. Last year I set off on a 40ish mile ride (granted it was way too hot) with something like a gallon of water + gatorade and it still wasn't enough, I ran out and the last few miles were miserable.

I tried to get water at the fountains at the bathrooms of Schenley Plaza and they were shut off (I assume they do this to keep pipes from freezing) but the sink inside the bathroom was working.

+1: 311 this

+1: Sheetz free water

+1: Highland Park fountain water pressure finger trick

I will never understand how people can merrily bike down the Jail Trail in work clothes in the summer and get there still looking professional.

I saw a couple people on bikes today in long pants and I was getting warm just looking at them. We previously discussed wearing shorts if it's above 40 degrees, which I definitely do. I guess I can relate if they're not going that far and/or they have to wear them for work, but it just looks REALLY warm.

So it's supposed to be 25 on Monday.

Celsius?

No.

According to Weather.com at 3:30, monday is supposed to have a high of 48 and a low of 31.

Only a few degrees cooler than normal for this time of year.