BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I occasionally make the ride from Forest Hills to the Airport. Noblestown road to Carnegie and then Campbells run road isnt too bad. There are some hills but it's very rideable. FedEx hill is a bear though. Maybe you could talk to the folks at Ikea. They may allow you to lock your bike up in front of the store.

I think you pretty much nailed the route. Pine Hollow road is the best way I have found to climb out of the Ohio river valley out to the west, so I can't really advise you there.

People from this ACTA always show up at community events with a booth, I've talked to someone from there and they were quite sympathetic to bike commuting, it would be nice to get a rack or some bike lockers there by the 28x stop at Ikea. People already use it as a de facto park-n ride, and they have a load of room. I'm just thinking feverishly.

As for your current need, I'm going to think on it. Fisher Scientific is right there, and is huge, I would think there might be some bikies there.

@Stu; Why not change your route a little bit to come down Camp Horne Road, take a right on Route 65 (just for a mile or so), the take I-79/Neville Road across to Coraopolis. Left on 51 to Groveton, and the Montour Trail to Park Manor Road, and the Fed Ex Hill.

I could give you good local alternatives to Camp Horne/Ohio River Boulvard (Arndt/Yellow Belt to Right on Mt. Nebo, to Left on Glenfield to I-79 ramps would work well from your direction.

I KNOW that you can legally cycle I-79 from Route 65 to Neville Island. North on Neville Road a mile or so to the Coraopolis Bridge, then left on 51 a short distance to the Groveton Trailhead.

Seems a lot easier/calmer than Bellevue to Stowe to Pine Hollow.....

Thanks for the info, folks. I'll ask Ikea about tying up a bike. Yeah, they could do with a rack out there near the bus stop.

Sara, I'll give your route a try some morning when I'm not in a hurry. It sounds long, and not much calmer than what I'm up against already.

The only real alternative to FedEx Hill itself is Hookstown Grade Road, which takes me up to the back entrance. I've been warned that it is narrow and shoulderless, and prone to speeders. Any experiences out there?

ACTA works OK sometimes but the jury is still out. Today it was only 10 minutes late; acceptable. But the 28X that showed up was rackless, as was my connecting bus Downtown, so I think I'm going to press forward with the bike-in-Moon (not Robinson) idea.

I havent had any problems on Hookstown grade road. What road in Pittsburgh isnt prone to speeders?

I thought about that route out to 79 and Coraopolis to the Montour trail, it would sure cut down on your hill-climbing, but it definitely adds some mileage.

At Montour Run road, just jump onto the Montour Trail at some point and it will drop you right at the bottom of the hill to fedex. There is a place to pop out at a brown office building at the corner. It will be more direct and you can avoid that whole goofy Parkway west cloverleaf thing.

Well, I just had another three-hour trip from FedEx to McCandless -- the third in six days -- so I'm ready to fire up the bicycle just about any day the weather will let me.

I have to bone up on techniques for riding in the bitter cold, and in the dark. I still have to try an eastbound trip, but if I can do it in 75 to 90 minutes, that'd be quite OK.

I'm hoping I can get some assist from the occasional passing bus. The trip duplicates a lot of existing routes, notably the 500 from Calif & Termon to West View. I think the take-home idea here is that I don't have to bike the entire way.

what about carpooling?

I started looking at the ACTA website, I'm going to start reading their transportation studies and stuff, but I found that the deal with the shuttle buses is that you call a dispatcher and tell them where you need to be picked up, were you aware of that? Here is the #: 1-888-600-1100

That would certainly explain some of the patchiness of service.

if I can do it in 75 to 90 minutes, that'd be quite OK.

That is one hell of a commute.

Look at the bright side, though. Do that for a year and you will be ready to crush commonwealths and get dirty a dozen times and all.

Good luck

Mick

Here's the problem: ACTA has two vans running in the a.m. but only one in the daytime and evening.

The van covers everything between Settlers Ridge and Cliff Mine Road, with 20 or more pickup points in between.

Thursday's three-hour trip started with a 6:00-reserved trip that had not showed by 6:45, so I walked the 1.8 miles to Ikea. On foot, the trip takes 25 to 30 minutes, only 10 on bike.

"SWM seeks SF for companionship and commuting arrangement. I like long, moonlit bike rides, pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain. Car with bike rack a big plus. email photo of rack."

I should change the name of this thread to "McCandless to FedEx in Robinson in Mid-Winter". The PAT/ACTA trip took 112 minutes this morning and 180 this evening. And since, as I've been saying, about 3 in 4 buses have racks, typically one leg of the day's journey has a rack-less bus.

I'm ready to start using the bike both ways, every day there's not a good reason not to. Even at 80 minutes each way, I would spend less time in transit round trip by bike than just getting home by van/bus.

So I guess what I need next is recommendations on best preparation for riding in single-digit wind chills in the dark. Clothing? Accessories? Lighting? Tools? Thanks, everyone...

Oh, on the good-news side, I found out that ACTA has a real-time van tracking system. Scroll down to see map, then click on a number. Refresh after a minute; repeat. (Now, why can't PAT do this?)

Cold.

Everyone like layers.

Me too.

But when I mention "one big coat" (OBC) folks sometime jump on me as anti-layer. I'm not.

Layers+OBC. Sometimes layers, a jacket, + OBC.

Cotton kills, but the farther you get from your body the less it matters.

Silk PJ bottoms under pants are great to add some warmth without binding or bulking. great between long johns and trousers.

If you want to dress "business casual" then Silk, Rayon and Poly Microfibre are good ways to avoid an inner layer of cotton.

Rayon and silk beat the hell out of poly-whatever as far as smelling and looking OK.

Being able to wear 2 or 3 pairs of socks and still move your feet freely strikes me as more important than specific winter shoes.

I always have an extra hat and extra gloves.

Lost gloves = winter bike hell.

The single item of cold weather gear that I have the most respect for is a hooded sweatshikrt that zips ALL the way down. I'll take a full zip cotton hoodie over a fleece partial-zip pull-over anytime.

For tools? For me, the best winter tool is a pair of shoes that I can walk home in if I have to. Other than that, pump, wrench, inner tube.

You are going far enough you will have to calibrate as you go, so zipper are good. Front opening all the way, pit zips, etc.

Good luck.

Mick

Lost gloves = winter bike hell.

That sounds like the sad voice of experience talking.

Wool and layers are your friends, as is the adjustability that Mick alluded to. (Benefit of wool...even if you miscalibrate and sweat through it, it'll keep ya warm...an attribute not to be scorned for winter riding over some distance).

A helmet cover of some form (shower caps work, and get extra style points) will do a lot for heat retention.

Repairing flats in sub-freezing temps really sucks...I strongly recommend a heavy-duty tire, possibly with studs. (I've had good luck with the Schwalbe Marathon line of tires, and their Marathon Winters seem quite good).

Fenders and mudflaps keep the crud sprayed on your drivetrain and feet to a minimum.

As far as lighting goes, I like a dual system with head- and tail-lights on both bike and helmet. In my case, the bike lights are driven by a generator hub, which reduces the chances of the cold-weather "oh crap my battery just failed" situation.

Exam or dishwashing gloves on the hands, and plastic bags on the feet, are great if the weather gets WAY colder than you were expecting.

Stu, I just can't resist: Why not bike to town, then take the 28X to Robinson, and grab the ACTA van from there? The 28X HAS to be faster between town and RTC than the bike. You could then bike back to McCandless from town, or take a variety of buses that will get you close.....

It doesn't solve the slow ACTA van issue, of course. But you could perhaps even rack your bike on the 28X out to RTC, and then RIDE the dreaded 1.8 miles from RTC to FedEx.

Just a thought.

Biked both ways today. Westward was miserable, very sloppy, very slow, 115 minutes. Eastward was quite pleasant, 87 minutes, much less slop.

Hookstown Grade Road is much preferable to FedEx Drive. It's an easier hill, less traffic (!), and puts me by the back door nearer the bike rack.

And a big shout-out to edmonds59, who saw me chugging up Clever to Fairhaven on the way back, and stopped to cheer me on. Thanks!

It was nice to see you! Glad to hear you made it home safely.

You go, Stu!

That is one helluva commute.

Mick

yeah seriously, major commuting kudos for Stu.

Props. I follow your trials on Twitter. Every day is epic.

StuInMcCandless -- How often do you wash your bike? I rode in on Monday and its all covered with salt. Do you just leave it like that or wash it all the time ?

Major kudos - especially with the weather factor!

I know I should hose it off daily; so far haven't. On tonight's to-do list is setting up a mini-shower in the basement expressly for that purpose.

Here's the plan: Hook up a garden hose to the hot-water faucet on the basement sink. Hose off crud before I go upstairs, get myself a shower, get dinner, then go over moving parts with the oil can.

Anyone got any better ideas?

Thanks for the kudos. I also just found out today that ACTA is going to one-van operation in the morning, which is going to seriously crimp my PAT-to-ACTA ride to work on the way in each day.

Translation: Probably going to do this 90-minute ride fairly often. So far I haven't figured out a safe place to tie up a bike around Robinson, and the 28X is not guaranteed a bike rack.

When you say "oil can", I highly recommend wd40 for everything, it cleans parts, and doesn't have the stickyness to collect grit in your moving parts. Since you need to rinse everyday anyway, the lube doesn't have to be long-lasting.

I would add that, every few weeks you should take out your seat post and flip the bike over, or hang it by the front wheel, and make sure no water is collecting in your tubes, fire some wd40 into the seat tube and top tube if there is a hole. Sometimes there are little drain holes in the fork tubes, seat stays and chain stays, if there are, fire some wd in there.

just keep the wd off of your chain.

My SO was trying to get home from the airport last night. Apparently Port Authority was running short busses for 28X at 5:30 pm the day before classes start at Pitt (don't they think about this kind of stuff?). She waited with a large group of undergrads for an hour (3rd bus is the charm!) until there was room for her to get on. I guess a rack isn't the only thing you might have to worry about. I hate to think about all the poor suckers waiting out in the cold in Robinson when the full bus pulls up.

They've been told about this for years. I personally told the head of the Collier Garage (where the 28X runs out of) about it in 2000 when I was a Pitt student, and how to find out when they'd get crush loads. They are supposed to put extra buses on on such days. btw, the 28Xs I saw yesterday were normal 40-footers. The inbound 28X I got on had 40 people and 40 suitcases.

I don't know how short "short" is, but she told me they weren't normal size busses...for whatever thats worth. They were full enough that the drivers refused to let anyone else on. The bus she rode home (the one leaving around 5:50?) was a normal size.

It is just frustrating when you plan out your flight so you can catch the 28X with enough time to transfer in Oakland to catch the one of the last busses of the evening that goes to your house. The hour wait for a bus and $15 cab ride to bridge that gap makes public transportation a lot less appealing.

Especially when you know that the beer you drank the night before helps to pay for said public transportation.

Time to top this thread, as my situation has changed some.

I haven't biked all that much, as the bus/van ride in usually works pretty well, and a co-worker has given me a ride back into town. But he's leaving Pgh after next week, so I'm going to be biking a lot more.

Biking home, I have essentially two choices, and both take a bit under two hours. I can bike the whole way, or can try to connect to the same G2-to-12A pair I use when my co-worker can't drive me. All the bike gains me is being able to jump on a 500 or 11D. The ACTA van is OK if I can leave at 5:45, but if I can't, I'm looking at a three-hour trip home, so I should tie up a bike at FedEx, methinks.

The biggest problem with a two-hour commute is how little time it gives me to do bike repairs. I find I need three bikes available, and catch up bike work on the weekends.

So, yeah, 85- to 100-minute trips, each way, 5 days a week? I might have to.

Stu, what route did you end up taking? Where in McCandless are you coming from?

I used to do CCAC North to Ambridge five/six days a week and I also did Ambridge to Robinson on the weekends. Did what somebody else suggested, Ambridge to Sewickly, Sewickly to Coraopolis, then Montour Trail it over to Robinson.

Traffic was never really an issue along the routes I took.

I can see the Perry/Perrymont traffic light from my house, 1/4 mile from CCAC North. My usual path is Perry into WView, then to Bellevue, McKees Rocks Bridge, Stowe Tunnel, Pine Hollow Road, Fairhaven, Clever, Hookstown Grade, back entrance to FedEx. About 15 miles. Pine Hollow isn't that hilly, and H.G. is long but pleasant. No terrible traffic, the biggest problem is dodging storms in the afternoon, plus just having the fortitude to handle 15 road miles each way at some speed. I can do it in about 90 minutes.

Detouring via Ambridge would add a huge number of miles.

Ah, I see. I forgot how far south Robinson is from CCAC North.