Weather.com says things will be rainly early tomorrow, but it should clear up by 6 pm.
YAY FLOCK!
2014-02-20 17:16:10
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Pittsburgh Bike Party, hosted by Flock of Cycles: Friday, Feb. 21! (6pm @ Dippy)
Hey guys!
As always, the third Friday of the month will be the date of February's Pittsburgh Bike Party, hosted by Flock of Cycles.
We'll meet at 6pm at Dippy the Dino in Oakland and will get rolling at 6:30pm.
Here's this month's route: http://www.endomondo.com/routes/286552564. This ride will officially end back at Dippy, but I'm sure lots of us will roll down to OTB afterwards, so plan to stick around if you can!
Haven't heard of Flock? We're a local non-profit that, among other things, exists to increase public awareness of cyclists on our roadways and promote safe riding practices, all while fostering community and fun among our city's lovely bike people. Our flagship event, the Pittsburgh Bike Party, is a welcoming, family-friendly, all-inclusive, FREE event that happens on the third Friday of every month. We hang out and take a ride around the city at a leisurely, welcoming pace appropriate for riders of all ages and capabilities. You get a chance to make new friends, learn new routes, and have fun on your bike!
If you have any questions about Flock or the ride, let me know. You can send me a message here if you want, but you can also reach me (Sarah) via email at flockofcycles@gmail.com. Flock is more active on Facebook than anywhere else, but you can also find us on Twitter at @flockofcycles, and if you don't use either of those, we also have a calendar on our website.
Come ride with us! :D
2014-02-09 14:56:27
This'll be my first Flock!
2014-02-20 18:20:48
Yay! Excited to meet you tomorrow, RustyRed. (I'm Sarah, and I'll be riding an orange All-City)
2014-02-20 19:29:56
Jumping the gun here, but I got this question at the JCC health and wellness fair. How long are flock rides and do any (say, at the peak of summer), ever end early enough for someone sabbath observant to ride?
2014-02-21 10:46:25
byogman wrote:Jumping the gun here, but I got this question at the JCC health and wellness fair. How long are flock rides and do any (say, at the peak of summer), ever end early enough for someone sabbath observant to ride?Usually they start at 18:00-18:30 (summer has longer days) and last at least an hour (usually more).
2014-02-21 14:43:44
@byogman - What time parameters must you work within? A clock time? Natural sundown? Maybe for a future one, we could aim out SqHill way to start, so you could at least start with us even if you didn't finish with us.
2014-02-21 15:02:59
Natural sunset. Though you really aren't supposed to cut it close. Being stuck, esp outside the squirrel hill/greenfield area (inside what's called an eruv) after the start would be incredibly, incredibly terrible.
It's not for me, for folks who are would-be riders that I ask. Two folks asked me at the fair, which sounds like nothing, but it was lightly attended... probably talked to 20 folks the time I was there, and maybe 5 or 6 expressed an interest in the flock ride. So, a credible ratio (albeit in a statistically insignificant way).
Don't know how long the ride normally is, but if the summertime start stayed at 6pm instead of moving to 6:30 that would help, if and the route never veered toooo far from the Eruv areas, seems to me it might work, at least in June/July.
2014-02-21 16:40:06
@byogman. The route is usually about ten miles and takes about an hour (not including picnic).
I think most flock folks would be open to a more Sq.H.-centric ride some month. You may want to get in touch with Mr. M. and plan a route in that direction without too much climbing. Then those that need to can bail as the need arises (or sets as it were).
2014-02-21 17:04:25
Marko82 wrote:@byogman. The route is usually about ten miles and takes about an hour (not including picnic).Well, since usually we have tendency to stop at GE, FM, or similar shop to buy something for picnic, total time of ride exceeds an hour. Byogman, BTW, which one sunset is counted? http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=418&month=6&year=2014&obj=sun&afl=-13&day=1 On June 20th, 2014 (the third Friday of a month): Jun 20, 2014 3:44 AM 10:59 PM -- Astronomical Twilight Start/Stop 4:34 AM 10:09 PM -- Nautical Twilight Start/Stop 5:16 AM 9:27 PM -- Civil Twilight Start/Stop 5:50 AM 8:54 PM -- Sunrise/Sunset
2014-02-21 17:23:30
Did anyone else notice the bus which tried to cut us off at Morewood? Here's a blog post about that.
http://bus15237.blogspot.com/2014/02/bus-5616-61c-vs-flock.html
Needless to say, this was why I disappeared after CMU. I tried to catch up, but could not see anyone by the time I got to Craig at Fifth, so headed downtown and home.
2014-02-22 09:41:05
Mikhail wrote:... Byogman, BTW, which one sunset is counted?Officially, it's something you look up on your particular shul's calendar. But it always coincides with regular old sunset, so on the date you selected, 8:54. Sorry to hear about the aggressive bus driving. I wish I were surprised.
2014-02-22 20:41:58
StuInMcCandless wrote:Did anyone else notice the bus which tried to cut us off at Morewood?Yeah I saw that. Seemed to me the bus driver skipped a bunch of people waiting at the stop so he could play silly and dangerous games with bikers.
2014-02-24 13:02:54
This flock was really a fun ride!
2014-02-24 13:04:38
I sent in a complaint via their on-line form. Let's see if this goes into the Black Hole Of Customer Service.
2014-02-24 13:27:28
I submitted a 311 ticket about the camera controlled traffic lights in east liberty not responding to cyclist presence.
Traffic lights in east liberty do not respond to cyclist presence. I was riding with a large group of cyclists (about 20) from broad st to center ave on friday evening (2/21/2014) between the hours of 7:00pm to 8:30pm.
When going through 3 intersections in east liberty ( Broad St and Larimer ave intersection, Broad St and Center Ave/penn circle east intersection and Penn Circle E / Penn Circle S / Penn Ave intersection) the presence of our large group seemed to go un-noticed by the traffic sensors, leaving only a 10-15 second green light cycle which broke our group up several times.
At this time, there was very little opposing traffic at the broad st and larmer intersection and the broad st and center ave intersections.
This likely affects the other camera controlled intersections in east liberty. Please make these traffic lights detect all road users, not just automobile traffic.
2014-02-24 14:46:21
Good news, bad news. Good news: They got back to me within a couple of hours. Bad news: They said I didn't give them enough information.
*headdesk*
2014-02-24 20:10:38
Since when is bus# & time too little info? No wonder their drivers get away with (almost) murder.
2014-02-24 21:25:07
I would calmly tell whomever delivered the message that they're full of shit and they know it. That records of who drove what bus when are kept explicitly for liability reasons, and corroborate quite well by the bus camera video, which could also corroborate the lane squeeze and blowing past the bus stop to get ahead rather than serve actual customers.
2014-02-24 21:53:32
Yep, I believe you have to get the driver's number off of their uniform, which is next to impossible in many cases. If you're trying to get the # you have to just about get in the driver's seat with them to see it because it's on the left side of the uniform.
At least that's the case the last time I tried to report T drivers who would smoke in the car with passengers aboard. In one instance, I walked up to the front of the car, asked to see his operator number, but he refused to turn so I could see it.
When I relayed that info to PAT along with time, car number and route, they STILL told me I didn't have enough information.
Way to go, PAT!
2014-02-24 22:29:14
You're right, that is BS. Positive ID can certainly be obtained by route number, direction, time of day, and an intersection. That's good enough. Having the bus number is very helpful, but extraneous. Having the driver's payroll number (the # on the uniform) is positive ID, but absent that, having all the rest is good enough.
It's possible there is a new person or 10 there who do(es) not know me. But as anyone here knows, I know the process there quite well.
Anyway, I replied, again supplying the link to the blog post, and beseeched them to please read it.
I'll keep you posted.
2014-02-24 22:47:21
In my lifetime, the consistently worse thing about PAT is the Black Hole of Customer Service that exists.
Valid complaints should not be met with vaccuous dishonesty ("not enough information"). To me, that is as bad as the original problem.
2014-02-25 13:03:23
Did you guys tell Peduto about it?
2014-02-26 10:06:43
Or perhaps more usefully Rich Fitzgerald, as he would appoint PAT directors, and he states he is committed to making our public transit more blah blah blah.....
2014-02-26 11:07:46
To his credit, Rich Fitzgerald came to the ACTC meeting last week. I, unfortunately, was not there. He's the first of his stature to come to an ACTC meeting since 1997, when we got both Mayor Murphy and one or two of the county commissioners to attend.
Mr. Fitzgerald got an earful of nonsense from James Love, I am told.
*headdesk again*
2014-02-26 19:18:11