BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I think Thompson Run to Babcock is a decent route, but it would seem to take you further east than you need to go. The folks on the North Side are trying to make a bike route out of East Street (which parallels I-279 between downtown and McKnight Road). You could take Thompson Run to Babcock, and then, instead of turning left on Babcock, stay straight on Peoples. This will turn into Evergreen. Eventually, it will pass under I-279 and come to a T at East Street, or a street that becomes East Street. I've not known Peoples Road at rush hours, but I've used it other times of the day, and have always marveled at how little traffic it carries. East Street may not be all that interesting at rush hour, however, with fast traffic, etc. So, I checked Google Streetview, and found a route that may be fabulous, and may be terrible. Soon after entering Peoples Road from Babcock, there is a left onto a tiny road called Peoples Township Road. It climbs, and rides the valley wall, but this is barely more than a cart path. If there is traffic that uses it, it will be terrible. If not, it's a step away from being a private road for your use. It would end at Mt. Troy Road. From there, you could head left (counter-intuitive, I know) to a right on Spring Garden. That comes down near Penn Brewery, on the North Side. The small stretch on Chestnut Street (to the 16th Street bridge) is brick, with old trolley lines visible, so exercise caution in wet weather. P.S. I used to ride Spring Garden to Mt. Troy to Geyer to get to the Shop N Save area of Millvale from the City. With the trail in place to Millvale, I haven't done it in a while, but it was a very doable ride. I'd consider that option as well.

I am north of you, but on the west side of McKnight. Busing out, use the 2 Mt Royal to get you up to Mt Royal and Vilsack. The problem is, I don't know which side of the big valley you're on between Mt Royal and McKnight. That's not a bad option if you're on the Mt Royal side, but that's one heckuva climb if you aren't. Biking the whole way, both directions, yes, Thompson Run to Babcock is probably your best bet. My method: Babcock, peel right past Hardees, then the bend right that takes you into downtown Millvale. Left onto Grant Ave (by Attic Records). At the other end of Grant, you will want to get in the left turn lane so as to go over the tracks and under 28, but you have a choice. Choice A: Go under 28 and over tracks, turn right, follow gravel trail (it crosses the road at one point, but it's very light traffic; more to worry about geese than cars). Stay close to the kayak buildings. (There's one spot where it's easy to end up flying down a ramp into the river. Easily avoidable.) Continue along this allllll the way to some bridge that will get you downtown (9th, 7th, 6th St). I head for Fifth and Grant, so use 9th. Choice B: Go up the sidewalk to the 40th St Bridge, and stay on the upstream sidewalk. (Watch very tight, blind corner at the top.) At city end of bridge, slow to a crawl, and stay on the sidewalk around the end of the bridge and merge onto thin tiny 40th St, which will take you down by the CMU Robotics lab. Just after crossing a little used (but live) railroad track, hook sharply left and slide through a space between jersey barriers to go under the 40SB. A couple of wiggles later, you're on Smallman St, which you can ride all the way to 11th St, then either L to go up into the Grant St end of the Golden Triange, or R to go over to the trail along the river below the Convention Center. There are other options, too, but these are your most likely choices.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'm definitely going to have to check them out. I don't think I've been off my bike this long in a few years, and I'm sure I'm starting to agitate the family with all my energy. I'll let you know how the recon goes, and check back with any further questions.

Oh, and to answer the question on which side of the valley I'm on, I'm on Byron Rd...which is the west side of the valley, but the east side of the Ross Park Mall hill....I think. Still trying to get my gyro calibrated to the new city.

Ah, that helps. Go check out semi-informal trails to get to Ross Park Mall. The 12 McKnight will get you right up to next to the ballfield behind your neighborhood (Crestvale and Woodsdale). The last couple of 12 trips don't go up into the mall, though. On-road by bus, the 2 Mt Royal will get you to the Thompson Run - Duncan - Ferguson corner, which isn't too far from you. Both the 2 and the 12 (every trip of both) go to Northway Mall. If you don't mind climbing McIntyre, then that might be a good bus backup, both directions. The 12 runs seven days a week; the 2 only Monday-Friday. Sorry, I have very little experience with climbing Thompson Run, though others may wish to chime in. I live just off of Perrymont in McCandless, so I'm going up Babcock to Three Degree, rarely turning off Babcock before that.

I don't have a whole lot of practical advice for you commuting into town, but I did want to say hi to a neighbor. I live up on Ridgewood. Haven't biked nearly as much as I'd like since my kids were born a few years ago and I haven't worked in the city in years though I've given it some thought in case I'd end up with a job down there again. Adding to Stu's note about the trails by Ross Park, definitely check those out. Crestvale, Pittview, and Parkview all terminate in trails that lead to the mall by the ballfield near Sears. Waaay quicker than driving/riding around to McKnight road via McIntyre. Pittview's is the most direct. You can see these pretty clearly in any satellite / google earth view of the area. As far as busing, you might want to note that the fare boundary for zone 1/zone 2 is right around Seibert Rd. So Ross Park or Northway Mall into town is a two-zone fare, while North Hills Village is only 1 zone. I'm not sure about the stops right at Seibert. I haven't ridden into town since I moved out to the suburbs myself, but I've always figured that if I did I'd take the Thompson Run/Babcock/North Shore Trail route. There is some traffic, but none of it's terrible and the inbound trip is more or less downhill with the option of taking it pretty slow and easy on the trail to cool off toward the end. Good luck and I hope you enjoy the neighborhood!

@crcd is right about the zone boundary. $2.50 gets you to the stop just before the Siebert peel-off on northbound McKnight. If you can get from there to the first peel-off up into Ross Park Mall, and climb up around the back of Toys R Us and Sears, you'll get to that ballfield. I also motorcycle, and did a scouting run up there last night. That looks do-able. Bus stops at the boundary: Inbound, assuming you can bounce over to the mall via the ballfield, down the mall driveway, you can ride on inbound McKnight for the mile down to Siebert. Cross Siebert, pull into the little plaza, and hook around to the left to get the bus. Make sure the driver has changed the farebox to say $2.50, not $3.75. That has caught me at least once. Riding on McKnight is not all that difficult, if you have a strong stomach. Get in the right lane, in the left tire track, and stay there. Watch how I do it, from Perrymont to Dennys: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO1WyYF9HaE&t=6m5s

And if you don't want to ride Mcknight road from Siebert you can look at heading up Siebert a little ways to Woodland-Virginia-Sangree to get into our neighborhood. That first stretch is kind of steep uphill for the traffic that'll want to get past you, but it's a short stretch and the shoulder isn't bad. Once you're on Woodland you'll have quiet residential streets the rest of the way home.

The parking lots from the Verizon store up to Half Price Books are more or less connected. Certainly a lot easier to jump a couple of curbs than play dodge ball with outbound traffic. Even I don't like outbound McKnight traffic. I'm less familiar with that side of Siebert, but I'll take crcd's word for it.

That little stretch of Woodland-Virginia-Sangree is how I walk home off the O12, so I'm familiar (as much as possible w/ 2 work days under my belt) with that little stretch. It's definitely an option for the days when I do a multi-modal commute home.

Welcome to Pittsburgh, jonszcz. Put your faith in Stu. If there is a bike route into, out of, through, under, over or alongside the North Hills, he knows it. Good luck!

Thank you, ALMKLM! Not to pat myself on the back too much, but I have put 800 miles under me since June 1, all of it just commuting, errands, and the occasional group ride. So, yes, I do have a teensy bit of experience to speak from.

So, if anyone is interested, I ended up riding in today for the first time. I found a route based off of the comments here and then a bit with the help of the Strava heatmaps. Here's a link to the route. It went really well. The Peoples Township Road is a bit of a bear, but no traffic. It was a great way to spend the morning.

I tried to go to the link, and even signed up to have an account, but it still would not let me access it. I get: "Sorry, you are not allowed to access that page."

Oops, I had it marked as Private. Try it again. Sorry about that.

don't mind me, i'll just be over here chuckling at 'old people's run' ... Nelson Run Rd, the right turn at the same intersection at People's Road, is also a decent climb. As it runs right next to McKnight Rd, it gets a little (relatively) high-traffic at times, but it's also small enough that it's not usually heavy. You end up a half-mile or so west, at Ivory & McKnight, from which it's a short jog to Perrysville Ave, a long, curving, rolling descent (mostly) into town.