Another Pittsburgh Ride

Although there was rain in the area, I pushed out of the hotel shortly after 5 am for a planned ride, using the Garmin and turn by turn directions for a route I found on Ride with GPS for the area I’m staying in Pittsburgh.

Evidently, the designer of the route rode an exploratory route and uploaded it.  Following it out of downtown to the north, I encountered many turns into residential areas.  When the route finally started to climb, it found a long hill, and then just when I was ready to quit, it pushed off the steady incline to hit a neighborhood where the road went up at a much steeper pitch.  Ok, I was in the granny gear making my way up the steep hill when suddenly I hit a section of cobblestones.  There was enough space between the stones that I was afraid I might drop a tire into the space.  I kept up the work, and a block or two later, the cobbles turned to brick.  I crested the hill on brick.

Continuing to follow the route let me to a road that was closed with a gate into a park.  I wandered around some, noted some rain sprinkles, and decided to simply find my way back to the hotel.  After getting lost, I ran across Penn Avenue and knew that road went right by my hotel.  I turned SW and started a fun descent.  I loved the nearly 30 mph for quite some time on roads with a speed limit of 25.  I was still being passed by cars!

I made it back to the hotel before any rain hit.  It was a short distance day, but still about the same amount of time.  Wandering around in the dark on residential streets and turning every few blocks really ate into the average speed!

This Ride: 15.7 miles
Malaria Campaign: 1,513.9 miles
Funds Pledged: $756.95
Contributed in support: $1,903.60

Total = $2,660.55