bike query

[rivertumbled]

In your opinion, how bike friendly is Pittsburgh?

Comments

[rivertumbled]

So....it's not at all bike friendly then?

[dutin]

i had no problems when i lived there. there are hills and you ride on the road, but otherwise not so bad. you have to be careful. and i only ever had 1 cup of some fast food drink tossed at me over the course of several years.

[rivertumbled]

I'm not afraid to ride in the road. I've lived car-free often, but in more temperate climates.
What part of the city did you live in?

[cursedthesky]

There are certain areas which are decent, but as far as biking from one neighborhood to the next, it's generally not so doable.

[rivertumbled]

Which areas are decent?

[unixd0rk]

i would like every 20 miles or so to cost me about 4 dollars out of pocket. then it can be "doable". LOL

[rivertumbled]

Are the trails functional? Can you get places without riding in the road, or are they more recreational?

How aggressive? Like try to run you down aggressive, or just don't give you much space?

Thanks for the information!

[xerotope]

I have a bit sunnier perspective. Pittsburgh is doing more and more to accommodate cyclists, and there are some great organizations in town promoting cycling. BikePgh (www.bike-pgh.org) and Free Ride (http://www.freeridepgh.org/) are great places to get info. BikePGH in particular just released a really nice bike map of Pittsburgh. (http://bike-pgh.org/campaigns/commuter-bike-maps... )

[rivertumbled]

How long would it take to bike across town?
Thank you so much for the links! I like to drive as minimally as possible.

[xerotope]

"Across town" is pretty ambiguous. It took me maybe 40 minutes to get from Downtown to Highland Park, if that helps at all.

The BikePGH message board is a great place for getting specific route advice too.

[rivertumbled]

Sorry to be ambiguous! I am not yet in Pittsburgh, so I'm not even sure what I mean by across town yet. 40 minutes is not so bad. Were they leisurely minutes, or were you riding hard?

Point of contention.

[rufushonkeriv]

Pittsburgh seems pretty bike-friendly to me -- but for a middle-level to advanced biker.

I grew up in Toledo, Ohio where you can look down any straight street and see the end of it. The street I grew up on had a place with three foot drop down and back up that we called The Dip. Learning to ride a bike was easy.

Now I live in the North Boros. We live on a hill. I have no idea where my seven year old daughter could practice riding a bike straight for more than 20 feet, and if she did learn I wouldn't trust her on half the hills around here.

Re: Point of contention.

[rivertumbled]

I'm a decent biker. I've lived car-free for years at a time.
I'll admit to not loving hills, but I'll be coming from high altitude...hopefully I'll have the lungs for Pittsburgh's hills.
We're looking at places in the north. Do you enjoy living there? How long would it take you to bike to downtown proper?

I like your comic!

Re: Point of contention.

[rufushonkeriv]

I don't bike much myself, so I'm not sure how long it would take or what would be the most smooth route. (I work nights downtown so I drive)

I like the North Boros pretty well - they're not without problems, but pretty safe. We're not "north" exactly, we're up the Ohio from Downtown so there's lots of places more north than us. I'm in Bellevue specifically.