19 July Ride - Rivers, Graffiti, Ladies, and a Vodka-Drinking Ryder

The intent is to relay something fun about every day. Today included all sorts of fun found on two wheels in the greater Pittsburgh area.

The first stop of the ride today was Crescent Supply to look at vanity cabinets for our bathroom renovation underway. I'm looking for a vanity cabinet to support two vessel sinks. The trouble we're having finding one is that the tub is larger than our initial drawings had it, so the vanity needs to be shorter than we'd originally planned. There are few options out there the correct size that aren't a bazillion dollars. I won't get distracted with this now...

From there, I got to bag another bridge and rode the 62nd Street bridge over to Etna/Sharpsburg. Here is a view from the bridge.


On the trail along the railroad tracks from Etna to Millvale, I stopped to admire some graffiti. I have issues with some graffiti, specifically the kind that is vandalism on someone's house, garage, or other property. However, in certain areas, it is not so bad. Crumbling infrastructure devoid of architectural design seems like a pretty benign venue... Here is one that caught my eye.


I met up with my friend, Ryder, for some riding. Like how that works? We rode down from Bloomfield to the South Side and met up to eat lunch with our partners and some other friends who had gathered to go see Mama Mia. This group of ladies was ueberkind to put up with two sweaty boys out on a bike ride. We're thankful. :)

To cement that point, here is a picture of Ryder during our ride. This is how we roll! Drinking vodka straight from the bottle on the trail. Actually, he was exercising his right to reduce, recycle, reuse, with a focus on the REUSE, filling up an old bottle with water for the day.


After lunch, we hightailed it out through West Mifflin to McKeesport to check out a shorter, safe route for Ryder and Maya to begin their upcoming Great Allegheny Passage ride. More on that later. We had all sorts of fun and adventures and lots of bridge crossings, much to the chagrin of the local drivers that feel the roads are too narrow to accommodate bikes and cars...

All told, Ryder and I rode 30 miles together. Add that to my 12 from earlier in the day, and I got a nice 42 miles in. Not a bad way to spend a day in Pittsburgh.