Sunday Ride

It's been challenging to get away for a longer ride these days, understandably. On Sunday morning, Bethany saw me itching to get out and convinced me it was ok to head out for a bit of a ride. I was out about 1 hour 35 minutes and got some sightseeing and 21.8 miles behind me. It wasn't a good time, as I kept stopping to take pictures, but it felt good anyway, as always.

I started out through East Liberty when I got distracted early on (1.5 miles from the house) by the East Liberty Presbyterian Church shown in the next few pictures. It was built in the 1930's. Evidently, I usually scream through there on the bike earlier on Sundays than this week, as the doors were open this time. I couldn't pass up a chance to check it out. It's a beautiful building. The sunlight playing through the stained glass onto the opposite wall was breathtaking. The picture turned out great, but incomparable to standing there.

The sunlight playing through the stained glass onto the opposite wall was breathtaking. The picture turned out great, but incomparable to standing there. I've worked (in a naive and immature fashion) with stained glass before and really appreciate the temporal aspect of its beauty: constantly in flux due to the changing sun or the moving shadows of a breeze-blown tree limb. Sadly, I was tethered to reality by the fact that my bike was propped up against the church outside unlocked.

Nearby are the offices of Navarro Design Associates. I'm fond of their door pull.
After pittering around East Liberty, I dropped down Negley Run Blvd to Washington and rode over to the Washington Boulevard Cycling Track aka Washington Oval. I hadn't ridden on it previously. It's a 1/2 mile banked-turn, cycling track. I took a few quick laps for fun, but wasn't warmed up enough to really ride hard. My 1.5 miles on the track averaged 22 mph with a max speed of something over 27 mpg. Not too exciting. I'll hit it another day when I'm ready and see what I can crank out.

Did I mention how wonderfully beautiful they day was? Man, it was great to be out on the bike.

After pulling out of the loop, I rode upriver alonside the Allegheny, finding some guy's wallet along the way (mailed back to him today). When I reached Verona, I circled back south and west through Penn Hills back toward East Liberty and home (with a slight detour through Shadyside).

Bethany was happy I finally did a ride in less time than I said I would before leaving. Typically, I blast off into adventure mode and turn an hour ride into two and a two hour ride into four... Nonetheless, she was ready for some breakfast. What could I do but comply after such a great ride? I fried up some potatoes, bacon, and eggs for the fam...