I pass you every morning when I ride. This morning, you yelled to the driver behind me for getting a little too close.

"Could you get a little closer? You didn't quite hit his back tire."

You totally made my day. I'll try to stop on my next ride to say hi and thank you personally...

https://youtu.be/WOyYnozw-g4

Where did you ride in the past two weeks? Did you have any positive or negative interactions with people on the road or trail? What rides are you going to this upcoming week? This thread is also for any posts/comments/quick questions/rants you think don't warrant a full thread.

Every couple weeks someone posts about having their expensive bike/ebike stolen that they depend on for getting around. Few if any of the people posting have renters (or homeowners) insurance. But insurance is relatively cheap (my son pays $100/yr for renters insurance).

Renters (or homeowners) insurance will do two things for bicyclists that most people don't seem to realize (I talked with my insurance agent today to verify these and my understanding is that this is fairly standard across the industry within the US but you should verify this on any policy you purchase):

• By default, if your bike is stolen your insurance will cover the value of your bicycle minus your deductible (even if it's stolen far from your home). And this would include not just your bicycle but also your accessories and the lock that was cut. With my homeowners coverage, my deductible is high enough that it wouldn't be worth claiming my relatively cheap ebike if it were stolen but most renters insurance policies have much lower deductibles where it becomes worth it. Alternately, with your rental insurance you can get a "rider" (add-on to the policy) specific to your ebike (my agent quoted me about $250/year for a $0 deductible coverage of a $3000 ebike).
• if you are in a crash on your bike and are at fault and cause property damage or injury (to someone else), your renters insurance will cover you. The minimum "personal liability" coverage that my insurer offers with any policy is $100,000 (and the price difference between this minimum coverage and much higher amounts is generally fairly trivial).

(I personally have insurance with State Farm/David Masters in Squirrel Hill, probably not the cheapest option but having an agent I can call if I have issues or questions has been easier than my experience with insurance where I only had a call center to talk with. When you buy renters insurance for yourself, you should probably specifically ask about your policy coverage on these things or anything else you might care about)

I suspect riding under it (as I do often to get from the Run to Junction Hollow Trail to Oakland) may be impacted, as well as riding over it.

I often ride the city limits, GAP, Montour, Riverview Park, and up north to Dorseyville.

Are there any other interesting areas, particularly in the South and East to bike to? Hills are good and appreciated too :)

hey! anyone 2 pairs of 700C tires wider side? i’ll settle for one pair… 20” i’m seeking too again wide side. Happy Trails All!

Before anyone says it, yes, it's my fault for not locking it to my porch last night. It had a U-lock on it, I have no excuse other than distraction. I'll def be doing the rounds of Craigslist/Facebook Marketplace/Wolfpack Trading/etc. but in the extremely long-ass shot that someone here sees my bike....let me know...

The sad thing is despite having owned it for the last 6 or 7 years i never took a photo of the bike, but this is what it looks like, almost exactly

There is an important opportunity to give your input on a plan to develop and improve biking & walking infrastructure through the Saw Mill Run Valley, which could be an AWESOME bikeway in the South Hills!

In 2022, a 2-year process to develop a Master Site Development Plan for the Saw Mill Run corridor was initiated by Watersheds of South Pittsburgh. The final plan was accepted by the City of Pittsburgh's Planning Commission in March 2024, and now Watersheds of South Pittsburgh is seeking input and participation in developing a cohort of community leaders to promote and facilitate implementation of the projects identified in the plan.

The plan includes exciting opportunities to develop biking and walking infrastructure that would support both recreation and active transportation through the corridor.

You can see the recommendations in the plan here: https://engage.pittsburghpa.gov/saw-mill-run-green-boulevard

To help increase community participation, please complete this survey, which should take approximately 5 minutes.

Then, share it with others in your community!

Hey folks! Once again we're running the East End Bike Bus to the monthly Critical Mass.

It'll be on the 2nd Friday of next month (like Critical Mass) heading from Regent Square, Homewood and East Liberty.

Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45676613

5:45pm: First stop will be Savannah at Whitney.

5:49pm: Second rolling stop is South at Peebles St

5:53pm: Third rolling stop is at Ascend Point Breeze (7443 Thomas Blvd).

5:57pm: Fourth rolling stop is at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh - Homewood (7101 Hamilton Ave).

6:14pm: Fifth rolling stop is at East Liberty Boulevard and N. Euclid Ave.

This is a casual bus, no drop. Typically 9mph ride and we stop at the top of hills for everyone to catch up.

We also have a bcc'd email list. Fill out this google form if you want to be added to it. Drop a comment here if you'd like to help us organize! We need help with marshaling and with spreading the word. We have lots of ideas to improve this bike bus but we can't do it without additional volunteer capacity. We are on instagram at @EastEndBikeBus.

Riding my bike on Smallman westbound into the city and approaching the 32nd street intersection (4-way stop sign)…

Noticed a car at the 32nd street stop sign, so I began slowing down to come to a complete stop, anticipating the car was about to come into the intersection. At this time, a car behind me decides to pass me, run the stop sign, and accelerates through the intersection. That car then t-bones the other car that had already entered the intersection.

Everyone was fine, but there looked like there was some significant car damage. Of course the guy who passed me at the intersection blamed me for being in the street 🤷. I left shortly after everyone was confirmed ok because the driver seemed pretty irritated.

Drivers are crazy out there… be safe

BikePGH is committed to defending cyclists' rights.

A case in PA Supreme Court could set a dangerous precedent and go against long standing safety guidelines established by PennDOT. The heart of the case involves whether a person riding a bicycle can determine the best lane position in order to stay safe, or if that decision is up to a police officer.

On the lead up to the Oct 10th PA Supreme Court Hearing, BikePGH wrote and submitted an Amicus Brief, emphasizing that the lower court’s interpretation of this statute is in conflict with PennDOT guidelines, creates a higher risk of harm to cyclists and drivers, and goes against long standing best practices found in PennDOT's own bicyclist educational programming and community safety guidelines. As we await the verdict, read our blog to learn more on why this matters and what it could mean for our rights.

https://bikepgh.org/2024/10/22/pa-supreme-court-debates-bicyclists-right-to-take-the-lane-when-they-choose/

Riding from Boundary St. up S. Neville behind CMU on Tuesday, I saw traffic slow and encountered this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1q82LqoTzw

It wasn't one thing in particular, but when a bunch of people posted to a very large Facebook group yesterday blaming a dead pedestrian for crossing a street at a crosswalk ... yeah, I think I'm done riding on the street. I will tote my bike on my car to a trail or Highland Park from now on when I want to ride.

Pittsburgh is the absolute worst place I've ever cycled, and I used to ride my bike to work from Queens to uptown Manhattan and back every day. I had less to live for those days, but I feel like I'm WAY more likely to get seriously injured here than I ever was in NYC.

And if I do get hurt or killed, nothing will happen anyway. The only time I ever heard of a driver get prosecuted for killing a cyclist was the drunk undocumented immigrant who killed the woman in Oakland 10 years ago. I suspect he was only prosecuted because he was undocumented.

People just hate cyclists with a burning, fiery passion here. Every time they change the infrastructure to try to prevent cycle deaths, people complain and complain and then respond by being even more aggressive towards riders. I've seen multiple instances of actual coal rolling and more road rage than I thought was possible. Once I even had to block an angry guy in a car with my own car to protect an extremely scared but blameless cyclist.

I'm done. Fuck you, Pittsburgh. I love you in almost every other way, but I hate the way you treat cyclists.

Hi Everyone, I am writing a policy brief for HB 1283 and would like to get your thoughts on the bill. Specifically, Are there possible unintended negative consequences of the bill?

Also, I want to clarify since I am not as familiar with PA traffic la/act 75, HB 1283 would legalize parking-protected bike lanes on state roads/highways

Long story short, I've been searching for over a year now for a bike fit. Specifically for a mtb commuter.

UPMC Matt seems insanely busy these days and the interface literally never has an opening. Sweetwater is out, I did send a message before that was announced. I don't know if Tracey is somewhere else. Adam's mobile bike fitting page is inactive for 2 years as well.

I'm willing to travel, willing to wait, just trying to find something since I'm kinda tired of wandering in the dark.

I live in Beechview and I want to go out next weekend and cheer on the riders in the dirty dozen. My plan is to view at the top of Boustead since it's close to me and I can walk over. My question is about the route. I can't tell which direction they go around. Does the rider come past Boustead twice? I can see they come down Broadway Ave and then turn right on Crosby but then what? Because the staging for Boustead is at Banksville and Wenzell, plus the staging for Canton Ave is at Banksville and Coast .... so that implies they loop around twice I think? Thanks to anyone who knows more!!

I got all geared up and moved everything to the porch to get out and ride, and turned right around as I am high risk health-wise. Such a shame as it's such a beautiful day otherwise.

Was going to do the Freeport-butler trail and one of the people coming may now need to bring their kids in a trailer if they go. We never did this trail and none of us can really get out before we go. I take it its your regular rail to trail route were, as long as it hasn’t rained in a while, we should be good and is like a 2% grade.