The results are in!  Thanks for taking the survey!

Back in December, we asked you to fill out our Best of Cycling in Pittsburgh 2009 Poll to tell us what you think were some of the best, worst, and the everything in between moments of cycling in Pittsburgh.  Well, you’re probably sick of hearing about 2009 by now, but we’ve compiled your answers and the results are amusing, to say the least.   Over 200 of our readers filled out the online survey, and we’ve provided the top three answers.   The “best responses” and “honorable mentions” were completely at the whim of the editor, me.  I had to keep myself entertained somehow.

Without further ado

The Best of Pittsburgh Cycling 2009

Best Bike Lane

1. East Liberty Blvd 30%
2. Liberty Ave 24%
3. Forbes Ave 24%

• Best response: E Carson St double yellow

Best Street in Need of a Bike Lane

1. Fifth Ave in Oakland 24%
2. Forbes Ave in Oakland 11%
3. Penn Ave 10%

Best News or Improvement for Pittsburgh cyclists

1. New Bike Lanes 34%
2. New Bike Racks 15%
3. Bike/Ped Coordinator aka “Bike Czar” 9%

• Best response: more of us.
• Honorable mention: Victory over casino trying to shut down the river trail

Best hill to ride up

1. Sycamore 7%
2. Herron 5%
3. Schenley 5%

• Best response: the flat ones
• Honorable mention: The Lawrenceville Wiggle

Best hill to ride down

1. Liberty Ave 8%
2. Forbes Ave 6%
3. Sycamore, Schenley (tie) 5%

• Best response:  PJ Mcardle. Part of my daily commute. Straight, and newly paved. Yum.
• Honorable mention:  Zoo Hill…One Wild Place

Best view that you can’t see in a car

1. Frick Park 9%
2. Downtown from Hot Metal Bridge 8%
3. Washington’s Landing, South Side Trail (tie) 7%

• Best Response: Gridlock from Jail Trail

Best road to avoid

1. Penn Ave (East Liberty to Braddock Ave) 17%
2. Fifth Ave (Oakland and Shadyside) 10%
3. West Carson St 8%

• Best Response: Liberty, f’n jaggs

Best road that you wish you had a mountain bike for

1. Smallman St 13%
2. Penn Ave in Garfield/East Liberty 12%
3. Joncaire St 11%

• Best Response: No roads make me wish such a thing

Best place to ogle other people’s bikes

1. Whole Foods bike rack: 11%
2. Over the Bar Bicycle Cafe 8%
3. ACA Races at the cycling Oval 7%

• Best Response: Northside Banjo Night
• Honorable Mention: Bloomfield

Best place to ogle other cyclists

1. BikePGH events 12%
2. Over The Bar Bicycle Cafe 11%
3. Critical Mass 10%

• Best response: From behind me on the street
• Honorable mention: Free Ride

Best place in need of a bike rack

1. Anywhere in Oakland
2. Southside Works
3. Giant Eagles

• Best response: UPMC Sports Medicine (believe it or not, they don’t have a rack) We have learned that UPMC Sports Medicine DOES in fact have a bike rack. Our apologies to them for posting inaccurate information. So everyone knows, it is located just past the entrance, adjacent to the sidewalk.
• Honorable Mention (and New Best Response):  Pittsburgh Public Schools

Best Bike Shop

1. Kraynick’s 31%
2. Iron City Bikes 14%
3. Thick Bikes 10%

• Best response: Free Ride (does this count?)

Best Bike Mechanic

1. Gerry Kraynick, Kraynick’s Bike Shop 16%
2. Ted King-Smith, Trek of Pittsburgh East Liberty 10%
3. Chris Beech, Thick Bikes 9%

• Best response: me
• Honorable Mention: The Free Ride stars

Best thread on the BikePGH Messageboard

1. Bumper Bike Strikes Again 14%
2. Portland: Biggest Wimps Ever 8%
3. New Trees along popular corridors 7%

• Best response: Any of the punny ones
• Honorable Mention: All the stolen bike threads that actually result in a returned bike

Best place in need of a street sweeper

1. Beechwood Blvd 9%
2. Penn Ave in Garfield 6%
3. Birmingham Bridge 6%

• Best Response: The month of April

Best “Secret” shortcut

1. Not telling 14%
2. Gold Way 12%
3. Railroad tracks in Junction Hollow 7%

• Honorable Mention: Elevator in CMU Parking Garage
• Best Response: I took a secret shortcut through Schenley from SS to Squirrel Hill that added twenty minutes to my trip. This was during an alleycat. I suck at shortcuts.

Best place to be stuck when a bus comes without a bike rack

1. The Bar 17%
2. Oakland, the land of many buses and cheap food 10%
3. South Side 9%

• Best Response: Centre by the pep boys when the driver gave me the finger while I had a flat and no patch kit
• Honorable Mention: Kraynicks. He’ll get you moving, cheaper than bus fare.

Best group ride event

1. East End Brewing’s Pedal Pale Ale Ride 27%
2. Critical Mass 11%
3. Pedal Pittsburgh 10%

• Honorable Mention: Commuting down Penn Ave in the Strip
• Best response: Biking photo exploration

Best Weekly Ride

1. Tazza D’Oro Rides 17%
2. My Commute 12%
3. PORC Rides 4%

• Honorable Mention: Oscar Swan’s Sunday morning PMVC ride
• Best Response: my ride to zenith brunch

Best bike-friendly business (excluding bike shops)

1. Tazza D’Oro Cafe 25%
2. Over the Bar Bicycle Cafe 22%
3. East End Brewing Company 6%

• Honorable Mention: my orthodontist, because they let me bring my bike inside the office. nice.
• Best Response: KFC Drive thru

Best place to take an out of town cyclist

1. Riverfront Trails 27%
2. Mt Washington up Sycamore or incline 17%
3. Frick Park 9%

• Best Response: Down Boundary Street, through the hollow and the run, over to the jail trail, through downtown, across the bridges to the north side, up the trail, and over the 16th st bridge on the sidewalk so you can stop and take a picture.
• Honorable Mention:  Kraynick’s Bike Shop

Best place to take a cyclist on a date

1. River Trails
2. Over the Bar Bicycle Cafe
3. Mt Washington

Best Responses “Best place to take a cyclist on a date” (you’ll thank me later):

• Crashed barge on the south side river trail, for a picinic, and hopefully some swimming
• Bike up the south side trail and hop the tracks to get ice cream at Paige Dairy Mart
• French Bakery in Milvale
• The park with a messenger bag full of ice & champagne
• Urban art gallery hopping
• West End overlook, if they’ve got the chops

Best modified bike you’ve seen around town

1. Bumper Bike 40%
2. East End Tall Bikes 14%
3. Motorized recumbent 4%

• Honorable Mention: Guy that had built and designed an umbrella onto his bicycle that would open up and protect his head and upper body.

Add your own!

• Best action by the biking community – Outcry against the Casino’s no-ride-through policy
• Best part of the day:  commuting home from work every day, esp. the view of standstill traffic while crossing the Hot Metal pedestrian bridge (having just enjoyed the South Side trail and looking forward to Panther Hollow).
• Best place for zen ride: Jail Trail
• Best suburban riding – Murrysville, newly paved roads with wide shoulders.
• Best time to be a cyclist: new years day icycle bicycle ride when witnessing the polar bears, we appear sane
• Best way to support fellow cyclists on the street. give em five passing each other.
• Trail In Most Need of Completion?  Connect Baldwin Borough Trail to Steel Valley Trail Thru Sandcastle
• Best Reason to Ride a Bike: Because I wouldn’t rather be doing anything else with my time.

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Not a member of Bike Pittsburgh? Join today! We need you to add your voice! Bike Pittsburgh works to protect cyclist’s rights and promote the vision of making Pittsburgh a safer and more enjoyable place to live and to ride. For more info, check out: www.bike-pgh.org/membership