I’m trying to ride to Canton Ave. from my in-laws in N. Irwin. Looks like it’s an easy ride once on the GAP. I’d be getting off the GAP by the Liberty Tunnels. Strava has me headed right through the Liberty Tunnels. The little I can find about riding through the tunnels looks like it’s illegal and dangerous. Can I ride the Liberty tunnels? I plan on doing this early morning 8am in a Friday. Also gonna have to turn around and ride it back the other way.
ssirota8
2019-08-08 17:13:58
No. You can't ride through the Liberty Tunnels.
Google maps suggests you go up 18th. There is a thread on here somewhere about biking to and from the s hills. Bottom line- any way sucks.
edronline
2019-08-08 17:29:50
Get downtown, go down into the subway - locals call it the T - and ride a Red Line train out to the Fallowfield or Hampshire stops. $2.50 each way if cash, but if you stop at the Port Authority service center on Smithfield at Sixth Avenue, you can get a farecard.
Put $10 on it and check out some other sites. A 48 or 51 or 54C (or 54D, the difference is irrelevant) gets you up to Arlington and South 18th, which is a fun ride back downhill on 18th. An 11 Fineview gets you up by the Fineview Overlook, a simply fantastic view of the city. Also just a few houses away from Myler and Catoma, where the opening scene from Flashdance was filmed.
Lots of other things to see if in town with a bike and a bus farecard.
You might also consider climbing one of the other 12 Dirty Dozen hills. IMO Canton is overrated. Steep but short. Instead, ride out East St on the North Side then up “SHB” - Suffolk-Hazleton-Burgess. And then go over to see the Fineview Overlook. Then ride over Perrysville Ave to Riverview Park, check out the Allegheny Observatory (where standard time was invented and some of the earliest atmospheric sampling of CO2 was conducted), and for a couple bucks take a dip in the public pool up there, then ride down the switchback roads to river level and return to the central city on the river trail.
stuinmccandless
2019-08-10 21:20:31
where is the fineview overlook?
Found it! Catoma Street.
edronline
2019-08-11 06:57:08
IMO Canton is overrated.
It works in slightly different way for people who are in a race. Whistle is blown as the very beginning of Coast Ave. So you have to add Coast Ave (starting at US-19) all the way up to left turn to Canton Ave. And it is pretty steep. Last 100 yards is more than 14%. Yes, rider is allowed to restart from the mentioned intersection (or even form uphill) but by this time you are out of contention (only the very first 10 will points).
mikhail
2019-10-02 11:11:15
I just walked down Rising Main Ave steps this morning (there's a Deliverance quality to the steps and that hillside) and up Suffolk back to the Fineview overlook. Suffolk is a beast, even on foot. I wonder what the slope is of that street? Can't find it on the Google.
edronline
2019-10-02 11:21:08
I calculated Suffolk Street -- it's a 16% grade. It's 0.28 miles from bottom to top with a 236.2 foot altitude difference.
Pretty damn steep. Steep enough to need steps for the sidewalk.
Canton Ave measures at 37% grade per The Google.
Center Avenue in Aspinwall, a dirty dozen hill, is 15% grade between 5th and 10th. it's also 0.28 miles from top to bottom.
edronline
2019-10-02 15:19:13
You can ride the Mon Incline up Mt. Washington with your bike as well.
zzwergel
2019-10-02 16:54:16
Not just Suffolk, but the right onto Hazleton, and the left onto Belgian block Burgess St, to the top of that at Osgood. That’s the full climb.
stuinmccandless
2019-10-03 12:46:45
