BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Welcome, bmill1708! I would worry less about where and more about how to lock your bike. Short version: A solid U-lock. We've had too many bikes locked with cables that fell victim to bolt-cutters. I lock up to an outdoor rack and am OK with that. Scout around near where you work. Your top-of-the-line spot would be the parking station on 7th St between Penn and Ft Duquesne Blvd. There are also racks under cover at the Penn/9th garage. There is no shame involved with using one of the inclines to get back up Mt Washington. Sycamore works, too. How comfortable are you riding in traffic? I strongly urge staying out of door zones. You may legally take the lane on any street, so don't hug cars and curbs, as that's asking for trouble. And riding on the sidewalk in business districts (like most of downtown) is illegal. If you don't feel comfortable on the street, there are alternatives for getting into and through town. Come down the back side of MtWash on Greenleaf St, walk your bike across the West End Circle (getting across the flow of 51 traffic is the only difficulty), then walk it down the steps to the river-side-of-West Carson St sidewalk. That will take you across the Ft Pitt Bridge sidewalk into Point State Park. With a little wiggling you can get to the Penn Ave bike lane, and then to whichever parking space works best for you. I'm sure several others will offer more specific suggestions. Feel free to add whatever detail you're comfortable sharing.

@bmill1708, I second Stu's recommendation of using a U-lock. Cable locks are good as a secondary locking device, but not as your main lock, particularly if you're going to leave your bike outside all day. For more info, go here: http://localhost/i-heart-my-bike/ As for commuting routes, yes, the best choice would usually be using the sidewalks on both McArdle and the Liberty bridge. Since that's not an option right now, for going towards downtown you can go down Sycamore or McArdle. For the former, well, your brake pads are probably going to see accelerated wear. For the latter, either sidewalk or on road are Ok, but I imagine traffic gets backed up in the morning at the Liberty bridge light, so going on the sidewalk might actually be quicker. Both of these roads will take you to Arlington, so go down to Carson and then take the Smithfield St bridge (again, either on road or sidewalk are OK here.) Once downtown, you would usually take Smithfield to either Forbes, Fifth or Sixth Ave, make a left and arrive shortly at your building. However, given the construction on Smithfield and Forbes, you'll likely have to make a left on Third, then make a right on Wood (I believe the block on Wood between Third and Fourth is considered a bus lane, so keep this in mind). Going back is easier. Take Wood all the way down to Ft. Pitt Blvd, make a left and head to the Smithfield St bridge. Cross the bridge on the sidewalk, then merge at the other side, before you reach Carson. Make a left on Carson, and then ride up Arlington. You then have a choice to make. Either make a right and go up Sycamore or continue to the next light and head towards McArdle and use the sidewalk to go up. I'd argue that Sycamore is the quickest option because you don't have to deal with a few more traffic lights and it's more direct. However, McArdle is much easier to climb, and does offer the peace of a mostly barriered sidewalk, which does count for something during the evening rush hour. Again, if the Liberty bridge sidewalk was available, that would be the way to go. And, as Stu said, there's always the incline.

I want to clarify one of my suggestions above. If you try the Greenleaf Street idea, take a look at this Street View image. What you're trying to accomplish is to travel in that right-most lane to get from the base of Greenleaf to the other side of the underpass, to that triangle of raised concrete where all the road signs are sitting, that splits the third from the fourth lanes. There is no comfortable way to do this, but there is uncomfortable and then there is dangerous. The least dangerous way is to just get in the center of the lane when there's nobody right on top of you, ride that 100 feet, and hop off onto that triangle. From that, you can press the button to get the walk signal to get to the little walkway that takes you to the West End Bridge sidewalk and, more importantly, the West Carson sidewalk below. Less recommended is to try to make your way across four lanes of traffic coming off the Saw Mill Run Blvd expressway and the ramps from the West End. That takes you to a nice sidewalk, but then you just have to cross back across three of those lanes (at a pedestrian walk signal) anyway. The dangerous thing for the unprepared is to try to sneak along the right-edge of the underpass and dash over at the last moment. Someone got killed here, on foot, just a couple months ago trying that. But perhaps counterintuitively, you are safer getting smack dab in the middle of the lane for that 100 feet. You're more visible that way, and drivers (if they're bothering to look out the window, which I admit is no sure thing these days) are thus more likely to see you and slow or stop, instead of thinking they can squeeze past you. If traffic is at a standstill, you can walk your bike that 100 feet in less than half a minute. Or just wait for traffic to clear entirely (it happens, even there), and ride down to that triangle.

This is Pittsburgh. It rains. You want fenders. I carry a rain jacket and pants. For hot days with rain, I take off my shirt and use a tank top T-shirt. Sometimes when it's really hot, I'll do that without any rain.