BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

http://bike-pgh.org/bbpress/topic/east-end-keg-ride-may14th-2010

http://bike-pgh.org/bbpress/topic/keg-ride

We've got your back

Going to miss it this year. Wedding in DC.

Going to miss it this year. Wedding in DC.

The drink you spare will not go to waste.

IT IS COMING!

Have you signed yet?

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115533801801513

> We've got your back

So much for my ability to do SEARCH.

Thanks everyone! It's been a wild week of last minute changes on our destination, sorting out all manner of details, but we're all set now. Rain or shine, these kegs will be delivered.

We'll also have Kevin Sousa running a portable (awesome) taco stand if you need a bite before the ride.

See you tomorrow!

Portable taco stand, and beer? Can we do this every Friday?

Awesome planning and logistics work.....do you have any pull with the weather fairies? I'd like to place an order for something drier than active rain, perhaps a light breeze, and temps higher than 40???? Could you arrange that? I DO NOT want to ride in cold rain. It's getting old already.

the good thing is the chance of rain is decreasing all day and looks like it might be 73 degrees for the ride tomorrow night!

man hope so. the pre-reg has been great to help get an idea to make this go off without too many hitches.

lots of people signed up. lots...

Just curious.. I knwo last years was hundreds of riders.. is there going to be any sort of police escort or anything?

+1 on doing this every friday I'm going out of town so I'll miss it this year and I'm so bummed!

Is somebody going to pull the taco stand, too? Nothing against beer, but, TACO'S!

Tacos + Beer = good idea!

I'm all signed up!

i volunteer to pull the taco stand.........STRAIGHT TO MY HOUSE

can you pre-register for a taco? that line is going to be worse than the sign-in one!!!!

Hahaha

QUESTION... my friends and I are trying to 'figure out' where the mystery-bar location will be. Does anybody have any thoughts or insight on this? Since we're on a group, we're trying to coordinate who-where-when to get back homes afterwards -which is all over the city.

SO, my bikey sense tells me this:

East End (Kelly's) was '06,

Shadyside (Harris Grill) was '07,

Regent Square (Map Room) was '08,

and Southside (OTB) was '09.

My bet is Lawrenceville since is never had it, and I know that Thunderbird Cafe and I think the New Amsterdam too have East End bar Tabs...... while the Round Corner Cantina is a hip bar too that I could see tapping into these..... all of these bars are on Butler street -Lawrenceville.

Where else? Oakland? Is too much of a college area, right?

That's my bet.... but if anyone has more/better insights, please share!

I'm betting on OTB again.

My guess is the Cantina 'cuz it's newish and has the big backyard. Plus, you're right, the ride hasn't gone to Lawrenceville yet!

New Amsterdam is a good guess, but it's kinda small inside. Do they have space in the back? If so, maybe there?

I don't know if OTB would jibe with the "we won't cross a river" clue.

But I guess if the location has changed recently, that may not hold anymore.

Oooo I forgot about that clue. Oh yeah this ride is SO going to L-Ville.

Can't comment on the destination unfortunately. And there will be no police escort. But yes, the weather gods are apparently smiling on us. As they have EVERY SINGLE YEAR in the past.

We are SO lucky...

Damn it. I was planning to go but just found I have a gig at Duquesne at the same time. Ah well...

Who says Duquesne isn't our destination?

Just confirming that the starting location is the East End Brewery at 6923 Susquehanna St. Right?

I'm hoping, and betting on Lawrenceville too. Great thinking bikeygirl!

If you eliminate bars that are too far outside the city, or involve a river crossing, or are in neighbohoods that have already been visited you have:

Bloomfield Bridge Tavern Bloomfield

Brillobox Bloomfield

Tessaro's Bloomfield

Bloomfield Bridge Tavern Bloomfield

Lot 17 Bar & Grill Bloomfield

August Henry's Saloon Downtown

Braddock's American Brasserie Downtown

Market Street Ale House Downtown

Original Fish Market Downtown

Six Penn Kitchen Downtown

Sonoma Grill Downtown

Round Corner Cantina Lawrenceville

Thunderbird Café/Lounge Lawrenceville

Remedy Lawrenceville

Café Phipps Oakland

Union Grill Oakland

Hemmingway's Oakland

Fuel & Fuddle Oakland

Gene's Place (aka Denny's Bar) Oakland

Mad Mex - Oakland Oakland

Peter's Pub Oakland

Pittsburgh Café Oakland

Point Brugges Café Point Breeze

Evergreen Pointe Breeze

Gooksi's Polish Hill

Fanattics Squirrel Hill

PD's Pub Squirrel Hill

Gullifty’s Squirrel Hill

Kazansky's Deli Squirrel Hill

Squirrel Hill Cafe Squirrel Hill

Murray Avenue Grill Squirrel Hill

Lidia's Strip District

Roland's Strip District

Cioppino Strip District

Kaya Strip District

Eleven Strip District

There are others...but this list is pretty impressive.

man the cage would be a crazy stop....forbes and murray would come to a halt

I think you took that list from the LED sign at 31st St. Pub.

God I hope it is the cantina so I can slam some pork belly tacos with my pedal pale

Wow impressive list!!

Just for fun, we can try to bet -beer- on this!

People can pick a bar or two, any neighborhood!! Preferably not the same ones, but sure there can be some overlap

I would pick Thunderbird & Round Corner Cantina (since I was first!)

Anyone in or just feeling lucky????

Hey, online registration is closed now. just show up to the brewery if you haven't registered.

thanks for pre-registering peoples.

I pre-registered but didn't make a donation because I didn't have my CC on hand. I assume I can make a cash donation tonight, right?

My guesses are Rivertowne North Shore and Penn Brewery. Won't be on the ride though.

That crosses a river.. Already indicated no rivers would be crossed.. also, I rivertowne northshore already open?

Fail! Didn't know that they weren't crossing a river. Rivertowne is open on the north shore and they seem to consistently have Old Wylies and White Lightning on tap. It's really nice, outside seating and outside bar space.

looks like from 5-6:30 there is going to be some heavy rain and thunderstorms. As of now they are saying it will blow over by 7, but it is listed as a 100% chance at 6:30. Just be prepared... then we can enjoy a nice leisurely ride in the rain washed streets afterward.

Dan and I are leaving from Oakland ~5:45. Anyone want to join?

craxy that everyone correctly guessed lawrenceville, but no one figured on the only place large enough to hold us.

it wasn't even large enough to hold us, at some point they stopped letting people in until people came out...

it was fun - just an amazing number of bikes, great job guys!

So where did the ride end?

Belvederes in lville. It seems that not all of the employees of Belvederes were fans of the keg ride being there tho.

well, apparently people were not tipping. we made good with belvies and their employees. they were happy in the end.

don't have exact numbers yet, but i'd say there were 600-700 on the ride.

handed out about 500 "beer cards" but there were alot of people just there for the ride

also, there were lots of cameras, please post some pics here and also send them to our flickr group

http://www.flickr.com/groups/bikepittsburgh/

I've got loads of photos - a handful of sweet panos.

i was hoping you'd say that. i forgot my camera. fail.

sorry i missed it. same time next week guys? right? RIGHT?

we tipped and can't say we were exactly floored by the service at belvies... whatever, we had a great time anyhow!!!

This was so much fun! My first time doing it!

I was amazed at how many people showed up on their bikes! Why can't we see these numbers on a regular day? That's like... 600 less cars on the road!!

Oh well, thanks everyone for making this such a great event, and thanks Scott for the delicious beer!!!

got some photos and video up, there will be a larger video from my handlebar mounted gopro camera sometime over the next couple days....

thanks for a great ride everyone!

http://www.jonpratt.com/2010/Pedal-Pale-Ale-Ride-May-14th

Was a great time, super casual, about 7 miles at a 3mph pace I think. Nick, did you ditch after a while? I never saw the front, but on the tall bike, you're kind of hard to miss.

All of my stuff is up:

Full set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjdlc/sets/72157624067857468/

Also, I'm pretty sure a bike from last night is still locked up on the Scott Electric fence.

the erok registration shot is great!

Ridiculously great Friday! Thanks to all of the organizers!

Nice shots robjdlc, I enjoyed browsing the images.

Haha, thanks guys

Rob, I was there the whole time. Some other people looking for me lost me too. I don't know how. Maybe I need to build a bigger one...

Quad stack. Make it happen.

belvedere's? really?

We were told at the start of the event that it was Belvedere's was a last minute decision, after the original destination/operator got cold feet.

It seems that not all of the employees of Belvederes were fans of the keg ride being there tho

I'm a little skeptical about the "non-tipping."

I've worked in bars. I'm cynical about bar staff.

If they decided that the bikers were not their kind of people at the beginning, they would treat them badly. If confronted, they blame it on the tipping - but the fact is more like the alochol trade has a lot of social rigidity in it.

I've seen that happen with great regularity.

In the most blatant case, a group of archiacly dressed appalachia dancers used to frequent a popular shadyside bar after their events. The shadyside bar staff always treated them poorly and always complained about poor tips.

The fact was that the group got automatic tips put on the bill ("A gratuity will be added for parties larger than 8.") AND they tipped decently on top of that.

I'm guessing the Belvedere's staff got OK tips With a much larger than usual crowd, "OK tips" translates into a helluva lot of money per hour. AND then they got some kind of bonus where Erok said they "made good."

I don't know Belevederes, but they have a rep for being a "hip" place. Don't think of "hip " as a virtue though.

The fact is that they were probably just too hip for bike riders.

With real hipsters you can't expect a few twenties to make up for that.

I thought it was supposed to go: Good service ---> tip. Not; tip ----> good service.

I'm not sure how you tell if the service is "good" or not when 700 people are trying to get a beer simultaneously...

I actually saw a lot of tipping at the free beer taps, maybe I was mistaken but...

exactly. mick, you should go to belvedere's before making blanket statements.

I hung out with other patrons at Belvedere's who didn't bike there. They invited me to play a game or two of pool with them. I didn't get any "we hate bikers" vibe.

I suspect a few people got impatient with the staff and that could have caused some friction. Holding my beer ticket with a dollar on top got me served before the guys next to me waving theirs without one.

i wouldn't be surprised if most of blevedere's staff bike there themselves.

or took part in previous keg rides

You've got to admit - it's a pretty impossible service situation: 700 people collecting on a free beer voucher, inside of maybe 1 hour?

Generally, when people buy something, they take out their wallets. When it comes for free, it's not something that's in the front of their minds... it's just human nature.

Given the amount of notice they had for this, and the numbers we brought in, I'd say they kicked ass!

it's called a cup (or array of cups) with the words "TIPS HIGHLY APPRECIATED" written on it with sharpie. problem solved. i'm not even a bar tender and i think i could have figured that one out in an efficient manner! smellvederes FAIL.

"smellvederes"? ugh...a smug sense of entitlement doesn't suit this board.

agreed that we do better as a board/community without a sense of entitlement. however! i've been in belvedere's maybe three times (i just don't hit lawrenceville all that often), and each time, i found myself compelled to comment on the smell. to summarize: i laughed.

Belvedere's was nice - of course I was there early and was able to lounge in a sweet pleather recliner. I've never had problems there.

Did anyone see the guy and his daughter on the modified tandem - the one with the extra crankset for the ~4 year old stoker? Cutest thing ever.

Were you the one who found the keys?

As for the modified tandem, there were two of them, one with a young lady and one with a young man on the tagalong. I kept referring to the bike as "the new family sedan" but was corrected by the rider....it is "the new SUV."

Got a video up from the ride, thanks again to everyone involved...great time!

sorry bad link, here ya go

nice. love the cycle shadows at the end.