BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I wish I was even close to good enough shape to do this.

plenty of people do this in the middle of the week. especially when it is snowy and long road rides are not feasible.

Hm, nice to know there's a weekend option. I've been wanting to go with some of the other groups doing this, but they always go in the early(-ish) evening when I'm still at work.

I'd say anyone who can ride a bike 10 miles can climb the Cathedral of Learning at least once. I've done it several times.

I haven't done it twice in a row, and I don't know that I'd bother to try several dozen in a row, but just knowing that I can do it at all at my age gives me some hope. Maybe the inverse of this is that if you're in your 20s and cannot do it, you might want to take a hard look at your lifestyle...though I doubt any serious cyclist would have any trouble.

Yeah,anybody who is going to do this for the

first time, just remember that nobody really

"runs" the stairs. Even at a 4:00 pace it

would be classified as a brisk walk or jog.

If you are going to do it several times, it

is just a walking pace. Start slow and you

can go all day.

I used to walk the stairs to classes on the 36th floor when I was an undergrad. It was faster than the elevators at times.

@kayla I wish I was even close to good enough shape to do this.

If you are still in shape to do Pgh-DC in less than 4 days (or even 8 days), you are in plenty good shape to do this. I did it twice in 30 minutes about two years ago. I was breathing hard,sure, but not any harder than 18th street.

Is brad bragging for those in the know that

he took honors college classes?

I used to sneak in there for the free coffee

I used to go up there because it was the only place in the university you could still smoke... but oddly I never took the stairs (up, at least).

Is brad bragging for those in the know that

he took honors college classes?

I used to sneak in there for the free coffee

That coffee machine fueled way, way too many hours of after-midnight Magic: The Gathering and D&D gaming. I made my first-ever pot of rebrew in that thing, come to think of it.

Mick--I guess I was picturing actually running the steps. Briskly walking would be fine, but it's definitely not my idea of fun. Hah.

I think most people, if not all, on this forum are capable of this. If you want a real challenge, keep in mind 12 ascents is a vertical mile. First time I did it, it took 4 hours.

A concrete challenge like a vertical mile would give me more incentive to finish--not to mention that I'm sick and have to work during this anyways. Maybe someday I'll do it.

So who is going to do it? I'm considering it.

We could go to Kiva Han afterwards, eat lunch, hangout, then go on the Pool Ride

OR we could go to OTB (How busy are they Friday afternoon?) Then head back over to Kiva Han for the Pool Ride

OR have the pool ride roll by OTB on the way to the Southside pool and us all meetup and headon

The Pittsburgh Hiking Meetup group does this at least every Monday evening and assorted Wednesdays and other days throughout the winter.

http://www.meetup.com/pittsburghhikers/

When I first did this for the exercise (rather than transportation, like Brad), I made the mistake of taking the elevator down. Once my sinuses resumed their normal shape, I carefully took the stairs back down, it's worth the time and effort. It's not so bad if the building is busy, the elevators don't get to an ear popping speed but at off hours it hurts.

But my ears are popping just sitting at my desk thinking about it, so ymmv.

Hell no, I was not in honors college. Perhaps my number is wrong, but it was mid thirties. It was some recitation for a dumb-as-dirt low level philosophy class I took as an easy couple of credits in an otherwise busy schedule.

It's not as difficult as it sounds. I had to do the vertical mile last year with a 20 pound pack and heavy boots (part of a mountaineering course I took). I did it in 3.5 hours, and judging by what I've read on these forums, my endurance as a cyclist is inferior to that of most people who post here. The monotony and claustrophobia is more of a challenge than the physical exertion, in my experience.

If you go on Tuesday evenings you'll likely meet a lot of mountaineering folks; that's their usual training time.

You do, of course, start in the 2nd level below ground? I forget what's down there, maybe one of the practice stages. 38 floors up from there, if you get the right stairwell. That's where I've always started from, anyway.

I don't think there's a level below B. From G it's 36 floors, and 37 from B, but the fast elevators from the 36th floor go only as low as G, so I always start from G.

Wowbagger - there's a set of steps that go down another level from those elevators, if memory serves. Friday Night Improv is on the lowest floor, you can start from there. I always started from the floor where there's now a lovely little snack bar cafe that smells like cake, even when it's closed and there's no cake. No cake at all. It was a lot easier before the cake smells moved in.

I participated in Lance's stair climb the weekend before last. I think I managed about eight climbs, averaging about 6:30 for the last three. One thing I will say is that the air quality in that stairwell must not be so good, because for about an hour after I was stricken with a nagging "cathedral cough."

Please feel free to join us. WPW needs to have stuff on its calendar year round and I'm glad to help out. Winter is tough for riding but there are other things to do. I'll be adding some xc-ski things as well. It's good to get away from the TV and the non-stop Stillers Nation stuff and get some exercise now and then. Anyone can climb the stairs. It is a lot like climbing up a hill on your bike. It's a weight bearing exercise so that should help your bones too. Please keep checking our calendar. Thanx!

http://www.dannychew.com/training.html

I think 68 times up is "the everest challenge"

130 + is the 24 hour record.

it's really depressing that i'm actually looking forward to this tonight. and have been all day. ugh.

at least i've got some new music to listen to tonight.

Is this a recurring event? I might not make this Saturday, but I'm definitely interested and usually unable to attend the weeknight group climbs.

Alternatively, anyone want to join me on future weekends?

If you find yourself looking forward to stair climbing, may I recommend the Fineview Stepathon (http://stepathon.org/).

I'll try to be there Saturday morning.

I'm confused about the weekdays, though. How many days per week do people climb? About what time do they start?

I work on the South Side, but my bus route home takes me through Oakland.

@Mary Wed is the biggest night but Tues and Thur as well.

People start anywhere from 5-7p usually. You'll run into people if you hang out at the top or bottom for a bit.

It runs thru Feb 19th, but don't let that stop you from continuing. I'm down that way anyway Sat mornings thru Feb. and thought the WPW calendar was looking sparse this winter. Please join us.

Mary - people do the steps all the time, organized or not, every evening and weekends. It's basically a poorly kept secret free gym in oakland. Hikers, mountaineers, climbers, distance runners, apparently cyclists, every age and ability you'll see on the steps if you just wait a bit at the top (or bottom, but there's only one stairwell at the top and tons at the bottom). It's not crowded, but you'll never be totally alone unless it's sunny outside.

I found this thread really coincidental, because I started doing the Cathedral steps with my 12-year old son about a month ago. We have been doing the steps every Sunday (we just got home from today's workout).

One thing I wonder about -- nobody seems to walk *down* the steps except us. I like having the different workout you get going up and down, but I have yet to see anyone else going down. Everyone seems to walk up and then take the elevator down. Anybody know why? Am I breaking some convention of the steps by walking down?

Rocco,

It is generally agreed that walked down

stairs is straining on your knees and bones.

It can cause shin splints and knee pain.

Lots of Mountaineers have issues with it.

It is a lot different than just running

downhill where you can practice and

lengthen your stride...

Thanks steevo -- I dislike shin splints and knee pain, so I think I'll start taking the lift down from now on. My son will be thrilled with that, too!

I have trouble walking downhill a lot - I used to live on elanor/arlington, and on the few occasiona that I took elanor/stairs down to e carson, my entire body ached the next day, especially my knees and hips (and my shoulders, too)

Event: American Lung Association Fight For Air Climb

Location: The Gulf Tower- Pittsburgh, PA

Date / Time: Mar 19, 2011 - 8:30 AM

Distance: 38 Flights of Stairs

Street Address: 707 Grant Street

Website: www.lunginfo.org/pittclimb

Mountain climbers only worry about getting to the top.

Getting down is the easy part.

I always appreciated the idea that when you get to the top, you are only half way there. Evidenlty this guy should have taken heed.

In all seriousness, coming down stairs uses your muscles in a rather different way from going up them. If you're actually training for a mountainous hike, and you expect to be walking downhill for any serious distance, you need to train walking down stairs. Even if you're training for simply running on flat terrain, you can't exclude some "eccentric contractions of the quadriceps."

If you're training for cycling, just going up the stairs is fine.

my sense is that training going down a steep hill (like those mentioned in the speed thread) might be better for your knees than stairs.

My knees tolerate hills better than stairs to the point that I've walked down hills next to a staircase.

I do these weekly, anywhere between 4 and 8 laps. I also usually have on my mountaineer boots and a 20lb+ pack though.

Personally I try to go down the stairs once or twice at the most. Just enough to give my tendons/muscles a workout but not enough to hurt them.