BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Here is the first tag:

It is near a local cycling attraction, so it should be pretty easy to find.

David found the tag and posted this:

It was located at the Zone 5 Police station near the Cycling oval.

Here is the tag the David dropped:

His clue is: You can catch a movie or get some Taco Bell/Pizza Hut if you like.

So that is how the game is played. Now go find David's tag and move is somewhere else!

This looks like fun!

It does. I'm tempted to go grab that tag right now. I almost think that's too easy to find tho.

Eh, Washington Blvd after dark is a bad idea. I'll wait for another one.

Eh, Washington Blvd after dark is a bad idea

Looks like that bus shelter advertisement is in the right place then.

this does look like fun. i can't wait to see all the bikes.

The current tag is not Washington Blvd. It is the bus shelter that David posted (not too much further away).

That St. Margaret bus shelter is far, yes?

Is there a geographic limit to this? I don't want Dan or some other randonneur trekking into central PA and leaving the tag around a Holstein's neck...

Funny, but not fun.

It's not that far. It's just I would have to use W.Blvd to get there, which I didn't want to do after dark, see.

As far as a geographic limit, lets keep it close to Pittsburgh for now. Pittsburgh city limits and surrounding neighborhoods. I think that will make the game move faster.

Negley > One Wild Place > Butler > .... > BEAN BURRITOS!

St. Margaret's is (believe it or not) within the City of Pittsburgh.

I believe I just saw someone taking a picture with their bike in front of this stop...will the game continue?

"I believe I just saw someone taking a picture with their bike in front of this stop...will the game continue?"

Nice!

Ok I'll play.

Here's your new tag, somewhere on Stanton Ave. Go get it.

Nice tag. I might have to go get it in the morning if it is still there.

ooof that's a climb. enjoy, hardier souls.

This wasn't easy...

[img src="www.picture.com"]

except replace the [] with <>

River to a river...

oh snap. I just got the stanton tag & was about to upload!

ahhhh, I'm so leaving early for work tomorrow to get that.

dammit that one's easy for me too...

oh snap. I just got the stanton tag & was about to upload!

You could be evil, and use it after you get another tag?

I've got something more evil in mind now that I see how this is going >

So excited this is taking off!

Jeez...I rolled by there not more than an hour ago on my way home this evening.

I did bike rack counts within 50 yards of either side of this site earlier today. Hadn't checked the tag o rama thread first. Shoot! But, I can tell you that this bike was not parked at either of the two Convention Center - river side - bike racks at mid-afternoon!

No it wasnt'...stopped by on my way home from work.

alright!

too lazy to flip

Honey, this town is a prison, with its four walls closing in.

Whew... early riser!

this could be a prime candidate for a sticky thread?

I'm just excited that I can actually identify many of these places

Whew... early riser!

Actually, I slept in today, heh. I work anywhere from 3:30am - 6:30am

oh, dammit, you beat me.

::::::::::: WHERE'S THE BEEF? (served with basil, mint + onion...):::::::::::

Nice work. Liking the fact that the next image is nowhere near the first!

Thx! I had to speed home since my mb upload doesn't seem to work. The Beef is in the East End.

I know exactly where that is, and I am totally there...

is that a block of plywood on your handlebars?

"This image or video has been moved or deleted."

@dwillen: yep. a modest attempt at a tripod.

Nice!

Awww snap! That was quick!

I highly recommend this piece of land as a nice place to park your bike....

Although I know where that's at...that one could be tricky!

Nahhh, it's an easy spot to reach.... I love to go up there and lap up the scenery, makes me go round and round

Ok, we'll play it your way. Had to race for this one.

AWESOME

I see you did "bruce" me now that your photo works... all's well....

Wow! These tags are not sitting for very long.

Lyle: Drop a new one! Also, when you pick up a tag, maybe mention where it is at. I have never seen that tunnel before.

It's in Highland Park, it goes beneath the loop on the SW side... the one before that was Kubideh, an Iranian food place at Baum & Highland in East Liberty...

I was banking on barbecue but got lost. Might have been better for my health. Just some food for thought.

I arrived at the HP tunnel just as Lyle was posting. Pipped twice at the post in 2 days!

I know where Lyle's new tag is... and it's not in Frick Park

Yeah, I thought "hot dogs? No, ribs!"

Carnegie Library, Homewood branch on Hamilton Ave.

You can't get any higher between the rivers.

WOW! You just upped the ante all the way, pal...

Oh, man, that was the one I was going to do next! I might have to leave work early today, depending on the weather...

That's the first one I have no idea where it is. Can the scooper please clue me in when you post it?

you need to haVe A good perspective to figure out where that one is

I'm not sure I'm reading Noah's clue correctly but if the CAPS are signifying the location I'm not sure that's correct.

@Noah: And if you don't have quite the right perspective, you can end up riding around in circles (or ovals), eh?

Oh - ok, I do know where that is, and it's awful close to where I live...

Hmmm...I don't know I think you guys may have it wrong. Think of a "bird" that's on a hill...but misspelled.

Yeah I'm double wrong. I thought that was the VA hospital (wrong), and the similar-looking water tower isn't even at the VA but across the river in Fox Chapel (wrong again)

On further consideration, I was mistaken about which water tower that is. Which means mine is still safe. But do I want to go out in the rain just for this?

You can see it from a VA hospital, just not that VA hospital.

Hell you can see it from all over town really... that's one of my landmarks (much like fatty water tower in Garfield)

I know where it is but I am not telling, nor am I hauling my ass up there to go get it.

My chances of nabbing that are zero, but just for sake of ID, would a Tippy Top Ride have gotten me there?

Patience. Somebody will nab it soon. Not tonight for me, though.

I will say that there's a street nearby named after a constellation.

And another named after a beer.

Riding to the top of Herron Hill in a thunderstorm was probably not the smartest thing I've ever done. To my credit, the lightning didn't start untill I was almost to the top.

I'll have to drop a tag tomorrow. No way I'm putting those wet clothes back on tonight

Nice! Did you go up Bryn Mawr or the Milwaukee side?

I went up Bryn Mawr... Cobbles were a little dicey when they were wet, so I used the sidewalk much of the way. I'd like to do it again on a clear day, during daylight.

dan... speechless.....

I should warn yinz that I'll be scouting the Dirty Dozen for the next month or two. Better start playing keep-away!

Click for full size.

You must journey to top of the field of green where you can find the intersection of these two streets, one of which shares a name with an ancient kingdom of Anatolia, the other could be renamed to more accurately reflect its horizontal position in the neighborhood as the altitude here is only ~50 feet below the previous tag.

If (unlike me) you ride up there when it isn't raining, you will have a nice view of the city.

Greenfield's Bigelow at Lydia

I thought Dan's written location description was great....

Thanks Sara! and nice climbing to the top of greenfield on that mountain bike bikefind!

people are dying to get in here, it's near frickin perfect.

I will have missed the flock for this if I can't catch them.

this is too much fun to watch happen. also: realizing that after living here 4 years, I haven't been anywhere in the city.

I searched low and high but couldn't catch a glympse of the flockers.

I did a little Photoshop on the photo. I am still unsure where it is.

Given the orientation of the skyline I'd say somewhere on the Northside.

Figured out where it is. I'll have to make a run for it later if it's still there.

I think I have it figured out. After playing with Google earth for a few min. I think I duplicated the skyline. The only down side is that I will not be able to get it till almost 3:00. I hope it is still there.

@peaceturkey - that's how I figured it out too. 3d buildings & panoramio photos layers FTW.

This looks fun! I'm afraid a lack of technology will prohibit me from playing.

(Also, a lack of Pittsburgh knowledge. But, that can be helped easier than the technology problem. For example, I've never been to that first Greenfield one and I live here, so I'm now determined to find it!)

Tag

Scenley park, near the oval

pipped yet again...

wow. navigation fail on me... oops

Cool, I knew you guys would figure that out, though I was expecting someone to use celestial navigation and draw a straight line through the sunset. I overlooked google earth. Incidentally, Quizbot got the right tree.

Let me know if you need any clues.

That's a good one. Right there but just out of te way enough that most people miss it.

This is the first one I can't figure out. Someone better go get it before cburch takes it to some unholy mud pit!

He was giving me crap today for not saving my tag for the bottom of Dr. J.

nevermind, I found it. I'm not going to go get it today though. I have dinner plans.

Remember. Frick is inside the city.

I have a few other tags in mind that won't involve knobby tires.

I thought I knew where this was.



I hope I can reach the next tag before dark.

where was that?

station square

It's tucked around the back of the big parking lot. Far north east corner.

This might shock you, but my bike is actually higher than quizbot's. Closer to god than ewjme, and you don't even have to get dirty to find it. Hallelujah! But beware of dog.

@quizbot - pipped indeed, but hats off for framing the skyline with your bike frame...

@pseudacris - thanks... I was just trying to keep my composure after being robbed

The new tag is vexing... is it at the top of a 2,000 lb cleaning instrument? Also thought it could be related to Aerosmith, but that doesn't work either. Scouring google maps & street view for blue things on hilltops... can't quite pin this one down.

Oops. The clue ought to have read "closer to god than bikefind." Not to impugn ewjme's sanctity, but it makes more sense this way.

The blue object is a water tower. I had hoped to get it all in the frame but that would have required standing in the yard of an apparently vicious dog. If the text doesn't provide enough clues, I'll post another photo. Careful attention to the gearing might help too.

Ya, I see where that chain is

Bah, bruced. Just joining this party - seems really fun!

is that atop mt. washington?

No.

behind calvalry cemetery.

we're supposed to be saying where these are when we find them, right?

and lyle, that dog was a sweetie.

also, you'd have to make quite an effort to be less close to god than bikefind, but I know what you meant.

Damn, I should have know where that is. I used to live near there and ride right past there a couple times a week while doing laps on Flowers and Tesla.

"This might shock you"=Tesla. I love it. Great clues Lyle.

less than one mile from the last tag as the crow flies.

you might feel like you've been here before, but you'd have it backwards.

@Jason: thanks for starting this!

So I happened to be home and online and used to walk by the back of that (yellow) building on a daily basis.

I will admit I didn't climb the hill in the picture, I went up the side.

I'll do one this evening.

no problem not climbing the hill. (I figure it's my job to call that, since I placed the tag.) I didn't climb up greenfield/bigelow to get dwillen's tag, but I live up here and figure I've done that climb enough times to get home. I did hoosac though. Can't get enough of that street - I always feel like there's no way I'm not gonna die or make an idiot of myself when I get to that steeper part near the end. Always exciting to get to the top without either happening. (although the "not looking like an idiot" part is just my perspective. others may well differ.)

I actually tried, but this lady pulled up next to me asking for directions juuust as I started. So I got off, failed to give helpful directions, walked, and then went the other way instead.

Running up all the Greenfield hills is challenging enough for me. Less death and looking like an idiot when gravity wins on 2 feet compared to 2 wheels, at least for me.

It just so happens I already had a bike ride planned tonight for the next tag.

2nd thx @jason... this is good fun! I put in about 35 extra mi chasing tags around last week. @lyle for great hints too.

I suspect a subset of this forum will recognize this rather quickly. Watch out for beavers!

Hmmm, if I had a reason to go over that way I'd get it

Can you provide another clue? Is that Washington's landing?

@quizbot and bikefind, thanks, I have been playing the tag-o-rama around the state of PA on Motorcycles for a while now and I thought it would be pretty fun on bicycles. It looks like you guys agree.

This was surprisingly difficult. My first guess was the TRRA on Washington's Landing, so I hurried down there, couldn't find it, rode all over the island, asked a whole bunch of walkers if they had any clue, and the, finally, went back and looked harder.

The people who should serve us treat our lives as worth scarcely more than a pile of dog shit. How can we get them into court before our public roads become slaughterhouses?

wow, that's a really easy one... now do i feel like going over there...?

Yeah, but it seemed apropos. And easier than climbing Mt Washington this morning.

oi, I have one packed weekend where I can't get online and this explodes. I might have to shed my luddite tendencies just to figure out how to play properly, because I'll never catch up at this point!

You don't have to catch up, you only have to catch one.

Yeah - go and take this one...

Tennis courts on Washington's Landing

You're likely achin' to come up around here

its le tour de blue thingy!

I know I don't have to do them all... But most are places that I look at and think "Hey, I know where that is, that'd be fun to bike to!" or "That's on my way to X, I should go there." And if I don't know it, that makes me want to go even more. Thus my list of places to go on a bike gets longer every time someone lays down a new tag. It's a personal problem I'll continue to battle on my own

Some of these I recognize, some not, this blue thingy, I'm pretty sure is emerald now. but I'm not going to get to it.

...edit... took a quick look at google satellite images ... totally misremembering. No, don't go emerald.

@church - that's about an 8 minute ride for you. Giddyup!

Wondering about placements for tags... are we sticking to city limits proper? A 10 or 15 km radius centered on the point could make things pretty interesting.

I know this one.

8 minutes huh? We'll see if I can do it in double or triple that time on the fixed commuter.

I've been waiting for this one. It's on the friggin' bike map for pete's sake...

Achin is right. So are my lungs. Fwiw, this is just up from the garfield cmmunity garden.

@quizbot: I was thinking about trying to keep it in or around city limits. I think if it gets too far out there it might sit. If you have a good one that you think people will go for, then throw it out there.

This is a quiet spot for lunch that you can't find on StreetView.

Fans of architecture and politicians will recognize it immediately.

How about we keep it within the bike map limits?

@lyle: Great spot for the tag. I love that building, really cool.

@rsprake: Bike map limits sounds good.

Crap! I can ALMOST get to that one. But my bike is four blocks in the other direction!

Four blocks? I rode up to that godforsaken water tower. C'mon sara, you'll have to do better than that.

around my meetings?

hmm, lunchtime now. maybe i have a window of opportunity here!

Fans of architecture and politicians will recognize it immediately.

Criminals,too.

I mean, even the non-politician ones.

I got this one. l will need to get back in front of a screen before I can update with a photo.

This thread is moving fast! I have a good one, I think, but I have to catch another one of these tags first.

I so had this tag, but just spent the last 30 minutes trying to get a flicker account and then learning how to post a photos. As this game accelerates, us technological neophytes will be left behind.....! Oh well, I can still play vicariously!

Here's a POST from before that tells how to post images, plus you can POST "test images" there too if you like to post your posting skills.

Old Posting POST

I heard you liked posting so I posted about posting so you could post while you post

A section of park was razed to eradicate oak wilt right above here.

rsprake, your pictures are gorgeous!

Wow, I am surprised that this tag lasted this long. You guys can ride these trails with the skinny tires without much issue.

Yeah maybe, but just now it's too Frikin' Dark out there.

Heh.

It's not too dark to go here, it's just too dark to get the picture.

You can verify photo time & location EXIF metadata if it isn't stripped by posting the jpg thru a service (& if you have gps enabled on your device).

Or... you could take a really bright light.

If one wanted to cheat, one could find my photo on Flickr and see exactly where it is.

I'll have to try turning on the gps and seeing how that exif works.

I checked the EXIF on your flickr page, rsprake, and it did not contain GPS coordinates.

I've been watching these tags and thinking, when am I going to have time to grab one of these. It turns out the time is now.

Where the trees are gone, the moon is bright.

Under the trees, a little flash, long exposure, some flashlight, no tripod, terrible photo

That's one of my favorite benches in Frick Park.

Before I realized I needed the sleep (perhaps the same moment I saw you got the tag...) I was about to take candles and a tripod and play with some long exposures to get this tag. Kudos. I hope there's a tag left late tomorrow or the next day...

I can't wait to dip an oar or pedal or tag in here, this is a great goad to get out and explore. May this thread prosper.

This is a great idea! Very cool.

Nate, don't forget to give Jupiter credit for some of that light! He's been on a real bright streak lately.

Hey, rsprake what kind of camera are you using?, that stuff is just luscious.

He's got the contrast and color sat turned way up. You can do that with most cameras (but not phones, I guess), if that's to your taste.

I don't know why camera phones don't have any kind of lens covers. Mine always gets covered with schmutz.

It's an iPhone 4. The light was bad in both of those so I boosted the contrast and saturation.

There's a certain timing element here. I highly recommend picking up this tag between 5 and 7 pm, when that door is open.

HA! you go to the street view of this place and the door is open, there's a bike outside leaning against the wall, and another secured to a roof rack.

So this morning when Nate told me the photo he planned to post, and what he was going to write, I said, "You'll need to say more than that. Nobody's going to know where that is."

Ha! Shows what I know.

I knew where it was before I even scrolled down to see what he wrote. Not sure that is a good thing

I would not have recognized it without the text. I wish he'd posted it before I left home though. No way I'm going to be able to pick that up before someone else nabs it tonight.

Sweet bike Nate. I know where it is, but I would imagine it will be gone by the time I can get over there.

I waited to post it in order to thwart you, Lyle.

Grrrrrrrrr (?)

East End Brewing Co, Susquehanna St

note the open door, yet no growler brought home for me...

My problem is that I finish the growler at home... I need to remember to bring the empty ones to work with me in the morning.

I'm surprised that the tag hung around all day. Just wait till you see the next one.

Could someone post a pic of the tag? I think my chances of picking up one of these is about zero, but it would be helpful to know what I'm looking for.

Or is it a virtual tag? Am I missing something here?

The pic IS the tag. That's it.

Though currently, there is no tag.. quizbot will post that soon.

@stu: I got confused about that too, when I read sloaps worrying about dan leaving the tag around a hostein's neck out in central pa.* But yeah - figure out where the picture was taken, take a pic of your bike there and that's it.

*an image that made me laugh every time I went back and read it, thank you.

changed my mind... the gates were open here this morning. you don't want to let this door close behind you.

Oh, man, you guys have to stop posting these while I'm at work!! I have that picture already on my camera at home, I could have saved myself the trip...

More to follow.

Allegheny Cemetery.

Where some old lady in a car shouted "No Bikes!!!" at me as I left.

Next tag tomorrow sometime, not tonight. Unless I can use a different bike for the new tag?

The same bike question has occurred to me too. As long as it is MY bike, does it matter if the same bike appears in both tags?

No Bikes? old lady needs to check herself before she wrecks herself (or a cyclist). I'm going to have to look around there more often when I go through. It is the best part of any ride involving penn and butler.

Different bikes are fine. Just keep the game moving.

It was necessary to carry my bike up several small sets of two-step stairs.

I know where it is, but can't get over there until after work. Damn these 10am-5pm tags!

Grr... for the first time, I actually have the timing to maybe get this one first. Also for the first time, I'm stumped.

The Walled Garden at Mellon Park!

Dinner suggestion: a shot of wheat grass, chased by a greasy dog named after #7. You'll find this between courses if you look 4 ways. Its about halfway between the factory and the beer cave.

Hm. That's going to take a little bit of searching.

This almost feels like cheating because it's so close to my house. (But not enough like cheating to stop me from grabbing the tag!)

Cromwell Street, between Pansy Way and Celeron. Property of Mike the Balloon Guy, who graciously shares his party equipment with the neighborhood at the annual block party.

I didn't know where that fountain was at all. I tried to imagine it in various places, including Mellon Park, but couldn't.

But, so then, later, Mary says, "Hey! we gotta go get the tag!"

It will move farther away tomorrow. Mary had a nice spot in mind, but I happen to know that several readers of this message board live within a block or two of that spot, so it's out.

It moved to Abbot St by the time I made it over there

Nice to see some tandem cycles showing up in the tags!

The fountain @ Mellon was restored this summer. There's an interesting artwork buried in the grass around it. At night, a constellation lights up.

With apologies for the poor picture quality. Our camera crapped out on us, so we wound up taking photos with our phones.

This *is* on the Bike PGH bike map. It was followed by quite a descent, where this stoker thought we went a bit too fast.

For your amusement, the gps did not die, and our whole route looked like:



so the tag should be easy to find now.

I think it's in the upper right corner of the map?

It would be instructive to know where, along your route, that photo was taken. I think with that piece of information, and guessing that the total distance is under 40 mis, I could locate it.

It's not that bad, the building is distinctive.

NOT in upper right part.

The building is more distinctive when viewed from its other side.

Ooohhh I think I got it. But it will have to wait until tomorow, if it lasts that long and Edmonds doesnt snag it...

I hope this is right or I just lost a lung for nothing... WDVE

It would have been nice to have given the clue just across the street

Bingo! Yes, that's the WDVE building in our photo.

We also could have posted this clue, taken in the same location from a different angle:

Did you come up Greentree Road from the West End? That was our descent.

Yeah, greentree's a real ball buster, especially since I have a nagging cold. It was fun though, in a masochistic kind of way. Speaking of which is the new tag.

You know WHERE it is, but HOW do you get there? I suggest starting at the academy of hard knocks. And don't forget to get some ice-cream on the way home. Mmmmm, Ice-cream

PS - I did it on skinnies but I suggest you use knobbies - it's a half mile of mountan biking trails.

I know where that is. Ride the slick tires, c'mon, what are you.

mmm, i was planning to do an early morning ride up that way tomorrow...

Nice to see the tag getting out there a bit.

I'm excited about this one; I've always wondered what's up on that hill.

There are many miles of trails up there. I usually hike them more than I bike them, but that's more a reflection of my MTB skills. It's bigger in size than Frick park if you include the steep front hillside (which is hikeable).

Half a mile of mtb trails maybe. But I took the dumb way and basically hiked ~1.5 miles through the woods, down half a valley and back up, from the back end of the "park." Carrying my bike. I really enjoyed it though. Blew the minds of two ATVers who had come to the same tower and saw me emerge from the "wrong" approach.

A friendly, dog-walking dude told me there are over 600 acres of "no tresspassing" utility area up there that Baldwin residents basically treat as a park. Thanks for the discovery!

And, of course, how could I not take your last bit of advice.

see any cars there this time?

[FILE FOTO NOT A TAG]



from a few years ago

http://picasaweb.google.com/nfranzen/Hays2007

http://picasaweb.google.com/nfranzen/Hays

@alnilam. Great job! The easier and flatter way in is to take the trail behind 'The Acadamy', which is a school for court adjudicated kids on Agnew road.

@Nate. Some of the burned out cars have been removed, but there are some that have been back in there since the 50's or 60's. I hope this place never gets developed.

I might have to there for the tag... riiiiiiight, for the tag....

I was wandering in there a few years ago, and rode up on some people wearing blaze orange. Oops. bad season for riding in the woods. Yes, hunting is permitted there. Deer and turkey at least. I talked to the one guy about his slug shotgun, rifles not permitted there (so close to the city I guess). He referred to it as the old J&L land. J&L. That takes you back, don't it.

I do recall some of the ignored "no trespassing" signs up there also carrying an apparently equally ignored "no hunting" message.

@Nate- He referred to it as the old J&L land. J&L. That takes you back, don't it.

The "Academy" used to be J&L's Graham Labs, where my father worked.

Wow, that was a cool spot for the tag. I am surprised it was grabbed that quickly. I have spent a lot of time in those woods. It is a cool little hidden treasure of Pittsburgh.

@alinilam: is the new tag the ice-cream stand?

@Nate, it is nice to see someone else rides bicycles up there. I used to do a ride up there quite often. I have not been there on a bicycle in a couple years. I do ride over that way on the dirt bike a couple times a year.

Is the ice cream shop the new tag? It's not exactly clear. If not, rule #2a will go into effect around 2am.

"#2a - After you pick up a Tag a new tag must be placed within 36 hours. If new tag is not set within the time limit, the first Bruce posted gets the tag. If no Bruce was claimed, tag will revert to the previous tag, and somebody else will get their chance. If you won't have the time to drop off a new tag, don't pick it up to begin with."

Right, ice cream shop is not it. Sorry, just wanted to brag about mmm, ice cream. Plus I don't think I show enough (unless you recognize the Turtlette arctic freeze) to ID the shop.

Here's the real tag. I came here to get high, and I ain't talkin about drugs.



Also, the astute cyclist may notice my crate is now full. Whatever might I have in my milk crate?

Alas, almost but not quite ALSO suitable for a post on the presidents on bikes thread...

I'm a president?

Sorry -- looked like a photo of RFK at first glance....

Ohh hah, it kinda does

It's some dude playing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto numero Uno. Or, it's a record jacket from the free pile at Jerry's that works nicely as a lid for the crate.

Glen Gould, I think. Hopefully that wasn't an LP that was in decent condition before being used as a lid?

I'm still stumped.

Not at all. Jerry puts the scratched-to-hell ones out front, free for the taking; it's one of those. Anyway the record is not inside that jacket.

I thought a mural-based tag would be fun. Hope it's not too hard. Would another written clue help, or does someone think they have it?

@alnilam - I was just about to say, it looks like an LP, only I know LPs are just a tad too big for the standard milk crate. That would make a good lid, though, if you waterproof it well.

Hmm, thanks for the tip on Jerry's. I have a bunch of LPs that don't have their outer covers.

There are four places I'm thinking of as possibilities, but two of them are far out of the way for me and I don't feel like making the trek and being wrong.

It was right there on the tip of my brain for the last few hours.... finally figured it out. Can't make a run for it just yet tho.

The mural in front of the East End Food Co-op!



I'm shocked I got this one. Knew right where it was last night but couldn't get to it 'til late this morning.

Hah, I was wrong on all four. I definitely do not understand the first clue.

@anilam .. I have another sort-of mural-based idea for the next tag, so stay tuned...

Great job Pseudacris! I'm intrigued to find out what "sort of mural" means.

First clue is The Climbing Wall, the first of two reasons I was out that way last night. It's, well, a climbing wall, located in the same building as the Coöp.

The second reason, and clue, was picking up the three glass jugs of milk jammed into my crate.

New tag coming this evening: what o what shall it be?

It's a Small World.

Mia nonna might like this neighborhood even though, oddly, you'll have a hard time finding a decent sfogliatelle without leaving for another 'hood nearby.

Right next door, you can tap your toes to everything from Autechre to Zorn.

Might a man get some non-italian pastries whilst he's in the hood?

Yes, but in this particular hood, a lot of the available carbs are italian-esque.

Hey. I rode right by there maybe an hour before that was posted. I don't remember what's next door though.

@Lyle: oops! you caught an error in my clue. 'Toe tapping to Autechre-Zorn' is the next block down from this photo. Right next door is tanning.

the costume shop?

Oh dear, have I killed the game with (inadvertent) low-hanging fruit? My tag's been sittin' here for almost 24 hours. Time for a new one!

Nono, I'm going to pick it up first thing tomorrow. Today was a bus day for me so I didn't have the bike to take the picture. And I have a pretty good one planned for a follow-up.

Liberty Ave.

This tag is gone right now, but it will be back. Probably best avoided if you are prone to vertigo, as the descent was dizzying.

I know where this is, it is close, oh so close, and today I have no bike! Crap!

@Lyle - If I have your tag location spotted correctly, you better hope you took your bike with you after your tag. Huge car fire in that exact location was just extinguished. You didn't have anything to do with that, did you? P.S. Not your car....older white sedan... yours is still smaller, foreign and darker, right?

I did take my bike with me, and it was trippy doing it. I'm pretty sure I didn't cause any car fires, unless there's some weird laws of physics we haven't discovered yet. I took some other pictures, but I didn't capture any cars in them.

The only car I particularly recall was a red SUV with NJ plates. Can't say that I was being real observant.

(fwiw, my car is large, foreign, dark, and has been parked in my garage with a dead tranny for three months.)

My intention was that the reflection should be the ephemeral tag, but since the weather forecast for tomorrow is for rain, and in the interest of keeping the game moving, I guess it's good enough if you just get a similar picture.

Maybe you can borrow a bike, Sarah -- or go down to Bike Pittsburgh and rent one for a bit.

@lyle -- or I hear that Edmonds keeps a folder in his office just for such purposes.......That's only a block or so in the other direction. Fire was pretty impressive!

just was linked to this thread by a friend and happened to be down the block.

don't know if i'm posting this link correctly...



was the top of the parking garage @ Strawberry Way/9th/7th/Smithfield.

Firemen investigating the car fire paid me no mind, but that top section was blocked off by a SUV. Gotta say loved both the ride up and back down. Never been in that garage before, it's taller than it seems!

Nice work Lyle & miasme! Funny, I had been thinking about a parking garage top deck for a future tag....scooped!

What is the red dome in the reflection of Lyle's tag?

it's the Midtown Towers building. It's a rather highly detailed building you can only see from a very few vantage points of down town. (there's a 7-11 in it on the ground floor)

Lyle - I was trying to get it in there too, loved the composition. It was just a bit bright to see how it was coming out and I didn't want to piss off the fire investigators. So i was balancing the bike with my left hand, snapped two quickly then rolled.

@miasme - there's an elevator in that parking garage that saves you the need to RIDE up..... The ride down is pretty frightening, in my opinion

That garage was 33% higher than I thought. Not a difficult ascent, but it just kept going. Wouldn't using the elevator transgress the rule about "bike must arrive under its own power?"

Here's the dome from another point on that same deck:

@miasme.

Those fire inspectors would never guess that your taking pics had nothing to do with the fire at all. And if you told them why you were there? They woudl think you were joking.

Darn, that was right near, I was out in a nasty abandoned building most of the day and didn't have a bike with me.

keeping in theme with the last one.



can you hear me now?

lol, nice clue.

Eeeew, I HATE it when they do this each year. Nothin" says "celebrate cancer" like dumping a bunch of chemicals in the water.

Commonwealth Plaza? Behind Verizon bldg on Stanwix

Heh I figured that one would go pretty fast.

Grabbed lunch at Sree's after getting the tag then rode over there to eat in the plaza.

DIY

Yay! Great location!

once again today, i find myself right down the street from Kraynick's

there should be a rule about getting a tag right after you made one... dammit, miasme, i was gonna get that one tomorrow morning!

As a spectator, I like it when they go fast.

Man I was just there around three o'clock. I'm starting to think maybe I need one of those smart phone thingies.

i instantly recognized kraynick's by the ever-closed gate

He who hesitates...

What, mélange, you hit your 3 mile per ride limit before getting there?

Speaking of, you up for a ride tomorrow? I'll even let you help decide the next tag (if I don't post one later tonight)

I was going to drop it on the top of some god forsaken hill but wanted to keep it moving. Trying to keep @Mick happy. Also: excellent choice in bar tape @miasma

@quizbot I agree with faster :: more fun. Added benefit of keeping the interest. And thanks...

I'm surely already hooked on this interweb-alleycat. I have a more difficult one and a more readily recognized one. Both easy rides though. Any preferences anyone?

ok it's a bit more obscure, but i just like the picture too much.



you might need to learn the eastern bike routes.

@quizbot i'd be interested in some DD rides, not sure i can do the actual ride this year though. if you are interested in having someone tag along, let me know.

dammit, miasme, i was gonna get that one tomorrow morning!

Gah, I was just leaving, figured I'd check first. I knew the last two, but now I don't know where the new one is This looks kinda like three places that are collectively about 60 miles apart and I don't have the time for that today. Drat you. Well, the weather looks good. Maybe I'll get lucky with the first one.

It took me a long time to recognize this, considering my son went there for three years. It's the Reynolds entrance to Sterret Classical Academy (the S. Lang entrance doesn't have that alcove/cabinet to the left of the door).

I've had an idea that I should try to master the essence of cell-phone photography. Low-resolution, distortions, bad colors. Now that my phone is years old and failing, the images only get better!

I'll find a better camera for the next tag though

That pic is awesome. Well done.

I was a little worried at first, choosing that, but I figured there are a lot of people riding by there every day.

@ quixbot Trying to keep @Mick happy

You will be rewarded !

Like, in heaven or sumpin'.

A sort of a hint:

Or at least it's a nice view. This is not the spot of the tag, but the tag is, well, here:

My bike slipped and started to roll while I was taking a picture. I grabbed it before it went in.

It's super nice out now, go get this tag

Crow's Nest in Sharpsburg

Nice! I was thinking of heading out into the impending rain to grab this one, but I would've been hunting for a while. Is that the 40th St bridge in the background?

@ Nate: glad you were able to grab your rolling bike without losing a camera to the waters.

Highland Park bridge in background, looking up river.

Oink!

ouch: not for me!

I like the River Road underpass that connects Main St to the river. Anyone ever eat or drink at Silky's Crow's Nest? It looks like a nice place to hang out on a sunny afternoon.

There's more than one way to get to that next tag location.

The underpass is cool... nice brick surface. There were a bunch of Steeler fans at the marina loading up some boats with coolers & heading downstream this am.

Just be glad Ravine/Sharpshill isn't on the BikePgh map... I climbed that monster after grabbing the Crow's Nest tag.

Looks like there's a expiration on the edit button, I wanted to replace the image url in my other post with an edited one, but it expired. OK, so here's the NOT-A-TAG view of the Highland Park Bridge from the end of Morningside Ave.

Ugh! This was my first time riding up. How does it compare to the other DD hills?

@Marko82 it's steep but short, so I rate it an easy on the DD scale. Many better hills could take it's place IMO.

@Nate The Crows nest is decent, same exact food as the Silkys in Bloomfield and Squirrel Hill. Sitting outside sipping coffee is excellent, a great stop for early spring. Service has it's issues, however.

Woot @marko82! Not an easy tag to pick up. Out of the 8 or 9 DD hills I've climbed, Rialto is probably the easiest, only because it's over pretty quickly.... but it may be the most consistently steep segment over length out of them. Logan is probably 4x as long but horrible surface & the top 50 ft is much more steep. Ravine/Sharps is 8x as long... not quite as steep but more grueling thanks to length.

Ok no drama with this one, just a trip to my home turf.

(this is the tag)

And while you're there check out Copperfield street two blocks up the road. We use to do sets of ten when I ran high school cross country.

@quizbot First tag I captured I had to climb Greentree Rd. This tag I had to climb rialto. I know that two datapoints don't make a trend, but stop it!

I didn't make anyone go up Greentree... but I will say that any tag I pick up on a Sunday morning isn't going to drop like a Lionel Richie tune

@Nate: that tag! I actually knew that tag! The one by the Sharpsburgh/docks! And for the time it looks like I was also around there around the time posted (Saturday afternoon, right?)..... I probably even passed you on your way to tagging it ... oh well

Nobody has grabbed this one yet? I thought the whole "we can't cross a river" fear was for car drivers only. If I can find a few spare minutes before it happens, I'll try and grab this one and a new one on the way back home.

I know the weather's been crappy and if you're like me you havent felt like going on any additional "fun" rides. So with that in mind is anyone going to pick up this tag? Or should I move it somewhere closer to normal commuter routes? I just want to keep the ball rolling.

Speaking only for myself, I don't envision getting that tag before May.

We have some sunny days coming up. Maybe give it another day, then post something along commuter routes if no one nabs the standing tag?

My 2 cents.

time

4

a

new

tag.

Jason, should we

-revert to the rialto tag?

-start a new tag (first come first served)?

-start a new thread?

-keep waiting (or get our *s to the last tag?).

Some sunny days are here...

Come on - Cross a bridge and climb 18th street, I do it just about every time I'm on my bike!

Ok so I actually tried to move the tag today. I rode to a fairly good spot, no hills, near some good beer. Parked the bike and got out my camera. Framed everything to obstruct some obvious clues and...and... damn I forgot to put a memory card into the camera before I left the house. And since I will be out of town tomorrow you guys are stuck with the current tag or whatever you collectively decide.

I can grab a tag in the next 30 minutes, it will be difficult but recognizable, especially if you're familiar with the south side.

Nevermind. I just remembered that I dropped my bike off at the shop

I say let the tag sit unless the tag holder wants to move it. We need to get our lazy ass' up there. Maybe Ill try to grab it saturday.

This happens sometimes in these games when the weather turns or the tag in in an obscure spot. I think with a few nice days coming up it will move.

I agree. I almost went for it today just to prove me a liar, but didn't have time. Frankly, I'm not entirely sure the best way to get there. Maybe the city should put up bike route signs...

It does not look good for me making it up to the tag today. Maybe monday...

I was going to go out on a scenic ride this afternoon, but since no-one had the tag, I was forced to ride Brownsville Road, sob, poor me.

This next one is easy! no hills, centrally located, you just have to know where it is.

Oh! Oh! Finally, one I can get! I know *exactly* where that is! Too bad it's getting dark.

Yeah Nate! I was starting to feel very lonely in the South Hills.

Between Buhl Planetarium and Allegheny Center 3.




Anchors aweigh!

No pizzas allowed in here!

Good spot Stu. Google steet view shows your bike in a vacant lot!

New tag. Please be careful crossing the street, it's a busy intersection, but it has crosswalks.

that's right across from chiodo's!

I went looking for Stu's, but I was mistaken about the location. I did, however, run into a couple of zombies taking a smoke break. I said "hey, those things are gonna kill ya!"

Just for grins, this was the alternate take for the library shot. Marko took his photo from almost this exact spot, about 50 feet downhill from where I shot my tag photo. This is what Federal Street looks like looking toward North Ave:

The bent bike rack appears to be from a car, not vandals.

OK, back to the game...

"that's right across from chiodo's!"

Um, you have not been down there in a while. It is a Walgreens parking lot now.

(Jason must not be from here. Here's a free Yinzer tip of the Day: we describe the locations of most things in relation to what USED to be there. Such as: "Ahl meet yinz dahn 'ere 'cross frum Jenkins Arcade n'at, weel go git sum jumbo n'at?")

Therefore, the foot of the Homestead High-Level Bridge will always be Chiodo's. N'at.

yes, and the bridge will always be the "homestead hi-level" as well.

LOL

I really botched this photograph, but got the tag by going a few miles out of the way on the way back from work

Tic Toc, drop a new tag...

I took some other photos Sunday morning. If Pierce doesn't have one by tomorrow a.m., should I post one of those?

I got my 36 hours... I'll probably drop mine in an hour. Isn't great, but it'll get the job done

havent those 36 hours gone past already? what would a 'bruce' be? the next person to post another 'chiodos' pic?

Ah, Bruce is better at math than I am. I was thinking 76, not 36.

Clues:

As far as I know, this is the only house in Pittsburgh to have a bicycle helmet turned light globe

If this street had a quotation it would be "[...] it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself."

I believe it is in the northern most neighborhood in Pittsburgh city proper

I have nothing, how about another hint?

Given the clue, where Pierce is from, and the style of house, I'd say that's in Morningside. Perhaps I'll take a roll thru there later

hmm,

oopsie.

I'm not sure that Morningside's wrong though. Just that the official northern-most neighborhood, according to the city, is Summer Hill. I've never knowingly been in Summer Hill.

Ah, Noah was on the right track, my clue was just based on my misunderstanding of Pittsburgh. Never even heard of Summer Hill until seeing that map. Also didn't realize Lincoln-Lemington Belmar extended across the river.

Ah, that helps quite a bit. I was looking in Perry North.

I wasted a few minutes looking (on a map) for a Neo/Matrix/Morpheus Street in Summer Hill. Morningside helps a bit.. they have a Trinity St. there.. Didn't see the house on a cursory street view examination though.

Witherspoon St, I fail at this

HA HA. No, you succeed. Great clue.

Thanks Noah, weight lifted off my shoulders

No hint this time; I do implore, again, that you guys figure this one out on your own.

I may pick that up on the way to the Bridesmaid ride.

Well, for once, I figured it out without having ever been there before.

shit, i made it too easy? boo.

I wouldn't say so. There are a lot of bridges in Pgh, but not that many that cross a narrow street on a steep hill without an obvious landmark next to it like a railroad, river, major building, etc.

Google Street View does make this game simpler, but as my example shows, it's no sure thing.

Yeah. I made sure to get the bridge in there so it wouldn't be impossible.

isnt it cheating to use street view??

:-p

Under the Bloomfield Bridge... Neville Ave I think. (corrected: N. Neville St.)

This octopus's garden may be endangered.

Oh what joy, for every girl and boy: knowing they're happy and they're safe

Bruced! Oh well the Bridesmaids were gorgeous!

@quizbot: that is an awesome tag. Niki de St Phalle - meets - Dr Seuss? I have no idea where it is. Hope next the tag-finder will let us know.

I know where it is, more or less, and I'm pretty sure RF does too.

If I've been there, it's been a long time,I just wanted to sing the beatles.

Been beating up street view; I need a clue.

I figured out where it is. It isn't on the streetview.. Must be too new. Maybe I'll go tomorrow...

I agree with Dan. Streetview isn't much help. Google is better. Hoping I can beat Dan to it tomorrow.....

It isn't hard to beat me. I have an early morning meeting and won't be able to go until work is over.

I thought I knew were this was. I tried to find it this morning, but no luck. More research is required! Found a lot of interesting other stuff, though!

ok, here it is: (click to get a larger version)

This is on N. Aiken, just south of Penn Ave. One of my routes home; coming up Penn, jog here to Friendship to avoid the traffic from around Negley onwards.

No, I don't know what that octopus thing is about.

Nuts. I was going to pick that up on my way to work, I just haven't left yet

ABout the octopus and its creator....

http://diggingpitt.blogspot.com/2010/04/laura-jean-mclaughlin-octopus-garden.html

OK, so why is it endangered?

It's near the intersection of Coral St.

Can't help myself... Octopus located near Coral St.

Do you think that's a coincidence?

I just liked that it "appears" to be a coincidence and yet a natural fit at the same time (I wouldn't presume to know the artist's mind, I have trouble finding mine most days).

I've always liked it that Hamlet intersects Ophelia.

Time for a new tag...no?

Standing with my bike... could I ride it to the sky?

Crap, I rode right past there just an hour ago! You're teasing me!

Good tag.

oh noes! i took the wrong way home! this is my best chance yet to get one, i'm tempted to go do it now.

Blast! I thought i'd get it before dawn this am. Now I'm ready to go and there's no new tag oh well, back to bed...

Boy, you guys are fast. I knew where it was, even w/o the clue, but I just can't get there as quickly as y'uns living in town somewhere.

+1 on tags you can't see (easily) from StreetView.

ladies go here, wieners over there...

PS: I neglected to post the location of the tag I found - it's the "Walking To The Sky" sculpture on CMU campus, directly across Forbes from Morewood. Stu, it's <1 mi from my house so I was certainly hoping when I set out at 12:30am no one was gonna beat me there

RE "Walking to the Sky". If you ride your bike up that pole [edit: the pole next to the plastic dude - not visible in the tags] (being cautious of the pedestrians on your way up). You end up ......... in KASSEL!

Meet "Himmelsstürmer":

(((((This is not a tag)))))

this thread is really great. As a spectator of the tag-o-rama, I'm learning more and more all the neat things I've never seen before!

This latest one is stumping me. I have one more idea to check out this afternoon, though.

hm, too obscure? you can see it clearly from the street - but i'm having a tough time coming up with another clue that doesn't completely give it away. I'll let Lyle check out his idea then give some more hints.

I think I might know where the tag is. Is it up a slight hill from the street?

The place I'm thinking of, it would not be visible from the street, so I'm definitely clueless. Hungry, too.

First I though the tag was at a gas station. Too general. What’s with the clue? Hot dogs? Checked downtown: Weiner world, Nathan’s famous, Franktuary - nope, nope, and nope. Woman’s shelters downtown, nope. I toured most of the alleyways in and around the cultural district for almost an hour, nope. Conclusion: I don’t think it’s downtown, and I’m an idiot.

It is not downtown - it's in the East End.

It is not up a hill - it's right on street level.

The building where I took the picture is vacant, and I haven't been able to find out what it used to be - but there are businesses on either side of it, one of them is related to the clue and the other is surrounded by a barbed wire fence.

Oh, maybe it is my first guess. Okay, tomorrow then.

I KNOW WHERE THAT IS!!

Me too..

For context:

Broad street, in sliberty, by the post office. My first guess was that this was behind the hot dog shop, so the clue that it's visible from the street threw me off. I've never actually eaten at the hot dog shop there, despite how happy I was when they reopened it.

Hah! That was my best guess. Good one Salty & Lyle!

I'm running out of ideas for interesting new tags (that I feel like riding for first). Winter must be coming -- I'm getting lazy.

Well... I do have a few more.

This is outside, but on streetview. I did have to walk up a few stairs to get there.

I KNOW THIS ONE!!!!!!

Yeeeeee haaaa!!!!!

That's some fine art you got there, Fricky ol' boy.

Location: Atrium inside Frick Fine Arts, UPitt

I figured it would be easy, but not THAT easy!

Aww shucks, I knew that one, and could have gone only slightly out of my way to get it! Just wasn't online all day.

This pothead swears it's medicinal:

(Maybe this one will be harder)

i've seen that before... now, where....?

That's a sick sculpture.

Okay, I have decided that the next one will be continuing the fountain theme. I'll be posting it at about 4:30-5 PM tomorrow.

hey Lyle, can you give us less well-traveled types a bit more info on this jugged-dino's location?

(It feels like it should be the new Children's Hospital, but I haven't circumnavigated that place...)

Yes, the new Children's hospital--the pavilion on 45th St.

Yeah, I think a condition for getting the tag should be posting the location... and then we should have a super-cool tag ride where we hit a bunch of them. I really want to go see the octopus!

Some enterprising person should put these all on a map.

I like to not give away the location completely at first, so the people who *almost* knew where it was have a moment to feel clever.

I really want to go see the octopus!

I'd love to see a menagerie by that artist along the river trails!

More clues will follow.

You can't get this tag without a climb.

"Some enterprising person should put these all on a map."

I have been thinking about it. Just have not gotten the time to do it yet. I think you can do something with google maps.

It would be cool to have a Tag-O-Rama ride for 2011 Bike Fest.

It would be cool to have a Tag-O-Rama ride for 2011 Bike Fest.

Especially with Rialto and the other climbs included...

I'm working on a Google map of it feel free to edit:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=

102427779339483663454.000493617d604f4af9741

Nice,that is pretty sweet!

@lyle, how about a hint?

It's got a water feature, so it might be a cemetery -- but no, that marker doesn't look cemetery-like. So, a park, but nothing I recognize immediately, and it has to be up on a hill, or maybe just on on the other side of a hill... That fountain thing might be in a playground...nah...it'd be turned off by now in October.

I haven't come up with any ideas yet good enough to send me out looking.

I think it has something to do with TU?

Is that a building on the other side of the water?

Apartments? A school?

It's probably misleading to claim the climb is nearly in the Dirty Dozen, but it *is* halfway up/down a hill. My scientific wild-ass guess places it at about 40 meters up/down. I find the challenge is more psychological than physical, but it might be different for girls.

That "fountain" looks like an aerator to me. Small pond with fish? Golf course? Park? Playing with the contrast brings the sign into better focus, but not enough to read it. That sign STYLE is so familiar to me though. I feel like I should at least know who placed the sign.

Oooo I'm way off base. But I have a new idea.

Fountain, fish, and frogs are near the fourth river.

Heh. Those are good clues Lyle. I can't get to it for another 4 hours or so...but I think I know approximately where it is.

It's not a cemetery, but I'll tell you what, I was booking when I left. My educated estimate is that many more people are dying to get out than in.

Map is up to date, though I guessed the vague area of some tags. I am aware there is a numbering problem as well.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&gl=us&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=102427779339483663454.000493617d604f4af9741

I hope I got this one right. Duck Pond at Chatham University.

so that is where?

Just off the windy road that cuts through the Chatham campus on Squirrel Hill. Took me a bit to find it on the campus, but the "Fourth River" clue set me in the right direction. They have a literary journal by that name.

Man, fourth river was a total red herring for me. First I thought of the underground aquifer that is thought to provide the water source for the fountain in Point State Park. Then to the Yough River, which is generally considered to be the region's "fourth river/" Never thought of Chatham's campus, although I should get partial credit for recommending a route THROUGH that campus while this tag was still live....!

You & ejwme (who even mentions the pond).

Uh oh, cross-thread clues?

Duh.... and his clue makes so much sense (now...)

Nice job on the map Charles!

Ah, I'm glad I didn't go (virtually) looking for this tag. I thought your educated guess about people dying to get out was some high school. Chatham seems pretty nice. They have a Prius security car and a nice little Post Office I used to use when I lived on 5th And S Negley.

I did look for it virtually, but I didn't look here: http://tinyurl.com/2fc7vbn

Ce n'est pas un cure-dent. If you frequent the east end, this landmark should be a no-brainer.

EDIT:(the tag is the mound in the upper right part of the image)

5th and Shady, on the grounds of the Pgh Center for the Arts.

This one had me fooled initially, then I figured if the angle was low enough it would work. Good framing, Pseudacris. But what about that tree growing more or less out of the guy's chin? En effet, je pense que ce n'est pas un cure-dent mais plutôt une barbe (en style 'hipster')...

Mellon park, again.

Whoa, tense finish...

how!?! I shoulda posted from the park (

Mine was all blurry cuz I didn't want to dawdle and get swept away by a tornado... at one point I was tacking up baum.

I'm debating whether the next tag should be my bike, whirling away to the land of Oz. Maybe not.

Wow, Lyle definitely gets points for conveying a sense of urgency with his image!

Did you see each other at the PCA?

The '(not a) toothpick' clue was an oblique art-related reference to a famous painting of a different mouthpiece: Rene Magritte's "Treachery of Images" painting.

Good work!

Indeed, the Magritte reference pretty much nailed the location; I'm hoping that a shovel might reveal a cerveau after all. (Or, maybe, a Cervélo?)

When I first got there I couldn't see how the photo could have been taken, especially with the sapling in the way, it's great the way it blends into the trees. In the end, the traffic lights in the corner clinched it.

Still, I had to take a test shot to be sure:

Sadly, it's a weekday and I don't think I'll have the time to manage a tag that involves a real climb. We haven't had one of those for a while.

My bike was positioned about 15' away, maybe more, & I got low to the ground. In the tag, it almost looks like one of those fake rocks you can buy to hide a spare house key under.

This thing looks pretty funny in satellite view. It's by the artist Joe Mannino.

I recognized the Magritte reference, but didn't really see the connection -- I just recognized the head immediately. And of course, the no-brainer clue cinched it.

I didn't see Ahlir. It was probably a half-hour between my photo and posting.

I did have an interesting encounter a few moments earlier. I was southbound on shady, stopped at the red light, waiting to turn left onto fifth. The light turned green. I waited for the obligatory red-light runner, he went by, then I waited for the oncoming traffic to clear. Just as they started to move, some guy came sailing through. I shouted HEY!HEY! That's RED! Through his open window. He shouted back, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" as he rolled on through. Amazing.

Here's the next one:

A memorial to a great man of power. Not quite as east-ish as the last one.

westinghouse memorial in schenley park by cmu (next to the drained fountain)

and for more perspective:

Melange! I was riding by there this morning and saw you. I thought you might be doing this. I should have stopped and said hello. I thought you were setting a tag, though. It would have been awesome to pick up a tag before it was posted.

Wow, that was quick. Cool tag, too.

I knew it was a Geo Westinghouse reference, but didn't know where. The "not as east as" clue told me it probably wasn't the Westinghouse Castle in Wilmerding, but exactly which? No clue.

Thanks for the info! This thread is as much education as it is fun!

melange - going in to work late pays off again - congrats!

The alternate take, which I figured would be too obvious. Good job melange.

Some of the craftsmanship on the buildings/fountains/monuments in Pittsburgh is really amazing. I like his outfit: wonder if he was a cyclist? Laptop in left hand, Taco in right.

With the knickers and sweater, I think he was a cross-country skier.

thanks, yinz!

@mick: were you walking a dog??

strangely enough, i probably rode past the memorial shortly before ahlir took the pic... and then when i saw it on the forum, i rushed right back out there to grab the tag.

heres the next one -- a place for young and old!

i did a little editing of charles' map found at http://goo.gl/maps/vVJr

i added some stuff to the last few tags, and ill keep going through them slowly (unless someone beats me to it)... the additions include:

-short descriptive caption / title

-embedded image (when tag is selected)

-link to forum post where tag was claimed (when image is clicked)

heres a template for what i did (its also in a comment on the map itself). be sure to choose the 'Edit HTML' format the for the tag/marker description body and replace $PAGENUMBER, $POSTNUMBER and $IMAGEURL as necessary:

Blast, I hope nobody gets that in two hours

@melange. I was on my bike - racks fore and aft, high handlebars, panniers.

I came from the Phipps direction and turned right on W.Circuit. I should have stopped to say "hi", cause I knew as soon as I saw you that you were there for tag (I thought you were making it though.)

ah, ok. i think i remember seeing you. i also saw a guy walking his dog on a bike, which was interesting...

i kept turning around, nervously looking for other bikers trying to steal the tag from me -- my apologies if i sneered at you!!!

Ah! Potentially three people are going after this tag or at least on their way to getting to this tag right now

Magee Recreation Center: pool, playground and senior citizens' center in Greenfield.

And to add a new element to the game... Doubles tag!

First dual-tag. We were worried Dan Williams was going to get it first, but he must have not been checking the forums while doing bio-chemistry? at work. < I was nagged to put this period here

Bonus points for getting this after commuting back from West Mifflin in about thirty minutes

@melange396 - good additions to the map. I'm working on a mashup that will grab the mymaps Tag-o-rama georss or kml feed, then retrieve long/lat elevation from google's elevation service... color code the placemarks based on terrain height & maybe draw a profile from tag to tag. Could also do a twittervision-ish load on the map with the info bubbles including whatever makes it into the feed (image, description, etc). I'd be done with it but google's Ajax Feed API chokes on long/lat in georss, so looking for ways around it.

I took the template and did page 8, tags 36-39. Not difficult, but it took maybe a half hour.

I found it helpful to copy/paste the template, and the original HTML from the edit box, into Notepad. Make a copy, make changes on the copy, and copy/paste that back into the edit box.

*Ahem

We've talked about bollards before on this forum and thought this would be a decent tag.

From personal experience as a youth, I think people would especially be dying to get out of that building. More so if they don't believe in transubstantiation.

you barely moved the tag! its st. rosalia school in greenfield, down the street from the rec center... i feel like a thief getting two tags so close to each other, but im not complaining. i also really enjoyed the clue

and the wide angle:

That was the 50th tag for those keeping track at home.

the sign reads: "Building Lot For Sale, Fabulous Views"

purchase also includes easy bikeway access

The ugliest new house construction I have ever seen!

Beechwood Blvd between Greenfield & Frick Park

Another case of Street View showing a vacant lot. Amazing that the sign is painted over, and long enough ago that the white paint is peeling off. I wonder what the story is here.

Bag it & tag it.

Old Forbes Field, near Schenley Drive and Roberto Clemente Drive.

+1 rsprake. before i saw it, a coworker described it as looking like a tie fighter, which unfortunately made me picture something way cooler than it actually is - which is pretty hideous.

and i'm also bummed i spent the day inside working on various plumbing crap instead of getting either of those nice, close tags

An appropriate New Tag for today:

Located in the hilly part of town.

I'm pretty sure I was there a few hours ago, but can't be bothered to get there again.

That lot on Beechwood was for sale for quite awhile. It was being sold as three lots. I think someone bought it and built that pile of crap house which doesn't even make sense. It's the sort of location I dreamt of having to build a new house if I had the money. What a great view to have in your backyard.

Nuts, that's a cemetery I don't recognize.

I would not want to live on that street, too busy.

Above that house up on top of that hill, there is a few houses that are at the end of a dead end street and have a better view. I believe it is Rosemoore St.

Even then, there is too many people around for my taste. The houses below in Duck Hollow are awesome and secluded. You just have to wait for someone to die before you can buy something there.

Fernwald and Mt.Royal are both great streets in that area. some amazing houses i just like to roll past, usually to catch a breath after rolling up Forward to them.

"hilly part of town"

Thanks.

I am guessing it's Calvary cemetery in Greenfield, but would have no idea where to look for the tag itself.

I thought the clue meant "squirrel hill" but it doesn't look like any of the locations I know of.

@rsprake - It looks like he's facing southeast, if that helps.

I think I know where this cemetery is, since this area is closer to where I used to live, but will see how the adventurous figure it out...

Let's see:

@Charles: Would part of the clue be that Squirrel Hill is not the only 'Hill" with a cemetery in town?

It is not in Squirrel Hill, nor Greenfield. The cemetery is small, so finding the exact location of the tag should be easy, once you find the cemetery.

I'm guessing that "hilly part" means the Hill District. The one cemetary up there looks a bit like the tag.

maybe... but pay attention to the background.

Tall smokestack = Liberty tubes ventilation system?

Thats an optical illusion, not a smokestack just a monument. I think it's the one in Spring Hill across 279 from AGH. I have seen it from my dads roof a few times. Or I could be wrong

@spak - I'm talking about the thing on the horizon just to the left of the seatpost clamp... way in the distance.

I see three or four good clues in the picture, but still have no idea where it is.

Smokestack that Spak mentions. Large white building/complex below the crossbar. Large church or ??? in handlebars. "church" may be at a slightly higher elevation than the other buildings.

I think the sun angle is a red herring. Maybe looking west, towards a sunset?

The smokestack might be an artifact.

I looked at at a cemetary on Mount Washington on Google. I don't think it was the same one as the tag.

There was a "smokestack" that was EXACTLY where I would expect the Cathedral of Learning to be. I believe it had to do with the focus of the camera.

The more I look at it the more I'm convinced that the far ridgeline is Perry Hilltop and that about 4 inches to the left of the frame you would see the dropoff at Finewiew above the war streets.

No idea how to get to that secluded cemetery though

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=40.463957,-79.994723&num=1&t=h&sll=40.464887,-79.995564&sspn=0.001722,0.003449&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=40.464274,-79.99521&spn=0.001722,0.003449&z=18

Looks like 16th/Chestnut to Spring Garden to Homer to Buente. I've been up Spring Garden a number of times -- decent riding, but narrow. I've never done the left up Itin or Homer though.

Can we get a hint?

Hint: It is located right next to a Pittsburgh Public School.

A Jewish cemetery perhaps?

I think this tag might last until Christmas.

Ok, we have certain clues. Next to a Pittsburgh Public School. Small (seemingly older) cemetery that seems to fade off a hill. Tall smokestack in the distance. Church or other large ediface in the right corner of the frame. Fairly distinctive housing. In a hilly part of town, or on a hill.

If we could identify that stupid smokestack, we'd be in better shape. Otherwise, I am going to focus on the small cemeteries on the North Side -- Brighton Heights, etc. Crap. I am learning lots about Pittbsurgh cemeteries (there are more of them than I ever knew), but this is frustrating. It's also weird that I had a tag in mind for the great Jewish cemetery off of Spring Garden or Troy Hill Road. But, I've changed my mind on THAT tag.....

I went to the cemetery at the top of 18th street, three more in Mount Oliver, and three more further out on my way home yesterday. I didn't think any of them were the tag ahead of time, but now I definitely know - not South.

Reserve Primary School is not a Pittsburgh Public School...

Oh, that was my best guess, too

could it be the back side of mt wash?

Adding credence to Reserve School, this news iten from June --

The fate of a one-time 150-foot smokestack that was struck by lightning in Sharpsburg near the Highland Park Bridge remains up in the air as a developer must decide whether to keep the partially demolished structure as is, add more brick or demolish it.

Built about 80 years ago for a now-defunct box company, the Sampson-Morris Group of Monroeville, which owns it, removed 60 feet of the stack.

I'm guessing it's Uniondale cemetery across/beside Oliver as well. It's also on a "hill". The only other PPS even close to a cemetery is Sterrett Classical which is a half block away from Homewood cemetery.

Edit: Oliver High has a smokestack!

Okay, I know where it is (I think.)

There's also a fairly formidable smokestack at SCI Pittsburgh that MAY be visible frm the Oliver High area, if you are high enough on the hill. There are several cemeteries in the area. Highview is adjacent to Uniondale, I think. But, I go through this area a fair amount, and I can't match up the large "church like" building in the handlebars, nor the two rows of houses with the Oliver HS location. Might be a tricky camera angle that makes it work.

I can confirm presence of a tall stack near eckert and beaver, and slightly further north @ alcosan. Both in valley. Tall enough? Alcosan stack has white stripe near top.

I didn't see a smokestack in the picture, but when I went looking tonight, to my surprise, I found one. I didn't have my phone, so no picture, but I'll go back tomorrow if nobody beats me to it.

Boy, this turned into a real challenge...

If the clue is accurate, use: http://www.schooldigger.com/go/PA/city/Pittsburgh/search.aspx

It's a Google map, so you can use it directly. Try the Terrain setting to get a feel for the topography. There's a lot of schools in the district and at least three close to a cemetery. You might also consider using Google Earth to check out the sight-lines.

I spent a bit of time with these tools and they seemed pretty useful. But I lack patience. I did learn something I didn't know before: most cemeteries around here seem to be on hill-tops, or at least include high-ground in their plan.

...most cemeteries around here seem to be on hill-tops, or at least include high-ground in their plan.

There's a reason for that. I got the following info first-hand from an elderly family member whose grandfather, who she knew first-hand, made a land deal in the 1850s. The family acquired 240 acres of land. The 10 hilliest, least farmable acres, they donated to the church. On the edge of the property, a level spot fronting the road was the ideal place to put the church. The hill got put to use as the graveyard.

No StreetView, but here's an aerial view. It's a climb to get to the top of that gravel road going up into the cemetery NW of the church.

I don't have the exact framing, but here it is...

Hooray!

Amen! Now could someone PLEASE tell us where this is?

Minersville Missouri Synod Cemetery, Hill District, behind University Prep. School. Just off of Centre and Herron Ave. Also map is updated:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=

102427779339483663454.000493617d604f4af9741

I never knew there was a cemetery back there, and google doesnt lable it. Bravo to both of you!

I knew it! I knew it!!!!! I've been there! That's why I alluded to the cemetery in the "other" Hill in my other post... finally

Lyle, I think you were just sandbagging eveybody with that Christmas comment.

@bikeygirl: why dintcha go get it, then? There were some giant cobbles on Shawnee St. I decided not to ride down them, and turned around to find another route.

@Lyle: I would have pick it up but didn't because my only available times to ride there this week would have been after-sunset, and I didn't feel comfortable riding around that area in darkness. Had the clue lasted to the weekend, I would have grab it.

Now I have to figure out an interesting new tag.

I know what I *want* to do, but I don't have time to get there until Saturday. Dilemmas...

I dropped my last tag within an hour or so of picking up the previous one in the interest of keeping the game moving.... the last one sat waaaaay too long.

When I did the NSide library tag, I took tag photos at several other potential sites, just in case I changed my mind. I suppose I can use one if I only have time or light to pick up the tag, not to scout out another. If nothing else, it's great fun to ride all over tarnation, asking myself "Would anyone be able to figure out this one?"

Actually, the use of previously recorded or "stored" tags brings a new dimension to the game. As I was struggling with Charles' cemetery tag, I knew in my heart it had to be Central City. He's based in Sq. Hill, his work affiliation is CMU, and he turned the tag around in less than 24 hours. I just didn't see him racing out to a remote looking cemetery in Brighton Heights or Reserve Township to get that tag. But, in the back of my mind, I was thinking it could be a STORED tag -- in which such local details are irrelevant. Could have picked up the tag anytime. In theory you could even do it in full sight of lots of us -- on a Flock ride or something, and a lot of people would never even catch on to what you were doing.

Fourth rule of tag-o-rama:

#4 - File photos are NOT permitted. You gotta ride to play this game.

with respect to what stu just said: i think using one of the many pics he took for that tag would be acceptable, but using one of those same pics for a subsequent tag would not be... would anyone disagree?

i have to admit some part of me wants to go take a picture of my bike in a crazy place and drop it as a tag when im feeling mean

>:-p

any tag I place will be incredibly easy, as I'm not adventurous at all. If I'm feeling mean, I'll leave my house, and ride over to the fire station on the corner of arlington+st patrick st, heh.

BUt I'm moving soon, so that won't be feasible anymore.

What's the consensus on tags that require carrying the bike (eg, up some stairs)? It's not strictly riding the bike to the scene, but it's still "under human power." I've posted a couple like that and nobody has screamed, but I'm just wondering -- is that pushing the limit of the rules?

@Lyle As long as you don't make me swim with my bike, I'm cool with it. I didn't mind climbing some stairs to grab a tag.

you *carry* your bike up stairs???

also, i agree about the "stu rule" - no storing up tags for future use, you have to get the tag and then make a new one.

SO, is there a new tag yet?

You're going to make me go out in this?

Hrm..... I got to work about an hour ago on my bike & rode through the rain WITH NO FENDERS. So, I don't know how to respond to that question... hahahahhaha

I still have to get a tag myself, so I guess that's why I like to see this rolling to see if I can get one. Has any woman gotten a tag yet, btw?

Grah. Okay, but you have to buy me a coffee.

Pretty sure I know this. One of my favorite places in the spring.

Wow, the first one I know EXACTLY where it is..and here's me stuck downtown and without my bike today.

*tail between legs* OK, I was scouting for good sites and ideal camera angles in case I do get another tag. Practice, in other words.

@bikeygirl - I'm pretty sure there has been at least one woman so far, though I don't recall which one(s). Not many, though.

I missed a tag by seconds, trying to figure out how to post a photo. I think RF got one early on, and Mary got one a few weeks back. Did Pseudacris get one or just miss it? So yes, women are represented, but not overwhelmingly so.

Yes, I got one, but it was on the tandem with my husband. Does that count?

I think pseudacris has had more than one.

I think bikefind has grabbed more than one.

I think off the semi-top of my head, four women have got tags, perhaps two of them more than one. Not all the forum names indicate gender.

I don't drink coffee so this tag beats me.....

You don't really have to buy me a coffee to pick up the tag. You could get me a toasted eggplant panini, wrap it up in brand-named aluminum foil and deliver it. Or just draw me a pretty picture in crayon. But mark my words, if you don't hasten there straightaway, rsprake will be dogging my tracks.

There is another hint in there for anyone wanting to grab this.

There a few actually.

This tag is such a breeze compared to some of the others...

id like to Point out that your clues are making this too easy... if it would stop precipitating, id run out and get the tag myself!

Hrm... ok, so more than coffee is served in there. Hrm.... ok ok..... but now...yeah! is too easy!!!

EDIT: Not easy.... I get the pointed clues but really don't know where this is, so I will pass. To those who know -go get it! I would rather wait my time and rightfully claim a tag

@melange: I went out in the rain to get that WITH NO FENDERS, so... hahahahaha.

I've gotten three tags I think. I'm glad RF posted an easy one or I'd probably never get in on the game. Most of the ones I've nabbed are due to the advantage of my unorthodox working hours.

Speaking of which, I was going to try and do a special "tag o rama goes global" photo just for edmonds, but my camera is temporarily dead and tomorrow will be the last of my 10-hr work days here, sigh. I'll at least try to get a neato snapshot on my phone with some bikes in it. The place I am at, the word for "bicycle" is the same as for "life." In the local language that is.

p.s. I know exactly where Lyle's tag is. You might have to jump through (or past) Joops to get there.

presuming this place is actually what i think it is, i tried to get it a lil while ago, but was unable to gain entry

people should try to get this tag before 7pm

Make Your Mark Art and Coffee House, Reynolds Ave, Point Breeze.

The location should be obvious. You can get there one of two ways, both require riding on a bumpy dirt / gravel / pot holed trail. Have fun!

Damn. Obvious, but interesting to get to.

Great photo, btw.

Trail fail. Went down to get it but was misdirected.

Amidst the trash under the bridge

Such a fine afternoon to go rambling around. Had a nice chat with the guy parked right at the tag spot. He'd driven there with his high-school videographer son and friends, and sent them into Carrie Furnace to shoot. He thought it was a good experience for them, I agreed. He wondered if he could drive out to Rankin -- I was pretty sure it was gated off for cars, and that he'd have trouble carrying his vehicle over the RR tracks.

I took a bunch of possible tag photos. This first one, I checked, is sadly is OFF THE MAP. Not a valid tag, won't do. But you might wonder where it is, still

But this other one is geographically acceptable.



What digits go before "92"?

I went right past both of these this morning and I remember when that mural was painted. I lived right down the street. A little bit of sad news. The people who own the building the mural is on got threats to burn down the building because the girl in mural wasn't white.

Got to admit I was just a bit ashamed to be living there after that.

http://jt222.blogspot.com/2006/09/hey-bigot.html

Above is the blog post I wrote back in 2006 about the whole thing.

Where is the mural?

It's pretty close to the tag so I can't say until the tag is found

I don't get how the mural is any more "off the map" than the slab

Like this? Though, I have no clue where either photo was taken.

^- not a tag

Must be right at the fringes of the map.....

@Nate - great tag by the way. I've never actually seen this in person, but often thought about searching it out. Looking at the map, I've been close a million times, but always coming from the wrong direction.

@dwillen: I think that's the General idea, yes. I don't really understand how the clue relates though.

I just found it on street view, no idea how the clue relates either. Also, I'm not biking out there anytime this week.

Ok, I know where the mural is, how close is the tag to that?

About 1.4 miles by bike (according to google).

Clue? Did I write a clue? I didn't think I did. Regarding the date, I just thought it was interesting that they put a 2-digit year on it, I'm pretty positive it is "18" not a "19"

dwillen, it's not in the upper right hand corner, but the idea is right. And, c'mon, you can read "Main St" on the street sign, and it's a Sprout Fund mural. The mural requires a little climbing (not much) The slab is at a lower elevation, and on the map i.e. a little closer.

OK, you can actually argue about whether the slab is on the map, but I'll argue it is.

the date is 18 not 19, that place is just old. address of mural is bessemer ave and main in east pittsburgh I wont be out that way for a while so No love for me. I just have to keep waiting and hoping I luck out.

Yea, after I started actually looking for it, I figured out it wasn't in the upper right. It wasn't hard to locate once knowing tag is close to the sprout fund mural, which as you said, is trivial to find.

I thought the digits were somehow a clue, road name, or some such thing.

Actually, the surprising thing is that the date is a 19, not an 18. Modern improvements. Other important things were happening in 1892. Check it out on wikipedia for confirmation of the date(s).

P.S. If you need a clue, you could just read the street sign in the photo.....and then street view a gazillion of them.

Googling "north braddock pa first slab cast 8 19 92" brings up an entry about the place

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/U.S.+STEEL%27S+MON+VALLEY+WORKS+UNVEILS+NEW+CONTINUOUS+SLAB+CASTER-a012585335

I'm still not sure to which map you're referring to Nate. They're both on Google maps, neither within the city of Pittsburgh, which is what I thought you were originally referencing, being within the city borders

Maps available at your finer local bike shops and non-profit organizations.

Referenced on page 4 I think here but, see, the legend is on top of ETW.

Whomever picks up this tag, please take a magnet and tell me if that monument is ferrous or not. I suspect it isn't.

I'm considering giving it a try in about three hours

Going across the Rankin Bridge after work was fun...

Article about the place:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Thomson_Steel_Works

Hey Pierce, you went east! I hope you enjoyed it, I always find tons of cool things to look at when I ride through Braddock. The lock and dam. The urban farm. The wonders of industry!

That's taken at the same spot of the tag. If you search on flickr, you see other pictures of the same wonderful sky Not in either picture are the enormous letters of EDGAR THOMPSON WORKS.

I'd expect that block is steel. There's lots of steel close by. And if you go here you can often see through the chainlink fence, across the lot, through the big doorway to see molten steel pouring, glowing orange. I did on Sunday.

It wasn't half bad, got to learn a little bit more about the outskirts of Pittsburgh

Braddock had a lot of interesting art (Not a tag)

Lyle, I forgot to bring a magnet, but there appeared to be rust at the bottom of the slab

The next tag:

Although it looks like this Archangel is holding Donatello's bo staff, he should be holding a pair of sai, but that might not be setting a good example for the kids next door

If you live across the street and get this, that's okay, but he's really a patron of travelers

Did you see any bluejeans models?

Oh, yeah, I know this one.

Soooooo tempted to go across the street and grab this right now but its so easy I dont think it would be right.

I thought about going for this today, but it feels too much like stealing from the Burches.

ditto (re: the burches)

I think it's OK to grab a tag near you so long as you take it somewhere cool.

well to me it feels to cheap and easy to stand in my front yard and take the picture so go for it.

you could grab the tag, then put the next tag outside MY front door. That would improve the women to men tag ratio, which is pretty low right now. Oh, but my house is off the map. You could have Stef get the tag and accomplish the same thing (aside from helping me actually get a tag, instead of just playing vicariously....)

if its still there this evening i might grab it. not entirely sure where to put it though, since the location i had in mind is just down the street.

Ssh, you didn't have to tell!

I know where this is...... I'm tempted on trying to get it after work, but since everyone seems to know where it is, I'm afraid of doing the trek for niente.....

okay so while you guys defer to each other ima go grab this tag and shiznit, beeatch

Thanks Noah, grabber of my tags.

My hope was that somebody from Morningside would get it and keep the tags in Morningside or at the very least, to keep the game rolling

Haha! Go Noah...

Haha! Go Noah...

nah i'm too lazy and i don't feel well. just go get it colin and or steph, cause if you don't lyle's just gonna do it

Or me...

St. Raphael's on Chislett

Anybody know what this thing is?

It is directly under the statue. Looks like some kind of (biblical?) planetarium, but I'm assuming it no longer works because boxes are also stacked up in that room

In retrospect, it probably would have helped if I put the camera closer to the glass...

DAMN YOU QUIZBOT & MORNINGSIDE's LACK OF 3G NETWORK!!!

You ruined my masterplan!

I was counting on Noah not getting the tag because it was after dark & was rushing instead to get the tag!!!

After I took the photo -45 minutes ago (it was tricky to get bike & tag at darkness), the lack of 3G network was not letting me upload the photo to the server while at site, so biked back to civilization to upload the pic...... AND JUST FOUND YOU BEAT ME!!!

Not a total tragedy, but this was going to be my shot...

There is always "next time"......

Damn taggers!

I was going to grab it this am before work but thought, nah, let someone else take it... day passes, no takers, Noah says he's going for it so I thought, ok it's a race for it now...

I was there around 6:55, watched upload fail for lack of 3G, and made a run for home (about .7 mi away) to upload. Now stuck figuring out where to drop the next tag... what I wanted to drop is just ~barely~ off the northern edge of the map bounds.

I don't mind it not being on the map, there are a lot of good spots just off the map.

No problem! Soon my chance will come. I have some potential sites in-mind for tags already, but we shall see.....

@Pierce: that's a strange photo. Looks like you're speed-eating a pizza from some kind of new age take-out window.

Bikeygirl - I like yours, too. Mysterious!

Just got home. Glad someone grabbed it before we got back. Also. Fryer is down at otb. No Satan wings. Boo.

@pierce - cool pic... did not know the matrix was just down the street

@charles - what I had in mind entailed a bit of suffering... if I'm going to drop something harsh I'll stick to the boundaries. Plenty of opportunities for that on the map!

do you guys have at&t? morningside is a black hole for at&t in general. we had to get rid of at&t. i get 3g in my house with verizon.

i wish that i had looked at this thread sooner. I didn't even know st raph's was tagged until i met colin after work and rode around the city.

and thank you for calling us the Burches and not the Burch's or Burchs or something else wrong.

@Stef: Bingo!!!!! ATT no like morningside!

Thanks Pseudacris! I was laying on the ground, and using my bike light to lit the angel/statue and capture it!

I found out what that thing was by emailing the church:

"That is the baptistry. It was used when babies were baptized at St Raphael. Now they are baptized in the main church."

It looked a lot more mechanical

Please take heart on some of us less technologically able participants.

If I want to grab the tag on my ancient cell phone, in addition to taking the pic, I then have to gmail it to myself, go home, download it to the PC, upload it to Flickr, then putz around with Flickr and the msgboard to actually get it up there so you can see it. For that photo of the anchor, there was maybe a three- or four-hour gap between taking the photo and posting it. That makes it very discouraging to go after tags even if I know where they are.

That said, who has the next tag?

@pierce that because of the joy and innocence sucking apparatus they use in baptisms.

New tag:

So easy there's no clue.

I've heard great things about that place.

Would be nice to get them on the list of establishments offering the bike-pgh member discount, that's for sure

Just went there last week, know exactly where it is, but by the time my techno-lacking self got over there and back, I bet it'd be taken.

for me, it would go:

1. stuff laptop and camera in bag, carry on back to tag

2. take pic

3. put sd card into laptop, steal someone's internet, upload to photobucket or something

4. post!

Yeah, I keep the computer at home unless absolutely necessary, and I don't have uploading ability from a phone or similar device. Makes the game slightly more complicated because I have to factor getting home time, too, but whatever.

picked up

And dropped

All the poor guy ever wanted to do was soar above his station in life and impress the hell out of the lady. Unfortunately his wings had long ago been clipped by his society.

Ahhh bruced.

they better offer one serious bikepgh member discount if i am to eat there...

Good tag. Just went on a run for it but came up empty.

ooh i know where this is. we rode right by it last night, and i want to see if flock wants to take the route, since the flock has not gone this way before.

It's really not that expensive Noah. I think the most expensive thing there is only about $25.

Ha ha. "Only $25." Their vegetarian and vegan dishes are more in the $12 range and they are amazing. Can't wait to go back.

"the MOST expensive" who ever gets the most expensive thing on the menu? hell the most expensive thing on the menu at otb is $25 and the appetizers are $7. that puts it in exactly the same price range and salt.

Speaking of $25 items at OTB, has anyone actually eaten the Dirty Dozen burger? Without help?

The bartender there on Monday (burger night) jokes that he'll give it to you free if you can eat it in a half hour. I imagine that watching someone eat that thing in a half hour would easily be $25 worth of entertainment.

seriously? no one has figured this out? it's not in a hard to reach location, and i practically spelled it out in the clue.

I might not be able to post from this phone

..

stef - you win on the tag, but fail on the post...

damn, i was just going to go get that too.

Station Square?

What is it? Where is it? Did we go past there in last night's ride (while I was still in it, that is)?

it was at the entrance to the gateway clipper. i rode past it with colin earlier in the week but not when he got the tag.

new tag:

i was going to leave a clue, but this might be so easy, i don't see the point.

it was the mural in the entryway to the gateway CLIPPER fleet at STATION square.

stef, you totally cheated since you were riding with me the night before when i said "i want to make that mural a tag"

now i kinda feel bad. if someone else wants to do a tag (salty), go ahead. no one was getting it though, so i decided to get it on my way to the south side.

i wished that i would have looked at this thread sooner. the library on the north side is RIGHT across the street from my office.

hahaha - see, i skipped going to the s. side, didn't order a new bike from thick, got into a fight with some asshole in an acura instead and it's ALL YOUR FAULT!

j/k, i think your tag is legit...

Observation: Both in pages and the sheer number of posts, this thread now has more activity than the original Don Parker thread.

This is also a much more fun topic.

so what if we did a tour de tags? that would be cool if that could happen at some point...

There almost 60 tags. It would be quite a tour.

Map

I've learned a lot about Pittsburgh in this thread. Always fun for the non-natives to learn the local lore.

The Point

Broke my arm & had to drop a whole paycheck.

I have completed the index to the map (see Charles's link, above). The first 45 of them have a miniature version of the tag photo. Thank you to the person who did the ones from #45 on, but I didn't shrink the index picture.

Clicking the index picture takes you to the thread post about it.

Let me know of (or just go ahead and fix) any errors you see.

Awesome! Thanks Stu.

I had to go out in the rain for this with NO FENDERS!

GPOA, Centre Ave.

@Lyle: thank you for staying true to the riding-in-the-rain Gods!!!

Just looked up the dirty dozen burger.. looks tasty. I dont know about 30 min but I bet I could do it in maybe 45, 60 for sure. I wonder if I could finagle a charity burger event for something??

This is really obvious and probably doesn't need a clue.

Did you have to injera yourself to get the photo at that angle?

I have no idea what that means but it sounds plausible.

Doors by Tana

Yay puns!

Injera is the bread base of meals served @ Pittsburgh's 2 Ethiopian restaurants, both in East Liberty. Tana is just to the left of the door in the tag. Abay is about 2 blocks in the other direction.

If you don't appreciate puns, well, that's just teff.

Wow. And I was recently thinking about all the great Pittsburgh geography I've learned from this thread. Now I need to include "general education appreciation" as well!

Or..."new places to eat!" I'm still hoping someone will do a write up of the places visited on the taco ride.

Pseudacris, all I can say is.... so wat?

Presenting the best bicycle ever built by man:

best tag photo ever!

Ha ha.

He'd be cuter if he was wearing a helmet.

(I see one on the bench behind him that he could try on for size.....)

Statue of Mao Yisheng, on the mall at Carnegie Mellon, next to Baker Hall.

hm, that's the second bicycle-friendly statue at CMU...

For the mapping folks: this tag is at 40.441754, -79.945453

Mao was Carnegie Tech's first PhD graduate.

More info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Yisheng

I thought about donning him with my helmet, but his head was too big.

Snagging the last tag was shamefully easy. So, I figured, that was sufficient license to leave work early this afternoon and put some effort into finding the next one. And get some cycling in while the weather was still beautiful. Also, I had an errand to run. Plenty of legitimate reasons, as I'm sure you would agree.

Anyway, I had a few destinations in mind and figured I would snap all of them then decide at home. I ended up with a half-dozen nice tags, all of which unfortunately I like. The one I'm posting, I believe, is the least obvious one. But what do I know? My last two tags were snapped up in, like, 10 minutes or something.

We've had complaints on this thread that Google Maps gives the patient (or, more precisely, the obsessive) players an unfair advantage in finding tags. So I checked: This one does not show up on Google Maps (though the building does). But note: In locating this one, Google (or Bing) could still be your friend.

i hope you stopped in there. otherwise you wasted a trip!

I thought the complaint was against people using mobiles to upload tags on the spot, giving me people with low-tech phones a disadvantage. But nothing is fair and this is the game.

Before I set out for my last tag (which was like an hour out of my way) I tried to convince myself to enjoy the ride regardless of whether or not I got the tag posted first.

aaargh, may Allah damn you, cburch, to eternal flames! (But, of course, we don't know for a fact that Allah has an interest in this location.)

well, since at least 4 board members work about a block away, i'm betting this tag will go to whichever one of us gets up for work the earliest.

Perhaps, but that wall is pretty busy and all of you would have had to be curious enough to read all of it.

i've read it all three or four times. i love what they did with the place.

Salim's in the strip

Ok officially pissed that my Droid ads a space and an extra , so my images don't show.

that's not the phone, it's the board. Your URL has to end in '.jpg' or similar or it won't work.

Ah well. One of my second choices was the following:

You know, not all Pittsburgh landmarks are invisible.

[img src="http://thisismypicture.com/image.jpg"]

Replace brackets with < >

Does that scooter ever move?

I like to think that I remember a day this summer when it wasn't there. But I can't be sure. A related thought: Don't they ever street-clean around there?

ok sorry

salem's.

next tag:

if i was beavis or butt-head, i would just say heh heh heh heh. actually, I just think the same way.

wow, nice one stef.

"Teabags Bar" @Penn Ave & Main Street -Bloomfield....

Heh heh heh heh ..... she said 'teabags', heh heh heh heh

FIRE! FIRE! heh heh heh heh

She said tea-bag (cue Beavis and Butthead snicker...)

::::: props to the ladies :::::

thank you!

I'm planning a good tag for the next one, and will try to make it very "out of the way" to keep it interesting

I hope that's a pun and not something in like North Park (as much as I would like Stew to have a better chance at getting a tag), but commuting is sapping my recreational cycling drive

Nahhhh.... not that "out of the way". I'm only powered on "squirrel power" after all. I meant to say that I would try to make it perhaps not "too central", as many of them have been recently.... this city has so many amazing spots, and I want to contribute in this 'cool-city-tags-map' thing

Just eyeball-comparing the 2010 Bike Map with the Google map, I see that the S, SW, W, NW and N areas of the city are hardly touched. Nothing on Carson (E or W), nothing on East Ohio (except for the anchor which is technically on what once *was* East Ohio), nothing on Second, nothing on Butler, nothing in the Hill.

There's lots of territory yet to discover!

new tag:

Red well.... this place is no Zihuatanejo, but if you try to get there, it will be less than 500 yards of foulness

(hopefully this is not too hard/too easy)

good one. sweet photo too.

I've always read the message board, but never posted. This game looks too fun so I had to make a username. Really want to go get that tag, but i have no time.

@tim - it's a fun game, even if you are just an observer. Glad we could lure you away from lurker status.

Now go get that tag!

Well, this could be it.

But I couldn't really identify the spot from which @bikeygirl took her shot. So, the tag is either the penitentiary at the end of the River Trail, or it's some other such institution in the area (I've seen several pens with the same architecture in the region). [EDIT: from the *outside*, of course.]

That's it allrighty! I took the photo on the other side of the building agains the north wall!!

That place architecturally-speaking is AMAIZING!!!! I was there after darkness and it truly looks remarkable how those monumental "windows'' glow in the darkness!!

I looked like a loony going around the building trying to get some good shots when a Cop Car came out and just stood there with the cops watching me...... it was kinda funny

Oh well, to the next one!!!

Western State Penitentiary

1922 Westhall St, Pittsburgh, PA 15233

They do seem a bit touchy around there: a guard motioned me over then told me to get off state property ("immediately").

The next tag.

I'm trying really hard to come up with stuff that isn't across the street from where you live, or two doors away from where you work. So work with me on this one (especially if you happen to live across the street).

Two clues:

1) It's a climb

2) katolicki

What a cool statue, with (I guess) a pretty poor background and presentation (at least in your foto). I'm just not much on hagiography, so I have no idea who or where that is. I wish I did.

The photo doesn't misrepresent the setting. The statue really is in a parking lot. And it is shoved up against the wall, in front of a window.

On reflection it's unlikely that it was a planned part of the current building. I'm not all that well versed in Catholic symbology, but I'm pretty certain that the saint depicted by this statue is not the one after whom the current parish is named (I did do a bit of checking). I speculate (weakly) that it came from a building on that site that had been demolished.

You might be able to use this as an extra hint.

I wish I knew where this was! have been doing some researching but still coming short.... someone go get it!!

i can't find a polish catholic church anywhere nearby that's not red brick.

It must not be nearby.

I know a bit more about the statue: It was moved there from a different location.

@Lyle: Nearby, I guess, is relative;the tag's location can be found on the Bike-Pgh map.

@HiddenVariable: There is a definite Polish connection, and some parishioner names are Polish (they have a website!) But I would have to say that it's probably not an ethnic church. So apologies if that clue was misleading.

To make up for it, here's another couple of clues:

3) look down, a bridge not too far off

4) heed the signs

Is it Saint Sherwin Williams?

um, no.

The statue is of St. Joseph. He's the guy you're supposed to bury in the front yard if you want your house to sell sooner. You can get yours here. I believe St. Sherwin is the one you pray to when your house needs to be painted.

I know where this is, but don't get down that direction all that often. Maybe over the weekend.

i might go looking for this tonight depending upon when i get out of work. i have a guess as to where it might be.

I thought it was funny Bill

:: crickets ::

I had a look yesterday at the wikipedia article on saint symbolism. St Joseph, although carpentry, is not one of those listed as usually pictured with a hammer. My google search for local statues of St Eligius turned up empty.

Nate: that's a good point. Nevertheless, the description I read did refer to the statue as "St. Joseph the Builder" and I did find this on the interwebs:

I also learned that St. Joseph is the patron saint of dying. Boy, this Tag-O-Rama stuff is way more fun than I ever imagined!

Well, gee whillikers guys, you didn't think his kid (like, the world's most famous carpenter) learned his trade from Local 104, didja?

I never knew Joseph as anything other than the patron saint of cuckolded husbands.

st. joseph isn't usually the one pictured with a hammer, but st. eligius has no reason to be depicted with a board. i am quite certain it's joseph. but i still have no idea where it could possibly be.

OK, so there's enough info above to find it in the virtual world. This picture was published in the post-gazette before the statue was moved.

You know, when I first saw the picture I sorta thought it was Columbus because it reminded me so much of the statue near Phipps. And, ta-da, same sculptor!

I'll post my links after somebody (me?) nabs the tag.

Drat! I was just a few blocks away from this Monday night. I knew where it used to be, but I had a hard time finding out where they moved it to. Maybe I'll try to go back for it.

Hmm, I have a hunch where it is. If correct, the building is not easily visible from StreetView, and the statue is too newly moved anyway.

I know where this is now -spend some time last night in the interwebs researching- but don't have the time & means to get all the way to where this tag is.

Very fascinating story surrounding this statue.... but will hold my comments until someone gets the tag

@Nate: Good job on clue-hunting!

EDIT: You can still see the statue in "Street View", but it is not on map view....

Nice and toasty after climbing the hill

Nice view from just down the street (too many trees by the church)

OK, guys.

Spill.

Where is it? What is it?

link dump:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=264755291987

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04256/376304-51.stm

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08286/919351-85.stm

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmbocan/4078326827/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmbocan/4078331047/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/whirlwnd29/2305254821/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmbocan/4148321436/in/pool-870188@N25/

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09270/1001257-100.stm

http://www.diopitt.org/list_maximilian_kolbe.php

I'm intending to ride over there tomorrow morning to take a look at it in person, if anyone wants to come along.

So that's not a board he's holding, it's a steel beam. And the pots below are pouring molten iron.

New Tag: This gentleman was nice enough to hold my hat while I got out my camera.

Hmmm, I was wrong. I was guessing Troy Hill.

Funny, I don't remember seeing that fire alarm bell on the statue earlier. *snicker*

But, yeah, can you be a bit more specific on what & where this is? And which bridge is that?

View Larger Map

Edit: tech-challenged today

Regarding the info & some of the history behind this statue: St. Joseph the Worker, placed at a church built by Slovaks at East Ninth Avenue at Library Place near the gigantic U.S. Steel Homestead Works -Munhall.

Sculpted by Frank Vittor

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=264755291987

St. Maximilian Kolbe after whom the parish is named also has an interesting (and moving) story.

Here's another shot of the place (I'd assume that's St. Anne up on the wall):

It's actually a large complex; if you're on the Homestead Greys bridge, it's easy to spot.

i was thinking troy hill also. that is such an odd place for a statue. good tag

that is such an odd place for a statue. good tag

They apparently did some reorganization and consolidation of parishes a few years ago, and the old St. Anne's building was renamed St. Max Kolbe as two or three separate parishes were merged. The statue used to be on top of a tower, but with the closings and perhaps anticipated demolition, they seem to have moved the statue to a less conspicuous place.

It took me a minute to realize that the lock there was not actually securing anything.



Considering the location, I'm kinda surprised that nobody knew it and picked it up immediately. Although I didn't know it and had to use all my google-fu to find it.

Parking garage Downtown on Blvd of the Allies?

@stu, correct. @Nate, I knew it immediately, but wasn't near it. Laying low hoping no one picked it up. Good show.

Moving right along, this is easy. Still, worth going down to the exact spot to take a look around, see how the work is going.

I have the day off, and I have no pride, so I'll grab the easy one. The Mon Wharf

Which looked lovely today. Someday this will truly be the last link on the trail from Washington DC to the Point, all we need is a switchback down from the Smithfield Street Bridge and a better connection to Point State Park.

Well, the weather is going to turn, so let's do another easy one that someone could pick up on their way home this evening. At least, I think it's easy.

Hah, the first time I didn't post from my smartphone and I get bruced. I guess the luddites have a point about the advantages of technology.

The Mon Wharf path is indeed nice, but the parking lot is an eye sore. Can't wait until it connects, any word on when that will happen?

I was going to post this one at the upriver end



but I decided I liked the barge better. Somehow, sometime, there will be a ramp up to the Smithfield St. Bridge, but I don't know what the plans are.

I had a complaint, too. If you ride down to the downriver end on the path, there is no sidewalk cut anywhere in the last 100+ yards. If you are supposed to be able to ride down to the Point, they are going to have to revisit the plans and jackhammer away some of the new concrete. Most cyclists (and all but very few wheelchairs!) don't like riding off curbs.

EDIT: OK, now I went and read Jeff's link to the P-G. The connection is going to go out into/above the river, and not back into the parking lot & up the old sidewalk -- so I take it back about the sidewalk cuts, they won't be needed.

The connection is going to go out into/above the river, and not back into the parking lot & up the old sidewalk -- so I take it back about the sidewalk cuts, they won't be needed.

Yeah, I don't know what their timetable is, but this will be pretty cool when you can get to it from the Jail trail and wind all the way around the point and up through the new path by the convention center.

@Lyle, Ha! I don't even own a smartphone (yet) so I took the snaps and then headed right back out to finish my ride. I got a little tiny bit more oomph into my climb up Penn Ave thinking "gotta get home to post, gotta get home to post" all the while picturing someone with a smartphone sitting down on the sunny Mon wharf calmly posting. So thanks for not using that modern tech today.

Nate, was there a lot of broken glass on the path down at the Point end when you were there?

@Jeffinpgh: Holy ketchup! I know where this tag is... and sucks that I have to drive to work today....

Picked up

haven't decided where to drop it yet.

Um, exactly what and where is this? I'm assuming "ketchup" is a clue, but I don't recognize it.

The Heinz History Center, I think. I was going to pick this up this AM but got into my groove and forgot...

Yup, the window applique is of a mosaic from around the year 1350. Part of the Vatican Treasures exhibit at the Heinz History Center now. I rode by there and thought, "hey look, bike racks!"

Holy Ketchup : The Building is indeed the Heinz History Center, and the window is covered by a poster of their current exhibit about the Vatican... hence "Holy" and "Ketchup"

i figured the goal post in the background made it obvious. sorry.

::: crickets :::

patience, i'm dropping it tonight. i didn't feel like riding to the spot in the rain last night and i wasn't out the door nearly early enough to do it on the way to work. besides, i have 36 hours and it has only been 24 now.

Haha, bikeygirl has the taste and is chomping at the bit for the next tag.

CBurch, I don't blame you for not wanting to go out in the rain. I had to ride home in the rain with NO FENDERS and I hit two giant potholes, fortunately without obvious damage or injury, but scary.

yeah, i'm front fender only right now which meant soaking wet, cold feet. this, in turn, meant no extra riding last night. i also found a giant pothole covered by a puddle on my way back from picking up the tag. it was a fun day for bikes yesterday for sure.

Sorries! I do understand....

I was on vacation and did not ride my bike for a whole week (until today), so hence I'm 'chomping' in here!

Haha, bikeygirl has the taste and is chomping at the bit for the next tag.

champing. the expression is "champing at the bit". which, incidentally, means chomping. but i'm sure it's important to be correct in these matters.

Champing at the bit? Never heard it said like that before. There is one less faux pas for me to commit but "chomping at the bit" was an improvement over "chaffing at the bit".

Bah! Not only do I not have fenders but I have these scoops that direct more water upon me. Plus I hit THREE giant potholes - filled with water, ice, and blood. All while riding uphill.

Feh. Hoist by my own petard.

i'm also champing (or chomping crickets?)

Dropped

Couldn't get off my butt to go drop the tag I was thinking of so here's an easier one. I'm pretty sure people are tripping over themselves in twos and threes to get in here. At least that's what my friend Larry told me.

Feh. Hoist by my own petard.

you know, this sort of language really gets my dandruff up. i can usually let this sort of thing go, but this is beyond the pail. perhaps this can be chocked up to the poor english our educational system pawned off on you, but it matters little. if this sort of thing continues, we're going to have to ferment a revolution!

our society is of chalk full of people who won't understand what's wrong with the above paragraph.

Colin, That song has been stuck in my head for hours now.

shut up. stop trying to spoil my tags.

oh, i know right where that tag is. but, can i get to it first?

bikeygirl's brain = :::ckrickets::: because I have no idea where this is...

i think i will try in the morning if someone doesn't beat me to it.

It will be quite the event when someone does get this tag

brrrrrr

rrrr RITTERS DINER on BAUM!



If you ever have a craving for buckwheat pancakes at 1am, this is your place.

nm

Arrgh! Hidden in plain sight.

You tag seeker are just lucky - If Cburch had included the part of the wall that said "Pitt" you would be futilely scouring the campus.

Please explain the clue.

That's some kind of powers of observation, pseudacris... Of the scores of times I've gone to Ritter's I don't think I've ever actually seen the place.

jack tripper, threes, friend larry. "three's company"

the other clue was a reference to "the event"

Ok, now stefb -- what song?

That's some kind of powers of observation, pseudacris

well, there are not too many places around here rockin the spray-gravel mid century modern exterior....

"come and knock on our door..."

The three's company song starring John Ritter is STILL In my head. The event stars his son, but I don't think there is a theme song for That.

I have gone to ritter's plenty of times but never during the day. Didn't recognize it

New tag drop:

Ironically, you won't find this in Streetview or satellite imagery. That's just the way the cookie crumbles.



This one really is hidden in plain sight.

OT, but, I just love your bike, it just looks like it's ready to go anywhere, anytime. Like a golden retriever bike. Ironically I own nothing like that, I am a victim of specificity.

Has the fortress of solitude relocated to Pittsburgh?

you mean it's no longer under the bridge?

I think I know where it is. Hope no one gets there first. Good clue.

Like a golden retriever bike.

I suppose it kind of is the Honda Odyssey I never had. I hate carrying stuff on my back, so I do love the crate. I am starting to get a craving for something lighter. Oh, and a folding bike since I am a frequent traveler. All I need is unlimited income!

Mellon park across from Bakery Square (old Nabisco factory) where Google has offices.

also colin totally figured out where this was but he was home working on the house so i grabbed the tag. he also had to fix my post since i can't figure out how to post a picture from my phone. he is much better at this game than i am. much like life in general.

i hate you, colin. thanks for editing my post with lies. i stare at the google offices from my gym on a regular basis

next tag:



no diggity, no doubt.

wtf i must ride by that thing every day and i had no idea (mellon park tag, i don't know where the new one is)

Nice work, stefb [edit: and colin]!

I had a different tag in mind, but this caught my eye on the way home. I was completely puzzled as to why I hadn't noticed it before. Up close, you can tell the sculpture is not freshly minted, though the cement pad is.

Turns out this thing has an interesting back story....

Sculpture, missing for years, turns up at city warehouse

City will return lost art to public

salty, no you haven't lost your mind. see links above.

oh, i didn't notice the date on the second one. that still gave me 2 weeks to notice it - i ride right down that path in the background so i must be staring right at it every day - although, i guess it is dark when i'm headed that way.

I was kinda thrown off by marko's bridge comment but the article explains that. Good find! I double checked for sure and not on street view.

I know this one! And I have a tag idea I've been wanting to use for weeks... wonder if it will still be around at 10 tomorrow morning.

i have tried a google search on my tag but can't find anything on its history.

Alas, I'm a wimp and was deterred by the weather/potentially bad road conditions. I'll be out that way tomorrow, but without access to a computer.

Take the picture, at this rate you could still get it. I have no idea.

I’m cluless. Other than that yellow post –possible public park?

my clue is a song title. the artist name might be more helpful.

As for history, I don't actually know and don't want to give the location away, but maybe it's related to that other thing down the street on the other side?

I know exactly where this is, haha!!

I've been too committed to my required-reading this weekend, but once Monday comes who knows? So Jeg: get cracking!!

A vacant lot with art right as Black St. ascends up the hill into Garfield... note the Garfield CISP in the background. I'm guessing juvenile offenders made all this?

Sorry Jeg and Bikeygirl... this is like 2 blocks away from my house... I also have a tag I've been wanting to use for a long time myself

Spiffy bike, Noah!

thanks. it is a free ride rustoleum special...

i love how the earrings on that thing are old crank arms. ooh i googled garfield cisp. you're probably right, noah. probably something juvenile delinquents had to do

i stole one of the earrings cause i need a new spider

sike...

Clearly I didn't get cracking fast enough. I did, however, have an elaborate plan worked out to get it before work tomorrow and then borrow a friend's computer on the way back to post it. Alas, next time!

Down the street is the MOMs garden thing, which I thought might be related, but I guess not. I don't know the area but I did a tree planting project there a few weeks ago and saw both.

Haha! No hard feelings! Just keep it moving

i'll try. this is gonna be a shitty week for biking, and my main bike is on the fritz. that said... anyone know kraynick's hours this week?

*clears throat*

::chirp::chirp::

::yawnnnnn::

be nice... noah has a handicap that makes him a little slow - he's from cleveland.

*cough*

The Garfield CISP thing might actually be a rehab project - teach the kids that the difference between criminal graffiti and valuable civic art is getting a permit (...um...er sumpin')

wha? I've been gone for 3 days and no new drop?!?!?!

Nice bike, Noah. Is the rear wheel a smaller size?

I think it is time to invoke rule 2a...

Whoever wants the tag should post a new one.

someone do it!

Noah!!! What happened to your main ride?

according to 2a, someone has to go get the previous tag before dropping a new one.

Whoever picks up the tag should check in on Noah too. It’s not like him to not be on the board for two days – especially when talking smack about the mistake-on-the-lake.

Ok, seems reasonable. But can somebody explain the "Bruce" reference?



#2a - After you pick up a Tag a new tag must be placed within 36 hours. If new tag is not set within the time limit, the first Bruce posted gets the tag. If no Bruce was claimed, tag will revert to the previous tag, and somebody else will get their chance. If you won't have the time to drop off a new tag, don't pick it up to begin with.

But I have to admit: I took Jason's comment at face value and snapped a new tag on the way home. It would now appear that I can't post it.

Rules, bah...

Bruce is when you post a tag that someone else has already posted (ie 2nd place). But, Jason, why is it called that?

My interpretation of 2a would be that the next person who goes back and gets the tag that stefb + Noah both went to ....posting a third version....gets to post a NEW tag.

I hope Noah is all right.

I'll interpret that as to also include the case where either stefb or Noah go back and get a new shot. Seems fair.

maybe bikeygirl will go get it?

Hey, why not? It's a balmy 25°F out there just now...

Noah is okay, but isn't feeling well. Go ahead and play the tag game without him.

Bruce is the shark in Finding Nemo.

Got it... just a block away from home

I am not sure why it is called Bruce. This is an interpenetration of a game that we play on motorcycles all across the state. There is also a national game. They call used the name Bruce, so I did too. We can change it to Quizbot if you want. LOL

No one to love in this beautiful world,

Full of warm hearts and bright beaming eyes?

Where is the lone heart that nothing can find

That is lovely beneath the blue skies;

No one to love!

No one to love!

Why no one to love?

What have you done in this beautiful world,

That you're sighing of no one to love?

Hah! That is a great tag. I know right where that is. The photo is well played!

who knew we had beaches in pgh!?

I know where this is but I am at work.

?

No snow? No grey sky ? ?

Nice position/scale on the photo...it did throw me for a loop.

does this have something to do with frederick f**king chopin?

Fluffy clouds @Penn ave & Peoria Way - Lawrenceville!!

Yippee! My tag #2

@Lou M. Stop talking smack!!! I will post a new tag within 24hrs!

I have an official stopwatch running and will be watching!

I know where you work...as well as sit.

(slightly OT: The shark in Finding Nemo is named Bruce in homage to the mechanical shark in Jaws, whom the filmmakers dubbed "Bruce." (I watch waaay too much cable TV.))

This one might be solid, but I'm sure Scott & Sttafford would still sing to it

No idea where this is. East end? I'm also perplexed by the red light on your seat & handlebars, since the car is parked nose-in.

i am clueless.

I did some fancy color-enhancement to the photo and somehow it made my bike seat appear read.

I'll provide additional clues if I see no one getting it.... but it should be pretty easy! No hills to get this one, and I misspelled one of the names: it should read -Stafford....

Everybody knows their 'song' although Mr Scott and Mr Stafford never sang it together because they were from different centuries -but don't wave that against them!

oh i get it. just trying to remember where that is

Arrrg, flock went right past that last night. I didn't get it until the last comment.

posting for stefb

TAG!

flag mural on butler in l-ville

thank you, colin. this is between McCandless and 52nd streets. i was a little thrown off by the pic and clues because you gave the middle names of francis scott key and john stafford smith. also, you changed the color of the red on the flag to be kinda pinkish! good clues though.

next tag:



after being converted from a church to a school/daycare for young kids, i am hoping some Progress is made on getting it sold.

hm... i think "no photoshopping" should be a rule.

I have heard of this, and I know it has the location in the title, but I forget at the moment. Later this afternoon I'll be able to re-read the information that includes it... maybe the tag will stick around until then!

Sorries...... I didn't change any colors, just saturated the pic with more color... I like color.... oh well, 'no photoshopping' then

It has to be a flexible rule. rsprake's phone does the same thing in the device itself, I think.

To add to my clue - that area doesn't smell like vinegar anymore.

Gah, I had it confused with someplace else. I know I've seen that mural before, but can't place where.

Not a large mural.. Someone painted over what i thnk was a bunch of stain glass windows

Those big flowery paited things are all over the city. I think they paint the plywood prior to the crews going out to board up abandoned buildings and such. It's a good idea actually, easier than sending a paint crew -after- the carpenders. The union stewarts must have been home sick when the decision was made.

As for the last clue, there aren't too many places that smelled like vinegar...

I didn't realize that a lot of places had those flowers. Sorry. Ok since that is true, i will make this easier.. It is near the end of one of the bridges. Notice the capitalization in my original clue.

with this many clues you should just hand them a map!

Yeah sorry.

Interesting that those flowers are all over. Probably why I vaguely remember seeing them a bunch but can't remember where.

Darn, I know where this is, but I'm just getting over a rotten case of The Crud and the weather isn't helping. If I'm up to a ride later (to OTB?), I might try to grab it, but don't wait for me if you're feeling intrepid.

I need these clues. Ever since page 2 I've been so lost that I fear Frank Toker would want his credits back...

#3 - Tag must be findable - don't make your tag so obscure that no one will find it.

I'm with sloaps, totally lost since page 2. I'm really surprised people are getting tags where it is just a 2 sq ft section of some wall. I've only lived here a little over 2 years though, so maybe yinz have memorized all the walls in pgh.

I was able to figure out where this is using street view and stefb's "Progress" clue. But, I don't know if I'll have time to catsup with this game today or not. Someone else may have to figure out what kind of manufacturer in the city limits would have used a lot of vinegar.

@dwillen: there used to be very few murals in PGH. There was no Sprout Fund when I moved here in 93. I think a lot of the art related images come from heavily traveled shopping/eating/drinking districts in the E End. If that's not your normal route, I can totally understand why they'd be hard to find.

Personally, some tags are very obscure to me, but is not because they are not visible, but rather the 'luck of the draw'. The ones I've gottent are mostly because either I travel by them often, or know certain areas of town well. I would agree that if you're relatively new to town, it would be hard to get some of them.

Plus clues are part of the game-fun, and they do help, and people do get the tags (eventually).... so @sloaps & dwillen: no dice!

Although.... I will agree that with Stef's last tag, there are many 'murals' like that over the city, and only a good clue is essential on getting it...

Clues are handy, but so is a desire to always take a different path, and keeping your eyes open. This one I knew just by being a pedestrian, itself a by-product of being a bus rider and making unlikely transfers, e.g. 6A inbound to 86A outbound w/o going Downtown first.

I think you see a whole lot more if you're a pedestrian or a bus rider, since when I'm cycling or driving, I tend to keep my eyes on the road.

I have to say that this tag has put me in something of a pickle. I know exactly where it is (though it was the punishing repetition of cheesy clues rather than the photo that finally jarred things loose), but have been bussing rather than biking lately.

I've still been biking, but my desire to bike anymore than I have to on a day like to today is just not there.

My ideal tag is easily findable with 5 minutes and some google-foo. Stef's clue was sufficient for me to find the tag.

I guess the riding my bike (and getting others out riding to a new place in town) part of it is more attractive than the mystery bit. That is just me. It would be pretty cool if we had a new tag everyday, multiple on the weekend. If the tags were easy enough, you could get more people out biking to them (I can't wait for two people to show up to a tag and take a photo at the same time!). If I could figure out where half these things were I'd go a few miles out of my way on a ride home to grab one, even if I am bruced. I wish more bruced folks posted their photos.

Perhaps easy clues may be not the original intent of this thread. Maybe someday we could start a second tag game that is more like a geo-cache. Go stash something (we could use an old crank arm painted fluorescent orange, for example), take a photo, post it here with a map or gps coords.. next person grabs "object", re-hides it, takes a photo, posts map/coords. and so on.

I prefer clues that need a bit of rumination, rather than just strained peas and applesauce. I particularly relish the aspect of seeing things that I hadn't seen before, or not in quite the same way. I hope that's not too corny.

It's like you're all "sprechen zie deutsch..."

How many varieties of clue do we need?

at least 57

:: crickets::

I know is sketchy outside, but anyone picking this tag up?

I'm in a feisty mood and after I change my flat tire ((got a 1/2" lenght, 1/16" thick piece of steel pin piercing the back tire riding yesterday)), will try to get this one, although I need to figure out more where it is... (well, not really.)

Any takers and haven't gotten around to post the picture up?

I'm in a pickle, it's my dad's birthday and I'm expected for dinner. ;P

Bikeygirl...might race you to it. Think I know where it is.

Dare you then..... you know I have to fix my flat anyhow.

@Marko: Be a good son to your Dad... come on, this can wait! Eat your dinner!!

@Lou: BUT... aren't you afraid that maybe YOU might get a flat trying to get this? haha!! >

If yinz race, I think we should throw rotten tomatoes at the loser.

OOOhhhh reddan.... Is that a treat? You walking into the ring too?

(sorries.... didn't I say I'm on a misfit mood?)

sigh. I've been lurking on this thread - I know where most of these places are (got this one from the original clues despite not being a place I frequent), with a few very interesting exceptions, but none are on my way anywhere or else I get scooped before leaving the office. I'm hoping with more daylight hours in the spring I'll get more adventurous/capable, but I know everybody else will too. Pooh.

Two brains better than one!! Lou M and Me posting @end of 16th street bridge across the Heinz Lofts -North Side

i thought that's what that was. i hope you went to mullins diner afterwards

@marko it's my dad's birthday and I'm expected for dinner

Will there be a vegetable as well?

So, for what it's worth, I don't remember that area ever smelling like vinegar. I thought that was a baby-food factory.

@Noah No, headed back home instead (just got home now). Although eating there would have been a good idea. The wind IS indeed whipping & freezing, and my fingers were quite-frozen while I took my gloves off to take photo & upload the pic. Right now I'm still warming up my toes.... brrrr!

But the sense of satisfaction at picking that tag in this bitching weather: Priceless

Good team work, Lou M!

YEAH! The tag has been liberated! Awesome work, bikeygirl & louM.

Now, get busy planting some low hanging fruit!

Mick, I be a produkt of Pixburgh Publik Schools. Nuff said.

(BTW, I think I got a very good education through the PPS, you get out what you put in. It's just that Engineers don't do English very well.)

they still make baby food in the part of the plant that del monte owns. at least they were a year or so ago. the main plant, that is fancy lofts now was a tomato soup factory so the whole area smelled like stewing tomatoes. since it was heinz and had a big ketchup bottle on it (thankfully saved and displayed by the history center) everyone always assumed the smell was ketchup. i miss the factory. the tour was awesome and you got a pickle pin at the end.