BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Overall, it was an excellent job. BTW, apparently there were a ton of bike racks at the end (past Belvedere's) but most people didn't know about them.

I wasn't happy to see so many people using the oncoming traffic lane but there's nothing the organizers can really do about that (same with people not tipping, WTF?) and aside from that I think it was as reasonably lawful as you can expect that many bikes to be.

I think I was somewhere near the middle of the pack. The only time I saw a cop was going downhill on Liberty; he passed us and announced "use your own lane instead of the street". Of all the things he might have had to complain about, he chooses something that's not even a law... lol.

I was pretty surprised that there was no mention of the bike racks, we just happened upon them as they were going up. Other than that great ride, again.

I doubt many bars are going to be able/willing to handle this ride if it keeps growing.

That was a shame. We did a LOT of last minute wrangling to get approvals, get the lot cleared of cars, and set up all of those bike racks, but most never knew they were there. I tried to make an announcement when we pulled up, but at that point it was futile. If we had gone past them on our final approach, I think they would have been used more, but we didn't see a way to do that easily without adding another dicey road crossing to the route.

Given the massive size of this thing, there's a lot that we'll have to change for next year to make it work... including making sure the bartenders get properly compensated for serving 700 beers.

So please, bring on the feedback! What worked well, what sucked, and we'll roll it all into planning for next year.

Thanks to EVERYONE who came out, and thanks especially to those that donated! Hope to see you before next year.

Cheers,

Scott

I agree with all three previous comments. I was near the back of the pack. On two or three occasions police squad cars activated lights/sirens and appeared ready to raise an issue with one or more cyclists. There was an irate motorist at the corner of Liberty and Center or Baum that was making some noise (we rode through the light on his green), and that might have stirred them up, as I recall seeing the police only in Bloomfield. As for bike racks, those of us at the end of the ride got to the Arsenal school area and just saw cyclists parking their bikes to any available spot, and we followed suit. We didn't even know the destination at that point, only that it was a couple of blocks ahead. Ride leaders SHOULD have ridden past Belvederes to the racks (or even beyond) and the rest of the pack would have followed. Venue options will become a problem if this event continues to grow. Could think about renting a park pavilion for next year, or restricting registration by upping fees/requiring registratin next year. Neither are great options, but better than no pedal pale ale event because it became TOO successful.

To be honest, I am one of those people that didn't tip. Between the wait and all the people, I completely forgot. However, I bought half a dozen more beers and did tip on those.

I have a feeling I am not the only one who forgot to tip on accident. I think a friendly reminder at the beginning of the ride would have prevented some of the non-tipping.

I also think an a mention of the racks would have been helpful. If I knew they would be by the venue, I would have looked for them.

I don't think the solution to too many cyclists is to reduce the number of cyclists. I heard several people mention that perhaps next year's destination should include multiple bars, near one another to distribute the chaos. I don't know what kind of rules these places have, but I felt bad for the guy behind the back bar at Belvedere's and really wanted to give him a hand. Maybe have a couple cyclists volunteer for temp bartender duty (IE, make sure the real bartenders still get the tips) for a half hour or something to help with the big rush? Even if they they're just pouring beer from the tap into a bunch of cups so its ready for the actual bartender it seems like it would help a lot. Make such arrangements ahead of time to make sure the bar is cool with it.

I second the idea of 'spreading' the bar area between close bars, although that might not work at all locations. In this case we had the Thunderbird, Round Corner, and Belvederes all within a block or so.

To up-the charges or limit the number of riders just because it's too successful of an event is going on the wrong direction.... I was so happy and excited to see the huge group of us riding through the streets!!! I want MORE!!!! And except for some moronic cops and a crazy bus-driver lady on bloomfield who was tailgating riders ON THE BUS LANE and yelling at us, it was all good.

Yeah, perhaps a bit more organization during the riding would be good (I had no idea there was bike-parking at all -where??)

Seriously... instead of just going to -a- bar, why not make it a bar-neigborhood hosting thing? I'm sure that besides the business that went to Belvederes, the surrounding bars, shop, restaurants, food places -etc benefited from our ride there.... so, why not make it more like that too? It might be tricky to keep it then a 'secret' location, but I'm sure Scott/EEB and BPGH could come with something

This was the first year I made it out for the ride, and had a BLAST riding with all of you middle of the pack-ers. But it didn't end so well - I never got to drink my free beer, or meet the rest of you, due to the complete and total douchebag manning the door, who threatened my boyfriend and tried to fight him after telling him "We only agreed to this from 8-9. You don't want to pay to see the band? We don't want to give out free beer!" So, my biggest suggestion? Don't involve Belvedere's in anything like this again. I can certainly understand frustration at not being tipped, but it's no excuse for that kind of treatment. My boycott is on.

That rant aside, spreading this out on a block might work out - make the block the secret destination. I know I had way more fun at the Thunderbird than I would have across the street.

-100 on upping fees or otherwise discouraging more cyclists to come.

renting a park pavilion is an interesting idea, i heard from a few people who gave up on the long line at belvedere's or inside at the bar. hanging out in a field waiting for a beer is probably a little more fun and we could probably set up multiple kegs/taps. but of course someone would have to pay for that - maybe sell t-shirts and use the proceeds for expenses?

What about a performance venue - like the Station Square Amphitheatre? Line up a band... make it a party!

How about working with the Urban Redevelopment Authority or similar Pittsburgh group to use an abandoned/unoccupied storefront? Then the ride could be used to show that 700 of your friends will come and visit your neighborhood if someone invests in said property. This could work for empty lots too with some volunteer elbowgrease to help clean them up beforehand.

And afterhand.

I helped clean up after the 2008 BikeFest party. The space we were in didn't look like it had been used in quite a while, and I'd be surprised if it's been used twice since. And that was Downtown.

Just as a point of clarification, I was decidedly NOT proposing that the number of riders be reduced next year, UNLESS the only other option was to cancel the event because it had outgrown any available (and willing) venue. It's a great event and should continue, and be permitted to grow, if possible. But, the end venue is a seriously limiting factor unless we can get creative on this. Maybe it's not a single bar at the end, but a series of bars, as proposed above.

@swalfoort... my bad! sorry if I mis-interpreted what you said!

I thought about suggesting a larger venue, like a warehouse etc...but I think the point is to deliver pedal pale ale to a bar that serves it I think multiple bars would work well.

Registration worked very well

having food at East End was great, and it was killer good.

auctioning the kegs was a brilliant idea, even if it didn't raise a lot of money it gave everyone the opportunity to pull one instead of just those associated with EEB or BP.

work on bike parking

Is there any way you can facilitate easier beer sampling, growler purchasing at the beginning? That entryway gets a little cramped.

I just kept riding at the end of the ride, no way I was going to wait behind 500 people for a beer when I had plenty at home 10 minutes away.

As for feedback on the ride, I think it is pretty unsustainable as it. It took at least half a dozen (I'd guess more like 10) cycles of the light at Shady and Fifth to get all the riders through. Riders were boxing in cars at lights and then flowing around them when the light turned green, not allowing them to move forward. Some big gaps opened up towards the end of the ride.

The only way to really keep a big group like this together is either Critical Mass style intersection corking, or a police escort.

Amazing turn out though, and for the most part, a pleasant group of people to ride with.

Great feedback - keep it coming.

Some prelim thoughts:

- We've always done this on Friday evenings, probably a worst case scenario for car traffic on the roads, and impatient people behind the wheel. So we'll look at changing that.

- I've heard a couple reports of people on the ride stopped at a light, drinking from a Growler along the way. While I appreciate the purchase, it's the kind of thing that could kill this event, and quickly. And while we can't control what someone does with our beer once it becomes "their" beer, we need to look at this too. Maybe another time of day/week would help?

My only real complain is simply the chaos that ensues when that many people hit the streets without any sort of municipal support. Would have made life super easy if it was possible to have cops (bike cops?!) doing rolling closures to manage the route and get everyone through, or even a couple at key intersections to create gaps in the ride, let drivers through at points, that sort of thing.

Just like the sort of issues there have been with Critical Mass, its great when so many people ride together, but pissing off every driver on the way doesn't necessarily do us any favors as a community.

What would be the legal issues of renting a pavilion to distribute alcohol, I wonder.. certainly you'd need to control access, for one. Ditto with the idea of temp bartenders - is that anywhere near legal in this commonwealth with its draconian blue laws?

People who think the laws in PA are bad have never been to or lived in the south.

I lived in North Carolina, where one could buy sixpacks at Harris Teeter. Does NC even count as the south, I wonder...

In georgia you could buy beer and wine at the grocer, but there was zero sales on sunday unless a community had explicitly allow the sale of alcohol at restaurants.

As for availibility in pa, I do agree that it is a bit asinine, but compared to ga and sc, at least you can get stuff every day of the week.

Citiparks alcohol permit is $75 although I don't see any single facility that claims enough capacity so it might take some creativity - seems like the area around the pool/vball courts in highland park might be big enough?

I was at the front of the ride and attempted to park in the lot behind Crazy Mocha. Since this was brought up in a previous post I want to point out that ride leaders did direct riders to the lot. Unfortunately it wasn't the best advice, the uneven lot caused several of the racks to collapse.

I tried to get a beer at Belvies but after 10 minutes of waiting left and went to Thunderbird. They had Big Hop on draft so I was still able to drink an East End beer and talk to the 15+ other riders that left Belvedere's for less crowded pastures.

Scott, this is a fantastic event and I want to see it continue. Moving the end from a single bar to a group would spread out the participants.

-Keep the destination the same each year. This would allow the bar(s) to learn from previous experience as this event continues.

-Having a set route would also help to coordinate traffic along the way.

-Saturday afternoon may mean less traffic.

-Instead of a bar, end at PNC park or something similar.

one of the "magical" things of this ride, to me, is that no one but the kegs (and maybe someone else who happened to help plan the route), know where we're going. it helps keep the whole ride a mystery, as well as make sure people don't race ahead

Ditto erok's comment on the magical feeling acquired by not knowing where we were going. Don't change that part of the ride. It was my first time on the ride, totally loved it.

The clue about "not crossing a bridge" was helpful though. Thanks to bikeygirl's post about where we might land, I took the chance she was right and drove to Lawrenceville before the ride started. I parked my car at 47th and rode my bike to the brewery starting point. My car was within 6 blocks away from Belvederes at the end of the night.

Awesome ride, awesome seeing such a huge group having pure fun.

maybe you could have each keg driver take a different route and people have to choose who to follow. that would help disperse the numbers and possibly also stagger arrival.

maybe you could have each keg driver take a different route and people have to choose who to follow. that would help disperse the numbers and possibly also stagger arrival.

Likes this! As big as the ride is getting, I could see this managing the crowd better.

similar to a childhood "choose your own adventure" book, this could be a "choose your own beer-venture" ride.

I didn't attend this year, but...

I really like the ideas of either taking different routes to the bar or to have different destinations to manage the numbers better.

But most importantly for me I think is getting some police support at intersections. I remember last year seeing frustrated drivers that couldn't get through an intersection for 20 minutes or more and had no idea who we were/what was going on. I don't do CM rides and I'm not out to piss off drivers, so any way traffic can be managed better would be great.

@Team Decaf -thanks Dan!