BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

North Park to Cranberry (CranWoods office park, perchance? Thorn Hill?) is very doable.

When I started trying to commute out that way, I parked in the Park-n-Ride by the movie theater, then went around the lake and took Pearce Mill to the Red Belt. Left on the Red Belt, then right on Dean to Mt Pleasant; then Freeport or Franklin Rd to get wherever I was going. Lots of other options for riding in the area, too.

And 228 is really not that bad. Stupid traffic, but the shoulders are (were) wide and smooth.

+1 what reddan said.

Some additional details were mentioned in this old thread.

If you do try the bike-on-bus method, the 13A is now the O12 ("O" as in Oscar), the 12A is simply the 12, and the 13K no longer exists. Otherwise the info is the same.

I always toy with the idea of a ride around Cranberry/Mars, but haven't done it. Maybe this summer.

The surface and shoulders of 228 seem good enough until it intersects Route 8, but I'd mainly be worried about dealing with the drivers. Not only tons of traffic, but tons of often-clueless traffic.

The Wheelmen do a lot of rides in the area.

A nice simple one is to do a North Park to Brush Creek Park out-and-back.

Pearce Mill-->910-->Lyndhurst-->Emmet-->English-->Wallace-->Warrendale/Red Belt-->Brush Creek/Commonwealth-->(cross Freedom Rd) Robin Hood-->Rochester-->Graham School-->Unionville-->Glen Eden/Brush Creek Rd-->Brush Creek St Park and back via the same route. You basically parallel the Pa Turnpike on mostly flat low-moderate traffic roads.

Another fun one is to take 528 out of Evans City and head up to Prospect or points north. Got a couple of hills (especially the first climb out of Evans City), but very pretty.

I never thought about 528--I hate driving it but I could see it being a fun ride. Plus my dad lives off of Mars Evans City Road so his house would make a good starting point.

Erin;

Here are a couple of resources you might want to check out:

Allegheny County Bike Suitability Maps:

http://www.spcregion.org/trans_pedbike_maps2.shtml#all

Butler County Bike Suitability Maps:

http://www.spcregion.org/trans_pedbike_maps2.shtml#butler

Cranberry Township Bike Plan (including maps): http://www.cranberrytownship.org/index.aspx?NID=1510

Also, the old Tour de Sewickley Route started in Sewickley, headed west to the Red Belt near the Beaver County line, made a jog into the Thorn Hill Industrial Park and then headed all the way out to Brush Creek Park via (I think) Powell and Glen Eden Roads. I'll see if I can find the old route map, and if so, I'll edit this to include that link as well.

Can't find the route map for Tour de Sewickley, but did find this route on bikely that you might find interesting.

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Tour-De-New-North-Sewickley

Not sure which office park you're at. I work in Cranberry Woods and live in the east end. When I ride in, this is my commute:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/CranWoods-Commute

It would be easy to drive partway (North Park is about halfway) and ride the rest.

This is a loop that has a number of possible variations I might do at lunchtime if I bring my bike with me:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/CranWoods-lunch-loop

Hey John... Are you in CWHQ1 (as in (W)?) if so... you may be the person I heard rumored to exist that has done it... Your route is my "southern" option, I've got a "northern" option that cuts through Harmar and indianola (on Gulf Rd, I think), through Hampton on Middle, then cut over onto the Red Belt for the rest of the way. I'm more familiar with this route, and have biked it halfway quite pleasantly (on a Saturday morning).

If you are that person... Are you the person with the green bike that sits in the rack in the back of CWHQ1, the old school looking bike? Is there a story behind it?

ErinK - if you figure out how to make it work, I'd love to hear about it.

I have no idea about building numbers, but if you've seen a green bike with downtube shifters here it's probably mine. Your description makes me sound like bigfoot or something.

There's no story behind the bike except for the places it's been. Here's my favorite photo of it:

ah, that's not the bike, and I guess you're in a different corner of Cranberry woods (the world isn't that small after all?)

The green bike I'm thinking of, if Bigfoot served in WWII, this would have been his bike. The guy who rides it must be like 8 feet tall, I don't think I could even stand over the tube without going on tippy toes. It's matte army green, but somehow very cool. I know little about bikes, though, so maybe it's new & swank.

I know there's a guy that works in CWHQ1 (for westinghouse) that bikes to work... I guess it's from Export, not East End. But he does it quite often, if the rumors are true. I can't find him, just people who know about him. Unless it's this mass conspiracy to make me look like an idiot (really, they wouldn't have to work that hard).

So that means that there's TWO of you guys up here biking 30-40 miles to this place. Jeez. Everybody's doing it

I am in love with the fact that there is a wine bottle on that bike.

Export to Cranberry by bike?

According to Google, that's 40 miles each direction!

Mick - I know, right?!? It makes me feel so lazy

I'm suspecting some kind of park-and-ride scheme. Unless he really spends 18-40 hours a week commuting.

+1 on the wine-bottle holder.

Mick - he doesn't do it daily. The most confident description I heard was "once a week, usually fridays". Sometimes I think he's Keyser Soze.

@ejwmeSometimes I think he's Keyser Soze.

Wouldn't that make the mystery rider, uh, _you_?

haha! I'm not nearly diabolical enough. At least not that I know of. Perhaps I'm so diabolical even I am unaware of my own existance. I think therefor I am confused.

Thanks everyone! Yeah I'm in Cranberry Woods. (But not at Westinghouse.)

My thoughts on 228 are that it won't seem bike friendly until someone starts riding on it. You gotta break the drivers in! And that I have a bright yellow rain jacket.