BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

this video has been going around like crazy this week. i still prefer the one from rio http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56kJ99AvfoI&feature=relmfu

they also do this every year is lisbon portugal.

Lisbon has some pretty good hills on par with Pittsburgh, and some very slippery cobblestone streets on them. Also, streetcar rails.

It feels like the hills and street set up here would be perfect for something like this, for those who could do it (not me). Follow old incline routes, incorporate the stair streets, etc.

incorporate the stair streets

It could be the inverse of the PGH Stairs alleycat!

The ideal place to try a steps trial is Jacob Street in Brookline. It's a double staircase, both sides of a valley, connecting the drivable pieces of Jacob Street, parallel to Saw Mill Run, between Whited and Glenbury. You would have to go both down the one and up the other.

Wow, some of the first video reminds me of the steps in the south side sloaps.

Holy sh*t!

If NBC had that on Sundays in the fall, I'd watch that over football. Awesome!

(BTW, to those infrastructure geeks out there, did I see open sewers in the gutter? Amazing!)

In the second video, the guy says its an 800M descent. Do we have 800M of descent here, or even close to that? For reference, what's the vertical from atop Mt. Washington to the river?

I can't even imagine 800m of descent. According to wikipedia, Pgh's highest to lowest elevation difference is 200 m.

I love the dog he goes over at 0:28! The dog is like "what?".

I don't have a map handy but I believe Mt. Washington to the river is ~400ft (120m) (~1100ft vs ~700)

we should have a few downhill runs down mt washington facing the city. utilizing the inclines to get the bikes back up.

The Indian Trail steps started in Duquesne Heights at the intersection of Grandview Avenue and Shaler Street and descended through 1000 steps to near the Duquesne Incline.

Looks like a barren waste land.

Teenage wasteland

The upper photograph was from the turn of the century so, yea, it was a wasteland.

Holy crap that is an awesome set of stairs. I wonder if it would be possible to find the old route of the stairs or if you would end up on the 11:00 news.

What do the pink dots represent?

Just for fun I just calculated that a wheelchair ramp from the top of Mt. Washington to the bottom, if it's 400 feet vertical, would be a little over a mile long. That would be something.

Those stairs look like their in better shape than McArdle roadway, FWIW.

I think the pink dots are the stair locations, runs in between.

They are going to build a large $100M+ hotel and condo complex next to the Duquesne incline. The tentative constructions plans are to build a new set of steps to Station Square next to the inline. They plan is to use existing pylons from an old incline.

The pink dots are locations of surviving wooden pylons. The steps were dismantled in 1935 so there's not much left.

Is this part of the Mt Washington greenway project that the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy is working on? They have been looking to develop some trails, I wonder if PORG would work with them to develop a downhill run.

Kordite - where is that map from? I've seen the picture of the stairs before, but the map is new to me.

Looks like the geo-topo maps from the UPitt library, which can be viewed online here.

Once I have enough superfluous income, I am going to get a bunch of these in prints. They are just gorgeous. I hope they still ARE printing them if/when that glorious point in my life happens.

Those riders have some serious balls

South side slopes have plenty of steps that would work good for this kind of course.

I think the first video is in Valparaiso, Chile. I've not been there but several of my colleagues have: they've got inclines, there!

http://www.southsideslopes.org/steptrek

This could be the "powerboat races" to the South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association's "Regatta"? I sent them an email to see if this is something worth exploring...

... and I think that dog @ 0'28" was poopin'

The Indian Trail map was pulled fror a geocache site http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=05aceff8-e6a6-4fb0-9594-184b7d96cf70

I have overlayed it onto a Google Earth map to give you a better sense of the 1800 foot route with a 320 foot drop.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kordite/5504148078/

FYI if any of you are ever curious about trying downhill I ride at least three times a week spring through fall and would be more than happy to loan a bike or help you get set up with a rental for the day. I also have spare body armor and an extra full face helmet.

http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/24861/wowza+is+chris+akrigg+the+next+danny+macaskill/

Kordite-the overlay of the steps on today's google map is awesome! I should remember all those workers hiking up the steps twice a day when I complain about my hilly bike commute.

@Ka_Jun: That guy's ok, but he's no Macaskill.

Then there's this guy, who ain't one either but it's fun to watch him try.

disclaimer: I can't do any of this stuff, and barring an improbable infusion of super-powers, will I ever be able to.

^ haha, Google is so nebby. It served me up an estrogen ad before this video. Bet you didn't have to watch that.

Ahlir, agreement. Thought it was a nice ride video, though. Mongoose is just engaging in some Charlie Sheen bombast, saying he's > Macaskill.

trials is amazing and those guys are inhuman. but back to downhill!!!!!

if you haven't seen this yet, you need to Life Cycles

@sarapgh2: Twice a day? Those guys would often walk back up the hill for lunch and then back down afterwards.

It was uphill both ways.