three rivers heritage trail bike ride

This is the bike ride that we did today.  Well, sort of.  

We started out at Millvale (up the Allegheny River), the worked our way down the the stadiums and the Carnegie Museum.

 Nice views of the Allegheny River.

 Some good wall art and graffiti.

 Then down through some city neighborhoods ...

 ... and then into the tourist loop.

 Some city views.

 Across a bridge to downtown PGH ...

 Then we lost the bike trail and wandered around under the highway ...

 John thought that he'd find his way back up to the trail this way, but only homeless people back here.

 Ah, a sign ...

 ... showing the way to the Eliza Furnace Trail (what a name!)

 Through downtown ...

 And across another wide and windy river to the South Side of PGH.  When we stopped I noticed the "tattoo" on my leg (John greased my bike up yesterday).

 We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe because we were hungry and couldn't find any other place.  Food was ok, but that's the last time I eat at a Hard Rock Cafe.  We've decided that we are NOT tourists around here any more and don't need to do the touristy things anymore!

Headed back the same way we came.  We were going to take another way, but decided we would save the south side for another day.

 Lots of people out today.  It was warmer than I expected, but with a pretty steady breeze.  Maybe some far reaching effects of the hurricane, Irene.

 We've decided to explore more the "quirky" neighborhoods of Pittsburgh and stay away from the popular spots.  But at least we know our way around on bikes a little better.  John says we went 14 miles today.

North Park Bike Adventure

For our first bike adventure, we chose "North Park", a large sprawling park with a designated bike path all the way around a lake.  It's about 10 miles away.  John rigged the bikes on the back of my car with a rack he found in the dumpster.  It worked! (Having engineer husband is handy!)  We have a real bike rack ordered that should be here next week.

This is John all decked out in his new helmet before the ride.

This is me after the ride.  I opted not to buy a bike helmet because I maintain that I am not going to ride my bike in any scary situations (like in heavy traffic or over a cliff).  Besides, we have an extra helmet at home in Florida and what do we need with 3 helmets.  If I get really good and more daring on the bike, I'll get the helmet.

 Anyway, the ride was really fun!  We both say that we'll do this ride at least once every weekend.  There were just enough hills to make it somewhat of a challenging ride, but not enough to make it too difficult.

This is the lake that we went around.  I didn't take any photos riding around because I was too focused on my bike riding.