All the Hoods

Pittsburgh’s annual BikeFest celebration got under way in earnest on Saturday with the 75-mile Every Neighborhood Ride, which literally goes out of its way to traverse all 90 of the city’s official neighborhoods.

BikeFest poster

Dawn before Every Neighborhood Ride

Start of Every Neighborhood Ride

Every Neighborhood Ride

Although it was a lot of fun, last year’s event was also the second-most climbing I’ve done in one ride since I started recording elevation data in 2010. And this year would be more, since I set out at dawn to accrue an extra 15 miles, so that I’d finish with an even hundred miles.

After a cool, misty, easy toddle up the GAP trail and out Smallman to Doughboy Square, I finally arrived at the start of the organized ride. As riders began to converge, a couple regular riders and the ride leader recognized me, and I got to play the experienced veteran by telling a bunch of first-timers what they were in for.

At 8am I set off with a pack of 13 riders in the fast group, enjoying a cloudy but temperate day for Pittsburgh in mid-August. The pace was just a hair faster than I wanted, but nothing strenuous. I was a little slower than I’d like to be on the hills (both ascending as well as descending), but my legs held out well throughout the day. And even though the clouds burned off for a warm afternoon, I never felt the distress that last year’s ride evoked. I attribute that to the homemade brownies at the rest stops!

The organizers—Jacob & Kelley McCrea and Matt & Jennifer Reitzell—do an amazing job running the ride, stocking rest stops, and keeping it fun. It’s without doubt Pittsburgh’s friendliest cycling event of the year.

Having said that, I need to express my frustration that riders in Pittsburgh don’t seem to know how to ride in a group. I’m not talking about taking turns in a paceline, but basic safety considerations.

Riders didn’t seem to care if they were endangering others by failing to hold a line, or passing someone (on their right!) without warning. I saw guys in the middle of a pack slaloming back and forth across the road, and even riding no-hands with riders directly behind them. More than once I drifted off the back of the group solely out of concern for how other participants were riding. Not cool!

By the end of two circuits around the city—an outer loop followed by an inner one—four people had peeled off, leaving nine of us to finish together at 4:22pm. Everyone said it was the fastest any group had ever finished in the six years they’ve run the event. That was probably helped by the closure of the coffee shop in Beechview, and the complete absence of any mechanical problems. I was happy to see that my new bike GPS still had 14 percent power left, after nearly ten hours on the road.

After some replenishment and socializing at the finish, two of us made the climb back up to Squirrel Hill, where I circled the neighborhood to polish off the last five miles of my century, number four for 2017.

It was by far my longest (duration) century, at 11 hours and 23 minutes. As predicted, I eclipsed last year’s second-most climbing high-water mark by ascending over a vertical mile and quarter. Along the way I set 12 new PRs and burned a solid 3600 kCal.

The ride itself isn’t especially scenic—in fact it’s often ugly urban riding—but it’s quite an achievement to say that you rode through every single neighborhood in the city. The rest stops are unique: one in a racecar fabrication garage, and another inside a physical therapy/rehab office, complete with a miniature indoor swimming pool!

But what really makes the ride fun are the people. After nine hours of noodling around with the same dozen-odd companions, you get to know them and build camaraderie by sharing the struggles of getting around this ridiculous town.