BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Up and over is the way to do it indeed. Pretty much the only way to get better at riding up hills is to do it a few times. It hurts less the more you do it, and having lower gears helps too. If you want to work yourself up to it, just practice on shallower inclines.

Brookline, however, is one of the hilliest neighborhoods in town. If you're up for riding to and from it regularly, you're going to be in pretty good shape.

If you want to skip the Mount Washington climb, you can also take your bike on the Duquesne Incline at all times. There's also the option of buying a folding bike that you can take on the T when the going gets too hilly.

There's a good discussion of options here. Obviously that discussion is specific to a destination in the East End, but once you're in the South Side, it's pretty easy to get anywhere.

A co-worker of mine, who lives in Mt. Lebo, started commuting a few days a week. He was absolutely not a cyclist, but in decent shape. He admitted the commute was hard at first, but rather quickly got the endurance to make the hills bearable.

I would advise you to take Boggs over the other option. No train tracks. Or you could buy a folding bike and take it on the T during peak hours.

Down W. Liberty, up Boggs or Southern (Southern is flatter-ish). Grandview to McArdle.

There are several guys who do that ride, I see them regularly. Maybe you can connect with them some time? There was a thread on the board about it during bike to work week.

Also one of the guys at W. Liberty Cycles rides from work to Polish Hill.

I'm doing the car free Friday commute from Mt Lebanon to downtown every Friday at 7:30. I'm going down the length of West Liberty so if you want to meet up somewhere along the route, let me know. If you are interested and Fridays don't work for you we can work out another day. You can email me with the private message link. That'll get you downtown at least. I cross over the Smithfield St bridge, but if you are heading down toward the Cardello building a neighbor used to prefer going up/down Greenleaf St at the west end of Mt Washington and over the West End bridge. I've never tried that myself. I'd recommend you don't take the Warrington/Arlington route.

As far as being in shape, I'd say if you can run 2 miles without stopping you are good to go over Mt Washington. If you can run one mile but not two you are probably fine if you have triple chain ring. It may take take you longer than you want at first, but you'll get over.

As others have said, you can hop on the T. There is a bike rack at South Hills junction, but you have to climb at least half the hill to get to it. I've been warned to make sure you have a good lock and lock your bike well but have never had any problems myself. It seems like there ought to be a way to lock up in the lot at the Palm Garden stop but I've never explored it. The 41E bus also runs in that area and seems to generally have racks on it although I don't think it is an official rack and roll route. If you want to avoid the hill completely you can get on the T at Dawn (up the cobbles off of W Liberty) but you have to lock up to the staircase railing. Not sure how safe it is there, but the neither the stop nor the road get much traffic.

Is there any kind of trail from W. Liberty and 51 or Crane and 51 to the West End? A trail through there would be a great thing, me thinks.

Mick

I used to work at West Liberty and live in Polish Hill, so I know this route well. I'd recommend going down Sycamore over McArdle. I hate McArdle. Cars will always try to pass you regardless of how fast you go.

I used to go up and down William St, but after a few near head on collisions with cars cutting corners I stopped riding it. Too bad, it is a great road. Fun decent and a nice climb.

Good luck, it does get easier if you stick with it. After six months or so of regular commuting I started climbing Sycamore everyday, it was more direct and low traffic, and gets the climbing over in a hurry.

i've never been passed going down mcardle, and since they repaved it, it's a pretty nice ride. also, i'm afraid to go down sycamore.

sometimes when i go hill-climbing in the south hills (ish) and i don't feel like i have the legs to make it back up and over mt. washington, i will take 51 to the west end circle. this is NOT for beginners, and you have to be comfortable taking the lane in 55 mph traffic. but especially at high-traffic times, once you get to the circle, it's not so bad, and it avoids the hills.

You'll ride on 51 in 55mph traffic with no shoulder and some blind corners, but won't ride down Sycamore?

I haven't been down McArdle since its been repaved, I'd probably feel differently about it now. Regardless I'll take the low traffic and low motor vehicle speeds of Sycamore over McArdle.

Just went down Sycamore the other day. Not too bad. I'd go for it!

Wow, great response!

I actually live very close to the McNeilly T station. I considered riding and just using the T from there into town, but my initial research told me that bike's weren't allowed on the train during peak hours, is that the case?

Sycamore is great till something goes wrong. I've been taking it down this year and already had a couple of close misses. For instance a pedestrian crossing the street on a blind corner. Cars can stop faster than bikes.

Anyways, every once in a while it's fine, but I think it's bad for a daily commute.

On the flip side I've never had any problem on McArdle going down.

The injunction against bikes on the T is in the direction of rush hour traffic.

41E Mt Washington exclusively uses 35-foot buses, all of which now have bike racks.

T at rush hour: Depends on the driver. Some will let you take the bike on outbound a.m. inbound p.m., others interpret the no-rush-hour rule literally.

sycamore isnt that bad. I ride down it every morning on my way to work. I used to be scared of it and spent the whole winter going down williams. I recommend that route also. only problem Ive had on it was wiping out once in the snow. Like a few others have said I would take the steep hill rather than all the cars.