I plan on riding from Cranberry to Dormont. Can anyone tell me if the directions Google Maps are giving me are good? Any roads I should avoid? Any roads that would be easier (i.e. less hilly)
I have gone a lot farther distance-wise before, but those were event courses designed by a real person. I'm afraid Google Maps will send me up absurd hills or on unsafe roads.
I can't speak to north of the Ohio River, but once you cross I would stick with Greentree Rd for most of it (still a hill, but you can't avoid them all) and then come in the back way rather than going onto Banksville Rd.
This would also be an option if you want less traffic on the hills but more on the flats- Saw Mill Run Blvd has a decent shoulder, but traffic is going 55mph. I'd prefer the route above.
I don't think you will like Brandt School at all from where it looks to be joining. I believe there is a very large hill to get to West Ingomar and limited shoulder. I also wouldn't ride on Mt Nebo (and I live very close to there).
An alternate would be right on 910 (wexford bayne). It's 4 lane and a small hill over 79 but it has a wide shoulder. Then left on Nicholson, left on Mt Nebo (the part that I would ride), right on Roosevelt, Left on Center (which changes names in through Bellevue - Church/Center/California?!) but meets up with your route where it says "Lincoln".
I'm sure some folks on here can do a better job of routing but those are my thoughts for the part that I know.
They added a whole lot of miles and a couple of non-trivial hills just so you could follow some valleys. The southern end of Wexford Run has a tough little climb, followed by another a mile later on Brandt School.
You're not gaining anything by sticking to two-lane side roads. Frankly, I'd just barrel straight down Perry Highway. A good bit of the Wexford Flats area is halfway tolerable, now that construction of the worst part of it near the high school is done (NOTE: I haven't ridden it, but I've driven through it several times.)
In the construction area, especially where they have it to one lane each direction, TAKE THE LANE AND HORNS BE DAMNED. They're not going to be blowing through there any faster with machinery and cones all over the place, so I wouldn't be the least bit worried about holding them to 15 mph or whatever.
There are other ways to get south, too. Let me do a little digging on the board for a thread that came up a couple years ago on a similar request for info.
Background: I live near Perry/Perrymont near the Ross/McC border, and travel Perry almost daily between there and West View, where you have lots more options too detailed to go into here.
I'm also adding you to the We Need a Fricking Way To Get Through Mount Washington contact list. Translation: Wabash Tunnel ideal for bikes but off limits to bikes.
I found the old thread I was looking for:
[link #1]
More recently, we had this little discussion: [link #2]
Overall, you're dealing with 15 miles of cars-only 40+ mph (posted or reality) suburban sprawl before you hit any tame 25 mph city streets.
Homeward, as I mentioned in the earlier thread, your best bet might be to board an O12 McKnight Flyer bus, pay $3.75, and just figure out the trip from Showcase Cinema Park & Ride, which gets you past most of the elevation climb, most of the traffic, and 2/3 of the mileage, while chilling out and letting someone else deal with it, yet still have 12-15 miles of what-used-to-be country roads.
sew:
Yeah Brandt School Rd had a pretty big hill right before W Ingomar Rd and the very end of Wexford Run Rd before you hit Brandt School Rd is a hill with an EXTREMELY steep climb. I had to go down to 1-1 and ride back and forth across the road to get up it. The Brandt School Rd hill wasn't as steep, but it was longer, so it actually tired me out more. I went as far as McAleer Rd from Cranberry in those directions as trial run and the route wasn't bad except for those two hills. The turnpike bridge over Brush Creek Rd connecting to 19 has some nasty potholes by the storm drains though.
StuInMcCandless:
Yeah the whole "West End Circle" thing has me quite nervous on a bike.
...paging pinky, edmonds59...
I'm planning on getting a ride home afterwards. Anyway I'm not afraid of some hills, but the hills discussed above at the end of Wexford Run Rd and the one on Brandt School Rd are the type I'm trying to avoid lol.
I used the Google route to get from town to Zelionople last fall. The route seems to be identical to yours from McClure Ave on north.
It worked out OK. There probably are some tweeks that would improve it, but it got me through.
There is a spot just north of Avalon park where they have an error - Norwood does not go through to N. Birmingham and you need to take Semple Ave east from Norwood to Birmingham. Wasn't a problem for me, because I took the route going north before I went south.
The West End circle is, indeed, a cluster f***. But I think the route they gave is about the best to get you where you need to go.
Alternatives to West End Circle involve going over Mt Washington and either going down a bad road wtih trolley tracks or navigating a few hundred yards of Saw Mill Run. I go out of my way to get to West End Circle to avoid this, sometimes.
Let us know how it works out, please.
Does turning right from Wexford Run Rd onto 910 and then getting on Brandt School Rd sound like a better option than taking Wexford Run Rd all the way to Brandt School Rd? That steep climb at the end of Wexford Run Rd before you hit Brandt School Rd is one I wouldn't mind avoiding. I don't want to get myself into something worse though.
I don't like the Perry Highway bit at the north end of the route. I hate even driving that section of Perry Highway. I can't imagine riding it on a bike. I'd probably route further to the west, heading for Pleasant Hills and Mingo Roads for the trip south into Allegheny County. From Mingo you can go a short distance (maybe a mile) west to catch Nicholson. South on Nicholson to Mt. Nebo, short jog east to Roosevelt, catch Center/Church/Lincoln in Emsworth, folow that to Benton/Termon near the Bellevue/Pittsburgh line. Termon to McKees Rocks Bridge, Helen Street to Route 51, West End Circle, etc.
Not a great route, but that section of Perry Highway north of Wexford scares me.
The West End Circle is not as bad as it seems. Just take the full lane and point to where you are going. Most drivers are very understanding here in my experience. Greentree road is def a long hill, but probably the safest route. Good luck!
If you don't feel confident enough to take the lane through the West End Circle, you can do what I do.
Coming from Noblestown Rd/Main St towards town:
Ride to the right, in the parking lane. A block before Artifacts, get off of your bike and walk through the crosswalk. Ride on the sidewalk past the police station (careful they don't pull out on you!), down on the little trail that goes under the ramp, and follow that past the "Bicyclists Dismount" sign.
Get off your bike again. Walk through the big West End Circle intersection as a pedestrian.
Carry your bike down the stairs from the West End Bridge to Carson St. Ride on the sidewalk until it turns into the Ft Pitt Bridge ramp.
When I ride my road bike I take the lane. On my normal commuter/mountain bike, I do the above. It's a little lame, but I'd rather be lame and ride within my comfort zone than be cool and ride outside of it.
Ahhh should have clicked. If it takes you across the West End Bridge, do all of the above, except get back on your bike and cut through the WEC intersection once you've worked your way up there. Take the lane on the West End Bridge.
I don't have a chance right now to look at the full route, but specifically, re the W End bridge, from the North Shore Trail, there is a funky caged walkway you can get to kind of easily, midway between Cardello Elec and the Casino, go up Belmont St and look for the stairs, and you can ride the sidewalk over the bridge, then work your way to the trail on the WEC side.
Main St. to Greentree to Carnahan and so on should all be OK. Some bigazz hills on there though.
Google maps bike version puts you on Banksville, no, no, no. Somebody tell Goog maps that's no go.
I know the area around Dormont/Green Tree fairly well. I will definitely be avoiding Banksville Rd and W Liberty Ave.
What's McAleer Rd like on a bike? Every time I drag to a new road Google keeps trying to force me back over to that road. Is it an okay road for a bike?
> get back on your bike and cut through the WEC intersection once you've worked your way up there. Take the lane on the West End Bridge.
You may be tempted to do as I did a couple weeks ago, and instead of taking the lane take the sidewalk from the new bridge-level curb cut. Don't.
Not only is the sidewalk almost entirely covered in gravel and glass from one end to the other, when you get to the north end, there's a nice pleasant descent round a curve... to a very sudden staircase with absolutely no warning. Be very careful.
Those Google directions don't look great.
Depending on where exactly in Cranberry you're coming from and at what time of day, I'd do something more like this:
http://goo.gl/maps/DZFE
@buffalo buffalo: absolutely. I take that walkway cautiously, waiting for a flat any second. The only time I have used it is during afternoon rush hour heading toward West End (away from North Side) when traffic is backed up.
McAleer Rd would be fine on a bike. It has no shoulder and the cars exceed the 35 mph limit quite a bit but it has almost zero traffic. Issue is that you should get off of it on McDevitt (hill but manageable) or the next road (hill but manageable) and swing up to Nicholson. If you do not, you will hit Mt Nebo where you will hit some traffic on narrow and winding roads. Once again its 35 but I wouldn't count on the cars maintaining that pace.
John: that route is doable for me, however, there is plenty of unfamiliarity with that route for me. Have tried any portions of that route before? How did it go?
@billkamm I will definitely be avoiding Banksville Rd and W Liberty Ave.
I'm OK with W.Liberty, but not Banksville.
You could get around it by going on Meadowcroft to Ridgefield. (Streets with 'Hill' or 'Ridge' in the names.)
There's also the T. Assuming you can get to the North Shore, you can hop on the Red Line, ride to Potomac, pay $2.50, and bingo, you're in Dormont. Just an option to consider, especially if you're racing a thunderstorm.
Well I want to do this more for fun than anything else. Taking the T would ruin the fun all the fun lol. My parents live in Dormont, so I figured I would bike from my house to their house.
I'm pretty familiar with everything north of McKees Rocks. I've ridden (nearly?) all those roads on the whole route at one point or another. It's been a few years since I've ridden through Windgap.
If you don't mind a few extra miles, it's nicer to take the orange belt (Fern Hollow / Blackburn) all the way down into Sewickley, then through Coraopoils to Neville Island instead of taking the I-79 bridge. That bridge is legal to ride on bit it's still an interstate with 70 mph traffic.
Also, Sewickley Hills doesn't seem to believe in road signs. Some of those turns might not be marked, so having a phone with a gps could be helpful.
I had a class at blueberry park this evening, so I scoped out McAleer and McDevitt via scooter. McAleer looked good, but it leads to yucky Mt Nebo, which provides few fun options at this point. The worst of the hill on McDevitt can br avoided by taking a shortcut thru blueberry park. Enter from Nicholson, follow park road to sand VB courts. Continue towards yellow yard waste sign. McDevitt is at T just ahead. Turn left to get to McAleer.
If this is for fun, why not back roads towards Treesdale (know there are some, forget the names), then Pearce Mill to Babcock. Stay on Babcock all the way to Millvale. Take trail crom Millvale to Northside. ped bridge near DelMonte will take you to point state park, other bridge wedged next to ft. Pitt museum will take you to Station Square. T to top of Mt. Washington, or thru West End Circle from there.
One thing I would add is to avoid where Potomac crosses Banksville Rd/19. Heading towards Greentree ain't to bad but heding towards Broadway (as your route has it) is very very steep.
Let me add my voices to those saying that West Liberty is usually fine. The odd parking situation and frequent lights actually makes most drivers fairly cautious.
Yeah I don't have a death wish trying to go up Potomac. That is quite steep. Hills like those on Green Tree Rd don't bother me. It is hills like the Dormont side of Potomac Ave that bother me.
I did it (and lived to tell about it). There was a chance of rain this morning, so did this trip from 1pm to 5pm today which was some pretty significant heat. The route John provided worked pretty well except two of the turns had no street signs, so I got lost twice.
Notes:
- No sign for Big Sewickely Creek Rd at the end of Warrendale Bayne Rd. I made a wrong turn here.
- No Sign for Camp Meeting Rd, so I made a really wrong turn here and went up hill for like 2 miles out of my way. That reall sucked. I didn't take a shortcut back to get on my route, because I wanted to try the full route, so I back tracked the whole way.
- Magee Rd also did not have a street sign at the turn. I looked at my maps app on my phone to make sure I didn't miss a 3rd turn lol.
- Going across the I-79 bridge was easy and I felt safe, but it definitely felt weird being on an Interstate.
- I made a stop at Pure Hockey and bought some hockey supplies to weigh down my panniers.
- Neville Rd was nice and flat with 2 lanes, but the shoulder was full of debris and the cars didn't seem to want to move over into the left lane as they went by.
- Stowe Tunnel was kind of scary, but no cars came from behind me, so it wasn't bad.
- Berry St was a bitch. Straight up hill lol.
- Poplar St was a decent climb up a busy road with no shoulder.
- Green Tree Rd is a little on the busy side for my liking.
- Dormont Ave was a never ending climb.
I had a good time. The route worked great. Thanks again John for the route and everyone else for the suggestions.
I don't know you but based on your account I feel I can say you are awesome. I was out chainsawing some downed trees in the heat and that sucked badly enough.
My dad and I are going to try a variation of this route soon where instead of going through the torturous hills of the South Hills we are going to get on the Montour Trail in Coraopolis and take that to the Panhandle Trail and take that to Carnegie. That will take a lot longer, but will avoid some hills.
There should be a decent way to jump from the Montour to the Panhandle on road without going all the way to McDonald, I'll look something up when I get a chance.
@billkamm: If you take the Montour a bit past Robinson, then cut through the Bayer campus, you can pick up Ridge Rd (becomes Ewing/Collier) into Carnegie.
You'll have two climbs...one up from the trail to Steubenville Pike, and one through Bayer campus (on Bayer Rd)to get to Ridge, but the rest should be fairly low-traffic rolling road with a gradual descent to Carnegie.
Ewing/Ridge is a crazy good road.
