BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I'm glad you didn't get hit and kept pedaling rather than confront them. Please consider filing a police report, which you can do by calling 911 (just tell them its a non-emergency, they take all calls). Or you can do a tip form here: http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/police/html/police_tip_form.html

This will help get more patrols in the area.

I usually take Reynolds or Hamilton instead of that stretch of Penn Ave, but mostly due to cars, not people. I have been harrassed by teenagers while in my car on Penn, closer to Bakery Square, but it is pretty unusual.

Also, you can take S. Braddock to Kensington, to Frick Park. Take the path to the bowling greens, and that puts you on Reynolds.

Penn between braddock and fifth is an interstate. I usually take some combination of Thomas and Hamilton although that early in the morning I may have taken Reynolds or possibly even Penn.

What Pseudacris said on both accounts, especially the route.

I'd probably take Forbes from Braddock all the way to Oakland.

You can cut over to Frick Park via Tuscarora and a foot path (or via the trail from Braddock Avenue). I suppose at 5:50 AM, it might be a bit dark, but I used that route for years pretty late at night when I worked at the Climbing Wall.

Part of me wants to be a grown up

I reckon from your response, you were a grown up..

@ italianblend I think you are a grownup by choosing not to get into a fist fight in the middle of the street. If you can avoid a confrontation thats usually the best decision. Gun or no gun fights can have an unpredictable outcome. It's also a good idea to report harassment to the police. I have a lot of respect for you choosing not to fight unless it's unavoidable and praying for the little rugrats.

Thank you Pseudacris for showing me those routes!!

Oh, to have a bike cop rolling along Penn at 5:50 a.m. and encounter this bunch, or to have the cop trail behind a lead cyclist by about 100 feet.

wow. glad you're OK

I've never had problems like that on Penn. when there's no cars out, i'll often just take that stretch, but during the day, i'll do as pseudocris says.

a note on this. I don't think it's out of order to call the police on an incident like that. there probably aren't too many people walking around then, and at minimum it could at least scare them a bit.

Having a stranger swing a metal stick in an attempt to knock you off your bike....definitely worth calling the cops about.

+1

It's a shame they don't read this board (or aty leat, I imgine not).

Knowing that you prayed for them would be at least a little revenge.

The reason I take that route is I don't want to go up the forbes hill. It's pretty flat.

Reynolds has a bit of a climb once you cross Dallas, but it's not as intense as the Forbes climb.

When I first moved here from a less challenging terrain, I used to also avoid hills, but then came to the realization that was limiting my mobility and enabling my inability to get stronger on them.

After maybe 6 months of that I just started to take the best (shortest, safest) route and accepted the hills when they came.

I agree with helen s, my first two years of cycling I avoided as many hills as I could I often took longer routes just to avoid hills. When I decided to do group rides or explore the city more I didn't have the legs to make it up hills. So I did the same thing helen s did and I don't even notice most... some hills now.

I'm not avoiding Forbes because I'm afraid of it. I use that route to go to work. I just don't want to go to mass all sweaty and yucky. I enjoyed the Penn Ave route until some kid tried to kill me with a metal cane