BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

me likes bombing perrysville when there are no cars on it

I love Reynolds, Thomas and the East Liberty bike lanes.

In the city I like: spring hill, the roads from the prison to riverview that all seem like 1 road, williams, sycamore, crazy climbing off of east st up to the cemetery in spring hill.... lincoln avenue as sneak route out of the city.

Out of the city: logans ferry, plum st, and Today I did a few gnarly climbs over laurel ridge that were nothing but amazing

+1 for Spring Garden. Very nice.

Lincoln Avenue is also pretty sweet. It is probably the lowest traffic route out of the city. It's always nice to ride through my old 'hood, too (no, really).

Out of the city: Old Mill Road, from its genesis at Squaw Run all the way to Indianola. Days Run is also very sweet.

Erok, Perrysville? You mean the road with like one foot gaps between the slabs of concrete? You must ride that on a double boinger or something. It would be an awesome road if the surface was better.

In the city I like hitting the cobbles up Bryn Mawr Rd to Herron Hill Park when I can. 2nd or 3rd Lincoln Ave outbound as well. Some nice hilly loops out there, but haven't seen road conditions yet this year.

Out of city: Red Belt, all of the back roads north of Sewickley ('cause they're just pretty), Logan's Ferry/Sardis Rd, Potato Garden Rd, most of Noblestown Rd.

I'm thinking perrysville from the top of the hill at federal street, then outbound. same for brighton road.

Bayard btwn Neville and Morewood, Ellsworth btwn Devonshire and Negley, Alder St.

'Course, this isn't fast biking, but it's good for someone like me doing the slow commute thang.

Keep this thread going....

We're monitoring it (and the worst roads threads) as input into the SPC bike suitability mapping effort.

you know what might be the best road around? schenley drive through the golf course. very little traffic, huge shoulders, lots of bikers and pedestrians--if not for that road, i may not have convinced my gf to bike to bar review classes this summer.

The trouble with using this input for "bike suitability" purposes is that a lot of it depends on when a road was last paved, and what time of day it is. For example, I used to like Penn Avenue through Garfield, but now it's pretty bad with all the potholes and patches and the extra traffic at Children's.

Bad road surface multiplies any problems with traffic. If I have to spend my attention spotting potholes and picking my way around them and the broken glass, that's attention that I can't spend on traffic and parked cars. And I'm sure that motorists perceive that I'm weaving all over the road, because they don't care about a measly little 3" wide crack snaking along in five foot lengths trying to snatch my wheel, or about the asphalt washboard that is formed when braking busses (and smaller vehicles too) shove the blacktop up into rolling ridges at the intersection.

Oh, whoops. This was supposed to be Best Roads!

Okay, 5th Avenue. The traffic is heavy, but the surface is usally good (barring the steel plates and other construction going on right now) and the signals are synchronized at a slow enough speed that traffic isn't usually racing from light to light. Most of Forbes isn't too bad, though the section under the Birmingham Bridge is a real shame. I don't know why that couldn't have been fixed with the big project.

Seconding Schenley Drive (and the other roads in the park - Serpentine and Circuit?). Thomas is okay, save for all the stops, and preferable to Penn. Hamilton isn't bad, Frankstown is okay. Hazelwood Avenue is good, with one patch of seriously bad pavement. I also like Bigelow in Greenfield.

Little Pine Creek Road coming out of Etna gets my vote for the nicest ride. It's lightly traveled and follows the creek. Very pleasant alternative to hammering along Mt. Royal Blvd. from Etna to Glenshaw.

yeah, little pine creek is another one that, when i first rode on it, i says to myself, i says "self? this is a road that was meant to be biked on."

FAO Lyle, point taken. I should have said we are using the best and worst recommendations as a starting point for roads we should look at in the region. We also look at traffic, speed, condition, geometrics, etc. But, user perspective is also a very important consideration.

FAO is a new TLA for me, so I looked it up. "Field Artillery Officer". I must be in line for a promotion...

Would that be a promotion?

I must have picked it up from a european user group. FAO = For attention of.....