Lemons & Lemonade

I'm way behind at work, so I had to go in today. Lemons.

Since no one was gonna be there, I didn't have to worry about being a sweaty mess, so I was able to ride there and back. (Including a couple of detours.) Lemonade.

On the way there, I was sorry to see that a fire had blackened the wooded area above the switchbacks just off the Ben Burr trail at Pittsburgh.


As we all know, Sundays are for constuction riding, and I had to check up on Wellesley, between Evergreen and Sullivan. Pleasant construction riding, although a bit hard to hold your camera steady through the chuck holes.
Detour? Afraid NOT.

As I was crossing Trent on Flora, I noticed a bunch of emergency vehicles on Trent, to the west. Thought I bettter ride down the railroad right-of-way and check it out. (Get to work or check out the wreck? Procrastination rules again.)

Several cars were involved, but this guy appears to be the biggest loser. Sorry dude, hope you're alright. Serious lemons.

Naturally, my rubbernecking excursion resulted in further delay. More welcome (out of my control) procrastination.
At work, finally. Oy, the drudgery! Lemons.
Since I was already out in the valley anyway, the return trip home provided the opportunity for a detour through some construction zones that I hadn't had a chance to ride yet. Lemondade.

First, the Barker Bridge.

Please. Nice try.

Then, Appleway, between Sprague and Broadway.

Baby's-bottom compacted gravel surface on my way east (in the westbound lanes). Yes, I had the road to myself.

And here's the new bike-ped trail on the south side of Appleway. It's a little over a mile long. Sweet, new, smooth blacktop.

I ran into another unexpected construction zone on Flora, just south of I-90, but trust me. It was nothing to rave about.

When I got home, I found this flyer:
Dominick and Alex live down the street and ride by our house all the time. They are two of the cutest kids you will ever meet. Apparently, they had their bikes stolen by some low-life. Lemonny Lemons.

If you didn't happen to notice, there's a $$$$$REWARD$$$$$.

6/30 Construction Report

There's prime construction riding happening on Maple, between 2nd and NW Boulevard.

No need to share the northbound bridge with anyone.

The riding's as good coming as it is going.

No telling if I would ever have the chance again to ride the wrong way up the on-ramp, so I thought I should seize the opportunity.

We're sharing again on North Wall, between Francis and Wellesley. Brand new no parking signs on both sides of the street.


Wonder how it's going up on Mt. Spokane.

Commuter Count

Despite the fact that my new commute is going great, I decided to ride in today. I hardly ever do this due to the lack of shower facilities at work, but it was too nice of a day to sit on a bus, so my co-workers will just have to deal with me today.


As I headed east on Upriver Drive, between Mission and Argonne I counted 20 cyclists headed into town. Impressive. Presumably almost all commuters, since they were carrying loads.


I was delighted to run across a nice little construction zone on east Wellesley. The new Paselas got a taste of what they are in for.

It's shaping up to be a pretty good day.

Sunday Ride

What could be better than a construction ride ?

Well, a trespass ride, as it turns out.

Now That's What I'm Talk'n 'Bout!

Was the riding this weekend great, or what?

Honestly, I was all jet-lag messed up on Saturday and didn't ride (except down to The Scoop, for some jet lag recovery serum), but Patty and I got out for 20-ish today. My Father's Day ride. We have way too much krap and we made a deal for these kinds of holidays: No more gifts, only shared events. And when I get to make the call, like today, it always involves a ride. And a food & beer stop, of course. We always have the best time.

I know I haven't ridden for a week and that has something to do with it but man, that bike felt so sweet under me today - like I ruled this city! The weather was as perfect as riding weather gets. But what frosted my cake was the construction zones.


First, we hit this totally unexpected surprise on Country Homes Boulevard: A total road closure that detoured traffic . . . I live for this shit!!!

It was only a short section, but we lived large . . . we actually back-tracked and did it twice! The entire southbound lane, the culvert, we owned it all!

As it turns out, that was childs play, compared to what we found on the way home. We deliberately took Wall Street on the way back, because it's been under construction, and it was certain that there would be some adventure to be had. What we discovered was beyond our expectations. Check this out - impediments to traffic . . .

And smooth-as-silk sailing for cyclists . . .

Hmmm. Isn't this the definition of a bicycle boulevard???

From Francis to Wellesley, we had the ride of our lives. You should check it out, while you can.

Yay, Construction Season Is Here!

No really, I mean it. Because construction season means miles and miles of adventurous, traffic-free roads that are available to us on eves and weekends.

A ride last Sunday took me up to the north side and I returned via Wall, which is closed from Francis to Wellesley and has hardly any traffic from there down to Garland. A zig down the Post hill and a zag west on Montgomery put me on Ash, which is closed from NW Blvd to the bridge. This bridge wouldn't normally be my first choice to cross the river, but traffic was almost zero because nothing's feeding it. Nice way to get through town. John Speare and his buddies hit the bridge a while back right after the approach was paved but before it was open. That must've been a sweet ride.

Over the last couple of years, I've found these types of closures relatively fast and easy to get through and a helluva lot more fun than riding on pavement. There's always a path for the heavy equipment to get through, and it's pretty tightly packed because of their weight. Riding on 28 mm tires also helps . . . these, for me, seem to have the right balance between speed and the ability to handle non-blacktop surfaces.

Of course riding through, while cars are forced to drive around, doesn't feel too bad either.