Bike the Burgh

Photo: OTB Bicycle Cafe

By Karin Baker

It’s a common problem among city residents: You move to the busy land of bright lights to escape a boring life of late-night Eat n’ Park runs and hanging out at Wal-mart. Inevitably, the newness of your fast-paced living situation wears away, and you find yourself sitting in your apartment watching reruns of Family Guy. You can’t help but utter: “There’s nothing to do here.”

I too found myself in your position. I had exhausted every museum, every coffee shop, every local bar. I was out of options.  Until the day I bought my bike.

Commonly thought to be a pastime that dies out when you hit 16 and can finally drive a car, biking is a quickly growing hobby among city dwellers. Pittsburgh, with its excessive rivers and steep hills, was previously considered relatively unbikeable. Through the efforts of local organizations like Bike PGH, the biking scene in Pittsburgh has developed exponentially. Now, the city is rampant with trails throughout every district of Pittsburgh, and continues to develop.

With the recent news that additional bike lanes will be installed in the Shadyside, Bloomfield, and Oakland districts of Pittsburgh, the ease of navigating in the somewhat narrow streets will become a much less daunting task.

If road biking isn’t your thing, don’t think that you can’t get the fun of a mountain bike in the city.  Frick Park is located on Forbes Avenue, just a short 61 bus ride outbound.  The park includes trails that weave through the forest, and easily makes you forget about the existence of a city just four miles back.  With every Port Authority Bus equipped with bike racks, the transportation of a bike is easier than ever.

Pittsburgh’s bike culture has stretched much further than trails and safe riding lanes.  OTB – Over the Bar Café – is a local Southside hangout that is any biker’s dream bar.  While their main objective is to get those bikers fueled and tipsy, OTB holds bike rides throughout the year, most recently riding with Pedal Pittsburgh – an initiative begun by the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh in 1994.  PSA: Never Drink and Bike! But their “Blissfully Bicyclist Bisque” (AKA: Roasted Pablano and Corn Bisque) recently won the Best Vegetarian Soup in the Southside.  Bisquing and biking is acceptable.

Tucked away in the Northside of Pittsburgh is Bicycle Heaven, both literally and figuratively for a bike enthusiast.  The bike museum, named above, is home to over 90,000 bicycles and bicycle parts that have been developed over the years.  From the Boneshaker (below), to a vintage cruiser, Bicycle Heaven is an ethereal site to be seen.