- Address: 1839 Murray Ave., Pittsburgh, PA
- Website: http://61ccafe.com
- Bike friendliness: Bike racks all along Murray; if you're willing to park on the other side of Forbes, there's a bike corral and squirrel (hill) racks
- Other notable information: 61C is named for the bus route that passes by the cafe. They recently opened a sister cafe, 61B, also named for its accompanying bus route. Both only take cash.
Date: Tuesday, November 11, 2014 (Veterans Day Rule)
Drink: Hot chocolate
Total Mileage: 3.3 miles overall (1.7 miles Home to 61C)
Photo Verification:
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| Hot chocolate for me, chamomile for D |
Ride Notes
This has been my shortest ride thus far, but it's been my hardest because it was my first time riding a road bike and drop bars beyond D's street. Perhaps it would have been easier if I had attempted this on flat, protected paths, but it was a Pittsburgh weekend for me, and Pittsburgh doesn't do flat. Instead, we rode into the heart of Squirrel Hill, and I found that I had a much easier time going uphill than down.
I'd been bugging D on and off about trying to ride his road bike, because I feel like it would be good to have basic competence on drop bars (perhaps like knowing how to drive a stick shift, though I hate driving so that's not high on my "to learn" list). D already made adjustments to his bike to make it a little more manageable for his back--he raised the stem significantly, and added an extra layer of bar tape for comfort. He's only a couple of inches taller than me, so we have similar stand-over heights (though I wouldn't mind more clearance). However, those inches go toward D's torso and longer arms, combined with larger hands. I'm sure D's setup is actually perfectly fine for him, but I struggled to gain a sense of control of the brakes, which is why I felt so uncomfortable going downhill. Also, D likes to have more slack in his brakes, so I felt like I was squeezing the levers hard while already feeling off balance. Maybe I would have been better off on a slightly smaller bike that would address these things--the other weekend I tried a small Bridgestone mixte that seemed a better fit, though honestly I only went around the block so who knows whether I would have held up over a longer distance.
Anyway, I'm not looking to get a road bike anytime soon (though I do think that Bridgestone I rode was super sporty and beautiful, like how I imagine some people must feel like about a classic little Porsche). I'm glad that I tried out D's bike though, and the brief coffeeneuring ride was just enough to give me a taste of what it would be like to ride a road bike around for transport. I'm sure I covered more types of terrain that I would have if I went across downtown DC on its bike lanes (including going up cobblestone by accident), and got a sense of climbing uphill (I didn't feel too comfortable standing with the drops) as well as flying downhill.
Much appreciation as always to D, who humored me and exchanged the clipless pedals for some cheapie regular ones last year when I was itching to learn, and had faith in my abilities even though I felt like a big chicken the whole time. I'm sure I won't bug him about adjusting the brakes for me, at least not until next year (he's mostly on his Brompton now anyway!).
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| D and I set off for our ride; hard to believe this was at 6pm Also, road tires are huge next to a Brompton! |
Route Notes
The route that D and I take to get into Squirrel Hill takes us right by Pocusset St., which is apparently the country's first "road shift". This was from a few months back, when D and I tried it for the first time:
In theory we could have gotten to the coffee shop by going on Pocusset St. (it would have been closer actually), but according to D it would have been slightly harder, so we went our typical way. Maybe if I had been on the Brompton...
Observation: Getting honked at and buzzed by a Mercedes is slightly less frightening than having a cat cross my path while I was going downhill and not feeling like I had a good grip on the brakes. Both involved panicked swearing.
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