Strip District Trail is Open (finally)

The Strip District Trail has been closed off for almost 2 years now due to new construction and utility work close by.  The promised reopen date has long since passed and been extended, so many were skeptical when it was announced that it would, indeed reopen by the end of October.

As Bike Pittsburgh announced yesterday, it finally did!  I rode through this rainy Wednesday morning to check it out.

It took me a while to remember which streets were one-way, so I actually had to roll down past the Cork Factory Lofts and backtrack.  Next time, I would probably avoid Penn altogether and grab Railroad from 28th.

I went down 24th street and was able to access the little blip of concrete to 23rd, and though this was blocked off (view toward Downtown), I could get my bike through with one foot down.

Beside the Marina, looking back on barrier and a view of the parking lot with gravel.

Not a terribly good access point here either.

This is the view from 21st street, the official open part of the trail.  There's paved surface accessible from Railroad and Smallman, but note that 21st is one-way toward Liberty from Smallman.

The rest of the ride to the South Side was car-free and pretty much smooth sailing, no issues on the Strip trail.  There were parts with a lot of wet leaves and couple spots with a bit of roughness or debris, but it was not bad and I was proceeding with caution.  I saw various other gated entrances to the trail that would presumably open when the developments are finished...(hoping they aren't private entrances). The trail on the Downtown side of the Allegheny beyond that was a bit more bumpy with some worn concrete seams, but no problems here either.  The ramp up to Ft. Pitt behind the museum is nice now that it has been repaired this summer.  And I got to see one of many of these amusing little contraptions on the rail line along the South Side Trail going through Station Square:

Unfortunately, as I have heard, the South Side trail shortcut is officially closed off.  Be prepared to dismount as they somehow think that loose gravel is a great surface for bicycles to ride upon:

I took the streets the rest of the way to the office and luckily, no bad car interactions. I also found out that my waterproof rain pants are no longer so water proof.  Sigh:

Life is like riding a bicycle

"Life is like riding a bicycle: to keep your balance, you must keep moving."

I loved this when I saw it this weekend on a trip with my mom and some other ladies in Berlin, OH (Amish country).

There are times in my life, when I need my training wheels, when I need someone, God, a friend, a family member to hold me up and keep me balanced.  But when the training wheels are to come off, I need to keep moving or I will tip over.  If I'm too afraid to start, I will never get anywhere. If I'm too afraid of where I'm "supposed" to go, I'll never get there.

We all have seasons in life, and I feel like right now, I'm starting to get back my confidence and trying to not rely on the crutch of my training wheels.  In my spiritual life, I have been agonizing over my lack of prayer, my lack of discipline.  I wonder about the "right" way to do it. I worry about going the wrong direction and relying too much on my own power and getting into a accident because I went the wrong way.  I forget that the "wrong choices" can often be teaching moments and point me to turn around into the right direction.  Sure, it'd be better to avoid them, but if I'm not moving because I'm afraid to fail, I've failed before I've even started.

In a way, it's better for us to see God as a parent who wants us to always come to them in all situations like a child.  But God also wants us to be able to ride that bike without needing their hand on the back seat. To be sure, God is never far in case of trouble and to cheer us on, but perhaps we need to have more confidence in ourselves, in our God-given ability to make good choices and to do good things? This does not mean that we don't need God desperately, it just means that like recognizing a health practitioner's God-given talents to heal, perhaps we need to see those qualities in us and trust them as though they were the words of God saying, "do this," ?

So for me, right now, I'm finding this "keep moving" mantra to be very helpful. God is good about letting me know when I need to turn around or avoid a pothole or go in a different direction when we need to, it's the staying still that keeps us from moving or growing.  Or not getting back up when we do fall down.  I think that is often how our faith plays out: moving forward in confidence that God has our back as we keep going, keeping open to new directions as they present themselves and listening for God's voice if we do need to go in a different direction.

I do think it's also dangerous to be puffed up and think we are beyond God's help or guidance or rest.  This in itself is a balancing act.  Gratitude is the key: it's where we take our own efforts and bring it back to God as the source of our abilities.  When we live in gratitude and humility, it becomes less about what we are doing and how we are doing it, and more about enjoying the experience in the moment.  When I've ridden my bicycle, there are times when I'm too focused on the destination and technique and time that cause me grief and frustration, or there are those enthralling moments when the wind is in my hair and I feel free and overwhelming gratitude.  I think that latter example is how God wants us to enjoy and experience life.  Not that all is daisies, but gratitude, when it also applies to the hard stuff in life, is a powerful thing that can drastically change our outlook on a situation.  We keep moving, but we keep moving in gratitude and awareness.

Just keep moving, y'all.

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EDIT: I realize that this post is almost counter to other posts I've made and maybe swinging more on the Free Will end of things (here's another post where I talk about that paradox of being).  I'm not sure how to square these two realities: that I need God to even breathe, but I have been given Free Will too and I have a sort of power on my own, limited though it may be.  I feel right now that I'm more on the side of the pendulum that says to "move" and "act" and be confident in the abilities God already gave me.  Also, there is my relationship I have with God...I do believe that sharing life with God and recognizing the "God things" is more the point of our faith anyway.  It's not really about doing great spiritual things, it's about growing closer to the heart of the Creator of the Universe.  The action and gratitude can then come naturally out of that relationship.

"clusterFlock"

concept for Flock of Cycles group ride. A "clusterFlock" is a large chaotic group of cyclists. We try to stay away from clusterFlocking at Flock of Cycles...

Pic-a-day Down! (again)

So with my recent incident involving my bike bag being stolen off of the back of my bike (WHILE riding up a hill), one of the many things taken was my camera.

(BIG sad face)

This means that once again, my pic-a-day has screeched to a grinding halt. I did not even make the one-year mark, so this makes me very sad indeed.

I still like the idea of doing one small creative thing a day so I'm kicking around new ideas that wouldn't include a camera. Sketch-a-day? Random thought of the day? Quick story or poem a day? In the meantime, I'll be on hiatus, so I will try to think of something to replace my daily photo posting.

I'll start with this perspective of the day:
Even though I had a lot of important stuff taken from me, I still have my physical health and I will actually be OK. The kid who took my stuff is actually in worse shape...on the path to jail or worse. So, no matter what you are going through, it's good to remember, there's always another side to a story, and there's always someone worse off than you.

Moderation? What's that??

My life has been taken over by bikes and biking events.

I've recently taken a TON of bicycling event pictures.

I noticed that in the past week, I've been neglecting my pic-a-day blog.
I haven't even taken the pictures to post.

Here's the ONE picture I took last week:


Inspiring.

This leads me to realize that my work ethic also matches my motivation in personal projects: When I go gungho over something, or overkill on a project, it is certain that there will be a long period of "slump time" to follow. This slump time often includes thoughts of, "Perhaps I should actually do something?", but often devolves to spending useless hours on the internets...

All before my next wave of motivation comes along. More like, tsunami of motivation, then an extended drought.

It kinda works in a way, but it's ultimately tiring and unsustainable.
(kind of LIKE THIS)

I hope I can somehow get to the point where I can actually do things in moderation... You know, break down projects into smaller parts and tackle them daily. Log those sales items as I go instead of wait for them to amass into a monstrosity that I try to ignore like a pink elephant. Actually take the zero extra seconds to throw the laundry into the basket instead of on the floor.

Maybe I should just embrace my way of doing things? Maybe I need to just accept that I'm like this and just go with the flow and not worry about how it ultimately gets done?

Or maybe I should go put my clean laundry away right now instead of procrastinating on the internet talking about it?

.....

Nah...

Guess that Phone Number

Tag for Tag-o-Rama

Wet Ride

Ever notice when it rains that bright colors really pop? I like that.

Bike (Gear) Rack

Once was Lost, but Now is Found

Into the Mist

Cycle Feet

Another Bike Shirt! New Pic-a-day Theme...

So I have a new concept to go along with Pic-a-day to give it some focus.

I plan on picking up an element from the previous day's picture and incorporating it into the next day's photo. Yesterday I took a picture of my dual screens, which has a picture of a railroad crossing with a bike symbol etched on it. Today, I'm carrying over the bike theme to the cool new shirt my housemates got for me.

We'll see how this goes...try to spot the transitions. :)

Rose Ride

I swung by Consol to see my mom and her best friend before they went to the Pens game and she got me these roses from a homeless dude. :)

Hot Metal Shadows

Friday the 18th

Riding the Jail Trail

Thursday the 17th

Ooo, new shiny chain, etc

Sunday, Feb 27

Race to Anyplace

Saturday, Feb 26

I Heart My Bike

Got to ride it for the first time in a while today!

It's Like Christmas!

I got back my bike AND my camera back from their respective shops. Oooo, look how shiny my new rear derailleur looks!

Operation Bike Clean

Wednesday (actually Tues)
FAILED - it was mostly clean, but the rust took over the chain and I couldn't get the front derailleur and rear brake completely fixed either.