I’ve been very fortunate to spend the past four years in Pittsburgh, and I’ve developed a great fondness for this city. Now of course, most of this is due to the wonderful time1 I had at school and the amazing people I’ve met here. But a nontrivial part of my attachment to Pittsburgh is derived from the fact that this is where I picked up cycling as a hobby. Growing up, I always enjoyed riding my bike, but it was on the trails of Pittsburgh that I first came to think of myself as a cyclist. I’m excited to graduate college and start the next chapter of my life, but I’m also a bit sad to go.
I’ve done bike rides in far more famous places—from the glorious Pacific coastline to the legendary peaks of the Alps—but the trails and roads of Pittsburgh will always hold a special place in my heart. So, the day before I left Pittsburgh for good,2 I thought it’d be nice to take one last slow, meandering ride along the trails I so love.
I set out from my apartment in Oakland and rode a loop around the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, exactly as I’ve done so many times in the past few years. There were a couple of minor complications to keep things interesting, of course—there was a small road closure, and the air quality was a bit suspect given the recent Canadian wildfire smoke.
A highlight of the trip was covering some new ground; I rode through Herrs Island (also known as Washington’s Landing), a small island in the middle of the Allegheny River. I’d previously been on the island, but I had never gone all the way to the northern tip of the island, which actually contains a pretty nice park. Sadly, the park was infested with the highly invasive spotted lanternfly. The fountain was on at the Point today, which is always a bonus.
Anyway, as a somewhat sentimental person (I think), it’s a bit sad to leave Pittsburgh; I don’t know when I’ll next get a chance to ride here. Two summers ago, I never imagined that I was doing my last loop of the Montour trail. The workout routes that used to form the bread-and-butter of my riding will also be sorely missed, and of course the GAP as well. I’ll even miss the ridiculous climbs.
I find that it’s somewhat easy to get stuck in the CMU bubble within Pittsburgh; cycling was what allowed me to break out of that and feel like I was really part of the city, and I’ll always be thankful for that.