Bike Pittsburgh

Inspiration

http://www.streetsblog.org/2007/08/17/for-your-weekend-viewing-pleasure-portland/

RE: Inspiration

I spent last weekend in Portland, and the bike facilities are nothing short of amazing, as is the entire town. Enough so that I've caught a serious west-coast bug. If I'm going to live in a shitty job market, it might as well be somewhere with some real public transit and actual energy about the place. I have to seriously consider renting out my house, liquidating my belongings and giving it a go. For once in my life, I have nothing to stop me.

RE: Inspiration

I think it's important to remember that folks in Portland have been working for a very long time to get where they are, and they got there because folks worked hard to affect change. Pittsburgh is certainly lagging far behind, but thanks to the critical mass started by Bike-PGH, we're getting better.

I don't mean that as a jab to Brad, either--I'm sure most of us at one time or another have considered moving to a more bike-friendly city.

RE: Inspiration

Absolutely.

I'm internally struggling with... Do I move and live in a city as I'd like to see it while I'm young, or spend my days working towards that goal in my hometown to maybe see it complete by the time I'm too old to enjoy it completely? Single and with a job I hold no loyalty to also figures into my current state of mind.

RE: Inspiration

I also spent the week in Portland, and I too was impressed.

Portland has a few things going for it that Pittsburgh never will: it is much flatter and the weather is milder. It rained a lot while I was there, but most of it was light showers, not thunderstorms. The Public transit was pretty kickass, I hopped on the light rail downtown and rode it out the the airport.

Pittsburgh was mad at me on my return. My first commute was cold and wet. I had to walk most of the 40th street bridge as the sidealk was a mess of snow and slush too deep to ride in, and I was turned back on the RR access road between the 40th and 63nd street bridges, forcing me to ride up and over the Friday st between Millvale and Etna. I arrived to work pretty late and helped to push a DHL truck out of our driveway, finishing off the coating of slush and ice on my clothes.

Welcome back indeed.

Winter won't last forever.

RE: Inspiration

I hear ya. I'm pretty sick of dealing with this crappy weather. Then, of course, I read the posts on this blog and think I've got it pretty easy....

RE: Inspiration

I hear you... I moved from a bike friendly city of Boulder, CO to here in 8/06. Its different to say the least.

One really nice thing about mtb biking here is just the amount of trails that are in easy access to the city and the ratio of trails per acre of land compared to out west.

Also being a city, on my commute its nice having the cars slowed down because of stop signs, low speed limits and traffic. Its kidn of unnerving when every car on the road is a huge SUV and the speed limits are 45. So I prefer my commute now.

But I do miss super long trails, super long climbs and most importantly the weather.

I say take the chance, you can always move back.

I will probably leave here in another year or two.

-Joe

RE: Inspiration

This thread was not meant to provide inspiration to leave Pittsburgh!!! ;)

RE: Inspiration

After rereading my post, it wuld seem that I'm thinking of leaving. I'm not. I like it here, and I think I even like the crappy weather. Builds character.

Pittsburgh has an underdog feel that I won't be replacing with the subtle smugness of a place like Portland anytime soon.

RE: Inspiration

a few months ago i finished a long trip with a few weeks of hanging out in portland - i chose portland for several reasons to end my trip in - but mostly because i was thinking about relocating there (for similar reasons as brad). after a few weeks of the "subtle smugness" (i think that is a pretty accurate description of what i was feeling but couldn't quite put to words) i missed the gritty underdogedness of pittsburgh. i guess i feel the same way about portland as i do about a lot of other places - cool to visit, but pittsburgh is my home.

RE: Inspiration

know what's cooler than portland? being able to work for something you really want and watching it happen. and that's what you'll get if you stay in pittsburgh. stay here, implement your ideas, and be a legend in your own time
:)