I got up late after a nice lie in and Maggie cooked me eggs and bacon for breakfast. After gathering my things and sorting out a few internet errands, I said goodbye to Maggie and went with Bob on a bicycle tour of the city. The Great Allegheny bike trail took us into the city and the final sections of it have recently been opened, connecting the Pittsburgh and Washington D.C.
Our first stop was the bike shop 'Thick bikes' as I needed a new set of tyres for my bike. The rear had worn down a lot quicker than expected through a combination of the weight on the back of the bike and the rough roads and shoulders that I've been riding on. I bought a folding tyre to carry in my panniers and changed the rear tyre there for a new wire-bead one. Unfortunately the latter was to cause a lot of problems throughout the day. Only 200m down the road from the bike shop I noticed the tyre wasn't holding air and we had to turn around to go back. Back at the bike shop, on trying to re-inflate my squishy tyre, the bike mechanic burst my inner tube! Luckily they gave me a free replacement and soon we were back on the road heading for the city. On the way I noticed the tyre rubbing against the frame and thought it just needed a quick readjustment and we'd fix it later. Whilst at the shop I had a go on a massive thick tyred mountain bike, designed for riding in the snow. It was bizarre riding something with tyres probably 10 times wider than my road bike, but a lot of fun at the same time! "Does that thing ride on water?", shouted one of the workmen nearby as I rode it around the street. I almost imagine it would!
We stopped for lunch in 'The Strip District' (not what you think!) at 'Primanti Bros' where I had a 'Pitts-burger' sandwich. The sandwiches are served in a traditional way, with all the chips, coleslaw and tomatoes between the bread with the burger. This came from when workers wanted to have something they could eat with one hand, whilst working with the other (sort of similar to how Cornish pasties came about). The sandwich was delicious and very filling!
Afterwards, Bob showed me around a few of the market shops along 'The Strip' where we saw spice shops, fish shops selling all kinds of seafood and a very large cheese shop which isn't too common over here.
I was due to meet my next Warmshowers host at 4:30 at 'The Point', where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers join to become the Ohio river. Bob and I headed across there at about 4 and dipped into the fountain there to cool off. Its been very hot and humid around here over the past few days and the water helped cool us down. Whilst there I thought I'd have a go at adjusting the rear wheel to stop it rubbing. Unfortunately the new tyre was just that much bigger than the last, and no matter how I adjusted it there was going to be somewhere that rubbed. I decided to switch it for the folding tyre I bought, which fit much better and gave plenty of clearance, success! Bob took the other tyre with him on his way back to see if we can refund it, but at least I had one new tyre now for the next leg of the journey.
Once Abe, my next host, arrived I gave my thanks to Bob and he headed home. Abe and I then cycled the roughly 15 miles over to Moon on the outskirts of Pittsburgh through the hot and humid heat. On the way, and having thought I'd had my fair share of mechanical problems for the day, my rack decided to detatch itself from the frame and send a screw flying. Fortunately we were able to recover the screw and fix the rack; it had probably just come loose from all the fiddling with the rear tyre today.
At Abe's house I met his Mum and Dad, who cooked beef burgers for us and we chatted about misunderstandings and differences between English and American (Abe laughed when I asked where the 'loo' was!).
Tomorrow its back onto cycling, heading into Ohio and up to Akron. Hopefully less hills the further West I go until I hit the Rockies!
Our first stop was the bike shop 'Thick bikes' as I needed a new set of tyres for my bike. The rear had worn down a lot quicker than expected through a combination of the weight on the back of the bike and the rough roads and shoulders that I've been riding on. I bought a folding tyre to carry in my panniers and changed the rear tyre there for a new wire-bead one. Unfortunately the latter was to cause a lot of problems throughout the day. Only 200m down the road from the bike shop I noticed the tyre wasn't holding air and we had to turn around to go back. Back at the bike shop, on trying to re-inflate my squishy tyre, the bike mechanic burst my inner tube! Luckily they gave me a free replacement and soon we were back on the road heading for the city. On the way I noticed the tyre rubbing against the frame and thought it just needed a quick readjustment and we'd fix it later. Whilst at the shop I had a go on a massive thick tyred mountain bike, designed for riding in the snow. It was bizarre riding something with tyres probably 10 times wider than my road bike, but a lot of fun at the same time! "Does that thing ride on water?", shouted one of the workmen nearby as I rode it around the street. I almost imagine it would!
We stopped for lunch in 'The Strip District' (not what you think!) at 'Primanti Bros' where I had a 'Pitts-burger' sandwich. The sandwiches are served in a traditional way, with all the chips, coleslaw and tomatoes between the bread with the burger. This came from when workers wanted to have something they could eat with one hand, whilst working with the other (sort of similar to how Cornish pasties came about). The sandwich was delicious and very filling!
Afterwards, Bob showed me around a few of the market shops along 'The Strip' where we saw spice shops, fish shops selling all kinds of seafood and a very large cheese shop which isn't too common over here.
I was due to meet my next Warmshowers host at 4:30 at 'The Point', where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers join to become the Ohio river. Bob and I headed across there at about 4 and dipped into the fountain there to cool off. Its been very hot and humid around here over the past few days and the water helped cool us down. Whilst there I thought I'd have a go at adjusting the rear wheel to stop it rubbing. Unfortunately the new tyre was just that much bigger than the last, and no matter how I adjusted it there was going to be somewhere that rubbed. I decided to switch it for the folding tyre I bought, which fit much better and gave plenty of clearance, success! Bob took the other tyre with him on his way back to see if we can refund it, but at least I had one new tyre now for the next leg of the journey.
Once Abe, my next host, arrived I gave my thanks to Bob and he headed home. Abe and I then cycled the roughly 15 miles over to Moon on the outskirts of Pittsburgh through the hot and humid heat. On the way, and having thought I'd had my fair share of mechanical problems for the day, my rack decided to detatch itself from the frame and send a screw flying. Fortunately we were able to recover the screw and fix the rack; it had probably just come loose from all the fiddling with the rear tyre today.
At Abe's house I met his Mum and Dad, who cooked beef burgers for us and we chatted about misunderstandings and differences between English and American (Abe laughed when I asked where the 'loo' was!).
Tomorrow its back onto cycling, heading into Ohio and up to Akron. Hopefully less hills the further West I go until I hit the Rockies!
