Ambassador Boom's Oakland Loop

On Sunday, October 18th a few members of BOOM Family embarked on their 3rd official ride of the season. This month’s ride was titled the Oakland Loop. The 7-mile ride from Garfield to Oakland and back used connecting bike infrastructure. What made this specific route unique is the various types of infrastructure with which it engages and intersects in order to complete the ride. Riders engaged shared roads, protected bike lanes, buffered bike lanes, contraflow lanes, turn boxes, trails, and low traffic roadways to safely commute to Oakland back to our home station. 

As Pittsburgh moves deeper into the fall, we are beginning to see the color changing of the leaves. Any Pittsburgher knows that we have a beautiful change of color in this season and Schenley Park is a great place to see that in full effect. The route took us through Schenley park past Phipps on the  protected 2 way bike lane, and continued on through the Dino park and the South Oakland neighborhood. While the hills were not huge, we still had a few of them to tackle  as a team. However, everyone enjoyed breaking a quick sweat to get through the route.

This ride was a little long but if you are looking to build your skills and to experience new infrastructure, this is a great route for you. Riders will get a chance to engage Pittsburgh's new Contraflow lane on Forbes and the City’s first ever traffic light for cyclists. This much needed piece of infrastructure created a a connector from Forbes and Craig that doesn't require cyclists to take 5th Ave all the way through to get to the center of Pitt’s campus. Please download the Ride Spot App, grab a Healthy Ride bike, and give it a try. Don't forget to take pictures and tag BOOM Concepts and Healthy Ride on all social media!