October 20, 2021
All Aboard!
Carole dropped the bike and me off in front of Washington Union Station and we rolled through the marble lobby to the Amtrak check-in. The station agent put a tag on the bike and said when you are boarding, just roll up to the train and they will tell you what to do.
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The train was on time and I was the first bike in the boarding line. The boarding agent on the track just pointed to an open freight door and said "In there." Not real clear what to do, but looked inside and it was the self service kind of wall hanging rack. When I did this in Jacksonville and DC in the past they wanted to load and unload the bike - not any more. Nice part about a bikepacking setup - I didn't have to remove any of my bags from the bike.
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That was pretty easy but the 7 other cyclists behind me hit a snag - the luggage handlers had dumped suitcases in front of 3 of the hanging racks. Not sure how that got sorted out.
The 7.5 hour train ride went smoothly, we actually arrived a few minutes early in Pittsburgh at about 11:45 PM. Down to the baggage car, unhook/unload my bike, roll out to Liberty Street for what was supposed to be a short .3 mile, 3 block ride to the Marriott Courtyard.
I clipped on a taillight, turned on my headlight, clicked in my shoes and started out. I had memorized the simple directions from the Amtrak station to the hotel: Start out to the left on Liberty, Right on 11th, Left on Penn -piece of cake.
Not sure what the problem was - my lack of experience riding in the dark, or the downtown Pittsburgh habit of giving many streets two different names, since I never saw 11th Street. I turned on the Wahoo Bolt to use the map, but didn't have backlighting on - not much help in the dark. I finally found the street but kept going back and forth over loose manhole covers and through clouds of funny-smelling smoke coming from folks at the small parks at the end of many blocks because I never saw a Marriott Courtyard sign.
Turns out the sign is at the perfect height if you are riding a giraffe or flying in a helicopter - but almost invisible from street level. I finally walked the bike up the sidewalk and found it after 3 miles of riding rather than 1/3. The final indignity was Marriott giving me a room that not only was the farthest from the elevator but required taking the bike down a set of stairs to reach the room!
Today's ride: 3 miles (5 km)
Total: 3 miles (5 km)
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