Weekend update

Saturday:
Scouting for the backbone route of next year's brevet series. Jim and I started in Meadowlands, cruised down to Monongahela via Mingo Creek Park, then crossed the Mon and headed up the hill to Rehoboth (Church) Rd. Over to Perryopolis, then some back roads to just past Vanderbilt (about 10 miles short of Ohiopyle), and back via more-or-less the same route. Nice route...challenging, due more to continuous elevation change than to any set of notable climbs.
Notable:
Turkey Hollow-->Indian/Iron Hill Rd up from 906 to get up to Finley Rd and Rehoboth. Much preferable to Tyrol Rd up from Monessen.
Middle segment of Maplewood Rd. "Unimproved" does not do it justice: dirt lovers with cross tires would be in heaven, so long as the brambles and nearly impassable hard-packed ruts do not offend. Would be dangerous in the rain, and deadly in darkness. In dry daylight, was loads of fun.

Sunday:
Riding around town for "recovery ride". Briefly lost my mind and decided that climbing Sycamore fell under the heading of recovery; cured myself of that delusion about half-way up, but was suffering too much to turn around and give up. Also almost killed myself bombing down Pius, as there were either recent street repairs with a poor level of fit and finish, or someone was building a 1:5 scale-model replica of WW1 trench warfare across 75% of the street. Spun up through Junction Hollow to CMU and Schenley, then over to Greenfield via Pocusset and back to town for more aimless riding.
Notable:
Spring has sprung. Saw more cyclists just today than I've seen in aggregate since January.