Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Samone, a recent addition to the Pittsburgh Bike Share team. While I’ve been doing graphic design for Pittsburgh Bike Share since their soft launch in May 2015, I’m now a part of the team as an AmeriCorps Public Ally.

Before this job, the only thing that got me on two wheels in the city was if they came with a 750cc engine. Now that I’m doing communications and design for Healthy Ride I decided it was time I get a lot more familiar with biking, bike commuting, bike routes and bike share. For my last three months in this position I’m taking a new Healthy Ride trip each week and reporting it back to you. Where do people go on bikes? What do they do? What do they wear? Who’s biking? Got any answers?

To start off my new biking endeavours I went on a group ride with the bike share staff. There were only four of us, but it was incredible. We started at the Healthy Ride office then crossed the 40th Street bridge, which led us to an opening on the North Shore trail. From there we biked along the trail to a gorgeous view of the city from Pittsburgh’s North Shore. We passed PNC Park and Heinz field then got a glimpse into the glorious Three Rivers Casino. Do people bike to casinos? I guess so, I just did.

This was a great route to start with. Crossing the 40th street bridge was initially sort-of terrifying but there really is safety in numbers. The trails were fairly flat and the views of Pittsburgh were ‘burgh-iful. I found I was noticing my surroundings more than I would have if I was driving or even walking. Even though I’m a novice rider, I was able to keep up! If you’re looking to get started biking, try this route with friends, or a biking group. Best of all, if you don’t have a bike, we’ll share one with you.

I’ll be biking through the rest of my term, providing you with route suggestions, places to go and slightly blurry mid-pedaling pics. Next up: more trails!

Follow Samone’s trips on the Healthy Ride blog, Facebook, Twitter & Insta for route tips, life-hacks and bike-hacks.