The Batcycle – Bicycle Ride

Sunday, August 14, 2011
6-8pm
Meet at Dippy The Dino in Oakland

Image via Wikipedia

To celebrate the new Batman movie being filmed in Pittsburgh, we will go on a Batman themed ride. Dress up like Batman, Robin, or any other Batman character, although costumes are not required. Decorate your bicycle if you’d like. This is a no-drop ride at a relatively slow pace. We will swing by downtown filming locations, and get as close as we can to the road closures. This ride will end at Dippy. Bring your family and of course kids are more than welcome. Rain does not cancel, helmets are required, and our route length will be around 10 miles or less.

Click here for the entire BikeFest Calendar.

Image via Wikipedia

We haven’t heard of any cornhole tournaments in awhile.  While the sport certainly has become pretty popular here in Western PA – if you are new to the game.  Cornhole is kind of like horseshoes but played with bean bags instead of heavy metal objects – probably much safer than horseshoes.

Gilda’s Club is hosting a Cornhole Tournament on Saturday, August 20, 2011 – spend an afternoon tossing some bean bags, meeting some of the great people from Gilda’s Club and supporting a good cause.

Fight Cancer with Cornhole
Saturday, August 20, 2011 @ Noon
Gilda’s Club, 2816 Smallman St., Pittsburgh PA
Register Here - $25
Facebook Event - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=104632082971337

Looking for a cornhole league?

It looks like there is still space in the PSL fall cornhole leauge – which meets Tuesday nights at the Double Wide Grill (Sept. 13- Nov. – get the details here.

Image by paukrus via Flickr

Pittsburgh has been gaining quite a bit of attention from other places for our bicycle friendly community.  This is due in large part to the hard work of the folks at BikePgh and the people in Pittsburgh who ride their bikes and want to make this a better place for all bike riders.

Even if you don’t have a bike or like to ride a bike (the only bike I have been on in the past 10 years is the spinning bike – I am great at pedaling and going nowhere) – we can all celebrate the community of cyclists that are putting Pittsburgh on the national map as a place for cyclists.

So there is a lot of stuff happening in town for cyclists of all levels this weekend

FRIDAY is National Bike to Work Day

BikePgh has got breakfast ready for anyone who is biking to work:

• Market Square: 7:30 to 9:30
• Carnegie Mellon, University Center Merson Courtyard: 7:30 to 10:00
• Chatham University, Pond area adjacent to the Mellon Center: 7:30 to 10:00
• Whole Foods, Shadyside/East Liberty: 7:30 to 10:30
• REI, South Side Works: 8:00 to 10:00

Check out how much you can save with the Car Free Calculator

Pick up your sticker tomorrow morning at one of the breakfast spots and save even more – BikePGH has lined up some great discounts with local businesses – check out the entire list here.

SUNDAY is Pedal Pittsburgh

Each year the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh (CDCP) hosts Pedal Pittsburgh.  An annual bike ride around the city with routes for every level of cyclist.  This year’s event starts and ends at SouthSide Works. There are 6 different routes around the city from 6 to 60 miles long.  A great way to check out Pittsburgh on two wheels and to support the CDCP.

Looking for more bike rides? Check out the BikePGH calendar which lists many different rides that are open to everyone all around the city.

Image courtesy of Tree Pittsburgh

On Sunday, March 6 from 10am to 2pm at the Double Wide Grill on the South Side you get all you can eat pancakes for $10 and your donation goes directly to benefit Tree Pittsburgh – an environmental non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the City’s vitality by restoring and protecting City trees.  Why should you attend?  Well, pancakes are delicious (and there is a vegan option), you get free coffee and potatoes as well, tunes from Big Snow Big Thaw, and street trees are a critical element for a livable urban environment.  Are you one of those people that includes a link on your Facebook page every time Pittsburgh gets voted ‘most livable city’ (possibly including the comment ‘suck it, Portland’)?  Well street trees are a huge part of reducing our City’s pollution* and there is still a long way to go in improving our air quality.  Who knows?  Your $10 just might end up helping to promote Pittsburgh to most livable city in the world!

For more information on Pittsburgh’s urban forest, info on street tree plantings in your neighborhood, and to learn about becoming an official tree tender to help care for Pittsburgh’s trees visit the Tree Pittsburgh’s website!

RSVP for breakfast on Facebook!

*Leaves filter the air we breathe by removing dust and other particulates. Leaves absorb carbon dioxide and other pollutants from the air such as ozone, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide.  In exchange, trees give off vital oxygen.

Those crazy kids from Urban Hike like to wrap up the hiking season with an annual scavenger hunt.  This year the hunt heads to Lawrenceville.

Spend the afternoon hunting for clues and answering trivia questions with your friends.  Take funny photos and compete for awesome prizes while checking out one of Pittsburgh fine neighborhoods.

Urban Hike Lawrenceville Scavenger Hunt
Saturday, October 23, 2010

Meet at 1pm sharp at the corner of 46th Street and Butler Street in Lawrenceville. We will hand out maps/clues and send teams off at 1pm — if you are late you will lose valuable clue-hunting time!

Form a team of up to 5 people. Friends busy that day? Come on your own and we’ll put you on a team of new friends. Bring one camera per team, and don’t forget a cable to download photos at the end. A pen/pencil might be helpful to write down answers.

The whole shebang should take around 4 hours. We’ll be clue hunting for 2 and 1/2 hours, then scoring, drinking, and awarding prizes! If the weather looks threatening, never fear – just grab your raincoat and your galoshes because we will be there rain or shine.

Questions? Contact info@urbanhike.com

Facebook Event for Lawrenceville Scavenger Hunt – http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=159391790757408

Here are a few of my favorite organizations who were represented at the event:

The Green Chef PA is a collection of four lovely women based in Sewickley who are on a mission to change the way people think about, shop for and prepare food. They were preparing a few of their favorite fresh and fast treats for the crowd to munch on while they were checking out the event. They offer catering, personal chef services, instruction and gardening resources. Everything they make is prepared from scratch and made with the freshest local ingredients possible.

Buy Fresh Buy Local is a lovely website devoted to being a central resource for over a thousand places to find local food in Pennsylvania.

The Rachel Carson Homestead Association is planning a HUGE bash on the Rachel Carson bridge (9th Street bridge) to celebrate the anniversary of Silent Spring‘s publication later this summer. More details have yet to be published, we’ll keep you posted!

Soergel Orchards in Wexford is having a special Earth Day celebration on Saturday, April 17 from 11am-4pm, and you can get 10% off of your purchase in the market when you bring your own bag and enjoy lots of family friendly activities. Check out Soergel’s Organic and Natural Foods Department for all natural and gluten free selections as well as the fresh and natural dairy products.

EcoCents Pittsburgh is a great resource for all things green, fresh and local. Pick up a copy of their 2010 Pittsburgh’s Green Guide for valuable coupons and special offers for yoga, outdoor activities, restaurant discounts and so much more. Businesses featured in the Green Guide are all committed to supporting the environment and Pittsburgh’s local economy.

Harvest Valley Farms offers a great community supported agriculture (CSA) program with full and half shares available. Pick up locations are scattered across the Pittsburgh area.

yumpittsburgh is making connections between local food and their eaters and is a project of Penn State.

Milestone Specialty Produce grows the most delicious hydroponic lettuce I’ve ever tasted. Their lettuce is served in several Big Burrito and Eat N Park Hospitality Group restaurants. You can also buy a head of lettuce attached to the roots for optimal freshness at the East End Food Co-op and Right By Nature.

Emerald Valley Artisan Cheese is located in beautiful Scenery Hill, PA and offers delicately flavored Formage Blanc and so much more. Orders can be placed right on their website.

Local Harvest is the best national resource for real food, real farmers, and real community. Find local farmers markets you didn’t know existed and enroll in CSA programs that aren’t already full for the season!

I was pleased to see such a great representation of resources in Western Pennsylvania dedicated to providing local, organic, fresh and healthy food to city residents who can’t get to the countryside on a regular basis. In doing research for this post and in my own quest to eat more locally produced items, I found countless resources in and around the Pittsburgh area—there are so many, I can’t list them all in one post! I plan to do a regular “Eat Local, Pittsburgh” post series here on IheartPGH. I’d love to hear your ideas of topics to cover and about those hidden gems who are providing the freshest and most nutrient rich foods in and around Pittsburgh.

Please leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of the 2010 EcoCents guide to help you take advantage of all of the great green resources this city has to offer!

Photos via robjdlc on Flickr.

Ever wanted to learn Yoga? Now’s your chance to learn it for free. Sign up to learn 6 easy moves at the free Yoga LearnIt. Yoga mats are provided free of charge, and absolutely no skill is required. RSVP required.

What: Learn Yoga for free
When: Sunday, March 28, 4pm-6pm
Where: Quiet Storm Cafe, 5430 Penn Avenue, in East End / Friendship
Click here to sign up

No experience required. Completely FREE. Just like the name says, learn some easy Yoga moves at an awesomely funky coffee house and cafe. We will provide mats and blocks. All you have to do is bring a towel. See you there! If there are any poses you want to make sure we cover, write a comment for us!

This yoga workshop is brought to you by Communiteach – a new website that was founded by 2 friends in Pittsburgh and Chicago to help people share their skills and learn new ones.  This is one of the first of many workshops from Communiteach.  I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Ben Paul, one of the founders of Communiteach, and I know there are lots more good things to come from this project.  Check out Communiteach at Communiteach.com

We have recieved numerous emails asking what to do after the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.  As you may know, Market Square is under construction (check out these articles on the impact of the construction on the Market Square businesses – Post-Gazette 2/5/2010 and Tribune Review 2/26/2010).  We are very sad to see another local business close and there are many Pittsburghers who are sad about the lack of a place to celebrate after the parade.

From The Pittsburgh Channel.com

Because of ongoing construction, the typical outdoor celebration with open containers in Market Square will not take place.Market Square restaurants will be open with beer specials, like The Original Oyster House, Primanti Brothers, Fat Tommy’s, Moe’s Southwest Grill and Las Velas Mexican Restaurant, which is going Irish for the day with breakfast burritos, Irish tacos and burritos and green margaritas.

• More Events:Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s Web Site

Open containers of alcohol are not permitted along the parade route. Pittsburgh police said anyone who violates the open container law is subject to a $200 fine.

St. Patrick’s Day Parade Info:

Saturday, March 13, 2010 – 10am
New parade route this year. Start at Greyhound station to Grant; right on Blvd. of Allies; to Stanwix & Commonwealth Place.

Be a fan of the Pittsburgh St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Facebook and follow @PghStPatsParade on Twitter

Please share any St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations here in the comments – maybe we can organize a new venue for post parade celebrations.

Image by santoshnc via Flickr

If  you guessed orchids you are correct.   This is the last week for the orchid show at Phipps Conservatory in Oakland.  You can stop by Phipps Conservatory to check out the orchids and learn more about one of Troy Polamalu‘s hobbies.  While you are there you can enter to win a football signed by Troy Polamalu too.

Love orchids? So does Troy Polamalu. Visit Phipps this week to be entered into a free raffle to win a football signed by the Steelers safety, whose hobbies include growing and caring for orchids at his home.

He’s not alone; since the time of the ancient Greeks and Aztecs, people have revered orchids for their beauty and mystique. At Phipps, rare and colorful orchids are on display in a number of rooms including a large and varied collection in the Orchid and Serpentine Rooms. (No purchase necessary. One chance to win per person. Drawing will be held Sun., Feb. 28 at 4 p.m. in the conservatory’s Welcome Center. Winner will be notified by e-mail, and need not be present at time of drawing.)

Warm up with Tropical Sunday’s at Phipps too.  Steel drum band will perform between 1-3pm.

Tropical Sundays At Phipps

Every Sunday in February you can shed the winter blues and relax under the palm trees from 1-3 p.m. and sway to the music from a steel drum band. Plus, wear a tropical flower shirt and get in for half price!

Orchid Show runs through February 28, 2010
Phipps Conservatory is located in Oakland across from Flagstaff Hill
Phipps is open daily from 9:30 am to 5 pm and until 10 pm on Friday

Some more blog posts about orchids:

• How Orchids Are Some Of The Best Indoor Plant For Color? (stepbysteptips.com)
• Let orchid rebloom before cutting old flower stalks: Ask OSU Extension (cleveland.com)
• World’s tiniest orchid (boingboing.net)

Calling all zip car drivers and zip car wanna be drivers.  The folks from Zip Cary have organized a little zippity happy hour of sorts.

What is ZipCar?

ZipCar is a car sharing company.  You sign up and become a member, they send you a membership card with a microchip.  There are ZipCars in designated ZipCar parking spots around Pittsburgh.  When you want to use a car – you visit ZipCar.com and reserve the car you would like – the website lets you see which cars are available.  Then you walk to the car and hold your membership card over the windshield.  The doors unlock and the keys are in the car.  You pay an hourly rate that is about $10 an hour (more or less depending on which car you drive). The hourly rate includes gas and insurance.

Another great feature of ZipCar is that your membership works in any ZipCar city – when I was in Los Angeles last year I was able to use the ZipCars there just by reserving them online.

Thinking of signing up for ZipCar? Use this link and you will get $50 in  Free Driving. Join Zipcar and get $50 in free driving!

ZipCar Party
Friday, February 26, 2010 5-7pm
Easy Street Saloon, One Oxford Center

We’ll still be providing two complimentary drinks and plenty of apps for every Zipster who makes it out. And we’ll also have our prize wheel on hand, so you can spin for driving credit or Zipcar gear.

If your friend or friends can make it next week, bring ‘em by. If they sign up for Zipcar, we’ll give you both $75 in driving credit once they’re approved*.

Send a note to rsvppitt@zipcar.com to let us know if you’re planning to make it out on February 26 and tell us how many soon-to-be Zipsters you’re bringing so we can be sure to order enough food.

Read more about ZipCar:

• A Car When You Want It (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)
• Car Sharing Program A Success, but Plans to Expand are Tentative (laist.com)
• Zipcar iPhone App Makes Car-Sharing Even Better (as Long as You Don’t Abuse Remote Honking) (treehugger.com)
• Zipcar Launches iPhone App With Magical Car Unlocking Powers [Zipcar] (consumerist.com)
• Zipcar Halts Rentals Of Recalled Toyotas (TM) (benzinga.com)