[note] Say hello to Iva!  She comes to IheartPGH with photo skills and a super camera!  We’re excited for more of her posts that will have way better photos than the ones from my sad little Blackberry camera.  Check out her awesome photos from the East End Brewing Keg ride last weekend [/note]

Cyclists love getting together and riding in absurdly large groups.  I believe we’re entertained by the idea of being a spectacle — children shout “Wow! Bicycles!”, people stand on stoops taking video with flip cameras, traffic patterns react to the bikes and not the other way around.  And, in my experience, cyclists LOVE beer.  Why else would Pittsburgh have a bicycle bar on the South Side and maybe the most popular cycling jersey in town is the Big Hop jersey.

East End Brewing has it’s finger on that pulse.  The 8th annual Pedal Pale keg ride sold out 600 registrations — after adding an extra hundred registration slots four days before ride.  Proceeds from registration fees went to ABOARD’s autism connection and BikePGH.   Someone even donated $250 to pull a keg!

Part of the magic of the Pedal keg ride is that the destination is kept a secret, right up until the kegs pull over.  Beginning at the brewery’s new location on Frankstown Avenue   The procession mostly meandered through the beautiful neighborhood of Highland Park, making a full loop around the reservoir.  Then, 600 cyclists descended upon Station Street Hot Dogs, tapped some tasty kegs and destroyed hot dogs like it was our job.

Check out more photos at BikePGH’s public Flickr group!