Not many things can persuade me to be at a T stop before 9 a.m. on an overcast Sunday, wearing tights and holding a bicycle.

Fortunately, Pedal Pittsburgh is one of them.

Pedal Pittsburgh, held May 16, is a splendid annual event that draws cyclists of all ages to fan out through the city's neighborhoods and bend their rims in the many scenic potholes and storm drains.

Usually, I ride on rail-trails. Biking up and down hills with SUVs clipping my knees strikes me as slightly less fun than crossing the Fort Pitt Bridge at rush hour on a pogo stick.

Pedal Pittsburgh is a rare chance for cyclists to achieve safety in numbers, so I like to seize the opportunity. And this year, I got to take the trolley, too.

Which is why I was on the platform, enduring curious looks. I don't know who invented cycling garb, but it was someone far more concerned with aerodynamics than with, say, not looking like a color-blind goober.

Padded bike tights combine all the exposure of simply painting latex over your naked lower body with the comfort feature of having a sofa cushion stuffed down your pants.

And then, of course, you have the helmet. This is a vital safety feature. I know a little something about brain injury, and if I had to wear a toilet bowl covered in brown flocked wallpaper on my head to prevent it, I would.

That said, a bike helmet is only moderately less dorky. There is no one who looks fetching in a bike helmet, for the same reason there is no one who looks fetching in a truss.

There was hardly anyone on the trolley to see me in my comical cycling ensemble, minimizing the threat to the South Hills, and at Station Square, I found Pedal Pittsburgh HQ. Soon I had an official T-shirt, a number pinned on my back and the wind in my helmet as I launched across the lots and onto the back streets of the South Side, my hair already molding itself into a bizarre sculpture.

I opted for the 15-mile route, popular with very small children and those recovering from major surgery. There were also routes covering 25, 35, 50 and 60 miles, but these rides started much earlier. If you can be all dorked out, in town and on your bicycle at 7 a.m., I say that should be enough. They should give you a hearty breakfast, perhaps a small gift, and send you home. To expect you to then bike 60 miles is just madness.

So we 15-milers zigzagged down to the Mon, along the trail in the park and across the Hot Metal Bridge. A short stretch of Second Avenue brought us to the Eliza Furnace (Jail) Trail, and we followed that to Grant Street.

We then made a big loop that took us through the cultural district, over the Ninth Street Bridge to the North Side, onto the trail along the Allegheny and up to Herrs Island, then over the 31st Street Bridge, through the Strip and back onto Grant.

The Smithfield Street Bridge deposited us back at Station Square, where lunch awaited us. It was a terrific way to spend a morning.

Pedal Pittsburgh's proceeds benefit the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh, a nonprofit that encourages good design, planning and architecture. One of the major points of the event is to get cyclists to notice the city's trails, neighborhoods, parks and buildings, stuff you may miss or tune out on your usual commute while you are busy swearing at the taillights in front of you and trying not to spill your latte.

What did I notice? I was surprised to find the cultural district jam-packed at 10 on a Sunday morning with kids towing their parents to "Dora the Explorer Live!" I rode through crowds coming out of church on the North Side. I saw new businesses Downtown and ducks and geese along the rivers.

I also saw abandoned buildings and graffiti on the historical markers on the trails, and I couldn't see anything on the 31st Street Bridge because I was staring in terror at the horrifically scarred, pocked and crumbling pavement as it tried repeatedly to eat my bike. Having gotten a close-up look at it, I think cars would be safer on a ferry pulled across the river on a cable.

I saw a lot of things that gave me hope. I saw some things that disappointed me. I saw some things that were downright disturbing.

And I'm not talking just about bike tights.