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Mais oui, the biggest bike museum is where? Well, Steeltown, Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.

Not that you’d want to parler that around France where the biggest cycling competition, Le Tour, is currently raging.

But the sports-mad blue-collar East Coast American city might just have stolen a wheel on you here.

Morrow belongs to me: Craig in his museum

Especially Craig Morrow, who opened Bicycle Heaven in 2011, and has filled it with more than 3,000 bikes.

All of which I ferreted out from a nugget of knowledge from the Visit Pittsburgh team.

And who visited and sponsored the American Soiree travel symposium in Dublin last week.

And showcased their route from Pittsburgh to Washington DC, the Great Allegheny Passage.

Tour de Pittsburgh

Off on a tandem: The Monkees contraption

The 333.3-mile week-long track that adjoins C&O Canal Towpath… or maybe 45- to 60-mile bicycling days.

All of which requires the back-up of a Tour de France support team… or in the absence of that then Craig Morrow.

The thing is that you probably know about Cycling Heaven without realising it.

From Russell Crowe movies (A Beautiful Mind) or Viola Davies (Fences) to The Monkees and The Beatles.

To tread through Cycling Heaven is a ride through cycling history.

From the early wooden bikes, with the oldest in the shop, built in 1863, termed the ‘boneshaker’.

To the carbon-based frames of today.

With the novelty contraptions such as the ‘Hercules’ where you bounce on the seat to get going.

And I reckon I’d be a natural having pedalled my own Margaritas in San Antonio in Texas.

Now if you’ve got a spare $18,000 to $50,000 then you could leave with a 1940s fibreglass Bowden Spacelander.

That it’s Pittsburgh that boasts the biggest cycling museum in the world shouldn’t really surprise us.

Because the Penn city combines its industrial heritage and the eclectic vision of its favourite son Andy Warhol to draw the world.

How to get there

Fun and Games: With a Paralympian champ Mark Rohan in Quinta do Lago

And Aer Lingus will fly you there through Ireland with pre-clearance and JetBlue get you back.

So that if, as is my case, that means starting in Edinburgh, until my Scary One relents and allows us to return full time to Wicklow.

For now though I’ve dug out my own return flight Edinburgh to Pittsburgh knowing your departure point may be different.

From under a grand £957 round trip for the sample month of September.

And as the Alt-Right tries to wage a Second American Revolution in the US a look at the revolutions we do need.

The air

And clearly the challenge is carbon emissions where EasyJet can take a bow.

The budget airline topped a London School of Economics report in a top five which also includes Alaska Air, Qantas, my old friends at United who flew me to the Deep South and JetBlue.

The seas

And high up for the haters in this Covid and Climate crisis are our cruise ships.

Where my old faves MSC whom I sailed with around the Norwegian fjords, Royal Caribbean who showed off their wares in the English Channel and in Barcelona.

And Celebrity Cruises who treated us all like, well Celebrities, off the coast of Florida on their $1bn state-of-the-art Edge.

A nod here to Princess Cruises who had us on board when they stopped off in Dublin on their way round Britain and Ireland.

And Paul Gauguin Cruises who drew us a picture of tantalising Tahiti who have been keeping us going through lockdown with their images and news.

The food

Food for thought: A tajine

And now more than ever we have to watch what and where we eat.

So that means avoiding markets we know little about in countries we are visiting for the first time.

So for me that was Morocco and I should have gone with the professionals.

Northern Africa and the Middle Eastern food is bright, spicy and often new for Western palates so don’t be afraid to ask.

And if you can find Zuhair, G Adventures‘ Jordanian host extraordinaire then all the better.

All our cultures and culinary ways should be celebrated around the world and animal welfare should be central to our approach.

A joint resolution

I’ve probably already broken my own personal resolutions already so it might be presumptuous to ask my Travel pals to take on these targets.

But, in truth, we’re all in it together…

This past year’s challenges have brought opprobrium upon Travel professionals but lockdown has only reaffirmed how vital it is to us all.

So let’s build it back even better this year.

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Mais oui, the biggest bike museum is where?