First and foremost, PNC Pedal Pittsburgh is a ride, not a race.

It's an opportunity to see the city from the saddle of a bicycle and to do so at your own pace.

The event, organized by the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh under the umbrella of Sustainable Pittsburgh's Great Outdoors Week, offers rides that are "easy enough for a kid, challenging enough for a pro."

Pedal Pittsburgh includes a 6-mile ride on paved sections of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail that is ideal for families and children. There are guided and unguided 15- and 25-mile rides. And, for those with the legs and lungs for them, there are rides of 35, 50 and 60 miles.

Not sure where to go after you leave the former Chevrolet Amphitheatre near Station Square on the South Side, the beginning and end of the event?

No problem. Each course will be marked with directional signs from start to finish. Written directions also will be available.

Riders pedaling on city streets must obey all traffic regulations. Streets won't be closed and riders must share the road with automobile traffic.

All that's required to "saddle up" is a bicycle in good working order, appropriate attire, a helmet and hydration -- water or energy drinks.

Veteran riders such as Paul Tellers, George Schmidt and Andrew Lang look forward to the event every year.

"Pedal Pittsburgh is a rite of spring," said Tellers, 58, an architect who lives on Mt. Washington. "It's a time for everyone to get their bikes tuned-up for the season, see what's going on in the city, greet old friends and make new ones. There's a lot of camaraderie. You meet some of the nicest people on a bike."

One of those people was a Hall of Fame football player.

A tour Tellers was leading years ago included his daughter, Alice, then 11. At one point, he pedaled back to see how she was doing and found her in the company of Steelers running back Franco Harris. "They were riding and chatting together and having a wonderful time."

He has guided the 15-mile and 25-mile rides and enjoys showing riders the old and new buildings that face, shoulder and shade one another Downtown.

"I never tire of the epicenter of American architecture," he said. "You can feel the energy of an earlier time, the era of [Henry Clay] Frick, [Andrew] Mellon and [Andrew] Carnegie. You know that great things were going on at the time."

Tellers recommended Franklin Toker's book, "Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait," for those who would like to get a leg up on the history of the buildings they'll see during their ride.

Andrew Lang, 41, of the South Side, is an architect who works at Oxford Development. He also mentioned Toker's book, "because there's a lot that Pittsburghers don't know about their hometown."

Pedal Pittsburgh, he said, "makes [people] better observers and gives them a different way of experiencing the urban environment, especially the neighborhoods."

Pedaling the city provides a chance to contemplate it from an architectural point of view.

"Architecture is one of the most public of the arts," he said. "It's all around us, but we don't always think of it that way. You can see grandeur in this city."

With the exception of a year or two, George Schmidt, a lab technician for Intertek in Harmarville, has been riding and guiding for Pedal Pittsburgh since it started.

"I prefer to lead the 15-mile tour because you get more people who aren't familiar with the city," said Schmidt, 58, of Squirrel Hill.

He uses the Smithfield Street Bridge, Downtown streets and the Roberto Clemente Bridge to lead his riders from the South Side to the North Side.

After stops at PNC Park, the aviary and the Carnegie Science Center, he heads upstream to Herrs Island.

Why Pedal Pittsburgh?

"Number one, it's fun," he said. "You get a different perspective from a bike instead of a car. Every neighborhood is like a different country. They have their own personalities. You see the city change every year. You see what's new and how it's improving."

The cost is $30 per person; $60 for a family of up to five members. The price includes a T-shirt, a picnic lunch prepared by Whole Foods at the amphitheatre and sag wagon support.

For more information, go to www.pedalpittsburgh.org or call 412-232-3545.