Bagels & Daffodils

Made a detour on this morning's commute to join Joanne for bagels at Greg's - home to the largest selection of smoked fish in the free world... this detour also allowed me to take a quick dash past 'the lakes' in Homeland to see the fading daffodils - (picture from Homeland's website) These daffodils are another spring tradition and I always try to catch them. The Homeland neighborhood is one of a few in town laid out by the Olmsted Brothers. The Homeland estate that once occupied the site is apparently responsible for the lakes that were created in 1843 and were fed by a spring until it dried up in the 1950s at which point the lakes were hooked up to city water. The houses are a great collection of architectural styles and are built at a more modest scale than nearby Guilford - leading the whole neighborhood to have a very storybook feel.

And a new feature of my commute reporting - # of times I smelled pot on E. 33rd St - 2

All told including yesterday's commute - 35.3 miles
597 miles to date

Commuting in Springtime

Tuesday 15 April 08 Did my usual commute today - but with the added benefit that the tulips have started to bloom in Sherwood Gardens - which is one of my favorite things about Baltimore - this park which is actually called Stratford Green is located in the Guilford neighborhood. The park was laid out by the Olmstead Brothers - the tulips started as a hobby of John Sherwood in 1927 and over the years has become something of a rite of spring in Baltimore - a more complete history is available here...

When I began commuting in earnest two years ago to train for the Ride for the Feast - I made sure to create route that would take me past Sherwood Gardens each day thinking that it would be fun to watch the tulips grow - and it is indeed always a highlight of the ride. In winter the park is often blanketed in fog and the low angled morning light is stunning piercing through the trees. Now that spring has arrived the real show begins as the beds of tulips come to life - I'll try to post more pictures in coming weeks.

On the ride home I was also treated to this lovely sunset at Lake Montebello 17.5 miles on the day
562 miles to date

Kent Island Loop

Sunday 13 April 08

Met up for another Ride for the Feast training ride - this time around with a much bigger group - maybe 10 or 12 of us. We started off on the eastern shore side of the old Kent Narrows draw bridge - actually under the new route 50 bridge. The first few miles were on a trail that took us across the old bridge and then paralleled Route 50 for a while before dropping back into the marsh for a couple of miles - here is a pic from the Queen Anne's county website
It started off as a lovely day - albeit a little breezy as always for the eastern shore. As the day progressed clouds rolled in and it got a bit colder, but at least we never got wet. At the end of the trail we missed a turn or two and wound up south of 50 a little earlier than intended which was just as well. The rest of the route basically followed route 8 south along the center of the Island. Every few miles or so we dipped into one of the many housing developments that do the island and looped in and out of the rodes that follow the coves and creeks along the bay - as Steve described - much like the petals of a flower. Below is a nice map of the trail and a bit of the island from the bikewashington website (it is a more clear on their site) Shortly after leaving the trail Steve and I split off from the group and alternated between a decent 20+mph paceline mostly on rt. 8 and then more leisurely pace in the neighborhoods. This was my first real effort of the year and I'm happy to report that I mostly was able to stay on Steve's wheel - though I did let him take longer turns in the front out in the wind. At one point we got to hammering along and missed a turn - adding a few bonus miles. This worked nicely as we were able to rejoin the group a little later after we went back and looped through the neighborhood we had skipped.
45 miles for the day
544 miles to date

Steve's to BWI loop and back

Saturday 12 April 08

Met up at Steve's house in Crownsville for nice loop out to BWI then around the loop trail and back. Wound up being a pretty wet ride with alternating drizzle, some fairly heavy rain, and a little bit of sun now and then. This was a group training ride for the Ride for the Feast - though it just wound up being three of us.

Got my first flat of the season - luckily while the sun was out.

Here is a nice map of the BWI loop from the airport website


35 miles total for the day
499 miles to date

Recent Ride Roundup

A quick roundup of recent rides to get me caught back up...
27 March 08 - Commute - 17.5 miles
29 March 08 - Boordy Jericho - 50
30 March 08 - Walther/Lake - 8.5
02 April 08 - Commute - 17.5
03 April 08 - Commute to work - 10.5
07 April 08 - Commute from work - 7
08 April 08 - Commute - 17.5
09 April 08 - Commute to work - 10.5
10 April 08 - Commute from work - 7
464 miles to date...

Easter in Houston

SUNDAY 23 MARCH 2008

Spent 4 days in Houston attending the USITT conference and meeting of Production Managers from around the country hosted by the Alley Theatre.
The highlight of the conference for me was a session led by set designer George Tsypin surveying his career primarily focusing on a few different approaches he has taken to Wagner's Ring Cycle - but the most interesting part to me was his design for West Side Story at the Bregenz Festival. One aspect of this summer festival is an outdoor stage that sits on a lake - the stage is actually a barge in the lake with a huge amphitheater on the shore. The sets are so massive that they only do a new show every two years with the set left on the lake for the winter and them perform the same show again the second summer.

Also managed to catch up with a lot of old friends/colleagues over tex mex and beers.... (and pie - thanks kelly)

After 3 days of meetings and tex mex I was ready for a ride... luckily one of my colleagues at the Alley was willing to lend me her bicycle - saving me not only money, but also the adventure of trying to find a bike shop in Houston on an Easter Sunday morning...

I set out from the Alley which is located in the shadow of downtown Houston...
I followed a bike path along the Buffalo Bayou... Which for some time meandered along under the freeways, much like the JFX/Jones Falls trail here in bmore, but perhaps a little more scenically...
that quickly took me out of downtown and afforded me this view of the Houston skyline....
On the west side of downtown is a huge park with lots of singletrack - this was my first bit of mountain biking in years - made all the more adventurous by the borrowed hybrid that only sort of fit me.

All told I managed to squeeze in almost 20 miles.

318 miles total to date