Expressway Ride

from the Baltimore Sun

On Sunday they closed down 7 miles of the southbound stretch of the Jones Falls Expressway (I-83) from Coldspring Lane to President Street here in Baltimore as part of the Rally for the River event to benefit the Jones Falls Watershed Association. Joanne, Dave, and I met up at Poly HS and made the trip down to the harbor and back. It was great fun to have so much open road with no cars - though in places it was a little dicey with all the skateboarders, rollerbladers, and worst of folks who clearly haven't been on a bicycle in years weaving all over the place.

photo by sneakerdog

14 miles, plus
33 miles - mostly around Montebello on Saturday
2389 YTD

Can't Win

So yesterday on my ride home from work I was stopped at Calvert and North Avenue when I noticed that the car behind me in the far right lane wanted to turn so I moved into the right/center lane on the crosswalk. That car and several others then proceeded to make the right on red - even though the sign would suggest that the authorities frown on doing so at this particular intersection. Then the 7th of 8 cars making said illegal turn yells out to me - " hey buddy you're not a car" - which of course wasn't news to me, but apparently he felt I didn't belong on the street...

21.5 miles last Thursday - which included a lovely mid-day ride through Druid Hill/Hampden and back
7.5 miles home on Monday
22 miles today commuting
2342 YTD

Take the long way home

Rode into work and then took a roundabout route home - out Falls Road to Oregon Ridge - then across Paper Mill down Manor and up Cub Hill to Old Harford which took me most of the way home.

The northernmost point of this ride takes me through Jacksonville - once home to one of the many Nike missile batteries that surrounded US cities in the early part of the cold war. My quick bit of googling about these led me - HERE - where I found a list of all these sites and discovered that many of our bike rides around MD take us past several of these former sites. A nice trio of decent climbs:
Falls Road from Seminary to Oregon Ridge
Paper Mill from the reservoir to Jacksonville
Cub Hill from Cromwell Bridge to Old Harford/Ranger Court
and some strong head winds here and there made for a nice effort on my little break from tech rehearsals.

51 miles on the day
2291 YTD

Labor Day Meander

Monday 1 September 2008 Rolled out in the late afternoon for a loop around the city - headed down to Lake Montebello then through the old Montebello Rehabilitation Hospital which is now part, though unused, of the Morgan State University Campus. I followed roads and paths across the campus before coming out on Perring Parkway. From here I followed a variety of side streets that paralell the Chincapin Run up to Lake Avenue. Lake took me to Falls Road and the Old Pimlico which delivered me to Quarry Lake (pictured above). After looping around the old quarry I headed out Greenspring to Old Court Road. This took me to 7 Mile Lane then Cross Country Blvd. brought me back to Greenspring then Northern Parkway where I looped back to Greenspring on one of my favorite roads in town - Cylburn Ave. I tried to take a short cut across TV hill, but discovered that what looked like potential routes where actually construction sites. This delivered me to a quick detour through Medford and across the 41st Street Bridge to TV hill. Then it was up the switchbacks of the Jones Falls Trail and into Druid Hill Park. I then headed to Charles Villiage for a pit stop with Kelly and Lindsay at Starbucks before riding home.

Lindsay makes a new friend

40 Miles on the day
2240 YTD

Ride Round the Severn

Saturday morning we met up at Steve's for breakfast and a casual spin up to BWI followed by the length of the B&A trail. We headed into Annapolis for lunch (mmm peanut butter smoothie) then circled back to Steve's.

This was our first ride in the new kits Aesha acquired for us. It was great fun rolling along in a paceline decked out like a team - definitely turned a few heads. This was also my first ride wearing bib shorts and I'm sold - won't be doing long days without them again.

Many more pics HERE by Aesha (merci)

50 Miles
2090 YTD

A week of meandering commutes...

I'm trying to get in some extra miles this week to get back in shape for next weekend's Bay Country Century - so a couple of inventive detours to extend my commutes a bit;

FRIDAY
My usual roundtrip with a spur on the way home to our company picnic in North Baltimore(+3 miles).

Alex & Charisse at the picnic

THURSDAY
Woke early and added on the length of Roland Avenue/University Blvd from Hopkins up to lake avenue to my regular ride(+5 Miles).

Sunflower on Evergreen Avenue

TUESDAY
In the morning I took a little detour to have breakfast with Joanne at the Common Ground (+2.5 miles)- but along the way I took some pics to document some of the highlights of my morning ride. Then on the way home I took a loop through Roland Park and back through Homeland before rejoining my usual route (+5 miles).

Old Firehouse on White Avenue

Old Streetcar Substation - also on White Avenue
served the 15 & 19 lines
http://www.btco.net/ghosts/streetcars/subs/substations.html

formerly Sonbergs - the corner store I went to as a boy

Woodbourne Avenue - my first sprint of each morning

Cell Tower 'disguised' as a tree

Community Garden on Woodbourne
almost always someone here working their plot
wearing a big straw hat

San Marten Drive

70 miles for the week
2040 YTD

A bad week for squirrels

Did a modified version of the Boordy loop today riding from home to add a few miles and save a little gas...

Seems like it has been a bad week to be a squirrel - saw at least one 'napping' in the road every 10 miles or so.

I'm definitely suffering from a month or so of inconsistent riding - was pretty slow today - hopefully I'll get back in gear by Labor Day weekend when I'm signed up for a century.

A first today - I nearly ran over a rather large serrated lock-blade knife laying in the road.

68 miles
1970 YTD

Fabian Cancellara I am not...

Photo by Flickr user Will Rose

Yesterday Steve, Vinnie, and I went to Cambridge, MD for the Church Creek Time Trial. 40 kilometers against the clock. It was an interesting adventure - I'd never before gone all out like that over any distance. I finished 28th out of 33 participants in my group (Cat 5) and learned many lessons - like the value of aero bars, remembering your heart monitor, and perhaps training for such an endeavor.

Beforehand, Steve and I joked that we figured we would need to average better than 21 mph to be reasonably competitive and dubbed this the threshold of embarrassment. I fell just shy at an average of 20.8 and Steve clocked in at 21.8 - five places higher.

24.8 miles in 1 hour 11 minutes 41 seconds
(plus 10 miles getting to and from the course)
1858 YTD

And back to the bike riding

Two commutes last week, Davidsonville this past Sunday, and two more commutes this week.

1823 Miles YTD

Fell off the blogger wagon...

Catching up a bit on the blogging - in a few postings...

25 June 2008

The usual commute

17.5 Miles
1453 YTD

Another Boordy/Jericho Saturday

Kelly, Lindsay, and I once again met up at Hydes Road Park for the Boordy/Jericho Loop - this time an earlier start and a less muggy day made for slightly cooler ride.
This time around we made a brief detour to climb the short hill to the top of Rocks State Park - only a half mile long, but a 15% grade - which was a brutal out of the saddle climb...

Roadside Attractions - the foreleg of a deer, a turkey vulture, and a queen sized boxspring.

50+ Miles
1341 YTD

A very hot ride

Kelly, Lindsay and I headed out to Long Green Valley today to do one of my favorite rides starting near Boordy Vineyards and making a big loop around Belair past Jerusalem Mills & Rocks State Park.

Map of the route is available HERE

It was unbelievably hot and humid to the point that it almost looked foggy.

Wildlife Highlight - a very fuzzy groundhog crossed our path late in ride.

50 miles on the day
1187 miles YTD

The Lake at Dawn

Thursday 7 June 2008The kind folks at Race Pace straightened out the derailluer hanger on my poprad - the worst lingering side effect of my crash. I got up early this morning to try it out and see if the repair undid the chain noise... I headed down to the lake for a few laps just after the sun came up. Unfortunately it didn't seem to do the trick, but it is definitely better... afterwards I put it back in the workstand and seemed to have eliminated it - I'll find out for sure out on the road this weekend. 11 miles on the day
1115 miles YTD

My Parents went to Bermuda and all I got was this short bike ride...

My parents left early this morning for vacation - leaving my dad's truck at a nearby park and ride where they caught a bus to NYC and from there a cruise ship to Bermuda. This afternoon I rode out there to bring his truck home which provided me with several views of the expanding I-95/695 interchange which not so long ago looked like this: And will eventually look like this:They still have a long way to go...

I also used this ride to explore some roads I haven't ridden over since I was in high school - Ridge Road and Bucks Schoolhouse Road - as I expected most of the farms have been subdivided, but they are still a bit of a retreat from the surrounding congestion. I think I may use this as another close to home loop for days when I don't have time to fit in a longer ride. Map is HERE

Roadside attractions - 1 rubber tie down strap, 1 opossum

Soundtrack - Too Much Joy's 'If I Were A Mekon'

Wildlife Highlights - a rooster wandering around in an unfenced yard, goats @ Bucks Schoolhouse Rd & Perry Hall Blvd.

8.5 miles on the day
1064 miles YTD

Badminton & Alpacas

Steve, Kelly, Vinnie, and I got together for a 35 mile ride out of Oregon Ridge today. We were following a cue sheet from the Baltimore Bicycling Club, but missed a turn and wound up making things up for a bit before finding our way back onto the route - only cut off 2 miles.

A map of where we rode is here

While riding you notice that people lose a lot of stuff in the road - I suggested to Steve at some point that I thought we could start a good business reselling rubber tie down straps as it seems like I see one on every ride. Steve responded that we could also sell single gloves and shoes... just as he said this we passed a badminton racket laying in the road - not something we see everyday.

Just as we started up the final climb back over Cuba Rd it started to rain...

and then I got my second flat tire in as many days....

Soundtrack - a medley from the Talking Heads 1985 album - Little Creatures inspired by hearing 'Stay Up Late' on the radio as we got to Oregon Ridge - then kept alive by Kelly who kept singing the refrain throughout the ride. Somehow this also prompted 'And She Was', 'Give Me Back My Name','Walk it Down', and 'Road to Nowhere' all from that album.

Wildlife Highlights -a Baltimore Oriole, a black snake in the road, and a small herd of Alpacas that Kelly mistook for deer...

33 miles on the day
1056 miles YTD

The Train to Chesapeake Beach

Saturday 24 May 2008

Caught up with Steve for a ride with the Potomac Pedalers Touring Club - a great DC area bike club that seems to pull together lots of riders.

The ride started out at Southern HS in Harwood south of Annapolis. We headed out with the A riders at a blistering pace, but somehow managed to hold on for several miles. I think Steve and I were both relieved when we reached our turn off for the 47 mile route as that meant we split off from the A riders who were continuing on for the 61 mile route. That said we maintained a strong pace and averaged around 20 mph for the first half of the ride. After a quick lunch in North Beach we began our way back - the return route featured a few long-ish climbs, but we still managed to finish up around an average speed 18 mph for the day. For my sake it was a good thing Steve was suffering from a bad cold or I'd of never kept up.

A stunning day - loads of sailboats out on the water...

Wildlife highlights - two huge draught horses

47 miles on the day, plus
8.5 miles on Sunday (Walther & Montebello)
14 miles on Monday(Walther & a few laps around Montebello)
972 miles to date

A Rainy Ride

RIDE FOR THE FEAST 2008 - DAY 2

In the morning we rode a bus across the bridge to start our ride from a bike shop near Sandy Point State Park. Today's ride would take us back to Baltimore mostly via the B&A Trail. Once of the trail we wind our way to Carrol Park. The original plan was to regroup there and then have a police escort across the city to the Moveable Feast headquarters. Unfortunately the police backed out - so we transfered from Carrol Park to Paterson Park on a bus and then rode the final 10 blocks or so.

Steve, Matt, and myself were riding sweep - meaning that we would ride at the end of the group to make sure that everyone made their way to Carrol Park. We waited a while to let everyone get a ways down the road before heading out and managed to get almost to the first pit before encountering another rider. We then lingered a bit longer than we needed to at that pit as discovered that everyone was doing quite well and at one point we began to fear we'd be holding things up at Carrol Park. After picking up the pace for a couple miles we finally reached a small group of riders and rode with them into the second pit.

Shortly after heading out from the pit stop it began to rain... at the same time we started to hit the biggest hills of the ride and started to catch up with more riders. At the top of a long hill we pulled of to help with tire change. As we started to get back on the road we discovered that three more riders also had flats. To make things even more exciting a nearby power line began to shower sparks into the street as the wind and rain tangled it up in a tree. Eventually we got back on the road and caught up with the other riders at Carrol Park for the transfer to Patterson Park.

In the rush to get rolling again in the rain a few of us didn't leave with the group - so Steve, Matt, little Steve, and myself had our own little trip through East Baltimore. We arrive not longer after the group for the post-ride celebration.

All told we raised over $200,000 for Moveable Feast - not bad for a bunch of knuckleheads on their bikes.

30 miles on the day
899 miles to date

A tale of three Steves...

A Kelly, a Matt, a Kristin, and 80 or so others who spent their weekend riding in the wind and the rain to support the Moveable Feast.
RIDE FOR THE FEAST 2008 - Day 1 - Rehoboth to Easton
Above is the gang of seven, mostly Steves, who I spent the bulk of the ride taking turns in the wind with [Kristin is the 7th - see here - for another version minus one Steve plus Kristin]. To get to the sofa you have to rewind 95 or so miles to Rehoboth.

As usual the ride rolled out in one large group headed up the coastal highway and I must admit that my recent spill made me want to get out of the pack ASAP. After our first turn onto rt. 24 things start to string out and I began to make my way to the front in search of a less congested spot in the group. By the time we reached the first pit at mile 20 much of this group had taken shape - Kelly, little Steve, Florida Steve, and myself... after that pit we got a bit more organized and began a paceline. About half way to the second pit we passed Joanne (who was volunteering as a sag driver) I broke off to say high and shed my arm warmers - then got a nice workout trying to sprint back onto the group. I reached them just in time for the second pit stop.

After the second pit the brothers eschmacher joined on and we started to get our paceline a little more organized with everyone taking fairly regular pulls on the front - though it did seem for a while that a certain Steve's turn at the front kept coinciding with the towns rather than the windy farms...

Somewhere between the third pit (lunch) and the fourth we picked up Kristin, who Bart, Steve, and I met last year on this ride. Between the third and fifth pit we mostly kept together making a great team effort of covering the miles, sharing the wind, and encouraging each other.

A few miles after the fifth pit Kelly was taking a turn on the front when the rest of us splintered and she opened up a pretty good gap. After a bit I decided this was a good chance to get out of the saddle and sprint to catch up with Kelly. When I reached her we tried to pick up the pace and quickly learned why two person break aways rarely work. We did OK for a mile or so, but it didn't take long to exhaust ourselves - as a two person paceline offers only brief shelter from the wind. Which is when the sofa came into view - remember the sofa...

There on the on the side of the road was the most remarkable orange velvet sofa basking in the sun atop a manicured lawn with a hand lettered sign "FREE" - It seemed obvious to Kelly and I that this would make the perfect pit stop to chill out and regroup. We had just begun to sit down when the gang began to come into view... naturally it also seemed a great photo opportunity...

We made short work of the few miles we had left - finishing roughly 8 hours after leaving Rehoboth - minus the lunch and pits we pedaled for a little over 6 hours.

Today's soundtrack included - Lollipop (thanks to Lolly Pop Lane) and Victoria (thanks to first person I rode this route with two years ago)

Wildlife Highlights included - numerous turkey vultures including one group working over a deer carcass on the side of the road, a pair of shaggy donkeys. a beautiful Clydesdale, and a groundhog

[I'll try to take a stab at day two tomorrow]

100 miles on the day
869 miles to date

Night before the ride

We're settled into our hotel in Rehoboth - signed in for the ride, shared a meal with all the other riders as well as the volunteers who will support us over the next two days.  I forget what a great bunch of people this brings together... always amazing the threads that link us all together - one of the riders who was behind me when I fell in Easton is married to a scientist that Joanne knows from Hopkins and he is here volunteering as well this weekend... a small world.  

I'd like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me this year... including the donations you made to Team Centerstage - we've raised more than both of my previous rides.  From what we heard downstairs it appears that this year is on track to be their biggest ever - with both more riders and more money raised.  It means a great deal to me to have all of your support - especially when I'm facing 20 mph headwinds tomorrow.

I did manage to squeeze in one more commute this week...

15 miles on Thursday

769 miles to date

Back in the Saddle Again

Today was my first day back on the bike - out on the road - since the accident. Just the regular commute with a slight detour down Maryland/Cathedral and across Monument - which added a bit of brick and cobbles for fun.

I'm feeling pretty good - no real pain or stiffness to complain of... did discover a couple things that weren't revealed by my rides in the trainer or for that matter by working on my bike in the workstand.

1- I seem to have torn the palm open on my left hand glove in the crash - which is fascinating as I only had cuts on the fingertips of that hand and my right hand is much worse off, but that glove looks fine.

2- I have some clicking noise to sort out in the rear dérailleur when on the big ring... can't seem to recreate it when I'm not riding, but need to sort it our before the ride on Saturday.

I was worried of course that I'd be a little tentative, but that doesn't seem to be the case - we'll see how I do back in a pack of other riders this weekend.

Today's soundtrack - Gene Autry's 'Back in the Saddle Again' of course and The Four Seasons 1962 hit 'Big Girls Don't Cry'
17.5 miles on the day
754 miles to date