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

A Happy Tax Payer

This week the City of Baltimore made me very happy by re-paving what was the roughest section of my commute - the first block of White Avenue west of Belair Road. This morning on my way to work I was greeted by a beautiful, buttery smooth stretch of asphalt. It was even more exciting on the ride home when it came into view and I realized for once I wouldn't have to fear that the potholes would send me bouncing into Belair Road. Hopefully it won't take too many weeks for them to repaint the centerline...

Also of note - I spent about half my morning commute riding with a guy I met who has been commuting by bike since 1946 as a school boy - now a retiree he still rides over 4000 miles a year.

22 mile on the day
1137 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

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

New Shoes and where have all the flowers gone

Tuesday 29 April 08

Commuted to work today on the Poprad with my new shoes and pedals; Not so good for commuting - very slippery on the crosswalks, but I think the show/pedal combo will be much better than what I have been using for the longer weekend rides.

Not much to say about todays ride other than the all the tulips are gone from Sherwood Gardens...squeezed in three laps around the lake at Druid Hill on the way in and went straight home to pack for the trip to Berkeley.

23 miles for the day
675 miles to date

...one way commute

Just riding in to work today - have to take the director and designers to dinner tonight before our first preview of These Shining Lives. A very lovely new play about the women who painted radium watch dials in the 1920-30s and the landmark workers compensation suit they eventually won over illnesses resulting from being exposed to radium.

Squeezed in two laps around the lake in Druid Hill on the ride in...

Wildlife Highlights - Red Winged Black Birds in Druid Hill and a great Siberian Husky in Mt. Vernon
Soundtrack - Head Over Heels - The GoGo's from 1984
14+miles
652 total to date

Yet another commute & more tulips

Took the above photo at Sherwood Gardens this morning - not too bad for my phone...

Added a lap around Druid Hill Park Reservoir to get in some miles and take in the view of the city.

This mornings soundtrack - Always Something There To Remind Me - which is apparently a Burt Bacharach song from the 60's, but of course is burned into my brain thanks to Naked Eyes' 1983 top 10 version.

Then it was a quick trip home on the dinner break - with two laps of lake montebello thrown in for good measure.

Weed on 33rd - 0
Wildlife Highlights - Pair of Scotty Dogs

23+ miles on the day
637+ to date

Another commute in tech

Got to come in a little later this morning - so nice to avoid the rush hour traffic...

Then spun home on the dinner break for a little Chinese food before driving back to work...

Pot on 33rd count - 0

17.5 miles for the day
614 miles to date

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

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

On the Road Again

Managed to pop out for two rides this weekend;
17.5 Miles of commuting on the Fixed Gear on Saturday
33 Miles on the Providence Loop with Kelly on Sunday
299 miles so far this year...

A February Meander around the City

A lovely clear day in the 50's Took a quick spin across the Northern part of the city - across Lake - out Falls to Old Pimlico - down Greenspring to Druid Hill - then once around the reservoir - across 33rd and once around Montebello before heading home. 223 Miles to date

Winter in the desert

SUNDAY 22 JANUARY 2008 [link to map - http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/az/tucson/665145153 ] I was invited to the University of Arizona at Tucson for the weekend to review their students portfolios - I was quite impressed by not only the work of the students, but also by the poise with which most of them where able to present their portfolios. With any luck this will prove to be a valuable new connection for recruiting staff and interns for the theater. Thanks to a generous donation from owners Jeff and Chuck the University was able to put us up at the Royal Elizabeth Inn - a fantastic bed and breakfast that occupies one of the oldest houses in Arizona. A beautiful well appointed inn located right downtown within easy walking distance of shops, restaurants, theaters, and other attractions. Best of all - Jeff and Chuck make a different fabulous breakfast each day. So long as I was out there it seemed obvious to rent a bike and take advantage of the milder winter weather and explore the desert. The folks at Cycle Tucson brought me a great Cannondale... ...it was well tuned and a lot of fun to ride. This was my first long road ride on an aluminum frame - it had the slightly jittery feel I would expect, but I was surprised how much more power a rigid aluminum frame would deliver compared to my usual steel ride. Tucson is a very bike friendly city with lots of well marked paths and lanes - which made it easy to get from downtown to the desert. It wasn't long before I was treated to long views of the surrounding mountains and desert... ...as I left downtown the road began to rise slowly towards my first major goal of the day - Gates Pass. It wasn't long before I noticed that I'd already climbed a bit when I looked back towards downtown... ...just a little further and the houses fell away to be replaced by the saguaro cactus I would be surrounded by most of the day... ...once on I linked up with Speedway, the road that would take me over the pass, things continued to steepen... Once I got to the top I was treated to a great view of valley where I would spend the rest of the day meandering in and out of Saguaro National Park... the backside of Gates Pass was much steeper and I was able to get a lot of momentum to carry me through the first few miles in the park my original plan had been to ride to 20 miles or so and then double back, but the scenery and the beautiful day distracted me - I was at mile 25 before I looked a the odometer and turned around. Then not far down the road I saw a street sign I could resist - Picture Rocks Road - and swung left to see where it would take me. After a few miles of climbing I came to another pass back into Tucson From here I looped back into the park - this time around I to the McCain Loop which had less traffic and rolled in and out of several washes... Once back on the main road I made a pit stop at Old Tucson Studios before beginning the long way back into town. All told my '40 mile ride' wound up being more like 65 miles - it eventually got to 70 degrees - a great break from the short winter rides at home. Once back at the Royal Elizabeth I had a nice long soak in the hot tub... 65 miles - 2200 feet of climbing - 163 miles to date for 2008

Playing Hooky

TUESDAY 8 JANUARY 2008 Started off the day with my usual morning commute - mostly uneventful save for the fog that made me wish I had windshield wipers and made Sherwood Gardens look particualry striking with the sun casting great shadows through the trees.... Then it was off for what I thought was a replay of another especially long way home that I took last summer - Falls Paper Manor - but I got a little lost, tired, cold, and wet.... First I decided to mix it up by following Roland to Lake before rejoining Falls Road - which was worked out well, but from here on the climbing proved to be a bit more than I remembered... I hung in there pretty well and only stopped once on a fairly long section - what really got me into trouble was that it was a little warmer than I thought and with all the climbing I was drenched in sweat by the time I got to Oregon Ridge. Then I made a wrong turn onto Beaver Dam Road - I eventually got back on track in Jacksonville where I took at pit at the 7-11. Got some much needed calories... Once back on the road I never really warmed back up - the combo of being drenched, a fair bit of wind, and the sun going down proved to be too much. I called Joanne from the road and had her rescue me at Sanders' Corners - as I new I didn't have another big climb in me... still a pretty decent day of riding for January. 46 Miles - 2900 feet of climbing

New Year's Day Meander

Haven't quite figured out how or even why I'm doing this, but here goes. Above is a map and profile of my first ride of the new year. I decided to stay close to home and ride a 22 mile loop around the city. First I headed down to Lake Montebello for a quick lap - where I saw my friends Gayle and Danielle enjoying the pretty day with their son. I waved and rang my bell, but a mile later I realized I had on a helmet, sunglasses, and a balaclava - so they probably had no idea who I was... Then I headed across 33rd and around Hopkins up to Druid Hill via Wyman Park Drive. I also did a lap around Druid Hill Reservoir for one of my favorite views of the city;

[I'll try to post a more recent view at some point]

Then a quick ramble through the park - past all those great gazebos - including Parkie's Lakeside where Joanne and I were married. Once I got past the zoo I discovered that the next section of the Jones Falls Trail is well under way and followed it down the back side of the park into Clipper Mill - this includes a crazy series of switchbacks that should make for a fun climb once it is complete. After this surprise detour the wind and cold started to catch up with me so I decided to head for home - across the 41st bridge to 40th then 39th Street where I picked up my usual commute home through Guilford and across Woodbourne. 22 miles and 1500 feet of climbing - a good start to having that 3000 mile year that I didn't quite reach last year. Learned a few things about my new fenders - first of all when leaves get stuck in them it sounds just like a flat tire - second is that my first attempt to jerry rig them with some wire ties wasn't entirely successful.