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

First Providence

Sunday 3 February 2008 Providence Road 33 Steve and I met up on a lovely February Sunday afternoon for my first ride out of the Providence Road Park and Ride for 2008. This is where Bart, Kelly, and I usually meet up to drive to other rides an hour or more away - so it's always a treat actually start a ride from here... A nice little 33 mile loop out past the reservoir, Dulaney to Manor, Carrol Manor to Sweet Air - out and back on Green Road one of my favorites - then back through Long Green Valley where it always seems to be windy. A fun little ride that I did a couple times last year with Bart and Kelly. 33 Miles - 195 miles total 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

Lunch in Annapolis

Rode the B&A trail into Annapolis with Bart and Kelly today. We met up at Marley Station - Steve showed up to see us off and then joined us for lunch in Annapolis - he's been dogging a bad cold so he didn't join us for the ride... It was a fairly nice day - cold, but little wind. Got to try out my new wheels and tires - so far I'm very happy with them -- can't wait to get them out on the open road - they feel like they'll be quite fast... (thanks for the tip steve) The B&A is a nice ride for the winter - relatively flat and little stopping and starting - which I find is nice to keep from overheating/getting damp and from getting cold waiting at lights... We kept a pretty relaxed pace on the way into town, but as usual Kelly and I picked it up a bit on the way home - sorry Bart. All in all it was good ride - really nice to be back out with the gang for some miles.

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.