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

Meandering Commute

Woke to find a flat front tire... which considering what I ride through on the way to work should be a much more frequent occurrence - Luckily I was up a little early and still managed to leave the house a little earlier than I usually do.

Another lovely day and I decided to take advantage and wander a bit from my route.

Wildlife Sighting in Guilford - a pair of Golden Retrievers, a big black russian terrier? & a corgi? the smaller of which was walking circles under the larger, and a pack of stone masons.

When I got to my turn off to Falls Road I kept going straight thinking I would take in a couple of laps around the reservoir, but then spun off to see how the new portion of the Jones Falls trail was progressing. On the north side of the park they have created a series of switchbacks to take the trail down to TV hill. Since my last trip they've finished all the railings and landscaping - it looks great - not sure where they are taking the trail from here... at the bottom of the switchbacks I turned around and headed back to the reservoir. Instead of doubling back and heading down to Falls Road I decided to cut through the Reservoir Hill and Druid Hill neighborhoods.

I picked up Madison at the edge of the park and passed under the gate that once marked the entrance to the park I stayed on Madison past North Avenue which allowed me to stumble upon the Madison Street Synagogue - which was the home to the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation from 1891 to 1951 and is now a 7th Day Adventist church. According to the historical marker this was the third home of the first Jewish congregation in Maryland. A few blocks south of the old synagogue I switched over to Druid Hill Drive and realized that I had intended to be a few blocks over on Eutaw Place for this journey as I had wandered into the location for much of the first season of The Wire - The McCullough homes were the backdrop for the pit. Shortly after crossing MLK, Druid Park Drive turned into Centre which I followed all the way to Calvert - which was a nice long down hill and I got up a pretty good head of steam - Unfortunately just before the turn onto Calvert Street my chain came off - which is a great deal more alarming on a fixed gear... luckily I noticed early enough to brake and turn onto the sidewalk as the light changed.

A map of this trip is here

All told nearly a 20 mile ride to work - basically reversed my usual morning commute for the ride home...
30.5 Miles on the day
1023 Miles total to date for the year

Back to Commutting

A lovely day for a ride to work - fairly uneventful. Took the slightly longer way home...

Today's Soundtrack in my head... Inbound - Rio by Duran Duran 1982 - something reminded me of my ride in Ipanema
Outbound - Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash 1956 - perfect for slow hill climbing 20.5 miles on the day
992 miles to date

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

25 hours in NYC

Wed/Thu May 22 & 23 Popped up to NY to catch a play and visit a friend. Saw Thurgood at the Booth Theater - a one man show about the life of Thurgood Marshall - a great performance by Laurence Fishburne - an amazing story of an incredibly accomplished Baltimorean. Wandered around the new(ish) MOMA for a few hours... I also managed to squeeze in quite a few NY icons in my wanderings about Manhattan - including Grand Central Station, the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, Wall Street, Battery Park, and a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge - a first for me - and as it turns out just in time for it's 125th anniversary.

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