Davidsonville

Carpooled to the Davidsonville Park & Ride with Kelly and Lindsay to meet up with Steve, Aesha, Vinnie, and even got to see Bart for the first time since he got back from his California ride. This was also the first time I'd seen to Team Jack Ass group this year - quite crowded at the park & ride this morning with several groups meeting up.

A beautiful day - a little on the warms side by the end, but bearable. Today's cue took us on a slightly different route to North Beach - eventually heading in the same way I've usually left North Beach which was a little disorienting.

Today was my first ride with the new rear dérailleur and it seems to have finally fixed my shifting problems post crash.

Wildlife - an enormous Bull Mastiff that was hanging out in the back of an SUV parked near our lunch spot. We couldn't resist going over to pet it, but then it was so scared it cowered and shook so we left him alone.

Roadside Attractions - half a dozen ears of corn in the road

58 miles or so
1435 YTD

Commutus Interuptus

Yesterday's ride home was brought to an abrupt halt by a staple in the road - to add insult to injury I had neglected to return my tire levers to my bag after using them on a rebuild for a friend that I finally finished last night. Luckily my dad was home and came to the rescue.
Soundtrack for the week - various tracks of the Clash's 1980 release Sandinista - especially "Ivan meets G.I. Joe.

14 - Tuesday's Shortest Distance Commute
22 - Thursday's Commute out and back the longer way
1377 - 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

Friday's Commute

The usual ride in and the longer way home retracing the morning route.

Soundtrack - Wild Life from the Talking Heads 1986 album/film True Stories

22 miles
1290 YTD

Wednesday's Commute

Not much to report - the usual ride to and fro

Soundtrack - the theme from Candid Camera - where does this stuff come from? I think I may have passed someone wearing a Price is Right t-shirt - and somehow my brain took me to Candid Camera... the link above is to the wiki page as usual - I had no idea that started as a radio show called Candid Microphone.

17.7 miles
1268 YTD

Beating the heat

or trying to beat it...

awoke early and took a quick ride down Walther blvd. and 5 laps around the lake before driving in to work - hopefully this heat will let up soon.

Soundtrack - Beach Boys 1965 #1 - Help Me, Rhonda

Wildlife - Two enormous Sheepdogs walking a small woman dressed head to toe in hot pink.

14 miles
1251 YTD

Lindsay & Kelly made the paper

Below is an excerpt from this morning's Baltimore Sun article on the Tour Dem Parks ride:

Lindsay MacCuaig took up bike riding about a month ago, at the encouragement of her girlfriend, Kelly Walker. They rode 55 miles Saturday in and around Oregon Ridge Park in Baltimore County, and when MacCuaig woke up yesterday she was still feeling the effects of that grueling ride in the heat. Still, she had agreed to yesterday's ride and was out on her bike early again.

"If you want to ride, you have to deal with the weather," she said. "I'm one of those psycho people who goes running in the dead of the summer."

MacCuaig and Walker not only rode the 40-mile route yesterday but rode in 12 miles from their home in Hamilton - and would have to ride the 12 miles back home in the afternoon. Still, they were smiling as they rested in Carroll Park, lying out among the dozens of bicycles scattered in the grass.

They didn't plan to rest long. Later in the afternoon, when it got a little cooler, they were planning to do 20 miles of inline skating around Lake Montebello to prepare to skate 87 miles at a fall event from Athens, Ga., to Atlanta.

The full article can be found HERE