Bay Country Century (almost)

Joined the gang on the road for the Bay Country Century on Saturday. Started off as a very gray day, but it burned off as the miles passed and it wound up being a lovely day for a ride. We passed the miles chatting about the Democratic convention - Michael had just returned from it and told us what it was like in person. We also chatted about McCain's VP choice - I think my friend Marni's blog entry about sums it up.
Sometime after a pit stop at the 50 mile mark, I began to have stomach cramps and general lack of energy. At the time I was sure it was too much of the electrolyte drink, but in retrospect I think I was seriously under hydrated and probably could have used a few more calories... Everybody kindly took turns hanging with me as I dragged my way into the next pit at 80 miles. After a bottle or two of water and a bit more food it was clear to me that I wasn't going to bounce back fast - so I told them to head out without me and called the SAG hotline to get a ride back to the start. I suppose on the plus side I was lucky to be on a fully supported ride for my first serious bonk.

a small handful of other photos HERE

80 miles on the day, plus almost
30 miles from the commute a half I did this week
2200 YTD

A Night at the Fair

Joanne & I made our annual trip to the State Fair on Saturday evening - ginsu knives, cows, milkshakes, pigs, corn-on-the-cob, rabbits, funnel cake, goats, quilts, chickens, french fries, ferris wheels, and this year a first for us - a sheep with gold lame fleece: Had a grand old time wandering around watching the animals and the people. Also had fun taking pictures of the rides - more HERE.

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

Another commute

Rode to work on Thursday - finally admitting that the pain in my knees is coming from the fixed gear that I've suspected was a little over geared for my commute from the start...

22 miles
1902 YTD

A lovely day to ride to work

A nice summer day - not too humid.

A fairly uneventful roll into work and back.

Wildlife - a grey cat bathing in a driveway on White Ave.

Soundtrack - inbound - a medley of Social Distortion tunes, mostly 'Ball and Chain' & 'Ring of Fire' - outbound - thanks to a Rastafarian in a mini-van that I passed on Woodbourne - Bob Marley's 'Stir it up'

22 Miles
1880 YTD