Spring is here, finally, and oh, it felt good to be out on the Surly on Wednesday, skirt waving in the wind, sun on my face! That whole rebirth-in-spring business isn’t just for bunny rabbits and Jesus Christ–it’s for bicyclists, too, even those of us who ride year round. I started my ride heading up the hill and to the right for a trip to the dentist before heading to Lake Montebello for a few laps with a slew of pedestrians and one very, very cute puppy: “He’s not as good as he looks–he already ate two pairs of shoes!” And then I zipped across the street and down onto the Herring Run Trail, where I jumped ridges caused by tree roots and avoided pits and holes caused by time and weather, and it was just all so pretty. There’s a stream running through here that you’ll never see if you stay in your car, above it all. And then I hit the part where they seem to have forgotten they put a bike/ped trail here, because it lets out on a busy road, no curb cut, no crosswalk, no nothing. I waited until I ran and then I continued on my way, getting myself lost in Hamilton, a neighborhood I’ve never accidentally found myself in before, so I say yes, grand success. It’s all detached homes over there, and it makes it feel like a different Baltimore. After a perfect lunch date with N. in Lauraville I found myself riding around streets I don’t know very well, searching for flowery trees. I snapped this picture in Ednor Gardens, the rows and rows of matching red brick houses, darker brick rows behind me. Neighborhoods change quickly in Baltimore; you can tell by changes in the tree canopy, or changes in vacancy rates, or changes in the architecture–detached, row homes, this brick bunting draping itself up the hill. So many plans, and so many plans have changed. I shot out at Greenmount Avenue and got of the bike to cross, lifting over the curb and past the DO NOT ENTER signs that set down a serious boundary between the Us and Them of this part of Baltimore. Things haven’t changed much in Guilford, I’m guessing. I did a quick turn around their garden that’s just starting to bloom–bulbs flowering in perfect military rows–gotta keep the order. I chewed my class rage a bit and then let it go as I flew down the hill to home. Springtime on a bike is the greatest thing in the universe.