I’ve been off the bike and in the car for the past few days, on a little research foray in Virginia, E. in tow. It was all fun and games and history–Mt. Vernon, Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, the Museum of the Confederacy, the White House of the Confederacy, Tredeger Iron Works, and the American Civil War Center (phew!)–until yesterday, when the car wouldn’t start. Ugh. Long story short, I ended up having to leave the thing at the mechanic’s in Mechanicsville, VA and rent a car to drive us home. Next weekend, I will hopefully get to go back there and pick up the car and bring it back here, leaving a good chunk of my wallet there. Ugh. Continue reading
bikes
Waiting in Traffic on President & Fleet
It’s Christmas Eve and S. was taking me to Damascus-the Maryland one-so I headed out on my bike for an early ride. I bundled up because it is finally getting cold here and zipped down the hill. Folks were lined up under the JFX to collect holiday packages and again at the park on Baltimore, lined up for food. I continued my ride, locked up the bike, went for a swim, and then headed back up toward home. I snapped this picture while waiting at a red light. Cars, taxis, buses, and me on my bike, all of us depending on the rest of us to follow the rules, which we mostly do. I stopped to chat with E. and walked my bike for a bit, past the folks lining up on the walkway at Health Services for the Homeless. A man stopped to chat with me about the importance of bike safety, wearing my helmet, paying attention, and all that jazz. Always, I said. And then I got on my bike, headed up Fallsway, and narrowly avoided being hit by a driver who raced through the crosswalk at an intersection on her way to make a right. Yep, stay attentive at all times, and drivers, please take your time; that could have made a really terrible holiday for all of us. I made it home safely, happy to have gotten in some exercise. Before I left my house I’d read an article about how children are getting iPads for Christmas instead of toys, an it’s a terrible thing. From what I saw on my ride today, that’s not all children, and I’m thinking we’ve got bigger problems than that.
Sunset Behind Bare Trees in Druid Hill Park on the Jones Falls Trail
I had one of those perfectly lovely days, the kind where you wake up where you’re supposed to be and spend your morning doing things you’re supposed to be doing, and then there’s a meeting, but then you’re on your bike riding through the park on an unseasonably warm day. That part’s wrong, but like so very many wrong things, it feels so good. It was like springtime on my bare legs as I pedaled along, I swear. Continue reading
Holiday Decorations at Stoneyford Run & Stony Lane
I didn’t get a bike ride in on Sunday, but I did manage to go for a nice long morning walk with S. and J. We were all tired from the previous night’s dance party, so we decided to make our Sunday morning hike a walk around our neighborhood. Walking is many times slower than biking which means a whole different kind of looking around. Walking just requires and enables a different kind of attention altogether. We walked around Charles Village checking out the new mural going up on 26th and Maryland before taking a right for a trip through the Johns Hopkins campus and its Italian sculpture garden. Continue reading
View From Middle Branch Park Out By Harbor Hospital on the Gwynns Falls Trail
My dad was in town for a visit and I had the day off work, so we rented him a bicycle so we could ride around Baltimore together. I had about a thousand rides to take him on, but we didn’t have forever and he rented a bike not built for climbing, so I just took him down the hill and on the Gwynns Falls Trail around to Middle Branch Park. I led the way, using my hand signals, being reminded to point out road hazards, and thinking just a few turns ahead. Continue reading
DC’s Fancy Bikestation at Union Station
My dear New Orleans friends D. and M. are in DC for a few days this week on a work trip, so I took my non-teaching day to head down to corridor for a little taste of home. We weren’t going to be riding bikes, so I left Brompty at home and just took the Surly to Penn Station where I searched for a spot on the couple of bike racks before awkwardly locking up to the side of one. Continue reading
Poinsettias at the Whole Foods on Fleet at Harbor East
I have been away at another conference, this time in San Juan, Puerto Rico where it was warm and humid–easy weather for dressing this girl who is still stocked for living in New Orleans. I had a good trip seeing friends and colleagues, thinking and talking about new ideas, staring at the ocean and swimming in it, and maybe gambling some pennies away, but oh boy, was I happy to come home to Baltimore. Continue reading
Bikes in Bike Racks at the 16th Street BART
I’ve been at a conference in Oakland, CA for the past several days which has meant no bicycle riding–too busy, too tired, no bike. But I see bikes everywhere. There are lanes in downtown Oakland, signs directing riders all over town. My dear friend S. reports there’s going to be a bike lane on the new Bay Bridge when it eventually opens. Tonight when I took the BART into San Francisco for dinner with D. and P., there were bikes boarding trains, a space in the car set aside for bikes, and a pamphlet on the floor from August when bikes could ride in any car on Fridays. I snapped this picture of bikes lined up on racks at the 16th Street BART station–so many riders! Bikes are clearly just normal here–they can be normal. The infrastructure is built with the assumption it will be used for biking, and it clearly is. How, though, do y’all get up some of these San Francisco hills? Next time I best find out.
Blue Skies and Houses East of Fallsway Before Chase
I’m a bit under the weather, but I had a long-standing lunch date down in the Inner Harbor. What was I going to do–drive there? Nah. I layered up and headed out the door for a zippy race down empty streets, Maryland Avenue through Mt. Vernon and the Westside and over to the giant Hilton. As always, as soon as I was on my bike I was glad I was. Continue reading
Bike Party Gathering at Mt. Vernon Square at Monument & Charles
It was a long, long week at work, so by the time Friday rolled around, I was a sleepy bee. S. was right, though–we had to get on our bikes and head down to the Bike Party, at least for a little bit, to check out the hundreds of people in costumes ready to take over the streets. I couldn’t get it up to put on more than socks and a sweatshirt, but S. donned her cow costume and we zipped down the new door-zone friendly bike lane on St. Paul, collecting other riders as we went before we all made the smart choice to take Maryland Avenue instead. Continue reading
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 