infrastructure

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Do Not Sit On Steps at 41st & Edgehill

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Friday’s ride took me an easy couple miles up the hill and over to Hampden for my monthly book club discussion and snackfest, this time hosted by S. ans A., who dressed in colonial garb in keeping with the historical novel’s time period and theme. I felt underdressed in my uniform of skirt and tank top, and overtired from a really long week at work, but once I got on my bike and headed out, I caught my third of fourth wind of the day. I rode my usual Hampden route, stopped for a bottle of wine, and then rode with some traffic on 41st before locking up to a bus stop sign on a residential streets. This sign was affixed there too, reminding riders not to sit down in a residential neighborhood, because that’s private property. I wonder how many Hampden neighborhood petitions, phone trees, transit meetings and emails had to be exchanged for this sign to be put up there, and I wonder how many daily huffs-n-puffs still happen when people sit down somewhere other than the one bench to wait the legendary wait times that are part of most bus systems. Or maybe nobody around here takes the bus, and it’s not “a problem” yet. Private property, public needs~seems to me that’s the real problem. And then I went inside, ate, talked, laughed, and drank, and then I rode home. Fall weather’s barely teasing, and I was a sweaty mess after just 20 minutes out there. Soon, soon, but for now it’s still hot as blazes.

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Cobblestones on the Harbor East Roundabout at President & Aliceanna

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Today’s ride was a quick on, just down to Harbor East for a quick trip to the gym and then back home to meet S. for an evening out. I snapped this picture of the cobblestones on the roundabout at the end of PresidentStreet because every time I ride down here I get frustrated by this part. Cobblestones? Really? I’ve complained before and I’ll complain again~cobblestones are the worst. I have big tires on my touring bike, but still this surface unsteadies and shakes me around, and I hate it, so much so that I will get off my nike and walk around this to avoid that ride. I guess it’s there to look “authentic” or something, but it was clearly chosen by folks who never move across surface streets any way other than some SUV or something. I can’t believe I have fashioned a life for myself where I can get this worked up about road surfacing, but there you go. Death to cobblestones! Next time: Why I hate tthe new roundabouts on Guilford, despite their traffic-calming effects.

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Fencing at the Inner Harbor for the Baltimore Grand Prix

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Today’s ride took me down to the Inner Harbor and then all I could see was the fencing already up and more to come for the Baltimore Grand Prix, a total boondoggle last go-around and back for more. Sigh. That ring around the harbor, what a mess.

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Asphalt Patches on the Fallsway Cycle Track, Prison Stretch

My phone was trapped under groceries so I didn’t take a picture, but zomg let me tell you what I saw riding my bike around today. I rode down to Harbor East to check out a gym on a free pass and pick up some frozen raspberries from the expensive grocery store where frozen raspberries are actually pretty cheap. After getting over the shock and dismay that the store was out of soy milk (apocalypse is here!) I piled everything on my bike and headed back up the hill to home. Every time I get to Orleans I have to decide whether to stay on the Jones Falls Trail via the fancy new separated bike lane that’s been installed there or to take the lane. No brainer, right? Except the path isn’t finished yet, and there are these giant holes in it that make an easy ride into a steeplechase–not my favorite. I took the path today to avoid traffic, and lo and behold, they’ve patched over two of the holes with asphalt. It’s a stop gap, sure, but I need those gaps stopped, so I was pretty happy, especially since I know the planned finish date isn’t until early next year. I really wish they hadn’t started it if they couldn’t finish it, and I’m not sure why it can’t just be finished, but hey, I love seeing bike infrastructure being built–not because I can’t just ride in the street, which I do all the time, but because the only thing that is proven to increase the number of cyclists on the road is building facilities for it. And you know what I want? More bikes on the road, because more cyclists make all of us safer. Oh, and I also want no prisons, because prisons don’t actually make us safer, not in the ways I want to be safe. This cycle track keeps that in the front of my mind every time I ride home past Baltimore’s own little Prison Industrial Complex.

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Tracks to Nowhere at Eden & Eastern

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Today’s ride was almost identical to yesterday’s, but I took right one block sooner than usual, which meant new streets, including Eden, which at Eastern Avenue gets railroad tracks that just end where to asphalt takes over. There used to be an entirely different infrastructure here, traces peeking out here and there, but today we act like the way our streets are is the way they have to be. I mean, the struggle to get one stinking bike lane… I pedaled along, ran my errand, ate ice cream, had some coffee, finished my book, and then I was back up the hill to home. Oh, summertime, you are lovely.

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Stopped at an Intersection at 17th Street & 8th Avenue

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It’s time to head home to Baltimore after this quick trip to NYC with the Brompton, so after a lazy morning, I packed up and rode the bike over to Bergen and Flatbush for brunch with E. She took the subway and just missed her train. I took bike lanes and stopped twice to double check directions, and I beat her by about four minutes. I wonder how long I’d have to live in NYC for that game to get old. Anyway, the Brompton neatly folded and sat next to us, and after I watched a couple of strollers barrel through there I wondered why I would ever be nervous about this bike taking up too much space. After breakfast I popped the bike open and headed toward the Brooklyn Bridge en route to Penn Station. I basically followed the signs to the bridge where I was greeted by a zillion walkers pouring into Brooklyn as part of some kind of walkathon. Sigh. I used my bell and my voice to navigate the throngs successfully and then I was in the city again, zigging and zagging to Hudson and then the slight right to 8th Avenue and the fancy protected bike lane, complete with its ver own stoplight, studiously observed by no one but me. I wonder how long I’d have to in NYC before I would be flying through those along with the other bikers who passed me (but who never ended up more than a block or two ahead of me, but whatever). I snapped this picture stopped at one of those intersections~dang, that is good design, and frankly, I’d marry that bike infrastructure if it were legal in New York State. The light turned, I pedaled through, pulling up again at 31st Street where I folded up and hopped into the train station, got my ticket, went down the escalator, shoved the bike above my seat, and now I’ll read my way home, having seen more of New York on my bike this weekend than I have in years. Brompton for the win!

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Maryland Science Center at Light Street and Key Highway

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It was gray and rainy out, but I was in no mood to drive a car over to Federal Hill, so I broke the “don’t start a ride in the rain” rule and pedaled down the hill, around the harbor, and up the hill on the other side. I spent part of my morning reading about Federal Hill, and once you know a little bit of history about the place you’re in, well, if you’re me, it doesn’t look the same. Take the Maryland Science Center, for example. Before today it was to me just a big behemoth of brick that marks the end or start of the bike path, depending on where I’m headed. According to David Harvey, though, it’s a windowless citadel guarding the “rebirthed” Inner Harbor, a cash cow for developers, from the “angry” poor whites and African Americans who used to live just up from here. The surrounding neighborhoods are now mostly comprised of young white professionals, but the Science Center is still there, blocking their view and complicating access, and i’d never know it’s history without the fine folks who remind us that our built environment and who’s in it is no accident. I rode up to Fort Avenue and down to the new McHenry Row. So many empty properties, but we’re still making new developments like this one, which was an empty lot today. Time will tell, I suppose, whether all this new housing will fill, but it seems like so much boondoggle to me. One thing’s for sure, though~these waterproof panniers are awesome on days like this one, because it was an awfully misty ride home.

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Pile of White Stuff Near 2250 S. Clinton

Oh, I needed a day just like today following this weekend’s trip. I had a wonderful time in New Orleans, no doubt, but it’s hard to go to a place that feels like home and realize you don’t get to live there anymore, especially when the place is so full of love. And then it was back in Baltimore, a few hours of sleep, and back at work, nary a moment to breathe and remember that we–me and my bike–live here now. Continue reading →

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View of the Jones Falls Expressway From Druid Hill Park

Today was one of those rare empty days where I didn’t have a thing to do and nothing planned, so of course I couldn’t figure out what to do with myself. I stayed in bed reading with cats for as long as I could, but then I was restless. It’s cold and windy, so a bike ride didn’t exactly sound appealing. What’s a girl to do? Oh, I know–layer up and go for a bike ride! I wasn’t in the mood to think very hard, so I headed west to Druid Hill Park to do a few laps. Continue reading →

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Students, Parents, Teachers, and Administrators Speaking Out About School Infrastructure at War Memorial Plaza

Today’s ride took me first to the bike shoppe for new  front brakes from a couple of surly gentlemen (and don’t think I don’t know I need rear brakes–you just didn’t have anymore brakes to offer–I was not born yesterday even though I am wearing a skirt) that helpfully returned to me an ability to stop on command. After doing a little reading and thinking I headed downtown on my bike to visit the B&O Railroad Museum to learn a little bit about the Birthplace of American Railroading, which is apparently right here in Baltimore. Continue reading →