I’m not going to lie, when the alarms went off at 5:30 this morning I would have been happy to turn them off and go straight back to sleep. But no, I dragged myself out of bed, put on yesterday’s damp riding costume, and headed downstairs to the easy carb loading offered by the Holiday Inn Express complimentary breakfast–thanks, Jackie, for putting it out early for us! We got on buses for a ride over the bridge before collecting our bikes, slathering on sunscreen, and putting air in our tires.
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A Farm About 88 miles from Ocean City, Maryland
Today I rode my first century, and here are some things I saw: fields and fields and fields of golden flowers; rows of just-sprouted somethings; horses playing chase with each other; chicken houses; two miniature ponies in a field that wasn’t miniature at all; swamps and marshes; purple flowers; patches of irises that I wanted to gather for my mom for mother’s day; piles of food and happy faces every 20 miles or so; a dead snake and a dead possum with his mouth open, blood still staining the road; and so, so so, many fields and farms like this one and others with waving greens. Oh, and a whole bunch of bicyclists. I saw a zillion other things too, but mostly I saw all of us kick out our miles, and even in those last 7 miles of driving rain, I was pretty much a happy clam. I could spin all day every day, so beautiful it is. We shall see how I feel tomorrow, but tonight I feel warm all over, tired and a bit addled, and altogether satisfied. Huzzah!
Pratt Branch Library at 20th & N. Wolfe
I woke up early this morning, packed my bags, and hopped on the Surly for the short ride to the Moveable Feast headquarters over on North Milton in East Baltimore to load up for our ride to Ocean City for our ride back home. I followed my googleymap directions for the fastest route, left on 25th, continue onto N. Wolfe, a left on Ashland, another left Milton. My ride took me through neighborhoods that today all looked the same–boarded up rowhouses between others with open doors and filled stoops, few trees, plenty of cars, folks selling snacks and water and car washes, and this Clifton branch of the Pratt Library that looked closed without the side decorations of trees and flowers, and then Johns Hopkins and their East Baltimore developments. I dropped my bike and walked the mile and a half to the bus pick up stop–those who know me will be unsurprised to hear I was over an hour early. It will be a different ride tomorrow, but this is the home I’ll come home to, and I like it.
Chase House at Chase & Cathedral
Today was spent mostly just getting my bike ready for the weekend. I put on my skirt that’s already covered in paint and grease, my painting tank top, and my heels just for the heck of it, and brought all my cleaning and lubing and tube changing supplies to the porch. I spent the next hour or so in the sunshine, slowly and methodically wiping down top tube/down tube/stays/stem and brushing the chain and changing both tires and dropping new lube between each chain and then rubbing all of it off. When I’m working on the bike I’m only thinking about the bike, and it is just terrifically relaxing. Continue reading
View From a Pier Along the Gwynns Falls Trail Near Harbor Hospital
Today’s ride started early early, up with the sun in anticipation for the short ride to Waverly to meet J., C., and our new beehive! I spent a goodly portion of my childhood wanting to be a beekeeper, so when they asked if I wanted to go in on a hive together, well, that was a no brainer. We spent an hour and a half moving the combs from the home hive to our new one and then staring at the hive, wondering if the bees were ok, if the bees that were in the box would find their way home to the new hive, if there was a queen in there even though we didn’t see her, and just generally being excited about the appearance of bees on the scene. Continue reading
Tree Growing Out of a Building on Tyson Near Mulberry
The unthinkable has happened: I’ve misplaced my bike helmet. Now, I know there’s controversy about whether or not bike helmets really help, and I also know that in some of the most common accidents, a bike helmet will do little to keep me safe, but I also know that I feel naked without one. I am somewhat skeptical of the helmet’s ability to keep my egg uncracked in the case of a serious crash, but I also know that I always wear one, I don’t think they make things worse, and if, god forbid, I should ever be seriously hurt or killed when riding a bike, the last think I want E. to have to do is shake her head when asked the inevitable question, “Was she wearing a helmet?” Continue reading
Flowery Trees at Oregon & Link in Arbutus
Wednesday was meant to be a day with a real-ish bicycle ride, but I had to be on campus all day for an evening trip with S. to D.C. for a truly bizarre evening event. Solution: take Brompty in S.’s car for a ride between meetings! Well, best laid plans, right? A meeting turned into another meeting and then I only had two hours to ride and then we got stuck in the elevator on the way downstairs. Continue reading
A Crane in the Sky in Downtown Boise
Today’s ride took me down the hill to meet the other half of the family for a little pre-ride lunch before hitting up the movies. Well, I got the lunch in, but I spent my ride time on the phone, pushing my bicycle along Harrison before sitting myself down on a park bench in that little traffic circle that leads to State Street, Albertson’s, or Boise High. And then the phone call was over for good and I got on the bike and pedaled through downtown and over to BODO, which used to just be 8th Street but is now all fancified with an Urban Outfitters, fancy coffee, and a movie theater. I locked up the bike with the lock I brought from home, uncritically cried my way through the movie (I needed that), and then rode back to home, a quick stop for another phone call from a park bench in The Grove. I snapped this picture from there, crane in the sky over that hole that has been downtown for as long as I can remember. In some ways all places are the same, projects unfinished because somebody ran out of time, money, permission, or something, but there’s always hope (or dread) that cranes will return. It was a short ride today, but I needed it. I’m back to Baltimore tomorrow, and I can’t wait to take the Surly out for a long ride, just the two of us.
View From a Bench at Quarry View Park Off E. Old Penitentiary Road
I have been in Boise, Idaho this week, my hometown, visiting my family for the past few days. I haven’t been here in almost three years, and I haven’t spent more than about a week in this place since 1993. I didn’t ride a bike around here much as a kid, though this is where I got my first bike–a white one with a purple banana seat, Miss GTO in sparkles on the chain guard. I was so jealous of E.’s yellow Schwinn–I think even then I had a sense that my gender wasn’t quite “sparkle.” Continue reading
Trees and Trucks at Falls & Shawan in Cockeysville
It’s Saturday, which meant it was time for another long ride in preparation for the big ride coming up next month. J. was leading the same ride as last week, this time with an extra loop to get the mileage up. I woke up to sunny skies out my bedroom window, warm in the sun, so I put on not-enough-layers and sunscreen before heading up to the farmer’s market to meet today’s riders. Continue reading
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 