Monday’s ride started out early, meeting B. for the commute to work. Wow, the miles go faster with a friend–I’m making a note of that. B. has done several cross country bike rides, and I asked him my big question: how do you eat enough to sustain day after day of 60-100 miles on the bike? His answer: Waffle House. Continue reading
personal
View From the Bond Street Wharf Off Thames & Bond in Fells Point
Sunday’s ride started with a quick pedal over to R.’s house for a walk around the neighborhood and much needed catch-up time and a discussion of our various mid-life crises. And then it was time to get back on the bike and fly down the hill to meet N. at the Inner Harbor for people watching and a sandwich. I flew down there in about 15 minutes, because that’s what it’s like to ride a bike on a Sunday through a city with a dead downtown. We grabbed sandwiches, watched tourists wander by–those selfie sticks are way more popular than I thought they were, and I’m totally making team t-shirts next time I travel with a group–and then rode over to Fells Point for overpriced gelato and a walk to a shady spot where we could look at the water. I snapped this picture as we lolled about with the rest of the city and was grateful for a day of rest. And then we pedaled back up the hill, sweaty messes when we finally got home, cold seltzers cutting right through it. A weekend out of the dictionary entry for “weekend,” I tell you.
Lee & Jackson Monument at Wyman Park Drive & Art Museum Drive
Thursday’s ride took me up the hill to place a large order at Popeye’s and then down the hill, over, and up again to Druid Hill Park to do a bunch of laps as I try to get used to clipping in again. I got out of the habit, and now I’m scared of it. I used to clip in every day, even just for a quick two mile ride to Tulane. I taught in my bike shoes and hopped back on the bike to ride around town afterward. They were normal–now they’re not. I’d like to make them normal again, at least in time to pull myself up and over and through the Adirondacks at the end of July. That’s what was on my mind as I did my laps, getting more and more and then less and then more comfortable with my spds. Continue reading
Industrial Pool on S. Haven Street Between Boston & O’Donnell
Tuesday was my birthday, and I spent it as I’ve spent most of the last 8 birthdays or so–riding my bike around. In New Orleans, I would try to follow the same route from year to year, a chance to check on what, if anything, had changed in the year since I’d last notched one. One thing they all had in common was the sweat, so much sweat. Summer in New Orleans is oppressive, like trying to breathe in swamp water. Continue reading
So Much Green Just Past Elvation & Old Jumpers Hole Road in Pasadena, MD
I left the house early this morning, though not as early as I’d planned–I got waylaid by a pan of those cinnamon rolls that pop out of a can, and headed down the hill toward the Gwynns Falls Trail on my way to Annapolis. It was time to get in another long ride, and I was oddly nervous, I think because Annapolis sounds really far away, and it’s really, really hot and humid here right now. Continue reading
Crossing a Bridge Along the Niagara Parkway Near The Falls
It’s the seventh anniversary of this blog today. I’ve been riding my bike and writing about what I see pretty regularly for a full seven years. That sounds like a long time, sort of, but what seems like really forever ago is me not riding a bike and writing about it. I ride a bike–it’s what I do, for transportation, for fun and pleasure, for vacation and work, for everything. Seven years ago this was not the case at all. Seven years ago I had recently moved to New Orleans with a car, and I was mostly driving to get places. Continue reading
Field of Yellow Flowers at Druid Hill Park
I’ve been riding my bike all over the place over the past week or so. The weather’s been perfect for it, and we’ve even had some days where I’ve gotten to get a good sweat on. It’s awesome. I haven’t felt much like writing about it, though. The uprising took all my words right out of me. I found myself writing and writing, as fast as I could, as if narrative could somehow make the very complicated things that are happening here–have been happening–make sense. Continue reading
New Street at 26th & St. Paul
Friday’s ride was a quick one, just over and up the hill for a follow up visit with the doctor. She was happy to see the tonsils had gone down, but sad to hear the relentless fatigue was still making me feel like a two mile bike ride required close-to-heroic effort. We could do the test for mono, she said, but no matter what it says, all we can do is treat the symptoms. Not one for tests for testing’s sake, I declined and headed out with orders to keep taking it easy, to finish off that course of antibiotics, and to fill one more prescription. Continue reading
View Down the Sidewalk on Penn Street in Ridgely’s Delight
I was still feeling pretty terrible on Thursday, but I wasn’t about to miss class after all the snow days we had last month, so I went ahead and suited up (i.e. put on clothes that weren’t pajamas) for the morning ride down the hill to the shuttle to work. It felt amazing, even if a bit chilly, to ride without leggings on, the morning breeze on bare legs. Yep, I’m still dressing aspirationally–for the weather I want, not the weather I have, though I don’t think weather has anything to do with health, so whatever. I locked up to the now almost full bike racks at the University of Maryland Medical Center, and then walked up the few blocks to meet N. for the ride to work. Continue reading
Birds in a Bush at 32nd & Barclay
I meant to get a bike ride in on Monday afternoon, first down to Mount Vernon to meet E. for a chat and then, oh, wherever I felt like going. But then I was stepping off the curb with my bike and stepped funny, and I heard a crack so loud it made me want to puke on my new orange Ortlieb front roller classics. That was the end of the ride for me, so after sitting on my front steps long enough to catch my breath, I headed back inside to elevate and ice it. Sigh. Continue reading
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 