Tuesday’s ride was a surprisingly muggy one downtown to meet the shuttle for the ride to campus. I let the hill do the work on the way, locked up, and chatted with a colleague from the Classics department on campus. He’s an archaeologist who also hates driving, and we had a lovely time discussing the merits of fixed rail versus bus, bike versus everything else–you can guess where I fell on this debate. One of my favorite things about public and shared transportation is this kind of thing, though–that you get to chat with people you probably wouldn’t talk with otherwise. Continue reading
sports
Orioles Game From the Bleachers at Camden Yards
Friday’s bike ride took me first to the train station and out to Catonsville on Brompty for a day at the office before swapping out for the Surly for a ride with N. down to Camden Yards to watch the O’s take on her beloved St. Louis Cardinals. It’s more than a little embarrassing to go to a game with your ladyfriend all decked out in enemy colors, but she donned an O’s wristband, so there was that. The ride down there was a bit slow–my left knee hurt on the inside and I was making the mistake of worrying how the ride back up the hill would feel instead of enjoying the ride down there. Staying present’s a tough job for this cat, but I’m working on it. Continue reading
Cops and Brodudes at E. Cross & Light St.
Monday was Opening Day at Orioles Park at Camden Yards, and I was not the only person trying to pass through downtown last evening around 6pm. All was quiet on Maryland and then Cathedral, but oh, near Pratt Street things started getting ugly. Everybody’s in a hurry, of course, but there’s not rushing a stadium full of drunken pedestrians high on a first big win over the Red Sox (we’re undefeated!). I did things I never do to get myself over to Federal Hill: I rode on the sidewalk to avoid the crush of cars right before Pratt; I split the lanes as we waited to cross Conway; and I used my Outside Voice to encourage pedestrians to obey their lights, too. Continue reading
Nearly-Empty Chips and Dips Display at the Safeway at 25th & Charles
Sunday’s ride was another in unseasonably warm weather (or maybe the cold has been unseasonable? I have no idea if seasonality still has meaning anymore), this time down to the Inner Harbor to meet N. for lunch before our trip to the Wedding Experience, Day 2. There were dresses and cake samples and lots of stares–which one’s the bride? (neither!)–and then it was time to walk back, her to her car, and me to my bike to meet again at the grocery. Walk+car was about equal to biking, but I’ll call myself the winner, because hey, I’m the one writing this. Anyway, a trip to the grocery store on Super Bowl Sunday is an excellent reminder of how many of us are doing the same thing at the same time, even if we’re not doing it together. Continue reading
The Field at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Downtown Baltimore
Sunday’s bike ride took me and the Surly downtown for a historical tour of Oriole Park and Camden Yards, another hit brought to us by the folks at Baltimore Heritage. To be honest, I was a tired out bicyclist after Saturday’s ride, and if I hadn’t booked this tour weeks earlier, I might have chosen to stay home and rest up with all the homework I saved for the very last day of spring break (yep, teachers do that too), but I’m glad I went. Continue reading
Beers on a Bar in Fells Point at Broadway & Aliceanna
Sunday’s ride took me over to Waverly to meet friends for a drive to Leakin Park before taking the bike back down the hill for a quick swim. Wow, swimming is hard and wonderful. And then it was game time. I had a coupon for a chain restaurant in Fells Point, so I biked over there and grabbed the last spot at the bar, ordering up something they called “pizza” and a beer. And then a second beer, because the Miller Lite Girls were there in tight bedazzled v-neck t-shirts handing out free beers. Continue reading
Crowds Waving Rally Towels at Camden Yards in Downtown Baltimore
Monday was all read, write, teach, read, grade, get cavities filled, and write, but then it was time to put on my Orioles shirt, stuff a few layers in my purse, tie it all together with my reflective safety belt, and take the bike down to meet C. and friends for food before Game 2 of the ALDS against the Yankees. Continue reading
View of the Harbor From the Waterfront Kitchen
Friday was one of those workdays when my heart wasn’t really in it, and then there were meetings and then I couldn’t find my wallet and blah~it was time for the week to be over and for me to be on my bicycle, so that’s where I was, down the hill and to the left to join V. and A. for drinks and this delicious mushroom cheese toast thing at the restaurant on the waterfront. We toasted and laughed and complained and took note, over and over again, of just how pretty it is here. And then it was back on the bike to dodge the Inner Harbor promenade traffic for dinner with S. and friends and then BASEBALL. Oh, baseball, I love you. I had to leave before the game ended-gasp-but I could tell we were still winning because shouts were coming from open doors and stoops and bars all along the route home because last night we were all O’s fans, an easy thing to be right now and highly recommended. In a car I would have listened to the game on the radio, but this worked too, and I got that sense of racing as I sped home to see who won. Up the hill and back home with more baseball starting Sunday. Things could be worse, yes indeed.
Fireworks at Camden Yards After the O’s Beat the Red Sox
I woke up early, worked all day, and then it was time to ride the bike down the hill to Camden Yards, because the O’s are in a pennant race, and it just doesn’t get better than that. Our side gave up a run in the first, but responded with 6, so we just sat back and let it spin itself out, wishing somebody would just finally beat the Yankees. There was the hot dog race, the crab shuffle, Cotton-Eyed Joe, and it was all soothingly predictable, but also a late-season game that mattered. The game was a win and we walked down closer to the field for fireworks spitting out near the bleachers. And then it was get back to the bike and zip past all the people walking the miles back to their cars, a left up the hill to home. Bike, baseball, bike–works for me.
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Meeting at the Mound at Camden Yards
I woke up early even though I didn’t have to, because I can’t help it, so why not drive to DC early, sneak in a National Park visit before my lunch date with J. and E.? Piscataway Park was lovely, but driving into DC wasn’t. Why people ever drive is beyond me–it just makes me anxious, and there’s no reason I should bother learning to deal with that anxiety. Take the bus–lesson learned. As I drove back into Baltimore, the lights were already on at Camden Yards, reminding me there was a game tonight. Driving makes me want to die, but a bike ride and a lazy evening watching baseball? Yes, please. I rode down here, locked up to a rack, bought a ten dollar ticket and a seven dollar beer, and settled in to watch my new team take on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in a meaningless game, for us, at least. That doesn’t mean I didn’t thoroughly enjoy watching us throttle them with five runs in the first, and this meeting at the mound didn’t seem to help. But we are only in the third, and this is baseball and we’ve got to get 16 more outs, so I best get another beer and some nachos. And then I can bike home instead of waiting to get out of the parking lot. Thank goodness.
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 