weather

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The Brompton Under a Table at the Wonderland Ballroom at 1101 Kenyon

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Almost every bicycle ride I take is a pleasure, even if I’m just retracing the same old paths on my way to another boring errand. I even enjoy those sweltering rides in New Orleans, the ones at dusk along the Mississippi River, which sounds romantic until you know how many bugs you’ll eat just trying to breathe. But hey, I just really, really like riding a bicycle. Today’s ride in DC rush hour traffic with record heat, grinding up hills, not sure where I was headed…let’s just say I’ve had better times. Bu what felt good was just folding up the Brompton and tucking it under the table at a bar and sucking down glasses of ice water, a beer, and a surprisingly tasty lentil salad, knowing that I won’t always be this lost in this town if I keep riding this little bicycle that is going to help me figure out yet another city. Yeah, this’ll work.

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Row of Houses at Potomac & Fait

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It was another scorching and humid day in Baltimore, and I spent most of it working and reading in front of the window ac unit and wondering if this is an unseasonable heat wave or if it’s just going to be this hot for the next five months. To be honest, I didn’t exactly feel like going out on a bike in this weather, but I best get used to it, or it will be a long summer off the bike and whining. (And yes, I know I bicycled daily through multiple New Orleans summers, but that doesn’t make this less hot. And yes, I know I grew up in Idaho, but I haven’t lived there in almost 20 years, and I still get cold in cold weather.) I took the Surly down the hill and against Beryl’s fingertips blowing hard on our way to Patterson Park, where the drinking fountain was out of order. Not cool, man. Then I biked around, panting, until I hit the shops at Brewer’s Hill, I think it is~the sandwich shop has mad air conditioning and unsweetened iced tea! After my break I headed home. Cloud cover was rolling in, and that made the ride back exceedingly more pleasant. I stopped at the stop sign at Potomac & Fait and snapped this picture of the same house after house after house; this block needs some serious tree action to stay reasonable during the summer. That house in the middle has built a deck on top~now we’re talking. I hope they can install one of those misting fans up there. Pedal, pedal, pedal, and then I was home. Sometimes a ride is all about the weather.

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Cloudy Skies at Druid Hill Park

I woke up early to a lovely morning and then an afternoon full of work. My whole self wants to be on summer vacation, but I’ve got a whole lot of everything still on my plate, which means I am just tired, weary, and not very excited to be stuck at my computer. Today, I didn’t even feel like riding my bike, so lazy was I. Continue reading →

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Flower Detritus at Guilford & McAlister

As I’m sure you know, we’ve all been having a heat wave of science fiction proportions. Yesterday in Baltimore it was EIGHTY FIVE DEGREES. That’s summertime weather, and we’re just on March’s downhill. I loved having that weather for my week off. I got in some wonderful bike rides, and Thursday’s trip to DC was a feast with all those cherry blossoms and 15 miles of strolling through neighborhoods, monuments, and museums (a perfect situation for a tiny clown bike, I must say). This morning, though, started with a thunderstorm and rained off and on all day long, giving it the feel of spring instead of summer. Continue reading →

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View From Patterson Park From S. Patterson Park & Bank Street

It has been bitterly cold the past few days, but I knew today was supposed to be sunny and warm, so I made plans for a bike date. I got up early, shivered a little on my morning ride to the coffee shop to get some work done, and read and wrote and graded things until S. popped in to meet me. And told me it was warming up. Yay! Continue reading →

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Icy Bike Rack at 32nd & Greenmount

Yep, still cold and icy, so when it was time to meet L. for brunch, I decided to go ahead and walk. I put on my snow boots, lovingly sent by by E. upon my arrival in the Great White Mid-Atlantic, and marched slowly up the hill. The ice is just worse, so where it was still coating the sidewalk, I took each step like a New Orleanian until I made it to my destination. Continue reading →

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Snow and Ice on the Sidewalk on Chase & St. Paul

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Well, it was bound to happen eventually, this thing where water would fall out of the sky on a day so cold it would freeze, so here you go: ice. It looked pretty this morning, but it made for a slooow walk home from brunch as I measured each step to avoid slipping and bouncing off the sidewalk like the newbie I am. I spent the day at home writing up a syllabus and watching terrible movies, but I’ve got a dinner date in Mt. Vernon, so it’s time to get on the bike. Because it’s new to me it felt treacherous as I white-knuckled my way down the hill, taking the whole lane to avoid even the faint touch of visible ice. But what about the ice you can’t see, Kate? I got off and walked the last block to the restaurant. I figure, though, that it’ll be like anything else new–I’ll do it for awhile, get more comfortable, fall, realize falling won’t kill me, and then I will just be somebody who rides in wintertime. Or not. Maybe I’ll take the bus.

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View of the Reservoir at Druid Hill Park On An Unseasonably Warm Saturday Afternoon

I don’t know what’s going on with the weather, but S. called on Saturday afternoon and told me to drag my sickly self out of bed and put myself on the bike to enjoy the mid-60s weather we were having. I pulled on my summer skirt and a sweatshirt and headed out. She was right–it was absolutely beautiful out, and even the sweatshirt was a little warm. Continue reading →

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The View From Leone Riverside Park in Federal Hill

Ok, it’s actually really cold all of a sudden, and also really windy, which meant today’s ride took me straight to the bike shoppe for some super-fancy and expensive bicycling gloves. I handed over my credit card, put them on, along with my recently purchased bike hat, and shivered out for a ride. The thing is, once you get pedaling, you warm up considerably, and that was true today, too. I made a quick stop for lunch and some writing and then rolled down the hill and around the Inner Harbor for a tour of Federal Hill. Continue reading →

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View of Boats, Ships, and the Domino Sugar Plant From Canton Waterfront Park

I woke up excited to get on the bike for the first time in almost a week. I checked the weather report: 90% chance of heavy rains. D’oh! I follow this rule that I got from my pops: never start a bike ride in the rain, so I figured I best climb out of bed and get on the bike before it was too late. I opened the door to a light sprinkle, but hey, rules are made to be broken, and this kid needed a bike ride like nobody’s business. Continue reading →