N. planted three clues about where to meet her Friday night, and she told me to ride my bike there. I did a little sleuthing by way of the internet to figure out that I was supposed to be at 1121 Hull Street, so after a day of lazing and working I carried Brompty down the stairs, put air in her tires, and headed down the hill–that way I could fold up my bike and toss it in the trunk of N.’s car and let her drive me back up the hill.
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Baltimore
Cloudy Skies at the Corner of 36th & Falls Road in Hampden
It wasn’t much of a week for bicycling, I’m sad to say. Workdays stretched into the night, and then there was the part where it was just flipping hot out. Why, September, why must you be all mid-90s and humid? I want my cooler air cycling, please! I did a quick pedal down the hill to meet S. for a beer on Tuesday night, but other than that, nothing. Continue reading
Looking West from the Patterson Park Pagoda
I woke up early, drank a quick coffee and ate a quick piece of toast, and then hopped on my bike for a quick ride from Butcher’s Hill to Fort McHenry to meet up with the rest of the (relatively) early risers for this year’s Defender’s Day historical bicycle tour with Baltimore Heritage. I got to do part of the narrating this year, and we had A. along to change flat tires, something he is really good at. I talked about what started the war, when we started memorializing it, why we memorialize some parts and not others, and E. talked about how privateers are just pirates with government contracts, why you might not want to build row houses out of wood, and the other forts in the city that aren’t Fort McHenry. Continue reading
Beehives on a Brick Building in Butcher’s Hill at N. Chester & E. Fairmount
What a perfect Saturday, all late-summer blue skies and cool morning air, I spent the morning in a car, but the rest of the day was out in it. R. drove up the hill to fetch N. and me and then we headed out for a hike at Oregon Ridge State Park. Now, I’ve hiked around this park at least a dozen times, all four seasons, with lots of different parts of my Baltimore. It’s like my Gwynns-Falls-Trail-Out-to-Middle-Branch-Park bike ride suggestion, but in a car–always a sure win, because it is just plain perfect out here. Continue reading
View of the Sky from a Waverly Back Patio
Friday’s ride started early with a morning pedal over to R.’s to sit on her back porch and ostensibly talk about our project, but we got waylaid by jokes and girl talk and such, sipping coffee and staring up at this beautiful sky–all blue and green, the power lines a punctuation more than anything, because that was my mood, sitting there with my friend in her neighborhood, feeling at home here. And then I rode over to Hampden for an appointment, pedaling as fast as I could because that neighborhood is always farther away that I think, and I do not like to be late. An hour later and I was riding home to grab my car for the drive to work. Oh, I would rather be on a bicycle these days, especially as the weather just starts its turn to that part where full sun doesn’t mean full sweat and the breezes are actually cool. Bring it, fall. This bicyclist is ready to transition, and I’ve got my windproof gear all ready for a long winter. And I want to sit out on that patio and watch the leaves turn gold and red and orange and then stare up at bare branches against a chilly blue sky. Sometimes I don’t want time to pass, but right now I’m ready for it. I’m glad I get to tour the changes by bike.
Taking a Break on a Loop Around the Druid Hill Park Reservoir Bike/Ped Path
And then some days you just want to mindlessly pedal and listen to music and say your how-you-doin’s to other people doing the very same thing. Monday was that day, so after getting caught up on work emails all afternoon, I hopped on my bike and headed out in the Labor Day humidity for a ride around the Druid Hill Park reservoir. Continue reading
Photographer Waiting at a Hole in the Fence at Light & Lee
Friday’s ride took me quick-like-a-bunny-rabbit to as east on Fleet Street as I could go for a doctor’s appointment that took too long and then over to the Inner Harbor to see what the Grand Prix was doing so as to add evidence to my complaintapillaring about the thing and then around to Federal Hill for a massage–rough life, I know. Following the googleymap directions to the doc’s I rode past the building I saw on Thursday, and it looked different this time, when it was on the main drag heading south from when it was stumbled upon as I was coming out of being lost. Continue reading
Plants Taking Over a Blighted Building at E. Oliver & N. Durham
Thursday’s ride was one of those rides where you pedal around trying to get out of the post-first-day-of-school funk that always follows the heavy excitement of day one. I rode up the hill, ate a sandwich, and then rode down the hill, not sure of my destination. I decided to see if Pratt Street was closed for that boondoggle known as the Baltimore Grand Prix (thinking about the waste of resources makes me apoplectic–don’t get me started). I hate the thing, but if the road was closed to cars, maybe I could sneak in a bike race. No such luck, so I headed east, eventually ending up in Canton for some frozen yogurt and an hour of watching dogs tug around their owners. Continue reading
View From a Back Porch in Waverly
Wednesday was the first day of classes, and oh, I was excited! I love the first day of school–all the books are new, no one is behind on the readings, all the grandmothers are still alive, and we are all full of hope for an exciting semester of learning together–at least that’s how it feels to me. I get so excitable, though, that I’m pretty much exhausted at the end of just two classes. I drove my car home in the post-teaching haze, rested up for just a bit, and then I hopped on the bike for a slow pedal up and over to Waverly to see R. and her new house, a bike ride I expect to take a lot in the next year. Continue reading
Alcohol and Televisions at David’s 1st & 10 Sports Bar at 36th & Falls Road
Tonight’s ride took me up to Hampden to join J. for a night of preseason football. I could write about any of the many things I saw: the obscene numbers of televisions in this place; the inexplicability of a non-high def TV at a bar with this many TVs; what understaffing looks like; the 7-11’s 2010 “Top Breakfast Sandwich Sales” trophy; the girls tossing a ball between them on the porch, counting how many times they could pass it without it dropping; the crowd at the new ice cream shoppe; or a zillion other things. But tonight’s ride was all about that feel when flying down the hill: I was a little chilly. It was such on odd sensation, one I haven’t had in months and months, but there it was today, another reminder that time passes; best make the most of it.
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 