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

Bike Parking at Penn Station in Baltimore

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I woke up early early, threw on some grown up clothes, and wrapped my reflective safety triangle belt around myself and my bag before hopping on the bike and flying down the hill to the train station for a trip to DC and an all-day meeting. It was dark and cold and my eyes watered as I groggily pedaled along, and I was happy it was a short ride. I snapped this picture of the nearly full bike rack. Yep, ride to the station-parking’s expensive, and so are cabs. I went a lot of places today and never had to get in a car, and that’s just how I like it. Now we’ll just see if the bike’s still there when my evening train arrives.

Blighted Factory at Hollins & Warwick

A couple of cold days in a row made today’s 38 degrees and sunshine feel downright balmy. After finishing up a little of this and that at home, I layered up and hopped on the bike to head to campus. It was so warm I didn’t even need my fancy pants gloves! I flew down the hill on Maryland, went around that growing sinkhole just on the other side of North Avenue (can we at least spray paint around the thing?), and then up through Bolton Hill and Marble Hill. Continue reading

Salon Nine-E at Beechfield, West, & Ridge in Arbutus

Yep, I’m back at school again, this time teaching a three and a half week winter session course. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I’d rather be lazily reading, writing, and bicycling instead. Due to this resistant attitude, I spent my morning getting a massage and then stopping by a music store with S., who needed to do little to get me to shell out for a ukelele. Yeah, it’s time to pick up a new hobby, and besides, a ukelele is small. I could take it camping on my bicycle. But alas, it was finally time to get myself to school, and S. kindly dropped me and my bicycle there. And guess what? Continue reading

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

Entrance to the Jones Falls Trail at the North End of Druid Hill Park

It’s New Year’s Day, which means it’s time for the first bike ride of 2012! If I’m being honest, I wasn’t really in the mood for it. I had a most lovely new year’s eve, and I was perfectly happy to stay in bed all day, lolling around and eating last night’s cheese plate, but you can’t miss a ride on the first day of the new year, right? By the time I was out of bed and ready to get on the bike, the rain had started to fall, but only in sprinkles; I was tired and the left side of my head felt like there was a party last night, so I decided to head to Druid Hill Park to do a couple of easy laps. Continue reading

Pedestrian Underpass at Bank Street & Eastern Avenue

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Today’s afternoon ride took me to Harbor East to catch a couple of closing exhibits at the Lewis Museum–Roberto Clemente was an awesome dude lost too soon, and there’s an important and often invisible history of African American/Native American relationships (though I think telling those histories is important for reasons beyond recognizing people’s identities, but that’s a different blog). The exhibits were of that new-fangled pop-up museum style, so hopefully they are travelling to a museum near you next. The day was unseasonably warm, so afterward I headed out for a ride with no plan; it had been far too long since I did that. I pedaled along, following the signs first to Patterson Park, where I watched a whole bunch of people feed a whole bunch of pigeons, and then toward Greektown by way of Highlandtown. I snapped this picture half way across the pedestrian underpass on Eastern Avenue. Now *this* is an underpass–spacious, covered in art, brightly-painted bridges above, carrying a train and framing yet another abandoned factory, but I’m guessing that just can’t be helped. I zipped through and around, did a quick turn on some Bayview side streets, and then headed back, hoping to be somewhere familiar by dusk. I passed through Brewer’s Hill, marvelled at the speed by which neighborhoods change and how a blighted warehouse district can become expensive lofts in virtually every city I have ever been in, stopped by Canton Waterfront Park for a photo of the sky on fire with sunset, and took myself to Fells Point for a cocktail and some fancy tapas to toast myself out of 2011, a day early. It has been a banner year for me, and I’m looking forward to my first bike ride of 2012, January 1. Oh, I do so like riding a bike around Baltimore.

William Wallace Statue at the Reservoir in Druid Hill Park

I was out with S. last night, and she suggested we get up early for a few laps around the reservoir at Druid Hill Park, her running, me on my bike. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but when I woke up all warm in my bed surrounded by cats, well, it seemed like a better idea might be to enjoy a vacation day in bed with coffee and books. But I said I’d be up for it, so I sent a text, sucked down some coffee, put on my wool layers, and headed out on the bike, and, as always, I was glad I did. Continue reading

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

Bank of America at 32nd & St. Paul

I wanted to go on a real bike ride today, but it was windy and rainy, and I just didn’t have it in me for that kind of ride. But I did manage to take the bike up and down the hill to the Bank of America at 32nd and St. Paul to finally close out my account now that my credit union account is all up and running and I finally have my direct deposit business sorted out. Continue reading