The sun came out on Tuesday, and it had a profound effect on my mood after a gray and rainy Monday. So much feels gray and rainy that when the skies are like that too, I get a bit overwhelmed with it. But like all feelings, the sadness of Monday melted away to the relative good cheer of Tuesday, made even better by “seeing” some of my students in our online class meetings that morning.
And then I was utterly exhausted. It is going to take me a minute to get in shape for this.
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Last week’s heavy workload and heavier rains conspired to keep me off the bike for far too many days, so I was happy to have an open afternoon and cloudy but dry skies today for a longer ride. I headed up the hill for lunch and some football before heading down the hill to see what the football fans were doing at the stadium–hint: leaving early–and then I dodged traffic cones and wide-turners on my way to the Gwynns Falls Trail. It finally really feels like fall, but the greens are still mostly green and the overgrowth is still overgrown. Continue reading
I woke up late after a most perfect late night out and my first thought was: bicycle! I hopped out of bed and onto the Surly for a ride over to the Waverly farmer’s market and breakfast at the corner diner. I rode back home for a quick stop before meeting M. for a ride out to Middle Branch Park. She is new in town and hasn’t been on that section of the Gwynns Falls Trail, so I was happy to join her for a ride. Continue reading
Today’s ride took me down the hill to the Inner Harbor and around to Federal Hill to join A. for a work date at a Federal Hill coffee shop. We gossiped–her about writing, me about not writing–and then worked in 20 minute intervals, because sometimes that’s how you have to do it, especially when outside is all sun and blue skies and bicycles. After finishing up I had a few hours before I had to be anywhere or doing anything, so I rode around Federal Hill and then headed east to see where it would take me. Continue reading
So I was in Cleveland for a week, and then a few days after I got back to Baltimore, I caught that cold that’s been taking out my students for the past few months–sore, closed throat, cough, itchy ears, fatigue, and just general blah-ness. I decided to take a couple days off the bike to see if I could just get better rather than driving everything into my lungs and making the whole business worse. Well, today I’m not totally better, but I’m good enough to get out there for a ride, and I really, really needed it. Continue reading
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 