I spent the week riding my bike mostly to and from work, getting used to the cold weather. Turns out it’s still not that cold, but if it’s early enough, I need my windproof gloves. And it gets dark early, so I’ve got to bring the ol’ blinky safety vest with me every morning. The ride to and from has gotten normal, the way commuting routes get normal. I’ve got my frustrations–that the lights in Waverly and Charles Village aren’t timed for my bike, the rutted asphalt of Maryland Avenue–and my favorites–catching the light at the bottom of the hill coming into Mount Vernon and the block between Howard and Eutaw on Monument that I only see because of this new commute. Continue reading
West Baltimore
Missing Front Wheel From a Bike at Lombard & Greene
I haven’t been posting a whole lot lately, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been riding the bike. When it’s your means of transportation 95% of the time, you’re pretty much guaranteed a ride every day. That’s my favorite part of living car-free, and it’s working. Some highlights from the past week or so include finally getting a good ride up the Fallsway bike path again and wondering why people complain so much about being routed by the prison–at least you’re not in it, and why do we want to hide what we do to each other with all our cages? Oh, I think I know some answers to that one, and they aren’t pretty. Continue reading
Looking out the MARC Train Window at 40 & the West Baltimore MARC Station
Sometimes I’m too tired to ride a bike because I’m not sleeping well, but that’s how I get to work, so bike I shall. And then I’m stopped outside the West Baltimore MARC station, staring out the window at cars queuing up for the slow snake back to Baltimore, and I’m relieved I never have to wait in that line, even if that means biking when I’m not in the mood or waiting at bus stops. Anything but a car, I swear.
“Excuses Are Tools of the Incompetent” Sign at Carver Vo-Tech High School at 2201 Presstman Street
I rode my bike a lot last week–it’s how I get around 90% of the time–but I didn’t write, giving my typing hands a rest. I saw some good stuff while off the blog: another round of snow, the first crocuses of this slow-in-coming spring, suburban potholes being paved over and city potholes growing wide enough to see the brick of past roads showing through, and, on Saturday, another debate tournament. It was spitting rain when I got up that morning, a little more when I got on the bike to head to Carver High for my first high school competition. Continue reading
Looking East Past a Blighted Factory at West Lafayette & Spedden
Finally, a dry day without ice on the roads, plenty of sunshine, nowhere to be, and no cold or flu dogging me! Oh, it was good to be back on the bike. It took about two minutes flying down the hill on Maryland Avenue to get that smile on my face I get when I feel at home and most myself–when I’m on my bike headed nowhere in particular. After a brief stop to pick up this week’s coffee I decided to go left instead of right and was quickly tracing new streets in West Baltimore. Continue reading
Tree Growing Out of a Building on Tyson Near Mulberry
The unthinkable has happened: I’ve misplaced my bike helmet. Now, I know there’s controversy about whether or not bike helmets really help, and I also know that in some of the most common accidents, a bike helmet will do little to keep me safe, but I also know that I feel naked without one. I am somewhat skeptical of the helmet’s ability to keep my egg uncracked in the case of a serious crash, but I also know that I always wear one, I don’t think they make things worse, and if, god forbid, I should ever be seriously hurt or killed when riding a bike, the last think I want E. to have to do is shake her head when asked the inevitable question, “Was she wearing a helmet?” Continue reading
Run-Down Mansion at Frederick & Millington in West Baltimore
It’s March 1 and spring is in the air, so when I saw those Friday meetings on my work calendar, it just made sense to take the bike instead of driving. It has been awhile since I rode to campus, but I just followed my bike’s memory and away we went, down the hill, a right turn up the hill, and over into West Baltimore. The neighborhoods change so fast over here. Bolton Hill is so fancy pants, but crossing into Marble Hill blight comes quick. Continue reading
BMX Rider at Carroll Park Skatepark at Bayard & Herkimer
It’s cold and windy in Baltimore, but I needed to go on a bike ride today, badly. I remembered my father’s insistence that “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing,” piled on my wool and layers, and hopped on the bike to see what was happening out there today. I flew down the hill to downtown and then took an unexpected left to follow the anti-marriage equality truck to a rally at War Memorial Plaza that was ostensibly “Not a protest. Not a festival. Not a rally. Not a time for speeches, sermons, stumping or pontification.” Continue reading
Boarded-Up Building at Argyle & Lanvale
I didn’t have to go in to campus today, so I made the most of it, doing some reading and writing at home before setting out on my bike on this shockingly warm spring–I mean fall–afternoon. I pedaled the short way down the hill for a lunch date with myself and my book, and afterward went for a ride around West Baltimore with the vague plan to go to the B&O Railroad Museum to do a little research. Continue reading
Keep Baltimore Beautiful at Amity & Fayette
Today’s ride took me to Mt. Vernon to meet E. for coffee and a review of last weekend’s bike tour. I’m new to public history, and he’s new to biking everywhere all the time; we talked for an hour, probably could have talked for an hour more, but then it was time for him to get back to work and me to get back on the bike. I followed my memory and then some misleading signs to the Poe House on Amity. Continue reading
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 