Just a commute day

Rode to work today, spring is on in full force at this point, it was already pretty muggy at 8:00AM when I headed out.  Nothing exciting to report, I took the Gwynns Falls Trail both ways.   It was super green out, it seems like just a week or to ago that it was bare.  Here's an action shot from the ride home, this is pretty much the scene the whole way, it's pretty rare to run into anybody on the weekdays.

I actually stopped a little ways down the trail, the road was covered in pollen/tree debris/stuff that made it look like it was paved in corn starch.

Then a quick stop by Race Pace in Federal Hill to pick up a pair of cleat covers, and home to shower, I was utterly soaked due to the humidity.

Cutting Work

Today worked out to be a gorgeous day, so I split a little early (after flaking on commuting on my bike today) to get out for a little ride around the harbor.  But I haven't been totally flaking, I have been putting in a lot of miles on the city bike.   Last weekend I took it down to DC for the Komen Global Race for the Cure.  We do sound for three separate sites (Main Start, Runners Start, and Runners Finish) scattered around the monument grounds.   It was a somewhat rainy day, but the event went off without any drama.   Here is the long shot from the back of the area at the Washington Monument Grounds, the construction cranes are building the new Smithsonian Museum of African American History on the other side of 15th Street.

And here is Brian's (my engineer for this event) view from the Front of House Tent.

I also had a couple of other events going on at the same time that day, an Addidas basketball event at the Washington Kastles arena, and the Childrens Medical Center Gala at the National Building Museum, so I used the bike to schlep around the various sites all day.

This weekend the plan was to ride on Saturday and Sunday, but then on Saturday work then rain intervened.  Sunday I was planning on riding out to Columbia to spectate and cheer Kathleen at the Columbia Triathlon, but it was pretty crappy, rainy, misty out so I opted to drive out instead.   I did get this shot of Kathleen after the race, she had had a chance to make use of a porta-potty to clean up and change already.   She did the race in 3:02:47 about 10 minutes faster than last year.

We came back to the house and then went on the city bikes down to the Red Star for a celebratory breakfast, then a quick trip through The Sound Garden for new tunes.   After that we rode back up to Patterson Park to spectate at the Bike Jam which is our annual professional road race right here in B'more.   It stayed dry and the park is all green and fresh, it made for a nice hanging out.  Here is the breakaway forming on the Pro Men's race, first these three guys.

Then three more trying to bridge up to the first three.

Then the full peloton chasing them down.

These guys fly around the loop, I am guestimating that the pack speed was easily 25-28 MPH for the whole race, with them really turning it on for the final sprint.

So anyhow, back around to today.   I rode around the Inner Harbor to Federal Hill and shot this panorama from Federal Hill Park.  I would crop it together, but since I am limited to 800 pixels wide it would have been pretty small, so you will just have to use your imagination.

It's all going on, volleyball, sunshine, humidity :).   I also spotted this guy hanging out, I think he may have been fresh from his cocoon, he seemed to be drying his wings in the sun.

Then it was a quick loop around through Federal Hill and Locust Point before heading back to the house for dinner and catching up on the Giro d'Italia (No spoilers, we are a few days behind).

Sunday Afternoon

Beautiful day out today, spring is definitely here at this point.   I slept super late while Kathleen was off doing the Specialized Womens Ride Day at Twenty 20, when she got back we got it together and went down to the Red Star for Breakfast on the city bikes, then I continued on from there over to Federal Hill for cat supplies at Pet Value.  Here is that little ride's map.   I made it back then headed out on the road bike for a little more riding.  I ended up going out to Essex, to Cox's Point Park where as luck would have it, there was an ice cream truck there selling soft serve and sodas, so I got one of each and took a break.

Then it was back to the house, on the way back I passed through Patterson Park, all of the social sports leagues are in full swing.

Got cleaned up, and now it's dinner time.

A day late.

Just getting caught up, but yesterday was a beautiful day so I went out for a ride in the afternoon.  Just a quick spin up around Lake Montebello.   I went up Chester street and by the market I saw this mural, not sure if I have posted it before.

A little further up this was on a wall, I know the guy on the left is Ray Lewis of the Ravens, but no idea who that is on the right.

A little way farther along is this project, Hopkins seems to have bought an entire row of rowhouses and is converting them into a faciltiy, there is a large new building being built as well just to the left of this.  I imagine the bracing is to hold the brick walls up, I suspect that have completely gutted the interior.

Then it was on to Lake Montebello, as always a gorgeous but windy day here.

A quick lap of the lake, then I cut through Morgan State to end up over on the other side of Hopkins main campus, and into a neighborhood I hadn't been through before.   This dogwood (?) caught my eye, it's really in full bloom.

I ended up over a the switchbacks going down to Falls Road, and spotted this tree just getting going for spring, the purple-red color is really startling, I am curious to see what the flowers/leaves look like in a couple of weeks.

After that it was back to the house to get ready for work that evening.  We were providing audio for Fashion 4 Paws, which is a benefit for the Washington Humane Society.  It was quite the scene, the models are all donors, and they do the runway thing with their pets.   Then its drinks and dancing till midnight.   Here is the set for the runway show, and all of the production in, they are doing model rehearsals here.

The show was a big success, and my client was thrilled, so all in all a good day.

Cobbles

Today turned out to be a nice day, Kathleen and I rode the city bikes down to the opening day of the 2013 farmers market season, and perused the wares on offer, a bit sparse since a week and a half ago it snowed here.   Then back to the house for some breakfast before Kathleen headed out to the office to do homework.   I fiddle-farted around the house for a while, then went out for a quick ride around the the harbor.   Today was Paris-Roubaix, one of the cobbled classic bike races from Europe, so in honor of that I went and found some of our local cobbles.   To give you an idea of what the race is like, here is a commercial Specialized did featuring scenes from last year's race with the eventual winner Tom Boonen.  I always have liked this commercial, I can totally identify with the kid.

But the reality is that it is one of the toughest races of the year, 28 secteurs of cobbles, and they are brutal.

At any rate, I made it through the teeming throngs of the Inner Harbor, then riding up Light Street in Federal Hill I spotted this.

I am pretty sure that somehow the bus driver will get blamed for the cab door getting opened into his wheelwell.  Then I ventured further around in search of the Phillips Seafood Crab tower.   Not much to see in the daytime.

This is one of those things that bums me out a little, the Phillips Crab thing was one of my signs that I was almost home, it's just before the entrance to the Fort McHenry Tunnel, so when I am coming home late at night, it means about 10 minutes to home.   What it used to do, is the can would open, and a crab would come out and go up the tower, then down the other side back into a can, all in neon.   I was hoping to find a video of it, but no luck.   At any rate, it's been broken for about a year now, I suspect that it will never do it's thing again.   Moving on, I went out to Fort McHenry and swung a loop through the parking lot before heading back, around through the Under Armor complex, and back up Key Highway towards the Inner Harbor.   The sun was shining, and the volleyball courts were hopping.

Then it was cobbles time, here is the first batch I encountered, this is going from Key Highway down to the promenade around the Inner Harbor next to the Maryland Science Center.

Then around the harbor towards Fells Point again, here are some of the cobbles at the end of Thames Street.

Here is an arty shot with the bike and the cobbles on Wolfe Street just around the corner, totally different style of cobbles.

After having my fillings rattled loose going 12 mph over the cobbles (the pros in Paris Roubaix do it at 25-30 mph) I headed for home.  On my way to Canton Market for a soda I spotted this parked on Boston Street, it appears to be the baddest Euro motorhome ever, and they are on some sort of adventures of the Americas, the map on the side had them going all over north and south America.  It caught my eye because of the bike on the side.

Then I stopped in at the market, got a soda, then it was homeward bound.

Spring is in the Air

I know I have made some premature calls on this before, but it seems that spring is truly in the air at this point, it was about 50 degrees and blustery today, but that didn't stop Kathleen and I going out for a ride on the city bikes.   First we headed down to the Red Star in Fells Point for some breakfast, then over to Federal Hill for some Cat Food.  Here's Kathleen motoring along as we headed over towards Harbor East.

We continued around the Inner Harbor, and passing by the new pedestrian bridge, they were hard at work on it again today, it's coming right along.  Once again the traffic back up due to Light Street being closed was pretty epic.

A little further along Kathleen pointed out that the daffodils are starting to bloom, and so they were.   Hopefully they will survive Monday, we are supposed to get some rain turning to snow.

We successfully scored cat food, and some soda and then headed for home.   On the way back I noticed that our decorating neighbor has been at it again with a Saint Patrick's Day theme.

Then we went out to run some errands before a quiet evening in.

Brrr!

I missed my calling, had I been a weatherman I could continually be wrong, yet stay employed.   It was supposed to be nicer today, it wasn't.   It was about 40 degrees this afternoon, and dropping.   But in honor of the pros who suffered much worse today at Milan San Remo, I got my butt in gear and went out for a ride.   Here is a scene from Milan-San Remo early today, courtesy of Velo News.

Not quite so bad here, although now the weather people are saying we might get some snow overnight.  At any rate, I rode around through the Inner Harbor again today and, as promised, here is the result of the closed road construction from yesterday.

Should be nice when they get it finished.    I continued on through Federal Hill, this was the St Patty's Day scene next to the Cross Street Market, I am thinking the cool temps aren't really helping the outdoor party scene.

Then it was a quick jaunt out the Gwynns Falls Trail and then back in via Baltimore Street, nothing new or exciting there.