New Year's Eve

It was a nice day out today, much warmer, probably in the mid 40's. So Kathleen and I headed out to see what there was to see. We rode up Washington Street to get to Lake Montebello. Another nice day at the lake, lots of folks walking, jogging, and biking there. The lake itself is still mostly frozen. As I might have mentioned it has been a bit brisk here.
Here is Kathleen behind me on the path, you can see the salt on the road from the weak snowstorms we have had.
The seagulls are sitting out on the iced over portion of the lake, I am not sure why they would do that.
Also the geese from my last visit to the lake seem to have, in fact, taken up residence here, they are hanging out in the unfrozen part of the lake.
Then we looped around to John's Hopkins and rode around the campus a bit before heading home for hanging out and fondue. A nice way to wrap up the year, same way I started it on 1/1/10. My Garmin says that I have ridden 1770 miles this year, which is not quite the 2000 I was shooting for, but that is okay too.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

It has been far too long between rides. Between work, food poisoning (obviously I survived), the holidays, and the fact that it hasn't been above freezing here since 12/1 have kept me off the bike. But today was the turnaround day, I got my butt out of bed, and despite it being 28 degrees out, I got on the bike and went for a ride. I rode down around the Inner Harbor, and up to the park at the top of Federal Hill. The sun was just coming up and the Harbor was coming to life.
Then it was back to the house to get ready for work, and warm my hands up, apparently my windproof gloves have some air leakage. Tomorrow is supposed to be 5 degrees warmer in the morning so I am hoping to go a little farther.

News!

Okay, it's not as exciting as you might think, this morning I got out for a ride to Ft McHenry. It started to sprinkle about 1 minute after I rolled out of the garage, and kept up for the entire ride, but it never got really rainy. When I got out to Ft McHenry I couldn't help but notice a change.
That's right, the No Bikes Allowed sign is gone. I am assuming that means the new visitors center is open, next time I am out there between 8 and 5 I will have to check it out. Then I turned around and pedaled my butt home to get ready for work.

Game Day

It was a beautiful day out today, after yesterday's cold and wind. Kathleen hasn't been feeling well, so while she took a nap, I went out for a ride. As a non-football fan, I totally didn't realize that there was a game this afternoon, so imagine my suprise when I rolled through Federal Hill and discovered this.
Apparently they close a bunch of streets around the stadium when the Ravens are playing. I continued on to the Gwynns Falls Trail, only to be greeted by this.
I ended up having to ride through the parking lot to rejoin the trail. Remember the purple porta-potties? This is the scene at one of them.
It always amazes me how much money people will spend for this kind of thing.
That van appears to be owned by a private party, not a company, and not the Ravens. A little further along I spotted this sign.
Seriously? $40 for parking?
Eventually, I made it through the tailgating throngs and onto the Gwynns Falls Trail proper. It was a truly nice day on the trail.
I went up the trail then caught the Gwynns Falls Parkway back down towards the homestead (it gets dark early). On my way back I went down Eutaw Street, right near Druid Lake there is this funny arch thing over the road.
On my way back down Eutaw towards downtown I spotted yet another giant church (at least I think this one is new to me).
Then it was off to the homestead for a shower and some dinner and a Caps game (on TV of course).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today was a busy day, it started off with a ride down to the Inner Harbor, as Kathleen ran the Cobble Gobble turkey trot race here. It was wet and rainy when I left the house, but once my butt was soaked (by the end of our block) it wasn't too bad. I got down to Harbor East where the start line was, and here is Kathleen at the start (bright yellow raincoat).
Then I scooted down into Fells Point, and here comes Kathleen and her friend from BOMF, Elaine down Thames Street.
After looping around the end of Fells Point they came back at me. Now the idea of the race is that you race on the cobbles, but as you can see, most people run on the sidewalks if at all possible. I don't blame them, I don't like riding on the cobbles either.
I took off again towards the Inner Harbor, and caught them coming up the bridge on Eastern Avenue towards the Pier 6 (on the right here).
I went around the Inner Harbor in the bike lane and got ahead again, here they are passing by the USS Constitution.
I moved a little further around the Light Street side to wait for them to come back from the Rusty Scupper (it was the turnaround for the race). As I waited I shot these three, if I were more crafty I would know how to stitch them together for a big panorama picture, but I am not that crafty.
Eventually they came back by, Kathleen has spotted me here.
After they passed I scooted around to the finish line, here is Kathleen and Elaine at the finish.
I met up with Kathleen and let her know that I was taking my soaking wet butt home for a shower, and headed back to the house, but all of my usual victory soda stops were closed, so I had to back track to the 7-11 for a soda (that is the part of the map between miles 7 & home). We both got back to the house and got in a shower before deciding it was nap time. We got up later and got going, Kathleen worked in the kitchen making some dinner, and I did some bike maintenance in the garage. First I washed my bike.
Then since I had the stuff out, Kathleen's bike got the business, not as dirty as mine (riding in the wet makes a mess), but good to get it done anyhow.
Then I stuck my bike up on the stand in the garage for some drivetrain maintenance.
I headed inside a little later to help with dinner, here is Kathleen running things in the kitchen.
This is the Blue Hubbard Squash pie that Kathleen made while I fiddled with the bikes. It is like the smoothest pumpkin pie ever.
We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner, turkey, stuffing, grean peas, mashed potatoes, and of course pie for dessert. Almost everything in the meal came from the Farmer's Market last weekend, only the Turkey and stuffing came from the store. Everything was fantastic, I really enjoy Kathleen's cooking.
Of course, the meal created quite the mess in the kitchen.
But as is our way, Kathleen cooks, and I clean.
After dinner we had a nice evening doing nothing, and now I am looking forward to a sleep in day tomorrow.

Leaves & Geese

It turned it to be a nice day so I went out for a ride. I rode up to Lake Montebello where there were lots of people utilizing the paths and par course equipment. Also in residence were these Canadian Geese, who are stopping over (I guess) on their way to somewhere.

Or maybe they will move here for the winter, who knows. I will have to go back out and see if they are still around when it gets colder.

Elsewhere in Baltimore, it is leaf peeping time, there were some of the late bloomers today. This section of 33rd street was nice.
And I liked the colors of this tree all by itself in Federal Hill.
These were also just down the street on Key Highway and a great shade of red.

It's been nice this year, usually we have a bunch of wind and rain that pretty much strip all of the trees off at once. Then it was off to the house and figure out some dinner.

Too Long Between Rides

Today was the first time I have gotten out since last weekend, and boy did I feel it. I was totally blah for the whole ride. Usually it takes a couple of miles for me to get going, but it just never happened today. It was a nice day out though, and the trees are doing their fall thing.
I also saw this as I got out towards Carroll Park, I have never noticed it before.
The thing about fall is that as it progresses, that means winter is on the way, just a few weeks ago these trees were all green and leafy.

Of course when the leaves fall they have to go somewhere, in this case on the bike path.
I really liked the color of these trees in the median on Gwynns Falls Parkway.
I also liked the way the one tree is hanging on when most of the others have already given up the ghost.
After this it was back to the house for a shower and a snack. Hopefully I can get out again tomorrow, although it supposed to be colder than today, and I will feel better doing it.

A nice fall ride

Today was a nice day, so Kathleen and I went out for a ride around the city. We went out through the Inner Harbor, and then got on the Gwynns Falls Trail. As we passed through Carroll Park I caught the trees doing their fall thing.
We went a little further out the trail then back down Pratt Street towards home. Here is Kathleen buzzing by me after I made a light and she didn't.
Then it was off to the homestead, and then out to see Boister this evening in Columbia.

A Kind of Crummy Day

The day started nice enough, I went out for a ride around the Inner Harbor and out to Fort McHenry. It was sunny, but not warm, and a generally nice day for getting out. On my way home I spotted this rowhouse art at the corner of Pratt & Broadway.
I have always liked the side of this house, it is a very good representation of the neighborhood. Then it was off to work, and meetings and jobsites. Eventually I made it home in time to go with Kathleen to the vet. Our cat Sprocket has been fading pretty fast, and tonight we had to have her put to sleep. She was our bud for almost 17 years, and we will miss her.

Tuesday Around the Neighborhood

It has been too long since my last ride, so this morning I got my butt out of bed and went for a ride around the neighborhood. A quick spin through Patterson Park where I caught the Pagoda resplendent in the morning sun.
A new feature in the park (and all around on the neighborhood streets) are these bike lane thingies. I am not sure why they are in the park, but here they are.
On the other side of the park from the Pagoda I spotted a dog walkers convention, it looked like the dogs were having fun.
But then it was out of the safe confines of the park and back onto the streets. As I rode through the neighborhoods I spotted this garage door.
The force is strong in this one. By the way, that is actually hand painted on the garage door. After that it was around a big loop back to the house to get ready for work.