Kathleen ran the
Annapolis 10 Mile Race this morning, and I decided to make an epic adventure out of it and
ride down to the race. This meant that my alarm went off at 4:40 this morning, and I was out the door rolling at 5:20AM. This photo was supposed to show the time on my computer, but the flash washed it out.
It was nice riding through town at that hour, the streets were empty for the most part, an occasional car, but mostly nothing.
I rode out over the Hanover Street Bridge which turns into Richie Highway going to Glen Burnie, and got on the
Baltimore Annapolis Trail heading towards Annapolis. It was still dark when I hit the trailhead, but the sun came up fairly soon thereafter. I spotted this bit of art on the side of the trail about the same time as sunrise.
Oddly enough, it is a representation of the sun and our solar system according to the signs there. A little further along this group of three riders turned onto the trail just in front of me.
I caught up with them and rode with them for a little while, it turns out they were also riding down from Baltimore, but they were actually going to run the race as well. I asked about riding back, the gal I was talking with said they had dumped a car there the night before so they wouldn't have to ride home. We had some laughs about lights, they were surprised that I didn't have a headlight, I explained that I had put my headlamp on my helmet to provide some light, but about a block into the ride it slipped down and whacked me on the nose, and that was the end of that, especially once I tried to remove it and flew it off and hit the road, spewing the batteries all over Eastern Ave. After a little while they dropped back, I think they were trying to not blow up in the race by going too hard on the ride down, so I wished them luck and continued on. I arrived in Annapolis about 7:15 and stopped at the 7-11 to get a coke, then it was over to the Naval Academy to catch the start of the race. Here is Kathleen coming out of the stadium area (the start was up in the parking lot of the stadium) and making the turn onto the road (pinkish top, black shorts).
I was waiting for Kathleen to pass here when I spotted (heard?) this guy who had brought a small cymbal and mallet to help make some noise for the race.
Somehow I missed her going by, so I zoomed on down the road to the circle at the Governor's Mansion, where the church had a brass band out to entertain the runners.
A short while later Kathleen came by.
Then I cut across and caught her on the other side of the leg through the waterfront area.
After that I somehow got behind her and didn't see her again until just after mile 8 as she came down the hill towards the Severn River Bridge.
Then I zipped on over the bridge and caught her in action as I went by.
Then I scooted to the finish to catch her triumphant finishing sprint.
Afterwards I caught up with her in the finish area and dropped off the remains of my headlight, since my knees weren't bothering me, I decided to ride home. Here is the view of downtown Annapolis from the top of the bridge (my fourth time over it today).
So off up the B & A trail I went, at this point it was like riding on a freeway full of joggers, bicyclists, rollerbladers, and walkers.
A little further up the trail I came up behind this guy. Initially what I noticed was the incredibly large seat bag, but as I followed him I realized that he had a beer in a beer cozy in his hand. I am assuming that the large bag is to hold more beers.
Then it was a somewhat terrifying ride back up Richie Highway towards Baltimore, it is a fairly busy street which isn't a problem at 6:00AM but on the way back I got buzzed a couple of times. As I came back up Hanover Street I caught the Maryland Department of Natural Resources busting the guys fishing and crabbing here. They are always here when I pass by, who knew they were a bunch of scofflaws.
Eventually I made it back to the Inner Harbor where the biggest Navy ship I have seen there yet was getting pushed up to the dock.
As I passed by I spotted this little boat sitting on the deck of the large ship, on a boat trailer, I can't imagine why they would need the trailer on the ship, but what do I know about these things.
Then it was back to the house for a much-needed shower and some lunch. Today was a big day for me, this is the farthest I have ridden a bike in one day since I was about 13 years old or so, so next thing is to do a standard century, which is 100 miles, today was a metric century, 100 kilometers. I actually went a little farther than that, but at the 63 mile mark (100K) I had swig of water from the water bottle which went down the wrong pipe, so I nearly hurled to mark the moment.
It was nice riding through town at that hour, the streets were empty for the most part, an occasional car, but mostly nothing.
I rode out over the Hanover Street Bridge which turns into Richie Highway going to Glen Burnie, and got on the Baltimore Annapolis Trail heading towards Annapolis. It was still dark when I hit the trailhead, but the sun came up fairly soon thereafter. I spotted this bit of art on the side of the trail about the same time as sunrise.
Oddly enough, it is a representation of the sun and our solar system according to the signs there. A little further along this group of three riders turned onto the trail just in front of me.
I caught up with them and rode with them for a little while, it turns out they were also riding down from Baltimore, but they were actually going to run the race as well. I asked about riding back, the gal I was talking with said they had dumped a car there the night before so they wouldn't have to ride home. We had some laughs about lights, they were surprised that I didn't have a headlight, I explained that I had put my headlamp on my helmet to provide some light, but about a block into the ride it slipped down and whacked me on the nose, and that was the end of that, especially once I tried to remove it and flew it off and hit the road, spewing the batteries all over Eastern Ave. After a little while they dropped back, I think they were trying to not blow up in the race by going too hard on the ride down, so I wished them luck and continued on. I arrived in Annapolis about 7:15 and stopped at the 7-11 to get a coke, then it was over to the Naval Academy to catch the start of the race. Here is Kathleen coming out of the stadium area (the start was up in the parking lot of the stadium) and making the turn onto the road (pinkish top, black shorts).
I was waiting for Kathleen to pass here when I spotted (heard?) this guy who had brought a small cymbal and mallet to help make some noise for the race.
Somehow I missed her going by, so I zoomed on down the road to the circle at the Governor's Mansion, where the church had a brass band out to entertain the runners.
A short while later Kathleen came by.
Then I cut across and caught her on the other side of the leg through the waterfront area.
After that I somehow got behind her and didn't see her again until just after mile 8 as she came down the hill towards the Severn River Bridge.
Then I zipped on over the bridge and caught her in action as I went by.
Then I scooted to the finish to catch her triumphant finishing sprint.
Afterwards I caught up with her in the finish area and dropped off the remains of my headlight, since my knees weren't bothering me, I decided to ride home. Here is the view of downtown Annapolis from the top of the bridge (my fourth time over it today).
So off up the B & A trail I went, at this point it was like riding on a freeway full of joggers, bicyclists, rollerbladers, and walkers.
A little further up the trail I came up behind this guy. Initially what I noticed was the incredibly large seat bag, but as I followed him I realized that he had a beer in a beer cozy in his hand. I am assuming that the large bag is to hold more beers.
Then it was a somewhat terrifying ride back up Richie Highway towards Baltimore, it is a fairly busy street which isn't a problem at 6:00AM but on the way back I got buzzed a couple of times. As I came back up Hanover Street I caught the Maryland Department of Natural Resources busting the guys fishing and crabbing here. They are always here when I pass by, who knew they were a bunch of scofflaws.
Eventually I made it back to the Inner Harbor where the biggest Navy ship I have seen there yet was getting pushed up to the dock.
As I passed by I spotted this little boat sitting on the deck of the large ship, on a boat trailer, I can't imagine why they would need the trailer on the ship, but what do I know about these things.
Then it was back to the house for a much-needed shower and some lunch. Today was a big day for me, this is the farthest I have ridden a bike in one day since I was about 13 years old or so, so next thing is to do a standard century, which is 100 miles, today was a metric century, 100 kilometers. I actually went a little farther than that, but at the 63 mile mark (100K) I had swig of water from the water bottle which went down the wrong pipe, so I nearly hurled to mark the moment.
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