Wandering

Got out for a ride again this morning. No plan, just a wander through the city. Up near North Avenue I saw this church, not sure if I have shown this one before but whatever, I like it.

A little further along as I got over to Hampden, I wrong turn down a dead end yielded this painted on signage on a warehouse.

At this point time was getting short so back home I went.

Fog

A foggy morning this morning, not really San Francisco fog, but pretty foggy for here. I scooted out of the garage and down to the Inner Harbor, then around to the Park in Federal Hill. Here is how foggy it was.
I headed out towards Fort McHenry from there, here is the bridge that is under destruction, or more accurately has been destructed.
I imagine that they will start building the replacement soon. I continued out to the fort, then back around the Inner Harbor and home to get ready for work.

Cool Down Lap

It was a busy weekend this weekend. I was in New York from Friday Night til this afternoon for the Tunnels To Towers Run. Normally Kathleen would come up with me and enjoy Manhattan (and my hotel room) and do the run on Sunday morning. This year not so much, her dad is in town for the National Book Festival on the Mall, so she spent the weekend visiting with him. The shows in NY went well, here is the start line scene.
That is about 30,000 people waiting to go, we have sound stretched from the start line (which is about 300' behind me) down Richard Street for about 10 blocks. Here is the finish line block party, featuring Gary Sinise's band The Lieutenant Dan Band.
Kathleen says that the finish line spread at this race is the best ever, hot dogs, hamburgers, chickent, donuts all cooked up by the firefighter volunteers. At any rate, I got home about 5:00PM tonight, and the weather was so nice, and Kathleen was in DC having dinner with Dad & relatives, so I went out for a ride. I took off in the general direction of Dundalk with no particular plan in mind. My legs felt terrible from all the walking I have done this weekend, but it was still good to get out. I rode down through the Korean War Memorial Park on Boston Street, I liked the view of the pier.
There were a bunch of folks there fishing as well.
I continued towards Dundalk and wandered through a neighborhood that I hadn't been through before, including climbing an epic (for Baltimore) hill and being rewarded with this view of the city.
A little further along I came across the lot where Ice Cream Man vans go to die, note the grass growing up around the wheels.
On my way back through Patterson Park, I spotted this scene, this is what I would call the shooting fish in a barrel method of sales.
Then it was back to the house to get the laundry going and rustle up some dinner.

Easy Spin

It didn't rain (much) this morning, so I took an easy spin around the harbor and out to Ft McHenry. Passing through Federal Hill I spotted this dismantling taking place.
A little further along on Fort Avenue the bridge repairs continue.
On my way back through the Inner Harbor the Wells Fargo stagecoach was being unloaded and set up for something.
After negotiating that obstacle, it was back to the house to get ready for work.

Sunday going to market

Just a short ride today. Kathleen and I rode down to the farmers market under I-83 this morning to pick up some groceries. Here is Kathleen leading the way down Baltimore Street.
The market was hopping, lots of people getting their groceries and such there.
And then there was this, I am not sure what is going on here, but it was different.
Then it was time to head for home, note the full bags on the rack.
We unloaded, had a little breakfast, then headed out for the Orioles game.

Charm City Cyclocross Action

This weekend is the Charm City Cross at Druid Hill Park, so Kathleen and I decided to ride up and spectate some. We got there just in time for the Little Belgians race, and here are the 4-5 year olds ripping it up on the mini cross course.
It was cute, and all of the kids who participated got a water bottle as a prize. Then it was on to the racing. Here is what cyclocross is all about. The course is all in the grass, and there are periodic obstacles that you have to dismount and carry your bike over.
Here are some of the Elite women coming through.
It's interesting, they use red tape for the rider's right side of the course, I am assuming that is so when you stack and you're in a lactic acid haze you can figure out which way you are supposed to be going. After a while we started to get cold, it has been a kind of drizzly gray day today, so we headed back to the homestead. As we rounded the end of Druid Lake I caught Baltimore basking in the grayness.

But a little further along, there are still signs of summer, so all hope is not lost yet.

Then it was back to the house for some food and errands.

A Couple of Days Rides

Tuesday was the primary for a bunch of Baltimore City elections, including the Mayor and City Council races. I had intended to get up at 6:30 and head out, but instead it was about 7:00AM. I headed down towards the Inner Harbor and then over to the stadium area. On the edge of the Federal Hill and Otterbein neighborhoods is an industrial area. I like the signage painted on the buildings, some old some new.
Right across the street from these two is this mural.
Then it was back towards home, nice sunrise on downtown from over by the stadium.
Heading back up Pratt Street towards Fells Point, the worker bees were hard at work dismantling the bleachers from the Grand Prix.
I headed back towards home, with a quick stop at the firehouse down the street from us to vote, then off to another work day.

Yesterday morning, Kathleen and I got up early (5:40) to meet with the Baltimore Area Tri Club at Lake Montebello for speed workouts. It was super dark when we left, and didn't get a whole lot lighter by the time we arrived at the lake.
Amy(? I suck at names) who is one of the club members, and I rode around the lake and put flags out every quarter mile, while the rest of the group shot the breeze. I was chosen because I had computer that lit up (it was dark). Then the group did a lap to warm up before the sprints were on. It was a ladder thing, so the idea is you do a 1/4 mile sprint, then recover for the next quarter mile, then do a half mile sprint, recover for half a mile, then 3/4 of mile sprint, then recover for 3/4, finishing up with a full mile sprint. Once you are there, it's back down the order 3/4 mile, 1/2 mile, etc. I participated in the first sprint (winning :) ) then did my thing (ride around at my own pace) while they continued. As the sun came up and the skies lightened I thought it was pretty cool that the moon was still out.
I stopped on the side of the road a little while later and caught some of the sprinting action as the folks came around.
Here is Kathleen laying down the watts.
Eventually the sun made it's appearance over the hills.
Kathleen & Amy as we motored around during their cool-down lap.
Then it was back towards the homestead, here is Kathleen waiting at a light that I had made it through (whoops).
Here's Kathleen leading me back down Wolfe Street towards the homestead.
All in all a nice solid 20 miles before work.

Easy Day

After a chaotic week and a half or so of work, I finally got a break today, so after sleeping in super late, Kathleen and I went out for a ride. With no particular plan, we started by riding up to Lake Montebello. As we headed up Baltimore, church was letting out, and the ice cream man was cleaning up.
A little further up at Washington & North Ave I spotted this across the street in an abandoned building.
We made it up to the lake, don't let the blue skies fool you, the other way was a thunderstorm.
We decided to cut across on 33rd to go over to Druid Lake, as we went it got darker, the winds picked up, and it began to rain, but since it wasn't pouring (yet) we continued up to Druid Lake (we had considered bailing at Falls Road).
That is more representative of what the skies looked like. We headed down through the Resevoir & Bolton Hill neighborhoods, eventually cutting through the stadium area as the Ravens game was letting out. but still no serious rain, just smatterings. On our way through Federal Hill that changed, and we ended up getting pretty wet on the way home, dodging the event at the World Trade Center here in Baltimore on the way.

Rain Shortened Labor Day Ride

As things worked out, I ended up with the day off, so this afternoon Kathleen and I went out for a ride. We meandered around the city, starting by going down through the Inner Harbor. The grandstands from the race are still on the bike path, so we had to cut around on the promenade. As we noodled along, we passed a member of Baltimore Police Department patrolling the promenade on his bike, and enjoying his day.
We continued over past the stadiums to the west side, and spotted this major construction (destruction?) project.
A little further along, this mural, I feel like I may have shown this before.
Just after that, it was, bloop, bloop, bloop, and then pouring rain. We took shelter under a little awning on Baltimore Street, ans waited it out.
Mostly because I had the camera, my phone, and the garage door opener in the pockets on the back of my jersey and no way to keep them dry. Here is Kathleen while we waited.
Eventually the rain slowed to a drizzle, so off we went, only to be chased by another pounding rain to under a tree on the other side of downtown, but that passed too, and by the time we got home it was stopped, and now it has spent the rest of the day alternately pouring and then nothing.