Giro Di Coppi

Today was the Giro Di Coppi down in Montgomery County.  Kathleen was racing in it as a Cat 4 so learning from last time's lessons, I brought my bike down to spectate.   We got there early so Kathleen could pick up her numbers and pay her 1 day license fee, then went out to warm up (she was warming up, I was just going for a ride).   This a pretty rural area of Montgomery County, so lots of farm kind of action for the day.

You can just see Kathleen in the distance, dropping me like a bad habit, but I did catch up a little while later.

Then came race time, here is the Cat 4 field rolling out of th start/parking/registration area.

Kathleen's in the black jersey with the yellow flashes and white band in the middle.  So I took off for the other side of the course to catch them as they came through.  Unfortunately I was interrupted by a work phone call, and missed them, so back to the start area I went.   The Cat 5 Men rolled through first.

Then the Cat 1/2/3 Women

Then the stragglers from that group.

Then the Cat 4 Women rolled through, hugely reduced field already, unfortunately that included Kathleen.

But she and another gal came through a short time later.

After about 40 minutes the front of the Cat 4 Women came through again, even less of them this time.

Kathleens partner from the first lap went by, and a little while later Kathleen rolled through at the back of this group of stragglers from all 4 races that were running at the same time.

A bit of a wan smile as she rolled by.

So then that is where the bullshit part of the day came.   I started seeing other women from Kathleen's field coming back to the start area (the finish was up the road about a mile or so), and so I rode over to ask what was going on, I thought they were racing 3 laps of about 13 miles and this was just the end of lap 2.   The gals said that they got pulled because they were behind.   No mention of this being the plan or rule prior to the the scorers at the finish line saying they were doing it.  As a postrcript here, it turns out they were pulling the men as well, Kathleen led the 20Twenty womens ride this morning, and one of the race officials was there, so Kathleen got to talk to her about what went on, and she said that they were pulling men as well.   Apparently it's due to police overtime, etc.   Again, it would have been better if they had hipped everybody in to that when they started.

I met up with Kathleen making her way back and I got the basic report, the course was very hilly (here is her strava map and data from the race), at the start, the organizers started the 1/2/3 women but held the Cat 4 women for about 45 seconds before starting them (they were supposed to start all together).   So right out of the gate the Cat 4 women at the front tried to close the gap to the Cat 1/2/3 women in front of them, and the whole race starts with a brutal climb up to what will be the finish line eventually.   Last time Kathleen raced there were seperate referees for each field, one at each end of the peloton,  and the rollout was neutralized (no racing) for a little bit to get the group going.  Today there was no referee at the back of the 1/2/3s or at the front of the 4s so no neutral rollout until some referee showed up (probably the back guy from the women) and got in front of the Cat 4 women to slow them down.

Having survived that scene she said that the hills were super steep and the more experienced gals hit the first hill after the finish line hard so she was shelled almost immediately.   She spent the next lap trying to work her way back to the group with the other gal in the picture above, but eventually on the second lap couldn't continue at that pace and they split up.   Her assessment was that she burned too many matches early trying to stay with the group as they charged after the 1/2/3 women, and given the hilly nature of the course she was at a big disadvantage compared to the smaller gals (less mass to haul up the hills).

So in the end it has been interesting, she seemed to enjoy the first race more, they seemed to be more interested in having new folks there, and welcoming towards them.   They also didn't shortchange the women on refereeing, they got treated the same way as all of the men's fields.   One good experience 2 weeks ago, and one not so good today.  Kind of telling that I was chatting with the course marshall in the photos above, and he was saying that the MABRA has trouble attracting women racers, after today's incident, I am not entirely suprised at that observation, maybe they should re-think how they treat the women, people respond better when they aren't treated as second-class citizens.

Whew!

Holy crap it's hot out.  It was in the mid 90's when I rolled out of the garage this afternoon for a ride.  I went out to Brooklyn (not NY) and around before circling back to home.   On my way through the Inner Harbor I spotted these two, no idea what this is about.

At any rate, I suffered for my art then went home and took a cold shower.

Road Warrior 50

Today was the Road Warrior 50 Road Race.   I didn't race (it's not my thing) but Kathleen did, so I went out to spectate and cheer her on, no bike for me today, but lots of walking.   We got there in plenty of time, and Kathleen paid for her 1 day license to race.   We got her number pinned up, and she spent a little time riding around to warm up.   It was smoking hot out today, so while waiting for her group to form up (Cat 4 Women), she found shade under a tree.

Then it was down to the start area, here they are receiving instructions from the race officials.

Then they were off, she's number 700.

The course was 2 laps of a 13.1 mile loop, here they are coming up the road just after the first lap was completed, Kathleen is about 10 yards behind the field here, apparently the more experienced gals slowed the group up just before the climb to the finish line, then hit the climb really hard, Kathleen chased but was never able to get back on.

And here is the view after they passed by.

Then I wandered over to the finish line, here is the Mens Cat 5 finish, quite the sprint from the guy in the red jersey to take the win.

Then the Mens Cat 5 40+ (which would be my group if I were actually interested in racing) finish, this guy totally won from a break, the rest of the group was easily 15 seconds behind him.

This the Womens Cat 1/2/3 race rolling through the finish on their way out for their last lap (they did 3 laps).

Then was the big moment, here is the Womens Cat 4 winner.

A few minutes later Kathleen rolled in, she wasn't able to quite chase back on to the group after the first lap, so she rode the second lap off the back.   Not a bad result, all of the gals that finished in front of her were much more experienced and serious about it.

I was very proud of her result, it was a hot day and a fast race, the timing people said that they Cat 4 Women were doing faster laps than the Cat 1/2/3 Women.   Here is her Strava map of the race, it used the same course that she had done the Duathlon on, and she was much faster this time, amazing what a couple of years of running, riding and racing will do.

Two in one day

This morning Kathleen ran in the Baltimore Womens Classic, so I rode over to spectate (as I do).   She left before me, but then I caught her warming up on the bike path by the start on Key Highway.  We meandered over to the start, and that was the last time I saw her until after the finish, definitely didn't have my spectating mojo going today.

I cut through Federal Hill to get to the other side of the start as it was a madhouse on Key Highway.   On my way over there I passed behind the American Visionary Art Museum, and spotted this whirlygig that I had never noticed before, probably because I usually go by the other side of the building.

Then they were off, while trying to find her in the sea of women I passed by one of the troubadours out on the course.

Eventually I realized that I had completely managed to miss her on course, and she found me after the finish.   Here Kathleen is telling me all about the tree there, she is taking a plants class for her degree right now, so she has been spending a lot of time memorizing 150 local plant types.   All I remember is that this one is resistant to road salt.

Then it was off to the homestead.   Kathleen got cleaned up and started studying, I went back to bed and slept until 1:30 in the afternoon.

Once I got it together I went back out for a spin on the bike, this time at more road bike kind of speeds. I went out to Fort McHenry, then came back via Tide Point.   Passing by a row of rail cars at the Domino Sugar plant I noticed that they all had this notification on them.   All I could think was why would you want to beat on a rail car with a hammer?

It was hot as hell out, and very humid so I cut it short and headed back to the house again.

Easter Island?

Kathleen was off at school today, so I slept in then rode the city bike down to Red Star for breakfast with the Washington Post, then came back and got my act together to go out for a ride.   I headed up Washington Street then cut through the neighborhoods.   This mural was at Harford & Chase on the side of a rowhouse there.

Then I went up Calvert Street, a friend at work had mentioned that there was an Easter Island head on Calvert just past North Avenue, and low and behold there it was.

A little further up Calvert was this mural on the side of a rec center.

Up in Charles Village this row of Victorian rowhouses caught my eye, love the colors.

I cut through the bottom of the Hopkins and on my way over to Druid Lake Park I spotted this Chrysler Imperial 2 door convertible at the park.   It had to be 25' long.

I looped around and came back down the Gwynns Falls Trail to the house, on my way up our street I noticed that our neighbor had the 4th of July look up in their picture window.

This block was closed to traffic for a block party, lots of hanging out and having cocktails and playing games going on, beautiful day for it.

Then it was back to the house to get cleaned up and run some errands.

Panoramas and Arrows

After a big sleep in morning, and some work surprise crap, I managed to get out for a ride this afternoon.   I headed out with the vague destination of Dundalk, and while headed that way I spotted this mural.

Not sure how I have missed that before, it takes up the whole side of a building, in fact I missed about the last 20' of it that has the container ship (Dundalk is right next to the main part of the port of Baltimore).   Continuing on, I crossed over the bridge on the Peninsula Expressway, to the right was the Key Bridge.

And to the left this old rail swing bridge, I am pretty sure it is permanently in the open position now.

Just on the other side is what appears to be a popular fishing spot.

At the end of the expressway is Sparrows Point steel mill.   Things are looking pretty grim for the plant, it seems unbelievable that nobody can make this plant work at a profit.

I continued on out to North Point State Park, where I rode out to the end of this pier to get a panorama of the happenings.

People enjoying the beach.

Fishing

Water

And more fishing

Then it was time to head for home, I followed these arrows the whole way back, I believe that they are road markings for either the Tour Du Port last fall, or Tour Dem Parks which happened earlier today.

Reconnaissance

Today was a ride with purpose.   Kathleen and her friend Leslie Miller are leading women's group rides  on the second Sunday of each month.   So today we met up at Twenty20 to recon the novice ride that Leslie will be leading (Kathleen is leading the intermediate ride that happens at the same time).   It's based on the Coffee Shop ride route that I have done a bunch of times.   So at any rate, we rode up to Hampden to meet up and headed out.  Here we are rolling down Keswick.

We went down the switchbacks to Falls Road, and passed by the Mill Number One Project there.   It's a great older mill building, it's good to see it being brought back to life.

Then we headed up through Clipper Mill, and up the mini Alpe d'Huez into Druid Lake Park.   A quick lap around the lake yielded Baltimore's downtown in basking in the sun.   Did I mention that it was about 85 degrees out at 9AM?   I believe that spring is over.

We rode through Hopkins, then out 33rd to Lake Montebello before heading back to Twenty20.   We kibitzed at the shop for a bit, then Kathleen and I headed for home.  Heading back down towards the switchbacks to get to Falls Road, we took a little detour and stopped on the bridge to check out the Blue Heron that have nests in the trees on the banks of the Jones Falls river.   Here is the Northern Blue Heron with her (his?) chicks, this is visible on the north side of the bridge.

And here are the Southern Blue Heron(s?).   There are several other nests that aren't as visible there, about 6 in all.

Then it was down Falls Road towards home, the Streetcar museum is back up and operating for the summer, here is a group of people going for a ride on their little loop of track there.

We scooted on home then out to get some breakfast. Kathleen did a bunch of studying, and I did some errands including new (hopefully slightly more durable) tires for the road bike.