Living Car Free - Baltimore Orioles are cycling to the ballpark

Hey everybody -

I finally sold my car last night. I've been car-ownership-free for 24 hours now and it feels fantastic! :)

There was a very nice article on the back page of our sports section this morning about several players on the Baltimore Orioles who have been cycling to work (the baseball stadium). It's interesting that these are some of the main stars on the team, and millionaires -- not fringe players.

O's pedal pushers
Several players get exercise, save gas by using 2 wheels to get to the ballpark

http://www.baltimoresun.com/services/newspaper/printedition/bal-sp.lastword08jul08,0,198139.story


Here are a few great quotes from the article by Jeremy Guthrie, who is the ace of the Orioles' pitching staff:


"There are some side benefits," Guthrie said. "It's the overall idea of being outside and exercising instead of driving. I hate cars, I hate driving, I hate doing something I don't have to do. For me to drive downtown is a waste of gas; it's a waste of my time. I can ride faster than I can drive."

-- and later --


"I'm trying to save the planet," Guthrie said, "one pedal at a time."

Jeremy Guthrie is my new hero! :)

Awesome! :thumb:

I've posted here wondering why Baltimore seems to have many fewer transportational cyclists than DC. As the article states:
"Here, most guys live close, and it's foolish to drive in this city with this traffic. It's a joke. Sometimes, when you've got a lot of people here, just to go a mile and a half takes 30 minutes, sometimes more. It's atrocious. If I drive here, I get on the [exercise] bike here to loosen up. When I ride my bike, I get here faster and I'm already loose."

Maybe these guys will inspire Baltimore to become more of a bike town.

Guthrie has been an off-n-on starter in one of my two fantasy baseball leagues. He'll be frontline on both now.

I used to go to school there... not much a bike town really.

There our bike cops however. I got a ticket for riding on the board walk at the inner harbor once.

I wish some of the Detroit Tigers would ride a bike... they NEED it!
LOL

Living car free is awesome...
Been doing it for over a month now and wish I started sooner!

Cool,

Wow and car free and practically neighbors FrugalBiker. Congrats.

-D

Hey everybody -

I finally sold my car last night. I've been car-ownership-free for 24 hours now and it feels fantastic! :)

There was a very nice article on the back page of our sports section this morning about several players on the Baltimore Orioles who have been cycling to work (the baseball stadium). It's interesting that these are some of the main stars on the team, and millionaires -- not fringe players.

O's pedal pushers
Several players get exercise, save gas by using 2 wheels to get to the ballpark

http://www.baltimoresun.com/services/newspaper/printedition/bal-sp.lastword08jul08,0,198139.story


Here are a few great quotes from the article by Jeremy Guthrie, who is the ace of the Orioles' pitching staff:



-- and later --



Jeremy Guthrie is my new hero! :)

I don't think this year's Orioles team exactly has any stars since trading Bedard and Tejada, though Guthrie and Markakis look like they're rounding into form. Given that this team was expected to lose about 120 games this year, the bikes may be the reason for their competitive season thus far.

Let's not tell the Yankees and the Yankees North (aka Red Sox) about this new secret weapon...

This Bosox fan would love to see Kevin Millar on a cruiser...
:D

I finally sold my car last night. I've been car-ownership-free for 24 hours now and it feels fantastic! :)

That's great! And the longer you do it, the better it feels.



Here are a few great quotes from the article by Jeremy Guthrie, who is the ace of the Orioles' pitching staff:

"There are some side benefits," Guthrie said. "It's the overall idea of being outside and exercising instead of driving. I hate cars, I hate driving, I hate doing something I don't have to do. For me to drive downtown is a waste of gas; it's a waste of my time. I can ride faster than I can drive."

-- and later --
"I'm trying to save the planet," Guthrie said, "one pedal at a time."


Guthrie sounds like he posts here on LCF. Somebody should email him a link to the forum.

Several Sundays ago there was a "Bike to the Ballpark" promotion at the stadium here in Baltimore, with special/free bike parking and maybe even special ticket prices (not sure)... and Jeremy Guthrie was supposed to be "leading the pack" of cyclists. (I don't know how many people took part.) I wish I could find out if he belongs to any local cycling/advocacy groups or forums like Living Car Free. He'd be a great spokesperson for the cause!

If D.C. is such a good bike town, why not Baltimore? I don't understand it. Both have similar weather and lots of traffic congestion. I live in a suburb, and as derath can attest -- not many transportation cyclists out here. :)

If D.C. is such a good bike town, why not Baltimore? I don't understand it. Both have similar weather and lots of traffic congestion. I live in a suburb, and as derath can attest -- not many transportation cyclists out here. :)
In the winter of 2007 I started a thread here asking that question. The Baltimorons weighed in with various theories. I was taking the train to B'more regularly that winter and noticing that I see many more transportation cyclists around DC. I was comparing Downtown with Downtown (Mt. Vernon to Charles Village) with (Capitol Hill to Mt. Pleasant). There aren't many transportational cyclists in DC suburbs either.