My ride to meet up with derath and Maxine at BWI was uneventful. I had no problem, as usual, getting through the city, even though there's plenty of construction going on. What I really like about riding in the city is:
- the streets are very clean; not much chance of picking up a nail or glass
- I can keep up with traffic
For anyone interested, here's the outbound map for the route that I took:
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...-outbound-only
The return route differed slightly, in that I turned down Wolf St just before Patterson Park and hit Alicianna with the goal of going down Boston St and riding home through a portion of Dundalk, thus by-passing the uphill I-95 interchange on Eastern Avenue where there is no shoulder and lots of speeding traffic coming off of I-95.
Getting back to the trip with darath and Maxine, once I made it to BWI, I saw Maxine unloading her Airborne. I introduced myself at that time. derath hadn't shown yet, so I attempted to give him a call on his cell. No answer, so I left a voice mail. By the time I hung up the phone, I could see a lone rider in the distance approaching. Since there were no other crazies out for a morning jaunt in mid-twenty degree temps with a 10-15 MPH wind from the north-northwest, I assumed it had to be derath. Once he reached us, we did the introduction thing, and were off--with a tailwind much of the way.
The BWI trail, leaving from the Dixon observation parking lot heading east toward the B&A trail, had a few large ice patches that almost spanned the entire path. We were able to navigate through streaks in the ice where bare pavement shown through.
At the B&A, we slowed down a little so we could hear each other's conversations and get to know each other a little more. Before we knew it, we were at the end of the trail. This is where Maxine paid her farewells as she needed to head back due to other obligations. derath and I pushed on.
I always have fun going over the Naval Academy Bridge. I love pushing the pace hard and flying down the other side nearly matching the speed of the motor vehicle on the descent. Today was no exception. I stopped at a parking lot across from one of the academy's entrances and waited for derath to catch up. As he approached I asked if he wanted to take a break, but -D said it was ok to continue.
We passed through Annapolis, navigated the roundabout to head south toward the park. As derath stated, there was an overpowering aroma, coming from one of the restaurants, that filled the traffic circle. It smelled like well prepared steak on a grill to me.
We reached our turn at Arundle on the Bay Rd. This road led to a pretty impressive neighborhood. Lots of pricey, beautiful homes... on the Bay. Not too much further down the road, we made it to the park. The pavement ended at the sign for the park, so we decided not to venture any further.
Upon the return trip, headwinds. As -D stated, he was already having problems with cramping, so the winds just compounded his problems on the way back.
Back in Annapolis; across the Naval Academy Bridge; take a break and make a decision--go with derath to his parents place for a quick stop, continue down the road where derath could ride flatter grounds and could turn off towards his parents' home from the B&A. We chose the latter.
At -D's turnoff, we said our goodbye's and I wished him a happy birthday. Then I pushed on into the winds.
During the return, I met many other cyclists on the trail. People (skaters, walkers, runners, cyclists) were trying to make the best of what was available for the day approaching the warmest part of the day.
The rest of the trip was a lonesome one, but I'm not one to give that much thought. The shining gem in the horizon was my ride back through the city. There was lots of traffic and that means easy stop-and-go to each light. And it means that I can take advantage of my size and navigate through many of the construction areas along Pratt. Before I knew it, I was passing the Inner Harbor. It was as busy as ever with people enjoying the downtown atmosphere. Another couple miles down the road is where I made my right hand turn on to Wolf St, yada, yada, yada.
It was great riding with derath and Maxine. We'd read each others posting on BF.net and now we can place a face (sort-of, considering all of the winter headwear) with the post.
-D, I owe you a birthday beer. I'm sorry that I wasn't feeling too well. I'd like to have stopped, but a "cold one", yesterday, wasn't that appealing.