I would head up Calvert St and forget the JF Trail. We had a bike-jacking on 33rd St (sidewalk rider) so the street is safer at night. I think the racks by the ticket area are the old wheel bender type and the modern staple racks are by the light rail and METRO stops. Personally I think I would use the bike racks just north of the Light Street Pavilion, a bit of a walk but usually there is a security or police nearby.

FWIW If you Google bike parking at Camden Yards, the first link is this:
http://www.baltimorespokes.org/artic...80709220802623

Very quiet this week. I guess weather is mild enough so we aren't whining. I just read an article on Rivendell bikes about pedals. I figure most of you guys are locking in w/ clipless. I go both ways. Mnt biking I always use clipless, commuting I use flats(toe clips) and rec riding use either(depends how lazy I am with swapping them out). For really, really long rides I use flats w/ rat traps. Here's the article, what do you think. I am seriously looking at the Tioga spyder pedals for touring.
http://www.rivbike.com/article/clothing/the_shoes_ruse

For those of you who missed the BF sub-party at the BBC Winter Social it was fun and lots of good conversation (food and drink were not bad ether.) Attended by GB (the young'n) Maxine (the charming) and myself (the cripple.)

A highlight for me was since I came late and wanted to stand for a bit after siting in the car. I was standing along the side and I notice Lee, so I wave and he wave backs and Gloria thinks he raised his hand for a question so he has to explain that he was just saying hi to Barry. Then half the room turns and waves hi to me. It was such a British sitcom moment.. the next item on the agenda: stop every thing and take a moment to wave and say hi.

Now that just made me laugh. I could picture John Cleese or Mr. Bean in it. Great stuff

Oh, no! :eek: I bought something from Rivendell Bicycle Works! Oh no!

http://www.rivbike.com/

:o It should probably have been "Maxine the incognito" since neither Barry nor GB recognized me right away, with my glasses on and my hair down. It's always funny the first time you see a fellow cyclist "in real life."

Barry, that's funny about you wanting to stand. As we were heading inside, GB and I could see you through the window, standing up and leaning on your crutches. We were all ready to wade in and bust some heads -- rude people, not offering you a seat!!!! :lol:

Uh oh. Busted!! You must turn in your official Macho Racer Man Card immediately! :notamused:

:D What did you buy? Let me guess . . . something heavy, brown, and made of canvas? :lol:

What'd ya get, what'd ya get? a tweed headcoat?

I gots me some wool. I know, anti-climatic. :o

I really like their selection, so I got a wool "T", wool balaclava, and some wool undies. :D

I'm trying to get away from synthetics for everything other than bike jerseys and bib shorts.

Man! The SPP have, IMHO, pulled a fast one. BAD FORM, I SAY!

They have their yearly mileage challenge going on. I -was- in the lead for January at 1,020 miles, but now they show two RAAM riders for January--one has 1,100+ miles and the other has 1,300+ miles.

Grrr. I think there's money involved in having the high mileage for a month. I think the wins are limited to three per year, so... I guess these guys will win for 6 months and maybe I can win 3 months leaving 3 months to others in the club.

Originally, it looked like that I would dominate the entire year, having to defer any wins past 3. No one in their 2008 mileage challenge was hitting 1,000 mile months for 12 months.

Oh well.

I'm still trying to picture NR in a tweed jacket over BBC pink.

Wool is good. I bought a few items from Ibex a couple years back, pricey but good quality. It is also anti bacterial so I swear to god it doesn't smell even after several uses, at least not as bad as synthetic. I don't think I've washed any of the items but once.:)

ibex.com

Made a new entry on Baltimore Spokes for my thread entitled "The Stupid Stuff I See During My Commute to/from Work".

Scroll to the bottom to see the latest entry.

The ninja bit cracks me up. Fail!! ha ha:lol:
I do a couple of night runs after dinner and it's very nice, very little traffic, I stick to the sidewalks for the most part.
Speaking of dip s--- drivers, which is most-yesterday I headed over to Mbello for a few windy miles and this gal comes off of Harford, I think that's Harford, and drives right up on that island that contains the track. She's jsut spinning her wheels and kicking up clouds of rubber smoke. I am amazed at what I see every day regarding the car culture.
Most of my driving is to the gym and even that short drive is an adventure.

I'm very observant of the driver of the vehicle, probably because of being a cyclist, always try to make eye contact. Well, I notice at least every other driver on a cell. I saw a guy yesterday turning off or Roland to Northern and he was clearly looking down. Scary. A lot of stuff I've read about cyclists getting creamed is due to somebody driving on the shoulder, which leads me to believe that sometimes even lights don't work, but of course are necessary. I drove down Lake the other day towards Meadowbrook at about 5:45 am and this guy on a bike had not a light or even reflectors that I could see. I of course am always looking, unlike many.

I have another question(obviously the Riv article did not interest you guys:)) that I need some input. My daughter (college mnt. bike commuter) is showing interest in road riding. I have always ridden w/ down tube or bar-end shifters. I can easily repair and maintain them. Should I build her a bike I am considering STIs. How difficult is it to maintain these. I have never used nor repaired this style of shifter. Any of you work on them. I assume they are strictly for 9 speed. I think that moving from a mnt bike to a road bike it will be easier to use STIs than either of my types.
Another question: Terry bikes, gimmick or good idea. There's a Terry bike on craigslist for sale thus the Q. I don't like the idea of 2 different sized wheels but might be a good choice for smaller folks. She's 5'3", I think.

NR: wool, you're coming around. Perhaps you might be interested in a pair of woodies from Riv.
http://www.rivbike.com/products/list...product=16-196

Charlie-I'm no bike mechanic but I find STI shifters to be pretty easy to tweak-but I have bar end shifter son my touring bike and love that slow and manual shift.

My question to SIDI shoe wearers. I like mine but with the stock inserts my feet feel it right from go. Anybody got inserts and by whom?

Charlie, I'm only 5'1", and I happen to think that the whole "woman-specific" thing is largely a gimmick. The justification that women have (significantly) shorter torsos and longer legs than equivalently-sized men is a weird urban (cycling?) myth -- it's simply untrue.

What the average woman *does* usually have, compared to the average man, is a shorter arm reach and smaller hands. And for someone of my (very under-average) size, those are even bigger (so to speak :D) issues. The *only* thing on a bike that I've ever acutely noticed and wished could be re-designed for my size is the brakes. On most bikes, from the hoods, I can get only two full fingers and the tip of a third on the lever. Supposedly there are "women-specific" brake levers around, but some of the solutions I've seen haven't involved much more technological innovation than shoving a rubber shim in there to push the lever a fraction of an inch closer to the bar. :rolleyes:

Having two different wheel sizes would be a deal-killer for me. Terry made its name with that design, but I don't think they even offer it anymore. (I could be wrong about that, I haven't checked their site lately.) The idea was to eliminate the front-wheel toe-overlap problem that often crops up with small frames using 700c wheels. I dunno. <<shrug>> Yes, my toe overlaps slightly on both my bikes, but I've never had a problem with it -- I guess subconsciously I compensate for it. To be able to turn the wheel sharply enough to have my toe hit it, I'd have to be at a near standstill, anyway -- if I turned it that much at any kind of speed, I'd be butt-over-handlebars regardless of how big or small the front wheel is. :D

Charlie, Shimano STIs are not user serviceable according to Shimano--both 9 and 10 speed versions. You can do PM on them, but if you break them down to their piece parts, you do so at your own peril.

I've pulled one apart once to get to a stuck piece of cable, but no further then I had to. I found that I can get to the cable without breaking it down at all with a little patience. Once all the little gears and levers start popping out, you're pretty much SOL. I've heard of others pulling them apart--most resulted in failure. Others were luckier.

On the other hand, Campy STIs are suppose to be user serviceable, FWIW. I don't know anything about SRAM.

For keeping your hands on the handlebars and shifting/braking while there, STI is the way to go, but it could be more difficult for someone with smaller hands to get everything coordinated.


Dude, my woodie days have been quite limited these days. ;)

I'm using the stock insoles. They seem quite tough and thick unlike the type I use in my running shoes. For me, they are comfortable enough. Are you sure it's not a shoe fit thing?

All I can recommend is to try some cheap drug store insoles first, before working your way up to the more expensive types found in running specific stores. It's like bike saddles--find what works for you.

But, unlike saddles, realize that what works may change depending on the time of the year you use them.

The shoes fit fine, I just feel like I'm getting too much of a hot spot. I've been working on more of a heel down pedal stroke. It may also be that I've started running again and my feet are just complaining from the combo. I took my first swim class yesterday at Meadowbrook and learned a ton about how bad of a swimmer I am. Once you start gliding through the water a bit more and stop wasting energy flailing around, it's like wow! Felt great afterward too, very relaxing.

I would have to concur on the STI breakdown, despite my earlier post. They're easy to adjust but I do recall taking apart an old Shimano 105 with bad results, springs, etc.

Why don't you get some new electronic shifters, I'm sure they're easy to service:D

I probably have about .25 the miles of NR for February but at least I'm trying to keep it going. I've actually become quite committed to doing the indoor cycling and it's much more fun and motivating than being on my trainer. I consider a 45 minute class to be 12 miles , but considering the intensity of most of these classes that figure is probably pretty low, and the stationary bike is also fixed so you only have active rest, unless you cheat:D. Some purists would not consider that as part of a mileage total but for me I'm focusing on quality saddle time and not so much huge numbers, don't really have the option of doing long miles too often. Though I am in stunned by the number of miles you guys put up. Speaking of which, saw Teacher Bob, and Janet out at Montebello yesterday adding to theirs.

Janet G. mentioned that Teacher Bob had injured his knee and wasn't putting in the miles recently.
Good to know he's back out there tamping down the asphalt around Lake M.

Well put, I've grown long tired of that loop but I'm also reluctant to battle traffic at certain hours of the day. I saw Bob packing it in as I was doing my own tamping so I stopped and chatted. He mentioned that he hadn't been out much, but he didn't mention the knee.

Hey y’all, speaking of Lake M- GB’s got a BBC ride this sunday.
‘The Lake to Furnace' a 100K
After a loop around the lake we'll head out of the city and quickly fall into the beauty of NE Balt Co. Through Glen Arm, up to Furnace and back around through the Loch Raven valley. a 44mi shortcut and a rest stop/regroup. All pace. Meet at the parking lot near the southwest corner.
I'll be riding rain or shine.

cue sheet: http://cuesheetcentral.com/uploads/T...%20Furnace.pdf

[Pooh Bear]Tut, tut! Looks like rain.[/Pooh Bear]

Charlie, I ride SRAM rival, if you wanted to I could meet up and you could try mine out if you want. My bike is a 58 w/90 stem. Like NR said the parts are replacable if something fails plus you only use one lever for everything, which for me is great, with big gloves on its easier to shift than shimano, I think.

Speaking of ninja riding I got invited to the inlaws for dinner @ 520 yesterday, wife drove w/kids and I rode, It got dark by the time I hit the harbor (side note:does anyone other than us have lights or helmets??, I saw 6 other people, nada), I put the light on by the science center, once I reach westport, the headlights went off. The last thing I want to be is the 10mph, blinking,bright,white boy climbing a hill.

Tommorow I might toss the bike in the trunk and head to the BA after work, just in case it doesn't rain.