Wow, WOW!! Well done, Bob!! The pictures are fantastic, thanks for sharing.

And, yeah, what NoRacer said -- and we are going to need a loooong beer break to hear all the stories! :thumb:

Thanx all. Much appreciated.
Sorry to hear that Irene put a kibosh on 24HOB. Proud of you all for raising as much money as you did.
I'll throw out some beer ride dates ASAP.

Balto Grand Prix Ride (Warning Long,and Pic Heavy)
 

Saturday and Sunday, I went downtown to spectate on the Grand Prix. I am a newbie with a DSLR and wanted to try to get some good shots. On Sat, I forgot and left my telephoto lens home. After watching for a while, it didn't matter, I couldn't get a clear shot at the cars. They had double fences in all areas, meaning I would have to shoot through two fences to get a picture. :( The double fences were to make sure the spectators would be safe, which is a good thing.

Oh, but I did enjoy the bicycle ride. This was the perfect job for my super-beater-bike. An 86 Raleigh Grand Prix, that is almost a rust bucket on wheels. Nobody would even think about stealing this. http://www.cehoward.net/granprix31.jpg The Grand Prix rides good, even though it is a rust bucket. So, I just watched the races and walked around. I chained the bike up and went in the stands. The race was nice, wished I could have run that course on my racebike. ;)

Come Sunday, I am back again, mainly just for the ride. I rode to the subway at Owings Mills, get on the subway, got off at Lexington Market and rode down Eutaw street. As I was getting ready to go in, Penny from Light Street Cycles rides up behind me. That is where I take all my vintage bikes for service. She was leaving and gave me her ticket. Great, they tell me I can't bring the bike in. I told them that yesterday I took the bike in and chained it up inside. They told me they cannot allow the bike in. Okay, I asked could I chain it up right here, one said yes, and they would watch it. Even though it is a rust bucket and my beater bike, I still don't want it stolen. Now, I am in, I watched the race but was searching for a spot to have a clear view of the cars. Not to be had. Finally I saw some guys with cameras at one spot, they were shooting through TWO FENCES.. Dam, I am newbie, I can barely hold the camera.

Anyway, long story short, I got a couple good shots with my new camera with the help of the other guys with the settings. When the race was over, I wasn't too far from my bike. Got to it unchained it, and ready for the ride to the subway. The Grand Prix just gives up a super ride, I am smiling like no tomorrow. Picture a 70 year old man with full grey hair smiling from ear to ear. Well, that was me. Did the quick ride past the crowd to the subway. Home free. Didn't mean to run it, but the ride on the beater bike was way better than the races..;) Here are a few of the pictures I took..

http://www.cehoward.net/racen91x.jpg

http://www.cehoward.net/racen147x.jpg

Missed you guys, just back from a long vacation in Fla. Way too hot but did miss the earthquake and Irene. Flat as board riding, missed our hills.

Congrats GB, well done man. I was wondering when you were biking this. I thought Irene would ruin it. Glad to see it did not. Great pictures.
Max sorry to see your 24 hour ride was cancelled. I am up for beer, ride or not:)
Lots of trees down on our little trails in C-ville. Anybody got chainsaw:)

@ceHoward, thanks for the pics. I avoided the whole mess, but was secretly interested in the races. glad you appreciated the better part of the day- the biking.

I scooted out of the house at 5AM on Monday hoping to intercept the SPP ride to DC. I was eager to meet some of these peeps as I've been reading their forum lately. I had put a Pasela tourguard on the rear wheel of the COHO thinking that the roads would be wet and probably glassy. I was right about the conditions, but flatted the FRONT tire at Maryland and Franklin sts. Found the leak, pulled out the patches and pump. When I lifted the pump lever to clamp it on the valve I got an abrupt 'snap' and the head of my Zefal pump and all the little bits inside tumbled to the sidewalk. I looked quietly at the small pile of broken pieces as it sunk in what this meant. A couple minutes later I began my long walk back to the house, feeling the full weight of the COHO on my shoulder. Made it home by 6:30. Took another shower and wriggled back to bed.

Seems like the SPP had a nice ride without me.

A small pump AND a CO2 inflator are like the thumb and forefinger; between the two of them you can handle just about any inflation need.

You may be right, but I still believe my Zefal pump is as reliable as my bottom bracket or my steerer tube- all very reliable, but not infallible. And, failures of any of those is a game ender too.
I've ridden a lot of miles and pumped a lot of tires with my Zefal. I've always thought of pumps as back-ups for CO2 systems, never vise versa. Now, I may consider bringing CO2 on long rides. In the mean time, I'm awaiting another Zefal HPX frame pump to come from UPS.

Via Brian Wolven on Facebook.

I rode my mountain bike down new cut road which lets out onto that street. got some pics along the way Ill throw up if anyones interested. cops ended up busting me tho haha

Hey Maryland, send some rain my way.

Seriously I hope everyone's OK.

You're not kidding. I feel like I've got mushrooms growing outa my... well, you know. I've been commuting straight through some days and using metro others. The rain has been warm so, getting soaked is not so bad.

A couple observations Barry will appreciate: heading home on wednesday, I made the left onto Milford from Scotts Level. The road was closed with barricades, but I headed under the 695 bridge anyway. Up ahead, Milford was completely covered in water, with two vehicles trapped in the flood. The kicker is that you could only see the rooftops of each car! Whoa, probably 5ft. deep.

And twice this week I've come over the Kelly ave bridge and had to take the left lane because all the Postal Service vehicles are parking along the right side travel lanes. Looking over the bridge you can see a huge lake around the post office and ice rink.

bah...i was planning on doing the cwc ride tomorrow with my father-in-law but he has to cancel due to work. debating about still going

Hmmm...that was actually my first thought, as well, but I thought that was primarily a hiking spot.

I guess I should post in here more often!!!

Hmmm...I will try and check that out!!!

Ellicott City?

yeah ellicott city, thats about 2 mi from my house.

does anyone have a copy of the cwc cue sheet they could possibly scan for me? looking to do the route this weekend since i missed it last weekend.

nevermind found it!

Well, we can't win them all!! :D.. Glad you made it back home, and a little wiser too. I have been lucky, I can't turn a wrench, I can change a tire and tube, but never carry a tube or pump!! Got spare tubes, and a couple small pumps too. Well, when the I get unlucky, I will start carrying.

Come to find out, if I had went to the top floor of the Gallery downtown, I could have got unobstructed shots of the race with no problem.. Live and learn. :)

Marc Train doesn't allow bicycles!!!!
 

Even though I am just getting into bicycling, I really appreciate the length that Maryland and the MTA has went to accommodate bicycles. Maryland has even updated the Maryland driving laws to accommodate bicycles.

Bicycles are allow on the Light Rail, Subway, and almost all the buses. However, no MARC TRAIN!!! If the Marc Train allowed bicycles aboard like the Subway, Light Rail and Buses, it would a whole new world open to bicycle riders.

I know I am not the only one that has noticed this ommission. In the meantime, I have sent off some letters asking why the Marc train is like that, and can something be done?

I do believe that in some point and time, it will happen. But, I am 70 years old, I ain't got that long to wait!! :D

Safe riding to all,

ceh

baltocharlie has been hoping/fighting to get bikes on Marc.
I think the biggest issue is space. There is not enough room for the people on those trains.

Seriously folks, we need people to register for Larry's Ride and Tour du Port. Tammi (Larry's widow) has worked really hard to make Larry's Ride happen and not to mention improve bicycling laws on our behalf.

More info: http://www.baltimorespokes.org/artic...10831184016326

I'm registered--may not actually ride the 100k, but they have my money.

I thought I was going to be out of town that weekend, but I'm here. I'll check it out, and like NR, at least sign up.

I'm going to post this in the Southeast forum, too, but I thought I'd start off here and see if any of my Maryland peeps have any first-hand knowledge.

I'm going to a wedding in New Orleans in October. (My first trip there.) The ceremony itself is actually (in accordance with the wishes of the bride and groom!) just the centerpiece of a long weekend during which all of the guests are encouraged to enjoy epic good times, in whatever flavor they happen to like them. ;)

So I was looking into cycling in NOLA, and it seems like a neat place to do it -- very flat, lots of interesting stuff to see in a fairly compact area, but apparently with options to head further out if you like. All good; I'm pondering a ride Saturday morning. But then I started looking into renting a bike . . . hmmm. I've done a lot of poking around, and I can't seem to find anyplace that rents road bikes. There are bike rental places -- they will even deliver a bike to the hotel, very cool! -- and guided bike tour places, but they all seem to use big, upright cruiser-type bikes. This:

http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/...jsp?spid=38422

seems to be the zippiest bike that any of the places had available.)

I did find a lot of stuff about the hideous condition of most NOLA streets. Does the city *really* eat road bikes for breakfast? I mean, we've got us some pretty crappy roads in the Baltimore area, could it really be that much worse? Any other tips from anyone who's biked down there? Thanks.