taken67

I was riding to my GF's house and cutting through this park that acts as a shortcut (Druid Hill for Bmore folk) when I see a wall of cop cars with their lights on and their spots pointed in my direction. I slow down and one of them tells me to turn around. I gave him a confused "huh?" and be proceeded to explain that there have been lots of armed robbery reports lately and that the park closes at 11:00.

Sweet.

So I cut around back through parts of my neighbor hood not previously explored (Reservoir Hill), when I see a strange lump in the middle of the road. The foot long rat and I both became aware of eachother simultaneously, and his reaction was to run under my front wheel and then shoot up into my cranks. I looked down for signs of decapitation but luckily there were none.

I then see a bridge that looks like it cuts over the highway, and would put me back on track, it climbs up, levels out and then suddenly turns into descending stairs. Hit the brakes run down the stairs onto what is basically a sidewalk on a highway exit, every inch of which is sprinkled with glass (28th street). Fun times.

Just some of the perks of riding a bike in Baltimore: Cops redirecting you "for your own safety", suicidal rats, and random bridges that set you down in a meadow of glass. BELIEVE!

dustinlikewhat

Baltimore, get in on it!...

which park?

our rats are not to be ****ed with, suriously. there's a dead one in front of my house that must have been ran over. I took a closer look today, well 4 feet away, and seriously, I still can't believe how big those damn things are.

lima_bean

man last time I was in a park after curfew, I got thrown to the ground and handcuffed, they aint kidding around with those curfews.

Shiznaz

We have gigantic raccoons that own the city at night. They work in small teams to get at delicious garbage and pause their antics to give you funny looks when you go by. We also have gigantic rats but the raccoons must scare them off because I rarely see them.

You guys have park curfews? Brutal!

LLGlcNAc

I BELIEVE in pest control by bike.

kemmer

I don't like riding around in unfamiliar areas at night. I've had some really neat/fun rides late at night far far from home when I wasn't in a hurry and I was feeling mellow but being somewhere unfamiliar when you are stressed and trying to get somewhere is no fun. I always feel kind of "off" when I'm forced out of my comfort zone when all I want is to get home and sleep.

taken67

Druid Hill Park, with the big reservoir. Some friends and I have been talking about setting up some sprint races around it, you should come out.

dustinlikewhat

ahhhh ok. hrmmm race? hrmmmmmm.... where's my steroids?...

666pack

cool city. colorful hobos.

sprintcarblue

baltimore is one of my favorite cities I have visited. although, while we were lost in the ghetto I thought we were going to get shanked.

goatmeal

I've had quite a few rabbits bolt into my spokes over the years.

skinnyland

Hahahaha! Love that 28th street bridge!
Something fun you might wanna try is the 28th st/Mt. Royal exchange/ramp system. It's probably pretty illegal, so do it at night (cooler anyway). Those big on & off-ramps are a blast to zoom up & down, right next to the jersey wall, where if you wrecked you just might be catapulted to a pancake-style finish.
If you're ever coming home from Hamden at night, hop onto 83S from Falls Rd to get to 28th St. Another fun set of highway ramps.

Racing around Druid Hill Park? I'm in. Tomorrow night?

Speaking of which... Anybody going on the group ride tonight at 10? Starts at the grocery store by the Mr. Tire on 21st at Howard, probably ride down to Patterson Park or some such nonsense. If you show up, I'm on an older, black Pista with naked Cinelli road drops. My last Thursday night in Bmore before the move to Philly.

Laterz.

mander

Baltimore YYYYEAH!

LLGlcNAc

I've never seen the show but saw them filming once. It was really boring. They took a long time to make getting out of a car look cool.

mander

It's pretty sweet LLG, particularly seasons 1 and 2. If you have bittorrent, full season packs are easy to find although some are definitely ripped better than others.

McNulty vs Stringer Bell, who will win???? In the meantime, will Omar stay the awesomest man in Baltimore**********? YEAH BABY

LLGlcNAc

Thats what I hear, mander. I don't have the internets at home and not sure what i can swing at work. that reminds me, i should be working. I'll check it out on netflix. But I can always just look out my window:

pinkrobe

In between Inglewood and downtown, you have to jump hobos passed out on the MUP in the spring/summer/fall. We have no rats, and I've never seen a raccoon in these parts. Coyotes, deer and big M-F gophers are pretty common. The coyotes follow the river into the middle of town and eat yappy dogs in people's back yards. Hooray for coyotes!

taken67

Wait, what neighborhood is that? I like how this thread brought out the bmore kids, we should put together a BFSSFG get together.

dustinlikewhat

oh man, I get to insult you guys in person! I'm there!

well hell, come to this show next friday (4/20) at the copy cat, my band (Bog Wraith) is playing, I sing, come say hey!

LLGlcNAc

East Baltimore looking north from hopkins.

The original post reminded me of Randy Johnson hitting a bird with a pitch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35DiRh_Zq0Q

1fluffhead

They are doing Baltimore Safety zones or something like that in some "problem" areas of the city per Mayor Dixon's request. Saw it on the news last night. There should be more of them showing up around the city. I come home from work through W. Bmore (Catonsville->Charles Village) and lately they seem to be increased police in general in that whole area. I hate that 28th street bridge.

taken67

Damn, I hope they don't keep blocking my route. It's so nice riding through Druid Hill late at night, so far I've seen a family of deer, and a fox or two.

1fluffhead

I agree, Druid Hill is nice to ride in, but it has been a while since I have ridden over there at night. Most of my night rides have been around the Roland Park/Loyola College area lately. Saw a fox 2 nights ago by York Road and Northway. I thought it was a raccoon at first, but when I got closer I realized it was a fox. Kinda caught me off guard seeing one in that part of the city.

kemmer

That video always reminds me of the time I nailed a squirrel with a snowball. I just posed the story in foo, but it's probably not interesting to anyone but me.

skinnyland

slick. copycat's always a fun place. you live there, or just playing there? I'm movin to philly tomorrow, but you know... can't stay away from this town.