I’m going to stop posting on here for a long while. Possibly forever.
When I first started this site, my employer was the Annapolis Capital, a wonderful paper that (at the time) had no running or transportation blogs. Now, however, I work for the Baltimore Sun, which within the last year has launched both a wonderful transportation blog and, more recently, a very nice running section. Since these vastly outdo my blog in terms of quality and quantity, I’m happy to say that it’s now quite redundant.
That said, I’d still love to see you at a Friday meetup, as those will continue.
The tanker truck that became entangled with John Yates’ bicycle in the city’s Station North district was too heavy for the driver to know of Yates’ presence, according to Baltimore police.
The accident killed Yates, a 67-year-old Charles Village resident.
The team, led by TND Planning Group, will release its plan for area around the proposed red line stop on Monday at the Southeast Anchor Library, according to the Baltimore Sun. The Highlandtown area is located between Patterson Park and Greektown. The most popular red line proposal involves light rail running from Woodlawn to the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus.
Altcar.org, the home of Baltimore’s new car-sharing program, shows well enought that it isn’t the same system everybody else uses, but it nonetheless has some neat features — card-swipe entry, reserved spots, low rates and an apparent lack of extra charges for gas/insurance. It’s even got an all-electric fleet.
It’s that last bit, however, that burst my bubble: Tesla motors this ain’t. Unlike George Clooney and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Baltimore’s program didn’t opt for high-voltage roadsters that go 0-60 in under 4 seconds. The program didn’t even opt for reasonable electric sedans.
No, altcar decided that there’s nothing sexier than trundling along in a lightly disguised golf cart. Maximum legal speed: 35 mph. Many experienced bike commuters can literally pedal faster than that, and with all MTA buses now sporting bike racks, altcar doesn’t give them much reason to switch modes.
It’s not a big surprise that this is partially funded by ExxonMobile, (which has been way cooler since they started using a CamelCase name). They get free touchy-feely press for their role in the organization, and at the same time, they can continue to tacitly push the idea that electric cars are best left to carrying circus clowns dressed as firemen.
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One extra note: Lest I leave out a relevant detail, Johns Hopkins and zipcar have their own deal, independent of the rest of the city.
While this plug is a bit last-minute, it’s for a really intriguing event: The Baltimore Hiking meetup group is hosting a cemetery “photo walk” around eastern Baltimore on Saturday. There are some reallygorgeousgrounds in that area, so it should be a rewarding experience. While I won’t be able to make it, I’m looking forward to seeing the pictures that result.
Check out this site for more information on biking to work in Baltimore for bike-to-work day 2009.
For people who live in the Hampden, Station North, Roland Park or Druid Hill areas and work somewhere near downtown, it’s pretty easy. The Jones Falls Trail and an abundance of bike lanes (plus some shared, hashed bike routes) get rid of a lot of the hassle. Other areas of the city can be spotty, though I know that the Pigtown/Carroll Park/Gwynns Falls Trail corridor is also developing nicely for bikes.
As usual, dress safely and don’t over-exert. Good luck!
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One more note: This is the first yearly iteration of bike-to-work day for which all MTA buses will have bike racks.
NOTE: Starting December 12, 2009, this group is on hiatus until spring 2010.
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After a two-hour search encompassing about a dozen local running groups’ online pages, I found that there are organized training runs in the Baltimore area on every day of the week … except Friday.
That’s about to change.
Next Friday ( May 8 ) and for the foreseeable future, groups will be meeting to run at the East end of the Johns Hopkins lacrosse stadium (near the five flag poles). Runs will start at 7 a.m. and noon, though we may eventually move them to different times if there are a lot of requests — so feel free to revisit and/or comment on this post for change requests and updated details. This is a free training event. Distances will vary depending on the requests of the group.
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FOOTNOTE: This is entirely greedy on my part, since I have Fridays off.
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Update: Thanks to everyone who has showed up so far. As promised, here are links to our meetup group (which basically just links back to this post), a printable set of handout slips (for recruiting friends while they run) and a pdf for hanging on bulletin boards. Share them around!
