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In case you have missed it somehow, One Less Car‘s annual Tour du Port takes place this Sunday, all over Baltimore’s lovely waterfront. The forecast for Sunday is GORE GEE US. If folks who go would like to share pictures/stories, please email us (northbaltimorebikebrigadeATyahooDOTcom) to have them featured with credit and glory on this site. ElRo and I were going as a couple, but she’s not feeling up to cycling with “morning” sickness and a tiny person in there.
Also, a reminder for this weekend, when folks will be cycling all over Baltimore even more than usual: TAKE THE LANE WHEN YOU HAVE TO!! I was on the MTA bus yesterday, and I saw a guy who was obviously new to cycling, and he turned onto a busy street to the right of the right-turn lane, with traffic. When the bus stopped for a second, and I couldn’t see him, I thought the worst. If there’s ever a situation to take the lane, it’s turning right in a right-turn lane! (and turning left, and some downtown streets, etc.) For the love of JEHOVELO, take the lane! You’re a vehicle!
Also, useful info for those headed to TDP by bike from the North: St. Paul Street is getting resurfaced and is gridded and scary right now. It’s been too crater-rific lately to cycle on for the last few years, so this will be a great thing when it’s finished — and they are making pretty speedy progress. But this weekend, watch out. Also, University Parkway is still full of holes near the bus pads and has the bike lanes closed for much of the length. Heading South between Roland Avenue and 40th Street, there’s only one lane. TAKE IT!
Best wished to all Tour du Porters!
(My former set-up. I used to run the smaller light at the left seat-stay, and even jerry-rigged to the back of my rack.)
It’s been said in several places on the byke innernetz that if your LEDs are a few years old, you might want to replace them. Why? LEDs last nearly forever, no? Because the technology is getting cheaper, brighter, more efficient, more durable and easier to mount!
These are Giant lights that I had on my (crashed) Giant bike. The larger one ran me nearly $30, and the small one was about $10 I think in 2006. The big one was bright enough to do the job fairly well, but it ate batteries like I drink coffee — as they said in Lost in Translation, “with much intensity!” The smaller one died pretty quickly, too. Both fell off the bike several times. In fact, that larger one was actually stolen from ElRo (click here to see image of baby in her tummy) since mine fell off in traffic and got destroyed. When I crashed that bike in April, someone who got to the scene handed me my pump and this smaller damned light. I can vouch for its durability — it fell off a few times and took quite a big roll a couple of those.
When I got my new bike this summer, I wanted to get new lights, too. My five LED headlight was Okay for being seen, but it went dim in a few hours and had a very narrow beam. I wanted some improvement in that area, too. The light I had was about $25 in 2006 also. There were some very awesome lights out since then, and I was excited to try some out.
Planet Bike all the way. Not only are they brighter and easier to mount. They also were cheaper, and they haven’t fallen off yet. I should really get around to posting something about my cheap/simple light set-up. Maybe next week. Stay tuned!
If you’re an MTA rider, you might have noticed the new bus pads going in along the #61 route heading South (Roland-University-St. Paul). There are orange barrels and construction equipment everywhere.
And there are holes. BIG holes. This is in addition to the terrible road surface that makes me avoid St. Paul Street between 33rd Street and North Avenue like the proverbial plague (I opt for Maryland Avenue in this case).
At University Parkway and Roland Avenue, there is a tub hole (graduated from a pot hole) and a huge linear crack running parallel to the lane, right in the middle of a Sharrow, where we’re supposed to ride before the bike lane kicks in — when the cars are still honking at each other because 4 in 10 drivers at that intersection at rush hour are on their phones (yes, I count sometimes when I’m waiting for the bus). This crack is big enough to throw you off of a mountain bike, so 700c/650b riders should really watch out. That’s a really hard spot to take the lane, too, since traffic is supposed to be merging.
Continue along one of the first (the first?) bike lanes in Baltimore heading South on University Parkway, and you’ll meet a hole large enough to throw a motorcycle (?) right in the bike lane at University Parkway and Keswick road. This is past that stone wall on the left, when most cars and buses are riding half-way into the bike lane already, and there’s construction equipment parked in the parking lane. Stopping and/or taking the busy lane might be necessary.
The bus pads have been finished for over a week, and no one’s come to fix these holes, some of which are big enough to be hazards for autos. The one at Roland and University makes the bus slow down! And this is a very heavy bike traffic route (for our city), so BE CAREFUL!
Also, right as you pass 40th Street on University Parkway, there is a linear crack where the bus pad and street meet that’s been there for years, and at least one NBBB person almost ate it on there one day a few months ago. This is the part of University approaching the bridge, between the two sets of bike lanes, when you really have to just take the lane no matter how bad the traffic is. I have personally almost gotten flattened by a Volvo there when the Sharrows were new two years ago and before I just decided that manners were less important than not getting flattend and started just claiming the lane when I need to.
I’m planning some new bike routes for the Bolton Hill, Reservoir Hill & Lake Avenue area. Essentially, these routes will be signed with distance and destination markers with limited pavement markings along (relatively) low volume, low speed roads connecting gaps in the Baltimore’s bike network.
Eutaw route will follow Eutaw Pl northbound from State Center/MLK to Druid Hill Park. The southbound route will be Madison/Swan from the Jones Falls Trail to Bloom where it dog-legs left back to Eutaw.
The Lake Avenue route will begin where the bike lanes end on Kelly Ave just west of Mt. Washington and direct bike traffic east to Falls, dog-leg left onto Bellemore to Roland, dog-leg left again onto Lake all the way to Chinquapin with a spur to Belvedere Square off Linton via the footbridge over Northern Pkwy.
The development of these routes is based on their identity in the bike master plan, current use by cyclists and areas where bikes and cars can conceivably “share the road”. While Eutaw may not be for the faint of heart, there’s Park which is quieter. Some prefer Lake Ave over Bellemore when climbing out of the valley, which is all good. Bellemore doesn’t necessarily have the road width, but it has far less traffic. Some avoid Lake altogether, but it does have a wider shoulder toward the west and traffic calming in the east.
If biking in Baltimore is to be normalized, we need to decrease “riding in the shadows” and OBEY TRAFFIC LAWS. Any feedback is encouraged and appreciated! And thanks to everyone who came to the Harford Rd meeting!!!!
What the hell is going on in Maryland this summer? An Elkridge teen was killed this weekend by a drunk driver who was in possession of heroine and who had a previous drug charge. This is very sad. Our thoughts go out to this young man’s family.
At Baltimore Spokes. Is it me, or does this email from the police sound almost hostile or, at least, annoyed?
Edit:
The Baltimore Sun reports that the cyclist was officially at fault, despite conflicting accounts of whether and when BCPD found the truck and also a statement that the investigation is not over?
So says Jack Conahan in The Baltimore Sun:
Our self-righteous pedallers will argue that they are reducing emissions by having one less car on the street. They neglect that the hundreds of motor vehicles they impede burn far more fuel following them in first or second gear than they would in fourth or fifth gear if the bikes were absent. Let them ride public transportation, which would certainly benefit from more fares.
Read the rest (and leave a comment pointing out the multitude of complete BS in this article).
Hmmm, cars don’t actually burn more gas in low gear when they are moving slowly. In fact, if cyclists make cars drift, that saves gas. But even that’s a smoke screen. You know who’s responsible for the planet-killing effects of your car? YOU ARE! If you’re so damned worried about pollution, why are you driving?! And if you can get your car into fifth gear in city traffic, you’re driving too fast.
I am very, sincerely, utterly sorry if I am the cause of you not being able to drive up Charles Street at 45mph. Really I am. You’re right. I concede. You pay to register YOUR car and to put gas in YOUR car to pollute MY lungs. You’re out more money than I am, and I have MUCH more fun on my bike than you have on your way to work in your car. So. Okay. You can have Charles Street on your way home. We’ll all get out of your way because you have to pay for your own car. I know — who would have thought you should have to pay for your own license and registration and insurance? What?
Oh, yeah. You pay for your license and registration because you are paying for the right to drive your car around other people. You’re not paying for the road. That’s paid for by taxes we all pay. That’s right. I don’t drive a car, and I have to pay for the road you ruin with your car through my taxes. I don’t pay for highways, but I don’t use them either, not personally. And anyone that delivers me something via highway pays it themselves.
And you pay for insurance because of all the other people (because I’m sure YOU are a safe driver) who run their huge metal boxes into other people and their boxes and ruin their metal boxes and hurt and kill people, even people walking or cycling without big metal boxes. In short, you’re paying insurance because cars are dangerous, not because it’s some toll giving you sole access to the road. All the money you pay is because you ruin the road, because you pollute the air, because you hurt people. You pay these things because of the nature of cars, which is to trample the road, people, other cars and the environment. These are not your ticket to claim everything paved.
The fact is that most cyclists own cars (not all; I don’t), which entitles them to the road under your criterion anyway, i.e., that they pay for it. And guess what? The rest of us pay for it, too. They are called taxes. Do your research into how they’re spent before venting your anti-cyclist issues a week after one of YOURS killed one of OURS.
If you think licensing and insuring bikes will lead to better bike life in Baltimore, that’s just naive. Even with bike lanes and sharrows, drivers like you act like they/you own the road. What we’ll have is licensed bikes getting hit by cars, rather than unlicensed bikes. Car drivers/owners pay for licenses, insurance, everything you want us to pay for already. Do YOU have great infrastructure? Hell no. “Your” roads are crumbling, and it’s not from bikes.
The problem is one of attitude. And your post illustrates this attitude (this problem), not some solution you think you’ve found in paperwork, fees and bike-sized license plates.
One can boil down 2/3 of the comments on The Sun to some weirdly Rush Limbaugh-esque assumption that being contrary is the same thing as being intelligent. Well, hell, I’ll play along. I’m being contrary about your contrariness, so I must be much, much, much smarter than you are. Bow before my towering, contrary intellect!
Seriously, though. How can the only “official” news agency to show up for the memorial ride go ahead and print this shameless, low-brow nonsense all the time?
Dear Mayor Dixon,
I am writing as a native of Baltimore City, a resident of Baltimore City, as a huge fan of your administration and as a cyclist.
Please let Baltimore keep its first (and hopefully only) Ghost Bike. As a cyclist, I’m sure you know what we’ve all been feeling in a city where some people think that it’s an acceptable course of action to go onto The Baltimore Sun’s website and leave hateful comments in the wake of a real person losing his life in a violent manner. After getting yelling at, dodging potholes and bracing ourselves as cabs ride too fast and too close, we’d like to keep this symbol of the vitality of the Baltimore cycling community and this reminder of a very good life cut needlessly short.
I believe that a certain news station jumped the gun in telling its viewers that our Ghost Bike would be removed, maybe because their footage of it was a day late and fifty participants short of the event that only The Baltimore Sun showed up for Sunday night. Given all the good that you have personally done for cycling in Baltimore — and for making Baltimore a better city to live in generally speaking — I am confident that our Ghost Bike isn’t going anywhere. It’s your Ghost Bike, too, as a member of our cycling community. And, more than the press might be giving anyone credit for right now, you certainly know what this memorial means to cycling and to Baltimore.
Thank you for myriad things, not the least of which, keeping this memorial where it is.
(This idea was totally stolen from Harry. Or, rather, it is Harry’s challenge met. Will you complain when the Ghost Bike is gone, or will you email Mayor Dixon, too? Do it! And post your message here as a comment!)
mayor@baltimorecity.gov
May he Ride In Peace.
The Ghost Bike and Memorial for fallen cyclist Jack Yates is this Sunday, August 9th, at 6:00pm. It will take place at the corner where Mr. Yates was killed, Maryland Avenue and Lafayette.
A few of us North Baltimore types will meet at the Watertower between 5:00 and 5:30 to ride down together at 5:30. If you’d like to meet up with us, please send us an email or leave a comment so we know to wait for you.
And, there is a page on Ghost Bikes for Baltimore.
The cyclist killed by a truck yesterday in Charles North has been identified as Jack Yates. My wife/ElRo used to work for the nonprofit on whose board he was a member, and she knew him. We talked this evening with their Executive Director, and it looks like the Tour du Greater Homewood will happen again this year, in memory of Mr. Yates. Advertisements of it happening this year on the 2nd were a misprint. (More on TDGH here and here.)
Also, Boson of Velocipede and a lot of other folks are working on a Ghost Bike and a memorial to be held Sunday at 6pm. Stay tuned for details.
More on this tragic story:
ABC 2 News also Video
Baltimore Sun Ghost Bike article
Video of Memorial at Baltimore Spokes (in which you can spot three NBBB type folks)
Baltimore Sun, where the police blame the cyclist
I probably speak for everyone who writes for this blog when I say that my I am sick over this tragedy and also over the cold-hearted commenters on sites like The Sun who are blaming the victim. I can’t get the image out of my head that I saw when I went by right after it happened. If I could, I’d give it to everyone who thinks this is the inevitable outcome of bikes and cars sharing the same space. When cars bother to share, that is.
I hope SOME good can come of this. Something. Maybe our law-makers can get us a 3-foot rule? Maybe more of us (myself included) will get off our butts to help the efforts of people like Barry Childress and Nate Evans who are all trying to make Baltimore a better place for cyclists? Maybe we’ll all (cars and bikes alike) look out for one another more now?
Not that anything could be good enough to justify what happened yesterday.
Ride in peace, Mr. Yates. Ride in peace.
(Image: Something I dug up on The Sun. I asked someone who knew him, and she confirmed that it is Mr. Yates. He looks happy in this photo at Druid Hill, and that’s something we could all use tonight.)
Geezus! What is wrong with people that they feel like they need to succumb to distraction while driving thousands of pounds of planet-killer?
On July 11, at approximately 2:44 p.m., a blue 2008 Mazda M3I driven by Royal Kessick III, 47 of Richmond, Va., was traveling northbound on Three Notch Road, north of Park Hall Road. Hugo Gonzalez, 44 of St. Leonard, was riding a bicycle on the southbound shoulder of Three Notch Road heading towards Park Hall Road. Kessick’s vehicle crossed the southbound travel lane, onto the shoulder and into the path of Gonzalez’s bicycle. Gonzalez was struck by the vehicle and thrown into the grass adjacent to the roadway. Gonzales succumbed to his injuries. Kessick’s vehicle continued towards the wood line, struck a tree, overturned once and landing upright.
Kessick was flown by Eagle 1 to Medstar. Gonzalez was wearing a bicycle helmet. Initial investigation indicates alcohol is not believed to be a contributing factor. Members of the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office Collision Reconstruction Team responded to the scene and assumed the investigation.
Anyone who witnessed the collision is asked to contact DFC Timothy Reese at (301 )475-4200 ext. 9115.
(Source.)
Witnessed? Why? They need to find out why this driver veered over, not who’s fault it was. Did he pass out from medication? Does he have a health problem? Or was he just too distracted by his frackin cell phone to not run over a cyclist? Benefit of the doubt or whatever?
Whatever. You don’t cross over two lanes because you swerved around a deer. If you fell asleep, you shouldn’t be driving. If you passed out from medication, you shouldn’t be driving. If you have a medical condition that makes you drift over two lanes, you shouldn’t have a damned license! If you were on the phone, OMG, I hope you go to jail. You are too careless to walk around with the rest of us, let alone drive around.
After writing about how long it’s been since there was a cycling death in Baltimore City, last week, two cyclists were killed in Ocean City in one week.
The first, Kristin Anne Stormer (23), of Hollidaysburg, PA, was reportedly crossing in the crosswalk against the traffic signal. Witnesses report that she was wearing headphones. This was in broad daylight. The driver is not being charged. (Source.)
Then on 2:30 Friday morning, Daniel Bren (like the machine gun) struck Edward Zisk (41) and Maxim Matuzov (20), both of Ocean City, Maryland. The two were cycling on the Route 50 bridge when a drunk driver struck them both and left the scene. Thanks are due to the witness who followed the truck and helped identify the driver. Daniel Bren, this “dirty pig of filth“* is being charged with a list of offenses, including negligent homicide by vehicle while under the influence. Homicide, when you kill a cyclist. That’s what you should be charged with. The authorities got it right this time. (Source.)
Our condolances and well-wishes go out to everyone affected by these tragedies.
*[Maybe he’s a “nice” guy, but he hit two people with his truck and left the scene, killing a man — after being irresponsible enough to drive drunk in the first place. Even if he’s a saint who drove drunk for the first time last week, it’s hard to feel badly for his plight. Not with a life cut short. Cut short by his behavior.]
NORTH BALTIMORE BIKE BRIGADE 
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