Conditions in Patapsco State Park continue to improve after last week’s monsoon. All of the mudslides have been cleared off the Grist Mill Trail, so I can now get through on my road bike without having to stop and walk through any mud. It’s still quite muddy, particularly on the River Rd. entrance on the Howard County side, but it’s getting better. Unless your bike has fenders, you’ll still get dirty. My single speed bike has the dubious distinction of being my “mud bike” this month. It’s getting quite dirty, but there’s not much point in cleaning it off, because it’ll just get dirty again on the next ride. I’m happy they cleared the trail, because if they hadn’t, I probably would have switched to my mountain bike for the rest of the week. That would have left me with two dirty bikes instead of one, and the mountain bike will have plenty of opportunities to get dirty this winter (road salt — uggh).
This time last week, we were just starting to see effects from Tropical Storm Lee. Things have quieted down quite a bit since then. We’re now finally starting to get some nice late-summer Maryland weather. Of course, the ragweed and mosquitoes are out in force, but you gotta take the bad with the good.