Author: lpaulriddle

Final Summer Fling

lpaulriddle

It’s the last week of summer vacation for Howard and Baltimore counties, with students returning to school on Monday 8/30.  That means this is the last week I get to enjoy relatively light traffic on my morning rides, before the roads get clogged with buses and other school traffic.  This week I’m enjoying a few last rides on roads that I tend to avoid during the school year.  One example is Ilchester Rd. between Montgomery and Landing.  I’ll occasionally ride eastbound on this road during school, but westbound (approaching the light at Montgomery) I avoid like the plague.  Today I took the fixie down Landing Rd – first time I’ve ever ridden Landing on this bike.  Then I turned left on Ilchester, rode all the way out to Montgomery, turned right and headed down Bonnie Branch Rd into the park.  The weather looks nice for biking through the end of the week.  I’ll likely switch to the road bike for Thursday and Friday’s rides.  One of those days I want to ride out to New Cut Rd. and then through Oella and Catonsville, and the other I was thinking about taking College Ave. out to Ellicott City and then taking River Rd. and riding through the park.  Next week, the plan is to start my rides out by going down Lawyers Hill Rd, to avoid the traffic on Montgomery Rd. in Elkridge.

Classes also start at UMBC next week, which means that navigating through campus is going to become a challenge, particularly with all the construction for the PAHF building going on, combined with all the new parking regulations.  The first week of classes is going to be a traffic nightmare.  I’ve already decided that I’m going to avoid Wilkens Ave/Hilltop Rd and come onto campus via Poplar Ave., at least for the first week.  After that, I’ll try to time my arrivals so they don’t coincide with the start of morning classes, to avoid the massive gridlock coming in on Hilltop.  The PAHF construction has pushed the student parking up beyond the Hilltop Circle traffic light, which means there’s going to be a LOT more pedestrian traffic in that area.  UMBC’s new zoned parking plan seems like a good idea, and I’m sure they’ll do what they can to manage things, but the first week is still going to be rough.  Hopefully things will settle down after that.

Canceling Mortgage Escrow Account

lpaulriddle

A couple years ago, I wrote about how my mortgage company consistently mis-calculated my monthly escrow payment, arriving at figures that were either too high or too low, depending on the time of year the escrow analysis was done.   Well, this past summer, the mortgage company ran another analysis and again came up with a figure that would have had me paying too much into escrow.  When this has happened in the past, we’ve called them and had them correct it, a process which typically involves sending a fax and spending about an hour on the phone.  This year, though, we decided to ask them what it would take to waive the escrow requirement on the account.  I figured that I’m responsible enough to set aside money for insurance and taxes on my own, and I stay on top of our local property tax rates, so I can do a better job anticipating these expenses than the mortgage company can.

Canceling the escrow account was easier than I had anticipated.  There were, however, a bunch of prerequisites.  Going from memory, they were:

  • A 12-month history of no late or missed payments
  • A 75% loan-to-value ratio (in other words, you need at least 25% of the property’s appraised value in equity)
  • No escrow disbursements due in the next 60 days

When we initially called, they checked to ensure that we met these requirements, then they mailed us a waiver which we needed to sign.  This arrived after about a week.  We signed it and faxed it back to them (along with a brief cover letter).  Within 24 hours of sending the fax, they had canceled the escrow account.  After another week, we received a check for the balance of the account.  All in all, it was straightforward and painless, and now they just bill us for principal and interest each month.  For taxes and insurance, we set money aside separately each month, which we can now do accurately, setting aside only what’s needed.

We were happy that our mortgage company was willing to waive the escrow account without too much fuss.  If you’re in a similar situation, you might consider checking with yours and see if they’ll work with you.  If not, there’s always the option of refinancing into a mortgage with no escrow account.  At today’s interest rates, that may make sense for a lot of people; in our case, the interest savings would only barely outweigh the closing costs, so for now, it was easier to waive the escrow account and stick with our current mortgage.

Dog Days

lpaulriddle

Yet another morning riding in the August soup.  The beginning of the week was hot-and-sunny soup, and the past 2 days have been damp-and-cloudy soup with the requisite messy storms mixed in.  I biked to work 4 days out of 5, shrewdly taking off on Tuesday, which was the hottest day of the week.

This morning I headed out Montgomery Rd and down Bonnie Branch Rd, only to find it blocked by a downed tree not far from the intersection with College Ave.  I would have tried to squeeze around it, if not for the truck on the other side of it, presumably there to attempt to remove it.  So I doubled back and took Ilchester Rd instead, cutting back to Bonnie Branch via Beechwood Rd.  I’d say it added around 3 miles to my ride.

I remember around this time in February, I was pining for summer and wondering if I’d ever get to shed all the winter gear and clothes.  Now I’m missing winter again.  I’m all for the changing seasons, and I’d probably get bored living in a temperate climate, but part of me wishes that summer and winter wouldn’t outstay their welcomes the way they seem to do so often around here.  🙂

July finally over

lpaulriddle

Well..  a truly miserable July, the hottest in recent memory, is finally over.  Let’s see what August has in store.  I finished July up with roughly 15 rides.  I say “roughly” because I’ve gotten kinda lazy with keeping ride stats lately, and sort of forgot to record any of my rides after July 14.  So I went from memory and couldn’t remember how many days I rode the rest of that week.  It could be argued that that is a good thing, as it indicates that my riding has become more of a routine, and less of a “novelty” where I feel like I need to record stats.

Despite the heat, I conveniently managed to avoid riding on some of the hottest days of the month, particularly last week, where I vacationed in the somewhat-cooler midwest, while temperatures here were in the triple digits.  I did have to ride home once when it was 100 degrees, but it was a dry heat, and in spite of the “blast furnace” nature of it (at 100 degrees, it no longer feels cool riding downhill, in spite of the air movement), it was actually more comfortable than riding at 90 degrees with high humidity.

Been doing most of my riding on the fixed-gear bike the past few weeks, which is atypical for the season.  It’s been mainly out of convenience..  I’ve needed the fenders for a few rides, and haven’t wanted to deal with switching bikes on the other days.  I really think I’m going to need a third bike for the colder months, preferably one that can ride off-road and in snow.  Not sure if it’s going to happen for this winter, but I’d definitely like to have one for 2011-2012.

Heat Wave

lpaulriddle

So we’ve hit one of the two times of year (the other being the dead of winter) where you really have to be hard-core to be out on the bike.  This afternoon I should easily break my record for hottest ride home.  It was already close to 90 when I rode in this morning, and the predicted high is 102, though with some luck we’ll be a bit off the high by 5:00pm.  We’ll see I guess.  I will say this: I see more cyclists out in the extreme heat than I do when it’s extremely cold.  Personally, given the choice, I’ll take cold, but that’s just me.

This has been an extreme summer for construction.  On a typical ride through Patapsco, Relay and Halethorpe, I go through no fewer than 5 construction zones.  Of particular note, the lower Grist Mill Trail is currently closed down for repairs.  According to the DNR web site, they’re repaving it and fixing drainage issues.  It’s supposed to take 4 weeks.  That part of the trail definitely needed some work; there were 1 or 2 very rough patches, and I’ve experienced first-hand how badly it has flooded out on occasion.  Should be nice when it’s finished.  There’s also some kind of work going on along the entrance road, not far from the viaduct.  I haven’t seen anyone there for a week or so, but there are two rough patches where it appears that they dug a trench across the road to lay some sort of pipe.  Probably more drainage-related stuff, though there’s nothing about this on DNR’s page.

Solstice

lpaulriddle

Happy Solstice.  I’m writing this around 1 hour before solar noon, which is supposedly when the Sun will be at its highest point in the sky of the year.  Hard to believe the kids are still in school, but we have Snowmageddon to blame for that.

June hasn’t been the greatest month in the world for biking to work, but it hasn’t been the worst either.  Assuming I bike in the rest of my work days this month, I’m on pace for 15 rides in June.  Came down with a bit of a “sinus thing” last week, which actually caused me to skip riding on Friday.  Usually I’ll still ride when I’m not 100%, but for some reason, on Friday I just couldn’t will myself onto the bike in the 90-degree heat with a cold, or whatever it is.  Today, I’m still not 100%, but I took a 15 mile ride in anyhow, because I can’t ride for the rest of this week.

From an equipment and clothing standpoint, summer rides are still as boring as ever.  I’ve been heavily favoring the geared road bike for the last couple of months, because it’s easier to get up the hills in the 90-degree heat in a lower gear.  I wear more-or-less the same thing every day: short-sleeve athletic t-shirt or jersey and bike shorts.  One thing I’ve found that makes a difference is a zippered jersey.  On those really humid days, I can unzip it to stay cooler.  I’m going to have to get a couple more of these.

6000 miles

lpaulriddle

We’ve got ourselves some good old-fashioned Mid-Atlantic summer weather this week.  My morning ride was a nice, sweaty, humid 81°.  High of 89 later today, with (you guessed it) thunderstorms predicted for late afternoon and evening.  I tend to take shorter rides in this kind of weather, and today was no exception.

Yesterday afternoon I flipped the odometer on my road bike over to 6000 miles.  I was at the corner of Poplar Ave and Shelbourne Rd, just leaving the UMBC campus.  I also remember 5000, which I hit on September 29, 2009, on the Grist Mill Trail in Patapsco State Park.  4000 was on June 2, 2009.  Now that I have 2 commuter bikes, I’m spreading the mileage out between them a bit more.

It’s been a good week for wildlife sightings.  Tuesday I saw a bird on the river that looked like a heron or egret.  It’s kind of rare to see these types of sea birds in our area.  Wednesday I surprised a fox on South St in Relay, just after exiting the park.  Today I rescued a box turtle from the park access road.  And of course, there’s also been the usual bevy of unfriendly Canada geese.

Today marked my last ride of May.  Total tally: 18 commutes by bike, 0 by car.  My kind of month!

BtWD – Late Start

lpaulriddle

I didn’t get out of the house until 9:15 this morning, but fulfilled my obligation to ride to work on Bike-to-Work Day.  By the time I left, it was around 70 degrees out.  I rode down Lawyers Hill Rd, through the park, out River Rd to Frederick Rd, up Oella Ave, up the #9 Trolley Trail, then through Catonsville to UMBC.  In spite of the late hour, I saw 7 or 8 other riders, and at least a couple of them looked like they might be commuting.  Good times.

Next year I’d like to try to make it to one of the BtWD rallies.  The closest one to me is held at Columbia Mall.  The next time I get out for a recreational ride, I’m going to try to plot a good bike route from home to the mall, so I can ride out there in 2011.  It will be nice to feel more like I’m part of the event.

If the event continues to grow in popularity, maybe there’ll be some rallies closer to me in coming years.  Ellicott City, Catonsville, Patapsco State Park, and BWI Business District all seem like they’d make good rally spots.

State Bird

lpaulriddle

I think I’m going to start a petition to change Maryland’s official State Bird.  I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen a Baltimore Oriole, in the wild, in Maryland.  Wouldn’t it be better to use a bird that is much more commonplace?  I’m thinking that a more appropriate choice would be the Canada Goose, or perhaps the Bell Jet Ranger.

Speaking of geese, I ran into a particularly cantankerous gaggle in Patapsco State Park this morning, on my ride to work.  They had a big group of goslings in tow, and the adults gave me a nice chorus of hisses as I rode by.  I laughed, thinking, these guys are not unlike the average driver in Maryland!  (Take it easy folks..  just kidding!  Sort of.)

Unfriendly geese aside, the weather is definitely looking nice for the end of the week.  The clouds are gone and the temperatures are warming up.  I took Landing Rd out to Ilchester Rd today and then rode through the park.  Tomorrow is Bike-to-Work Day, so I was thinking about riding out to Ellicott City and Catonsville, to see if I can catch up with some other riders heading to UMBC.  It’s nice to finally shed the rain gear.

Enjoy the weather and don’t forget to ride in tomorrow.

Happy Bike-To-Work-Week

lpaulriddle

So it’s national bike-to-work week.  Bike-to-work week is intended to encourage first-time bike commuters, and unfortunately, the weather in Maryland this week has not helped the cause.  I rode in a steady drizzle Monday morning, Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning.  By Tuesday afternoon the rain had stopped, but it was still damp and chilly.  This morning was a bit of an improvement.  I actually saw someone else on a bike.  The dreary weather is finally supposed to get out of here for Thursday, and for “Bike to Work Day” on Friday, so I hope to see a lot more riders towards the end of the week.

Riding in the rain can actually be fun, although it does require a bit of an investment in proper clothing and equipment.  Here’s a list of stuff I consider essential for wet commutes.

  • Fenders.  An absolute must.  They keep 90% of the mud and slop off the bike and the rider.  Full-coverage fenders are best for really wet conditions.  Clip-on fenders are OK in a pinch, but avoid deep puddles and expect the bike to get dirtier.
  • Lights.  I use my headlights and rear flashers for visibility whenever it’s rainy or overcast out.
  • Rain pants.  Keeps legs dry.  Even with full-coverage fenders, I find that I still get mud on my legs without rain pants.
  • Hi-visibility vest or jacket.  It’s important to stay visible in these conditions.
  • Rain jacket.  You’ll certainly want one if it’s chilly, or during a heavy downpour.  But if it’s over 70 degrees out, you might want to skip it, as you’ll get just as wet sweating underneath it as you would from the rain.  Mine has a hood that I sometimes put up underneath my helmet.  There are also covers you can get that fit over the top of a helmet to keep rain out.  I’ve not tried one of these, but may at some point.
  • Shoe covers.  These keep your feet dry.  Very important if it’s cold.  I use the Performance brand neoprene covers with rubber soles.  These work best in conjunction with rain pants.  The pants cuff should go over top the shoe cover to keep water out.  Without this, water will get inside and your feet will get wet.
  • Waterproof gloves.  I haven’t yet invested in these, but would like to find a good pair that is breathable and sheds water effectively.

Anyone can ride in the rain, but as you can see, it takes some planning to actually ride comfortably and safely in the rain.  That’s why most of the people who do it are die-hards.  It took me about 2 years to accumulate enough gear where I felt properly equipped to ride in the rain.  It’s really something you have to ease into.