Long Haul - Day 22 (9/7/21) Harve De Grace to Linthicum Heights 46.5 miles
We scheduled a shorter day as we weren’t quite sure how things would go riding through Baltimore, plus there were some hills that we thought might slow us down. In addition we were both hankering some good coffee and figured we should be able to find some in the downtown. We had 29 miles on 40 west and we cranked them out in quick fashion. There were some hills but hitting them first thing in the morning and cooler weather, they didn’t seem all that bad. As we got closer to Baltimore we rode through some run down residential areas before hitting the downtown. We found a coffee shop/roaster tucked away off the route but we had plenty of time and enjoyed excellent iced mocha/hot mocha and a chocolate croissant. Leaving there we followed a bike/walking path along the river. What a beautiful downtown and path. Before too long we left the beautiful area and entered a less than, shall we say, upscale neighborhood. At that point we had about 8 miles to go and felt good about the day. All of a sudden I felt my back tire go flat. I thought dang it, not again. So I dismounted and sure enough it was flat as an IHOP pancake. I got my pump and tried pumping it up hoping it would be a slow leak since we only had about 4 miles left. No such luck. So I found a small tree with a bit of shade to change the tube. Sure enough there was a small piece of metal that had penetrated the tire and had punctured the tube. Again, this was bit of a sketchy area and as I was changing the tire there was an older gentleman that walked past several times. After about the third time he looked at me, touched his eye and said, “keep an eye on your bikes” I thanked him and realized that he was probably just watching out for these strangers. “We were strangers and he took us in” People are awesome.
One more day under our belt and tomorrow we tackle Washington DC.
https://www.treesforgoshen.org/biking-for-bucks-expand-goshens-tree-canopy/
Today’s Ride Ratings
Weather 9.5 (a crisp 60 in the morning and the weather was really beautiful. I love riding first thing in the morning)
Temperature 60 at start and 82 at finish
Scenery 9 (downtown) 4 (all the rest)
Riding Surface 9
Terrain 9
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