Tour du Port, Baltimore MD, Oct 22

Tour du Port

In spite of my road-riding paranoia, I'm thinking of doing this just 'cause I love Charm City. Anyone else interested?

I did the Tour du Port last year and enjoyed it. I'll be doing the Buff Betty Adventure Race that day so I can't do it this year. I second the recommendation on their web site to use a bike with fairly wide tires, as there are lots of cobblestones and city streets in not-so-great shape. I rode my road bike and regretted it. There are a lot of people on the ride, including a lot of kids, who don't really know about riding etiquette, so you really need to be on your toes. My favorite part of the ride was Fort McHenry. Have a great time!

How bad are the roads for a road bike? I've got a Roubaix (supposedly made for cobbles--lol) but streetcar tracks scare me...are there really a lot of those kinds of crossings?

Based on a quick glance at the map, it doesn't look as if there are many streetcar tracks to cross. They seem to plan the route with families and children in mind, so it's apparently a fairly easy one. The thing that concerns me more is the cobblestones in Fells Point :eek: , though your Roubaix should be right at home there.

heh.. maybe it depends on the kind of cobbles, as I'm a newbie. I'm from Savannah, GA, a port city, with lots of cobblestone streets. There are cobbles and then there are cobbles, if you know what I mean. (bumpy street versus rock quarry, from a bike's perspective).

As near as I can tell from a tiny picture of the route, there's an approximately 1/2 miles stretch on cobbles that are big enough to make you bounce inside your car. Other than that, all I'd really worry about (besides traffic, of course) is curb-side grates and glass. I've never noticed much pothole trouble when driving in B'more, and hopefully they'll clean the gutters before that morning. If I do the ride, I'll probably pedal with one foot clipped and one foot not, just in case ;)

It looks like a fun route, seeing as how it goes through Patterson Park, around Federal Hill, and to Fort McHenry and back. It hits some cool neighborhoods. It's just too bad it doesn't swing up to the Westminster burial ground so the riders could wave at Eddie A. Poe!