Bike

About 16 months from now, bicyclists will be able to ride from the Inner Harbor to Pennsylvania Station on a smooth path all their own. Little by little, crews working in the shadow of the Jones Falls Expressway are inching their way north, building a concrete and belgian-block median to separate four-wheel traffic from the two-wheel variety. The $3.5 million, state-funded segment of the Jones Falls Trail will start at Lee Street near the Baltimore Visitor Center, wrap around the Inner Harbor and follow the Fallsway to the train station.

I enjoy biking short distances and am grateful that there are more bike lanes making it safer to ride on city streets. I also enjoy attending performances at the Modell Lyric, which has recently completed multi-million dollar renovations to efficiently accommodate a broader range of shows, including the recent return of grand opera. Unfortunately the plan to run a bike lane on Mt. Royal Avenue directly in front of the Modell Lyric, taking one lane from the sidewalk and one lane from the street parking lane, will endanger and seriously undermine the ability to attend the Modell Lyric just at a time when it should be flourishing.

Glad to see a school in Columbia was encouraging children to be active with Bike to School Day ("Cradlerock gets rolling with Bike To School Day," May 20 ), but where in the world was that girl's bike helmet? A bike helmet is a necessary accessory to keep children safe! Alexandra Bessent, Towson

Picture yourself in Laurel history on C Street Gallery's Discover Laurel Bike Ride, Saturday, May 19 from 2 to 5 p.m., starting at the gallery, 19 C St. Participants will bike the neighborhood to follow the gallery's history adventure. Bring a camera to take photographs along the way, and then see your photos on display at C Street Gallery. To register, contact Abbie Chessler at abbie@cstreetgallery.com .

I am writing in response to an article posted in the Sunday June 20 edition of the Baltimore Sun. The article was brief, but spoke of the recent misfortune of Jenna Bush Hager and her husband as they had their bicycles stolen out of their garage from their home in Federal Hill ("Two bikes are stolen from Jenna Bush Hager's garage"). I would like to be very clear up front and say that I am sorry for their loss, and this is not a letter criticizing them, their father's politics, or anything personal in nature whatsoever.

Cycling has long been promoted as an activity with the potential to improve community wellness through its health benefits and its ability to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution. Monday through Friday, rain or shine, I ride my bike from my apartment in the Tuscany-Canterbury neighborhood in North Baltimore to school at the Johns Hopkins medical campus in the Middle East neighborhood, where I am working on a master's degree in public health. Riding a bicycle is a liberating experience that you can do it at any age and almost anywhere.

Police investigating the death of a 7-year-old boy who was struck by a car while riding his bike in front of his home on Thursday said he rode into the path of vehicle at an intersection, according to a department spokeswoman. Prosecutors will have the final say on whether charges are filed, but police said preliminary conclusions point to pedestrian error. The boy, Marcell Wagstaff, was riding in the street against traffic in front of his house in the 5700 block of Rubin Ave., in the Glen neighborhood of Northwest Baltimore, according to police.

With an impending graduation and no job lined up, John Windsor sat in his apartment at St. Mary's College and listened to his old high school friend pitch him an idea of traveling across the country on a bike.' Hours later that January night, Windsor and Jonathan Zorn, classmates at St. Paul's High School, were already pinpointing their journey on a large map of the country - a trip that would take them from the wooded coastline of Oregon, through...

Howard County traffic engineering chief Diane Schwarzman's old one-speed bike rarely gets out of her Ellicott City garage, but lately she's using a borrowed, more sophisticated two-wheeler to pedal along Columbia's streets and pathways with a few professional colleagues. "The street is the same," she said about the experience of riding a bicycle where she normally drives a car, "but you realize the characteristics of the paved surface." The officials said riding bikes themselves helps them plan for altering streets to make them safer for cyclists.

In an effort to reduce thefts and make it easier to return stolen bicycles to their owners, county police will begin registering bicycles in the department's computer system Saturday in its new Operation I.D. program.According to police, about 100 bicycles are reported stolen throughout the county each month. But when many of them are recovered, they cannot be returned because the owner does not know the bicycle's make, model and serial numbers.As part of the identification program, reserve officers and volunteers will be stationed along the B&A trail bicycle path, at Quiet Waters Park and Downs Park to engrave bicycles with owners' license numbers and place a police sticker on them.

Harford County and the Baltimore Metropolitan Council are celebrating May as Clean Commute Month and May 18 as Bike to Work Day. County Executive David Craig urges everyone to bike to work or try biking for fun, fitness or transportation. The growing event has launched a new website and has now opened online registration. Participating cyclists should register at http://www.Bike2WorkCentralMD.com. The Bike to Work Day Rally will be held, rain or shine, from 7 to 9 a.m. at the Harford County Government Administration Building at 220 S. Main St. in Bel Air. The rally, hosted by Harford County Government, promotes riding a bicycle as a fun, viable, low-cost commuting option.

A young boy is suffering from massive head and face trauma after being struck Wednesday night by a dirt bike in Brooklyn, police said. The 6-year-old remains at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where his condition has been upgraded from critical to serious, police said. Around 6:30 p.m., the boy was standing in a field along the 4200 block of 10th St. when he was hit, according to a statement from Detective Jeremy Silbert, a spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department. The driver stopped briefly after hitting the boy but then fled, he said.

A young boy is in critical condition Wednesday night after being hit by a dirt bike in Brooklyn, police said. Around 6:30 p.m., the 6-year-old was standing in a field along the 4200 block of 10th St. when he was struck, according to a statement from Detective Jeremy Silbert, a spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department. The driver stopped briefly after hitting the boy but then fled, he said. The bike was red and black and had a two-digit number on the side, Silbert said.

Ten-year-old Michael Patrick Finnerty hadn't been the same since his bike was stolen by another juvenile in East Baltimore. Tamara Hatcher knew she could fix that.  Finnerty beamed as Hatcher, a victim liaison with the Baltimore Police Department, and other police officials surprised him with a new bike on Tuesday afternoon, just a few days before his birthday. He hopped on the seat and took off down the street, as his mother, Cathy Martin, watched from the porch. "Just overwhelmed," Martin said of her reaction, as her son jumped a curb and pedaled down his street through the rain.  Hatcher came across Finnerty's case while sifting through recent robbery reports.

The PNC Bank in the 6300 block of York Road was robbed at 2:15 p.m. April 13 by man who implied that he had a gun. Police reports say the man passed note to teller and left with undetermined amount of currency. In addition to this incident, the following were compiled from police reports from the Towson and Cockeysville precincts. Our policy is to include descriptions when there is enough information to make identification possible. Cockeysville Old Providence Way, 10000 block, between 9 a.m. and 11:15 p.m. April 14. DVDs, CDs, video game system and games, cash and jewelry stolen.

This week on The Amazing Race we get an African safari, and that's just flat-out cool. Also, my on-again, off-again relationship with JJ is off. I'm done with him like I'm done with tofu, and there's no more done than that, I tell you.   Once upon a time in Africa, a volcano erupted. Then plants invaded, and it became the Ngorongoro Crater. It's lush, huge, beautiful, and full of all your favorite African animals: lions, elephants, zebras, baboons, gazelles, all of that.

When the Tour Du Pont rolls into Columbia tomorrow afternoon, 88-year-old Frederick Krauk will be standing along the sideline rooting for Greg LeMond.At the finish line, 52-year-old Ron Fuller will be waiting with other dignitaries to hand out awards to the winners.Together, Krauk and Fuller represent 75 years of evolution in the sport of bicycle racing in Maryland.Krauk, who delights in saying he still has great legs from his biking days, was the Baltimore City School Boy bicycling champion from 1916 through 1918.

A 12-year-old boy who was killed Thursday afternoon in West Baltimore was struck by a vehicle after pedaling through a stop sign and losing control of his bicycle. Police said the boy, identified as Joshua Blackwell of the 4000 block of Bateman Ave., was riding slightly ahead of a group of eight to 10 other children in the 2200 block of Lyndhurst Ave. at about 4:20 p.m. when he went through the stop sign. He tried to brake and lost control of the bike, sliding under a 2006 Honda Element, which had been traveling southbound on Windsor Mill Road.

The horde passes in a blinding blur of bright, logo-laden polyester jerseys and $10,000 full-carbon-frame bicycles measured in grams not pounds, zooming over impossibly gorgeous —- and remarkably steep — Alpine vistas. It's enough to make you want to leave your bike in the garage. Those sleek, graceful racers and their expensive racing bikes, not to mention the 8 percent grades of the mountains, can intimidate the amateur rider whose only exposure to organized bicycle riding is the occasional glance at the Tour de France on TV. Not to let the air out of your tires, but if you think all bike rides are grueling ordeals with champagne sprays at the finish line, you haven't tried one of the Baltimore region's bike rides.

Megan Turlington has always loved to bake. So it makes sense that she would be a great fit as popular cupcake truck Iced Gems' resident baker and truck driver. The Cockeysville native attended the Baltimore International College, earned a degree in culinary management, and started working at Iced Gems last May. Turlington, 24, took a break from serving Baltimore its favorite cupcakes to chat with us about her dream creation and how coffee at Panera beats any bar drink in Baltimore.