08 April, 2007

Open House Info

As I wrote a few posts down, we'll have an open house in the new showroom on April 15th from 1pm to 6pm. The address is 214 West Street Annapolis MD 21401. We hope you'll drop by for a glass of wine, sake, or lemonade and Franco/Japanese snacks.

Ryan Watson sent the photo on the left. that's his Citroën 2CV and his bike (note the Ostrich bag). If you can't ride to our shop, this is a fine way to arrive.

Here are the directions:

From Washington DC and points South:
Take I-495 to Route 50 East. Get off on Rowe Boulevard (exit 24) towards Annapolis (that's a right turn onto Rowe) Turn right at the second light onto Taylor Avenue. At the traffic circle go 3/4 way round and exit onto West Street (towards downtown) We are 2 blocks down on the left; look for the orange door.

From Baltimore and points North or West:
Take I-97 to Route 5o East. Get off on Rowe Boulevard (exit 24) towards Annapolis. Turn right at the second light onto Taylor Avenue. At the traffic circle go 3/4 way round and exit onto West Street (towards downtown) We are 2 blocks down on the left; look for the orange door.

From Southern Maryland:
Take Route 2 into Annapolis. Turn Right on west Street. At the traffic circle go 1/2 way round and continue on West Street (towards downtown) We are 2 blocks down on the left; look for the orange door.

From the East:
Cross the Bay Bridge. Get off on Rowe Boulevard (exit 24) towards Annapolis. Turn right at the second light onto Taylor Avenue. At the traffic circle go 3/4 way round and exit onto West Street (towards downtown). We are 2 blocks down on the left; look for the orange door.

Parking:
On Sundays you can park on West street without paying the meters. Or park in the neighborhoods adjacent to West Street. There is also a city parking garage one block past Velo Orange on the right (turn right on Colonial) and another one a block before VO on Amos Garret St.

Other Activities:
The Ride for Shelter takes place earlier on Sunday. It's a neat bike ride through the various parts of Annapolis to raise money for the local homeless shelter. There'll a swap meet from 8-11am. So bring all your old bikes and parts. This is the first time we've tried the swap so I'm not sure how well attended it'll be. There is no fee for the swap meet, but we ask you to donate a small percentage of your take to the shelter. There will be someone there to sell used bikes if you want to leave one and go on the ride.

You can easily walk to the harbor, state house, and historic district from the shop. There are plenty of nice restaurants and cafes just a few blocks away.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice look to the place. Very much in keeping with the spirit of VO.

Anonymous said...

I sold Ryan that bike! Strange to check in on the blog and see a photo of my old ride resting atop a Citroen on the other side of the country. Certainly made me grin!
nv

Ethan Labowitz said...

what about riding directions, specifically from DC? i've heard the part through Anacostia can be rough...beyond there, i'm lost (Virginia boy here).

Kris Hicks-Green said...

Gorgeous shop. Have you been to Jitensha in Berkely or Il Veccio in Seattle? Your place is very reminiscent of theirs.

Wonderful car, Ryan, even if REAL 2cvs have corrugated bonnets!

Anonymous said...

fastfifty,
I was thinking of riding out, so I started to plot a route with Bikely. I haven't ridden it yet, and I really just followed the roads recommended by the area bike maps you can get from WABA. The link is:
http://tinyurl.com/2vx2po

It doesn't have any cues, but eventually I will add some after I've ridden it a few times.

Chris, if you have any thoughts about the route, I'd appreciate it!

Michael

Velo Orange said...

Michael,

That route looks okay, not great, but okay. I've ridden on Central Ave, Rt 2, and West St, but not on the part inside the Beltway.

Since it's Sunday, I would consider taking the bike onto the Metro and getting off at New Carrolton Station. Then you could ride out Rt 450, which is a little nicer than Central Ave.

There is also a good route that starts at New Carrolton and eventually follows Governor Bridge Rd (it's very pretty on GBR). I'll dig out my atlas and try to remember the whole thing.

Anonymous said...

Chris,

I'm suggesting bikely.com or routeslip.com for a mapping routes to your shop. Both work great and are fun to use... even have elevation *grin*

Chuck

Velo Orange said...

What's "elevation"?

Chris

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

chuck said:
I'm suggesting bikely.com or routeslip.com for a mapping routes to your shop. Both work great and are fun to use... even have elevation *grin*


And the good news - no, the GREAT NEWS - is that the hideous bug (residue from being hacked, I believe) that had afflicted routeslip.com for the past week, where it was impossible to become your own identity, and everyone was logging in as the same user ID, is FIXED AT LAST!

It looked pretty grim for a while, and I know quite a few users gave up and quit. Certainly, creating a route was out of the question.

However, that's now fixed.

-- Steve Palincsar

Ethan Labowitz said...

stumbled on this:
http://bikewashington.org/routes/greentobay/index.htm

Anonymous said...

fastfifty,
Thanks for that link. That's just what I was looking for.

Ethan Labowitz said...

michael -

still thinking of riding Sunday?
my bike is a 1-speed, not very rain-proof at the moment, but depending on the weather i may install fenders and a little bag and brave the trip.

Ethan
elabowitz AT SIGN HERE gmail.com