I took off on the Rawland Nordavinden around 0930 Saturday morning, a little later than I like these morning rides to start, and rolled up to Arlington Center and lined up to get on the Minuteman. I was the second and last cyclist in line, I've been using the length of the line of bikes at the Mass. & Mystic intersection as a heuristic for estimating the likely crowding on the Minuteman. Today, I was more interested in riding in the shade than avoiding my fellow humans, and such a short line seemed to me to be a good bet.
Indeed, it worked out that way, at first: modest traffic in the shade of a leafy tunnel.
By about 10 minutes later, as I was getting into Lexington, the user-flooding began. I was routinely seeing a dozen, or dozens, of cyclists, walkers, families at once: the familiar Easter Parade. It occurred to me, somewhat belatedly, that this is a normal Saturday pattern on the Minuteman, and it does ramp up by mid-morning. So I simply rode with a little more vigilance, and a little less speed at times, used the bell as needed, and resolved to get an earlier start the next time. I also noticed that root heaves in the outbound trail surface just beyond Bow Street, Lexington, have become something of a hazard, and need a stripe of warning paint, at least.
When I reached the Woburn Street crossing, I left the Minuteman and got on Mass. Ave. for the ride home, which was better for my purpose. Although it was sunny, it was lightly traveled by motor vehicles, and those cyclists who were out knew what they were about. The ride in that direction is net down-hill, and the breeze of the descent and evaporative cooling largely compensated for the increased solar contribution to the thermal load.
I paused immediately below the recently-notorious Appleton Street intersection to photograph a patch in the asphalt that rattles your teeth if you hit it at speed, which is hard not to do given the down grade on that section of Mass. Ave., and the fact that it's pretty much dead-center in a typical East-bound cyclist's line at that point, handily indicated by a sharrow. I'll use that in a trouble ticket with the Arlington DPW.
On my in-bound transit of Arlington Center, I took this photo of the good-natured crowd in the bike box, just as the light changed. The fact that families with small children feel safe enough to use this strikes me as a good thing, progress. Perhaps it's time for a bigger bike box. At the Swan Place intersection, this group of inbound cyclists interacted with an even larger group of outbound cyclists (no pictures of that). The integration of Mass. Ave. and the Minuteman between these two intersections is something people just do now, rather than puzzle over.
rod