Rolled out on the Surly Trucker DeLuxe to ride a route that stitched together a number of known routes into
29 miles of climbing and descending through Arlington, Lexington, and Bedford, with a bit of the Narrow Gauge Rail Trail thrown in for a little variety. The route features the Minimum Mintuteman (Valley Road to Hartwell Ave., just enough to get across Route 128), the Page Road/Grove Street staged climb and swift descent, the Hill Street/Paul Revere Road roller coaster, and the big hill topped by the Stone Store on Mass. Ave. Lots of paved connective tissue between the hills, and a beautiful, sunny day, with temperatures in the 70s, that brought out quite a few other cyclists.
min(Minuteman), Lexington: a quick descent on Valley Road leads to a disceet ramp up to the Minuteman.
min(Minuteman), Lexington: light traffic, mostly masked. A barefaced couple cycling across the Route 128 overpass were scowling; perhaps they had been discussing Public Health with some of their fellow Americans.
min(Minuteman), Lexington: crossed Hartwell Ave., then turned left to follow that for a short block to MacGuire Street, then followed that to South Street. This kept me off the Bedford segment of the Minuteman.
Followed South Street to Depot Park, turned right onto Loomis and left onto the Narrow Gauge Rail Trail. This was very lightly traveled. There were familiar features, like the helical strakes at the Bedford VA hospital (I just love saying "helical strakes")...
... and things I hadn't noticed before, or perhaps had forgotten, like the water tank painted a shade of blue so close to today's sky that it seemed to shimmer...
... and then there was FAUCI!
I turned around at
Fawn Lake and took a left turn off the NGRT at the Pine Hill Road crossing; Pine Hill Road became Page Road when I crossed Springs Road, and I followed that up the beloved (in a masochistic sort of way) staged climb to the Bedford-Lexington border. Paused briefly at the farm close to the peak that used to display a sign that said, "Please don't squish my chickens!", and more recently had a population of rescue Schipperkes who cheerily saluted all comers. A collection of loose hubcaps still graces the fence. The farmer is quite cool, but not in evidence today.
Page Road becomes Grove Street once you've crossed into Lexington, and I climbed the last dozen feet of elevation with Wright Farm, now conservation land, on my left. At the very peak, I frowned at
Jefferson Drive, former woodland that lacked conservation status and is now, despite broad-based opposition for a couple of years, the ugly spawning ground of a naked mole-rat colony of Mickey Mansions. At that point, I went barreling
down the hill for a long, steep, swift descent (my GPS burped then, and posted a high speed of 60 mph, which I don't believe for a minute, but it might have been half that).
From there I picked up a series of Lexington back streets, taking Revere Street across Bedford Street to connect with Hill Street. Hill Street starts with a gentle descent, but then changes to a reasonably long climb which powers the bike through a series of rollers that follow; this continues on Paul Revere, culminating in a short, steep descent that delivers you at speed to the intersection with Mass. Ave., and the second staged climb of the ride. This turns out not to be quite as fierce as the Page Road climb. and rewards you with a look at the Stone Store.
After an exhilarating descent, I opted for the Worthen-Kendall-Marrett route towards home, broad, well-paved streets with traffic that seems more moderate to me than that on Mass. Ave., at least this week, offering a certain number of unappreciated delights.
Marrett Road brought me to Mass. Ave. again, in East Lexington this time, and gave me the opportunity to photograph the Flying A gas pump that graces a local mechanic's premises. I think they repair cars and time machines. Made me smile.
rod