Northern outer suburbs of Boston - the Bermuda rectangle of cycling
Originally Posted by
autonomy
I was browsing the Strava heat map and
this black hole caught my attention:
Here it is a bit zoomed in and compared to Google maps at approximately the same zoom level:...
What's up with that? Why are Billerica, Burlington, Wilmington, and Tewksbury so relatively unpopular with cyclists? There must be some cyclists at least originating their trips there...
Originally Posted by
jimmuller
I've ridden from Waltham to Harold Parker St Park a few times.
The problem is, there aren't many good roads to go that way. Some towns up that way are not bike friendly. Andover is about elevation 9000ft! Or so it seems.
Originally Posted by
rumrunn6
wow, that's a lot of urban riding.
was gonna say Haverhill St looks like a nice steady run but then I checked street view & saw it's kinda narrow!
IMO, that photo is typical of that sector of the Northern suburbs, as I previously posted,
“Pleasant suburban to rural inland roads, in contrast to the adjacent sectors:
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
... North Shore: Beautiful Atlantic coastline, especially north of Lynn, to include Nahant, Marblehead and Marblehead Neck, on through Salem, Beverly and into ritzy Beverly Farms, and up to seafaring Gloucester, Rockport, Ipswich, etc…
Western: Lincoln, Lexington, Concord, Wayland, etc: Very ritzy, buccolic and historic; very popular for riding. This area IMO has the steepest hills....
So that “Bermuda Rectangle” suffers in comparison to her glamorous neighbors.
Personally, I had replied:
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
Northern outer suburbs of Boston - the Bermuda rectangle of cycling
That’s a very interesting observation. I live in downtown Boston (Kenmore Square), and most of my cycling is south and west of the city...
On my rides up there (without Strava) my usual routes are along Rte 3A, or 38, and are pleasant up until about I-95, and then become rather non-descript. I've been through Billerica a few times, and once up to Lowell.
I do like riding across the sector along Rte 62, and along the sector on Washington Street through Woburn (at the southern edge of that [rectangle]) into Winchester...