rholland1951

Welcome! I'm a Charlotte native too, but haven't lived there since 1960, so it hardly counts. There are a number of good routes described in older posts on this thread. If you tell us how far you like to ride, and what sorts of rides you like, you'll probably get more suggestions than will be immediately practicable. Medford is a great starting point for lots of rides.

rod

jimmuller 

On rt225? We've seen 'em too. Rather cute.

We took the tandem out to the observation tower in Concord's Great Meadows, nice 35.5 mile trip.



Then I took the Grandis out for its first ride longer than around the block, a quick 20 mile run to Lexington.

Spy Pond, Arlington:

Jim from Boston

Hi @jdotconnor,

Welcome to the ”Hub” as it is known (”Hub of the Universe”), e.g. Hubway Bike-Share. It just so happens that this weekend I started a thread on the Touring Forum, ”Tell Me About Cycling in …”

So check it out.

BTW, speaking of meeting fellow paisans, while getting my thread together, I chatted with a fellow Michiganian,

PS: You'll soon learn of it as Mass Ave (and Commonwealth Avenue is Comm Ave)...It's a whole new dialect.

guidoStow

@jimmuller I passed a tandem in lincoln yesterday around 11ish was that you?

jimmuller 

Pro'bly not. We didn't get that far south. There are a lot of tandems in the area though.

rholland1951

Again, welcome! Here's a hopefully slightly more useful response about the cycling environment here.

1) Riding here varies by season, a lot. From sometime in December (early January, if you're lucky) to sometime in March (mid-April, if you're unlucky), snow, ice, sand, and road salt are major factors, at least episodically. Some people put tires with carbide studs on one or more of their bikes during that season, treating winter cycling as yet another winter sport. If you've never dealt with studded bicycle tires before, Peter White's excellent page on the subject is a good place to start. Needless to say, learning to dress for those conditions is an important part of that. Others forgo studded tires, and rely on skill and judgement to get through; that works, except when it doesn't, and everybody has stories, some of them alarming. Other folks resort to spin trainers and stationary bicycles for the duration. Of the folks who ride year round, many of us maintain an "winter beater" bike, often an old mtb, as a sort of sacrificial victim to the road salt. Others develop techniques for cleaning up their bike after each ride. Here's a picture of my primary winter bike, a 1987 GT Karakoram rigid mtb running Nokian W240s (47mm tires with an aggressive tread and 240 carbide studs per tire, positioned to support climbing out of icy ruts): it's slow but sure.


2) While there are a fair number of bike paths (almost universally, MUPs, but very ridable) in various parts of Eastern Massachusetts and beyond, and a growing number of roads with marked bike lanes, much of the best riding here is done on neither of those, but rather on back roads with no special bicycle accommodations, but light traffic and good scenery. Our urban, suburban, and exurban areas have some roads that are better than others for riding, and building up a mental map of those is important to riding the kind of big, "safe" loops that you're interested in. It can be done, but you'll have to do some research.

3) Resources: this thread is helpful, of course. The MAPC Greater Boston Cycling and Walking Map is an invaluable resource, as is the Google Maps bicycling view (of particular interest there are the dashed green lines, which indicate roads without striped bike lanes that are particularly suitable for cycling); in both cases, what shows on the map may occasionally be misleading, not what you expected. The Strava Global Heat Map provides a good sanity check on that, showing what SOMEONE was actually able to ride. Google searches of the form "<town> bike rides" will tend to pull up routes from Map My Rides and other sources. The websites of the Charles River Wheelmen, the North Shore Cyclists, and the Ride Studio Cafe have information about group rides; whether you socially engage in the group rides or not, the cuesheets are invaluable. Another wonderful source of ride information is the Blayleys' Routes tab (the Blayleys are John Bayley and Pamela Blalock, two ace cyclists who have worked out and shared on their blog a number of great rides in the area; they also have some very useful guidance on how to dress for winter cycling. The Medford Bicycle Advisory Commission is active and effective, and well worth following.

4) Geography, history, and routes. Massachusetts riding tends to be done in distinct regional segments, with barriers between them (major highways, military bases, conservation land, industrial development, cities) that are spanned by connectors for cyclists (bike paths, back roads, dirt trails). For example, from Medford, you can ride out NorthEast through Malden and connect with the Northern Strand Community Trail (a.k.a., Bike to the Sea), and ride through Malden, Revere, and Saugus off road (some of the segments are gravel, however), then ride on road through Lynn to Swampscott, Marblehead, Salem, Beverly, and beyond, through some of the most beautiful coastal bicycling you'll ever see. Alternatively, you can go North to the Middlesex Fells Reservation, and ride on fire roads or single track, if that's what you like and are equipped to do. You can ride Northwest to pick up the Minuteman (you've already done that), follow it all the way out to Depot Park, and then either pick up the Reformatory Branch trail (dirt), the Narrow Gauge Rail Trail (stone dust), or the road network and ride as far as you like through a whole gamut of good rides to the Northwest, West, and Southwest. From that area, if you figure out how to sneak past I-90 and Route 9, you can explore a whole different area of beautiful riding (Dover, Sherborn, etc.) Alternatively, you can make your way down to the Charles River and engage in some beautiful urban riding around Boston, Charlestown, Cambridge, Watertown, etc.

Lots to do, lots to learn, Spring is coming...

Enjoy.

rod

P.S. The heading "Geography, history, and routes" is suggestive of more than the text that followed it here. Maybe another day for the rest of it...

Jim from Boston

Apropos of @rod’s post, here is one post of mine among a discussion for a Newton Rider. @jimmuller once wrote a really nice description of the sociopolitical terrain around here for a new rider, but I don’t remember exactly when.

JohnHuth

"the sociopolitical terrain around here for a new rider"

A fascinating topic. Sommerville and Cambridge...crazy area. I bike and drive in that area, and I'm often dismayed - over the years, I've done a lot of path optimization to minimize my danger spots. Being a bicyclist, I notice how other cyclist put themselves at risk in this area - it's insane, and I don't want to recount all the stories, but driving at night with no bright, reflective or lit gear on very narrow roads, and acting erratically. When driving I become acutely aware of this and I can see how it generates antipathy toward cyclists.

In a way, those 'anti-examples' have helped me ride with more safety. I try to be well lit, avoid narrow roads, notice the choke points and danger intersections, plan my left turns judiciously, taking into account what the drivers behind me will see. Acting predictably, and am generally conscious of being a kind of 'ambassador' to drivers for other cyclists - not running reds, stopping at stop signs and all that good stuff that cyclists get dinged for.

jdotconnor

Thanks everyone. Lots of great info so far.

I have someone watching the baby on Tuesday so hopefully I get out twice this coming week. Weekend will probably be on my own but Tuesday I'm looking for my first Mass group ride.

The ride studio seems to have one that fits my needs pretty good that day. Plus I can ride there pretty easily, it's not too long of a ride and they seem to ride at a pretty conservative speed.

OMEN!

Anyone else riding today/night? What do you do for shoe covers? I usually just do plastic bags, but I was wondering who had other creative/cheap solutions?
I've often considered trying to line my cages with a thin plastic. Anyone ever seen something like that?

rholland1951

I just get wet shoes. Wool socks help, of course.

rod

jimmuller 

Not riding today or tonight but mostly because of the predicted wind. I've ridden in the rain reasonably often. My solution is the shoe. For a number of years now I've been riding in mtb shoes which seem not to mind getting wet. My current shoes are I.Q. When I get home I just pull out the insoles and let them dry. But then, I use toe clips and straps without any form of cleats. I don't have to "click in". Also, as Rod says, SmartWool socks help.

Jim from Boston

Here's what I use (for wet and cold):

OMEN!

Jim, do those over shoes not work well enough alone - without the gore-tex?
At this point its looking like I only need water protection

Jim from Boston

The Totes with plastic bags alone do work well, though the feet sweat, but better than drenched by rain. The Gore-Tex provides wind proofing besides extra rain protection, especially on cold days. Furthermore when I just used the Totes, they rubbed against the pedal crank arm and it eventually abraded a hole along the edge of the Totes. So I then always had to wear a plastic bag with the Totes, though the bags do make the Totes easier to slip on.

I just had to tuck the bags far enough into the Totes not to be seen, and look dorky.

rholland1951

I guess I've had enough of Winter. Overindulgence in work this week, following 3 weeks of jury duty (weird civil case) during which I was essentially moon-lighting during the busiest part of my professional year (to be fair, that's the whole period between Ground Hog Day and the 4th of July) has kept me off the bike lately, but I passed up a perfectly good opportunity to ride Friday night, just because it was cold and windy, then was ambivalent about riding today, talking myself out of riding until sunset. But within 5 minutes, I was pedaling along in a state of cyclist's bliss... doesn't take much, apparently. On the ride out, I met a squirrel curled up in a ball in the middle of the path, near TJ's, thought it was dead until it leapt up and scampered away... then I just thought it was squirrely. Bunnies darted through my lights on the dark, cold ride back. 15 miles on the Minuteman, just what the doctor ordered.






















rod

jimmuller 

I didn't ride today but I commute by bike Thursday and Friday. Cold, windy on Friday. Great fun but hard work coming home.

rumrunn6

heard it's gonna be 57 today ...

jimmuller 

That's what "Ancuweather" said so we took the tandem out, ended up doing 47.01 miles. It was a nice day, especially when the sun came out.





Lots of bikes out today.

otg 

Nice picture Jim and Sharon! I got out today on my oldest bike, the '71 Super Sport. I didn't get any pictures, but had a good ride. I stopped on a country lane and sat down on an old stone wall to have a snack, and an old friend who I have not seen in about 5 years drove by and stopped to chat. Ended up talking for over an hour.

rholland1951

How much road salt are people seeing lately? I'm wondering about putting my other bikes back on the road in March, instead of waiting until April as per usual.

rod

Ghazmh

Rod, I haven't seen any salt in the past 2ish weeks. The biggest roadside hazard for me has been the abundance of sand, gravel/rocks, small tree limbs and pot holes. I hope to go from my winter bike to my rain-road bike mid-late March. Hopefully the roads will be cleaned up soon. FWIW Weston has been the biggest offender along my routes.

rholland1951

If you ride in or through Arlington or neighboring towns, commute by bike, use the Minuteman, or just relish the prospect of a Winter's evening talking about bicycles with a pint of good beer at hand, please consider attending the Arlington Winter Bicycling Social. Here are the details.

rod

--------------------------------------------------

Arlington Winter Bicycling Social:
Shared discussion among area bicycle committees

Join the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee (ABAC) for their annual indoor Winter Bicycling Social get-together on Tuesday evening, March 1, 7:00-9:00 p.m., at the Common Ground Bar & Grill in Arlington Center. During this year's Bicycling Social, representatives of local-area bicycle committees will share updates on what they're doing and briefly discuss what has worked (and not worked so well) in the past to make our communities more bicycle-friendly. You are invited to attend and join the conversation.

ABAC's Winter Social will be held in the Common Ground Bar & Grill's Event Room, 319 Broadway, in Arlington Center. Ask for the Bicycling Social and the Event Room when you enter on Tuesday evening, March 1. A cash bar will be available. ABAC's website is available at www.abac.arlington.ma.us.

Jim from Boston

Recently this past winter, I got into this discussion about bringing out the nice weather bike.

Yesterday I decided the streets looked clean enough to bring out the carbon fiber and it was great. Streets were salt free, and the rare sand and debris fields at the side were all less than about two feet wide, and I always stay even farther wide from the curb.

As an added benefit, it was 43°F, so off with the fleece, balaclava, goggles, and shoe covers, and on with knitted instead of windproof ski gloves.

As noted by many riders with heavy duty beaters and studded tire, riding carbon fiber anew is so smooth. I had a little trepidation when thinking how spidery the frame and tires are compared to my mountain bike, but I was comfortable on the first block. No problem using clipless pedals either. My hills were much easier, despite the higher gears of the CF, and the stiff head wind was much less discouraging than if on the Beater.

I used the Jamaica Pond Bikepath for about a mile, and that had some salt staining and scattered thin layers of sand, unlike the roads, but I don’t think I did any damage riding it. However, the studs won’t come off the Beater until at least mid March.

I posted about my first carbon fiber ride of 2015 on March 28:

Ghazmh

25 miles tonight along my usual Weston-Lincoln-Concord loop. Rte 126 in Concord was clean and clear of sand. It seems as if Concord has rolled out the red carpet for spring. Weston and especially Waltham remain sandy shouldered offenders. I decided to take out my rain-road bike anyways. For a few moments as I meandered through Cedarwood as the pot holes realigned my headligh for me I was missing my 32's on my winter bike.