rumrunn6

haha ouch .. Wifey just got her cast off. can use a temp elastic brace for a while. she's so happy

jimmuller 

Great!

mr_bill

I reported it with the wrong app. Sigh.

Thanks for reporting it. DPW has already been up there:



-mr. bill

Ghazmh

rholland1951

Rolled out on the Rawland Nordavinden for 14 miles on the Minuteman between showers and before dinner.


As is often the case on the Minuteman, a stroller slalom was in progress.


Lexington: 8 out of 10 cyclists witnessed did not dismount to transit the work area through the 6' path left on the bridge during de-leading. Of the 2 who did, one was me, and the other dismounted when he saw the approaching police officer. The officer, as it happened, was using the Minuteman to go from point A to point B in Lexington Center, and didn't seem interested in scolding wayward cyclists. Two other riders rolled right through while he was crossing the bridge. What, they took it as a test of skill to clear the narrow passage?


Gathering clouds and scampering people in Lexington Center.


A squadron of Lime Bikes sat in the Lexington Visitor's Center bike rack, within line-of-sight of the Zagster dock.


Arlington: the DPW got on the stick, with more left to do.


rod

rholland1951

Took the LHT for a relaxed, shady, mid-afternoon spin up to Depot Park, the air in the 80's and a little steamy as the sun coaxed water vapor from the wet earth.

The East Lexington Cairn Builder Culture has apparently now discovered commerce.




What's all this, then? Minuteman Woburn Street crossing, outbound.


Minuteman Woburn Street crossing and cul de sac, inbound.


Shady, leafy, green, and crabby.




The Shawsheen River is emphasizing water over mud just now, although it holds a little mud in reserve in case anyone needs to wallow.


While taking this photo, I got the "Are you ok?" question from a passing cyclist... Yes, thank you. Riding back through the little forest at the Bedford-Lexington border, I was struck with how permanent all the greenery looked, as if Summer would always be here. I know it won't, and the trees, in their nucleic acid clockwork, know it won't either, but it seems so real, so enduring... for about another month... Just a pause on the ride... Are you ok? No, now that you ask, Winter's coming, but first all the leaves will turn odd colors and die.

Didn't photograph that.

rod

Ghazmh

autonomy

I haven't gotten much saddle time lately, despite getting a new offset seat post and a new saddle (Charge Spoon) and itching to try them out. Today was the first day, just doing a daycare run and commuting to work... but I could tell my butt was happier, though there's probably still too much weight on my hands. Ah, the eternal search for the perfect position.

There were quite a few people out on bikes. At times I felt like I was in a city ending in -gen or -dam. Riding by Fresh Pond, I noticed that not only was all the vegetation cut down around the railroad tracks, but there were signs warning of construction and a couple engineers with theodolites doing surveying. It seems like Cambridge finally started work on the missing link between the Minuteman and the Paul Dudley path. Watertown-Cambridge Greenway - CDD - City of Cambridge, Massachusetts

rumrunn6

took one of my last vacation days & had a bike day. strapped on some new pedals & got in 34 miles riding to Lowell & back on the ARRT & BFT. rode part of 27 so used my mirror again. didn't use it on the trails but put it on just to take a pic


had the trail to myself w few exceptions. gonna be lonely when the weather turns cooler & darker




tried out some new pedals. nice having a bigger platform to work with when uncleated

rumrunn6

great city & state

rholland1951

Wonderful photo!

rod

rholland1951

Had a couple of hours in the mid-afternoon for a ride, and wanted a change of air, so took an 18-mile urban ramble around the Charles River Basin. Good day for it. Enjoyed the familiar scenery and the less familiar additions and alterations to it. This is a pleasant city, as cities go, and still feels like (my adopted) home. Took the Trucker DeLuxe with the 55mm Rat Trap Pass Extralights, and feared no irregularities.






Woman pursued by tree.














As I was nearing home, I hailed Jim Muller (@jimmuller), who was riding near Alewife. Hey Jim!

rod

jimmuller 

Hi, Rod. Yep, we exchanged greetings at Alewife. As usual I was too absorbed in the surroundings to think about stopping to chat. The commute is typically a, shall we say, focused ride.

rumrunn6

haha thanks. it's a fun one. I have others showing more of the mirror & attached to the glasses, but this one seemed more abstract & fun. BTW, you should have a show! I can't keep up with all your winners! love the traffic pic & the guy doing a moonwalk along the Charles!

rholland1951

Pocky, good to see you posting here, you're one of the veterans of this thread whose presence is missed. And have fun with D2R2; I managed to talk myself out of that one. Please let us know how it goes.

rod

pocky

Thank you, Rod! Will do! I should get onto this thread more often now that bostonfixed is mostly dying.

(FYI, I deleted the d2r2 question from here since I moved it to a separate thread at https://www.bikeforums.net/northeast/1152861-d2r2.htm !)

mr_bill

So, just a some thoughts about Liming around town....

First surprise - over a dozen rides.

Even though I've been out of town travelling recently, and even though I have my own bike.

Second surprise - free?

I still haven't paid for a ride. The $20.00 that I put in my Lime Wallet is still there.

Between the signup coupon bonus, the complete your profile coupon bonus, the load your wallet coupon bonus, and several bonus bike coupons, not one ride has cost me anything.

Third surprise - bonus bikes.

The primary idea is that by giving you a coupon for riding a bonus bike (they show up with a money bag icon instead of a lime icon on the map), you are more likely to take that lime bike left in a remote location back to a more central location. But I've also noticed that they will assign a bonus bike if there are a cluster of them at an intersection or bus stop too, to try to spread them out a bit. Interesting. At first I felt guilty for taking advantage of the bonus bike coupons, but I got over that (see below).

Fourth surprise - vandalism and damage.

Most of the vandalism has been "minor", primarily people throwing trash into the bike basket, but that's very unpleasant. But one bike had a broken basket (all bent as if in a collision AND would not stay centered on the handlebar), another had bent fender stays, and another with a rubbing chain guard.

One act of vandalism was "major." Had I not been looking for the bonus bike nearby, I never would have noticed the lime bike that I rescued next to the Minuteman. After hauling it up the bank, I got over the guilt about the one dollar bonus bike coupons.

Fifth surprise - helmet.

I - just - can - not - feel - comfortable - riding - a - bike - without - a - helmet. That's just me. A couple of times I have passed on riding because I didn't have my helmet. So now I just carry it with me.

When I am far away from home, walking around with a helmet never feels - stupid. But walking around close to home with a just-in-case helmet feels - stupid. Maybe because in "travel" mode I usually carry a bag.

Find myself wanting a folding helmet.

Sixth surprise - parking problems.

Mostly people are figuring out how to park them on sidewalks where they aren't in the way, or at least no more in the way than the various utility boxes, periodical boxes, and telephone poles that "litter"our sidewalks.

However, I have moved a few a few feet to a more out of the way parking spot. It's easy, just pick up the back wheel and roll it on the front wheel.

More of an issue is they do get parked away from the "green" area to other towns, mostly just over the borders, but sometimes not. Yup, the "hole" between Arlington and Bedford typically has half-a-dozen or more bikes. They also managed to find their way into Belmont pre-official launch.

Seventh surprise - WE WILL CALL THE POLICE!

If you decide to move a bike, just do it carefully and only move it a short distance. One I lightly bumped while moving it and the built-in-alarm went off on me with robot voice warning that I was going to be in trouble. (BTW, I was *NOT* at all careful hauling the bike up the bank - and silence. Go figure.) Not a surprise - NOBODY cares about the alarm!

Eighth surprise - server issues.

So frustrating. Everything from logging me out and not letting me log in again, to not showing where any bikes are, to not UNLOCKING a bike (the app thinks the bike is unlocked, and it is not). (Sometimes it's like the early days of Pokemon Go.)

The good news is so far LOCKING the bike has been trivial and the app has always acked the lock.

Not so big a surprise - Déjà geocache.

Experienced this in Frankfurt too with DB Call a Bike. But mostly you can see the LIME bikes blocks away and just grab one. But sometimes using the app to find a bike feels very much like geocaching. The app brings you CLOSE, but sometimes no CIGAR. There is a button to "ring" the bike which can help in quieter neighborhoods.

-mr. bill

rholland1951

Took the LHT and rode East on Friday.


The Malden River looked a bit sullen outbound, obscured by haze or fog.


When I crossed that river again, towards the end of the day, a thundering downpour was in progress. No pictures of that, but the tires (Compass) and the brake pads (Kool Stop) worked well in very wet conditions. Good day for fenders.

rod

rumrunn6

thanks for taking the time to share all that! we were tempted to use a bike share while visiting DC last fall. lots of walking in that town! decided against it at that time but will keep an open mind to all the growing options. ever try those white Zagster bikes in Lexington?

mr_bill

jimmuller 

Okay, now I'm curious. Which LBS is forbidden, and why and by whom? Not that I have many reasons to frequent any LBS, especially on in Lexington.

Ghazmh

mr_bill

jimmuller 

Ah. They have been very good to us and me on several occasions. But I do understand the NaN part.

A few times I' have suggested we consider a light titanium tandem. The domestic response has always been the same.

E53 

A funny thing happened today. I got to a "T" intersection, and at about the same instant, three bikes (including mine) stopped at all three stop signs. Now it was nice day today, and there were a fair amount of bikes around, but what are the odds of that happening? It was at the "T" where Maple and Rangeway meet. in Carlisle.