NomarsGirl

Not sure if it quite counts as Metro Boston, but I had a nice ride on the Blackstone River Bikeway in Rhode Island on Saturday. Nice path with some twists and turns and a few easy climbs. A bit late for the peak fall foliage, but still a pretty ride. Not sure how to post pictures here.

rholland1951

Here's one. Don't take the angles too much to heart, I adjust them when conditions change, and in particular set up for Day Time Running Lights differently than I do for night riding.


rod

rholland1951

Took the Rawland for a ride on the Minuteman in between (mostly) two bands of showers, for half an hour on either side of sunset.

Arlington Center: people drive like fools whenever there's noticeable weather.




At the Bow Street, Lexington crossing, someone is offering a nice old pair of mixtes for sale.
















rod

rumrunn6

very thorough approach

mr_bill

I'm not sure if the Cape or Western Mass is Metro Boston either, but we post pictures from there here. And the Blackstone River Bikeway is closer to Boston than Cape Cod Rail Trail or Norwottuck Rail Trail (as the crow flies or the bike rides).


Some folks host their pictures here by attaching pictures to their posts, but you'll need a higher post count before bikeforums will let you do that. If are quoting a reply or use "Go Advanced" (rather than "Post Quick Reply") you'll get "Additional Options" with "Attach Files" to "Manage Attachments". (I think this is only available on the "Full Site" rather than the "Mobile Site")


Other folks use picture hosting services. (I was using photobucket, but they go behind a paywall at the end of the year. Now I'm using imgur. Some are using google.)

Then you use [img] and [/img] tags to link to the pictures. You can also use the button that looks like mountain/pyramid to link to a picture.

-mr. bill

NomarsGirl

Thanks. I figured it would be ok. I recognize the Western MA and Cape stuff. Looks like I need a higher post count before I can share pictures. It does look like they have already been shared to Google Photos. I was aware of the Photobucket issue.

jimmuller 

The Blackstone River Bikeway is part of Metro Boston, Rhode Island Division. (I spent a few years riding part of it for my commute from Waltham so it must be Metro Boston.)

This morning's commute was cool and quite pleasant. Voting was light so I lost little time at the polls. Traffic was light too for some strange reason.

autonomy

Traffic was indeed lighter than usual yesterday and today. It's a short week for many people

I interpret the thread title as 'If you're from the Metro Boston area, where did you ride?" or "If you are/aren't from the Metro Boston area but you rode within the Metro". Either way it's fun to hear/see where other people from the area are cycling.

rholland1951

Took the Ebisu out to Depot Park and back in the early afternoon, temperatures in the 40s, neither as cold as it felt today, nor as warm as it would feel if we had it in February.

Just past the Mill Street crossing, came upon an Arlington DPW crew doing tree work, leftover repairs from the big wind. They were waving folks through a narrow corridor between the big truck and the trail margin. Good guys.
















I was wearing clothes I hadn't needed since late March. While I got the layering right more often than I got it wrong, by the end of ride I was happy to return to the Land of Central Heating, and made myself a cup of coffee. Worse is coming soon, I hear...

Those mixtes are still being offered for sale.

rod

rholland1951

Definitely counts. As others have said, the Metro Boston effective radius is pretty wide. My personal best for extending it involved a couple of rides in Italy...

Welcome!

btw, if you go the Google Photos route for photo sharing, put them in albums, and then share links to the images in the albums. For some reason, this works better (meaning, viewable in more platform/browser combinations) than simply using bare Google Photos images. Come back Picasa, all is forgiven...

rod

NomarsGirl

Italy may be pushing it. Now Ireland is definitely metro Boston.

mr_bill

Italy is better know as the East End.

-mr. bill

rumrunn6

OK the ppl on the Minuteman that turn off their light have to stop doing that. I can't see them & their light does not bother me. keep you hands on your bars & keep in a straight path. just ride your freakin bike please. yeesh

jimmuller 

Welcome to non-DST.

I had reason not ride on Monday but did yesterday, my first non-DST commute this year. After pondering all the anti-light agents and the various bits of debris on the non-MM parts of that route, I decided to revert to a previous route home which doesn't use the MM at all. It's a bit shorter too.

rholland1951

The two weeks after the time change are the worst, no question. People who probably know better manage to get caught without lights, without refective gear, or better yet wearing dark clothing, simply because they haven't internalized the consequences of the clock shift. Then a general wising-up process sets in, and we see less of that behavior and a bit more of the trail users. The other night, I gently admonished a young woman dressed in black, pushing a stroller down the centerline of the Minuteman. Invisibility is all very well as a super-power, but it's a losing proposition on the Minuteman at night...

rod

rumrunn6

I mean the 5 ppl that, while riding with a light on, cover it or turn it off as they approach. they absolutely disappear just like the pedestrians dressed in black. especially since my light is not illuminating their reflective bits (if they have any) cuz mine is pointed down & has a hood to prevent upward splash. one guy started to weave when he took one hand off the bars to mess w his light. honestly, that's waaay more distracting than just riding their bike in a straight line

riders coming toward me need to be seen by me. keep your lights on. dip it down maybe, use a diffuser or a hood, whatever, just don't turn it off. this is what mine looks like now, & I think it's a pretty good compromise


even this guy I have nicknamed "The Octopus" w 4 lights pointed straight forward, does not bother me as much as the ppl messing with their lights & swerving

autonomy

Wow, that's overkill, IMO! What's the purpose? I saw a guy with 3 rear blinkers this morning - two on the bike, one on the helmet. All were somewhat dim. I think a single bright light does the job much better. I have 2 on my bike for backup but only use one at any given moment.

I am guilty of covering my light at night, but I think I do it in a safe way - I ride all the way to the right and I only cover it partially so that it's not shining in your face but still lights my path. Covering it completely is a silly thing to do - sorry, I am not going to endanger myself by losing visibility just as a courtesy. It's a TerraLux 300, so I know it's pretty blinding. I had people thank me for doing so and I do appreciate when others shade their super-bright lamps.

This morning's commute was wetter than I naively expected. The bikeway dries out slower than the surface streets, especially now with all the wet leaves covering it. The bike now needs a wash again. I was sporting my newly-purchased reflective ANSI-II vest (all my clothes are dark and I noticed how easy it is to see safety neon/retroreflective strips at night). I am now a bike-bell away from being a complete dork.

rholland1951

The dimming/masking lights by on-coming cyclists seems to be an emulation of country drivers' practice of switching from high beams to low beams when approaching an on-coming car. It's a sensible practice as far as it goes, but works best when you can actually swivel the aim-point of your light, to point it down. It cures the problem of unlit pedestrians between two beams-up cyclists becoming invisible due to dazzle: a real and dangerous effect. Riders losing their line is never good, however (I've never noticed that happening in that situation, but can see how it might).

Being broadly tolerant of other people's adaptations to the Minuteman at night--while staying alert--is a good thing; I've been trying to do that myself. We all have things that we find harder to tolerate, and when we encounter those things, we inform each other about them, sometimes in a loud voice. That probably helps, too. But too much of that doesn't leave much psychic space for the pleasure of riding.

I like your night videos: how did you make them?

rod

rumrunn6

yeah I'll dip mine even more when going thru the heavily populated areas. the courtesy of shading it like you is very nice as well, but I don't need it. thanks anyway

rumrunn6

this gizmo



it's a Polaroid XS100. works pretty good but like any gizmo it has +s & -s

mr_bill

I may be a complete dork, but I'm a stealthy dork:



-mr. bill

rumrunn6

that's cool at one point, in a dark stretch, one walker, at some distance ahead of me, started making sounds to alert me to his presence. maybe walkers should carry bells too!

rholland1951

Nice bell.

rod

Ghazmh

Holy moly it was cold this morning. This week has become a 1 weekday ride week for various work related reasons. 28* when I rolled out for 20 miles at 5:30. Much to my surprise I saw a small mass of cold huddles cyclists yearning for a ride at Concord Center. as I rolled up the Walden st hill and stopped at the red light I tried to get a drink of water. The slushy water had frozen inside the nipple. As I usually do when it dips below 32* I began to question if I should get better winter shoes and gloves or just keep my frozen expectations realistic. I did however get to use my new Giro MTB goggles which was nice and fog free. I don't see what makes them MTB goggles instead of ski goggles.

drewguy

Cheaper lenses that cost less to replace when scratched by mud; cylindrical lens shape to allow tear-off plastic cover instead of spherical shape to help shed moisture.