Tajue17

seen a few folks on those fat tire mtn bikes down near Plymouth coming off the powerlines,, looked like pretty hardcore bikers crossing rd and heading back in,,,, keep in mind Plymouth only got 5.5" but 5 hours of pouring rain before the snow hit so the ice factor was pretty intense.

rumrunn6

when preparation meets opportunity

Ghazmh

I finally emerged from my weather induced hiatus and got out this morning on my hybrid for 14 slow, carbide clacking miles that felt like the best ride all year. Oh wait it was!

anx

Couldnt resist getting out at lunch time in this heat wave!! Was great to see all the melting snow banks, it was raining a bit and a lot of puddles for the passing cars to splash through and drench the inattentive. I had a blast on my way to and from lunch in Arlington Center, and have hopefully burned off any calories gained

mr_bill

Yesterday, thank you North Cambridge.

Quick Harvard Square errand.

PLEASE BE PATIENT

The other two panels:

SHARE THE ROAD

BIKES MAY USE FULL LANE

(But still don’t like the slalom course.)



-mr. bill

anx

I wonder how many drivers these get through to? I guess even if it's 1 it's worth it.

It was a taleof 2 New Englands for me today, went out for a walk early to do an errand and it was super warm, and then at lunch time got out on the bike for a loop around the Mystic Lakes at which point the temps must have dropped at least 30 degrees.





It feels like another world out there though compared to my past few snow/ice rides! Anything that is not paved is mud, so use caution. Even saw someone fishing on the Upper Mystic lake beach.

Ghazmh

In the middle of a severe cycling drought that's being perpetuated by a week long company meeting next week in Dallas. I gladly took delivery of my newest bike; a 2017 Trek Boone 7 cyclocross bike. It'll be my winter road bike and should see some crushed stone trail in Maine this summer. It's got tried and trued canti brakes, Force CX1, and is feather light and was on clearance sale. I'll be tooling around my neighborhood Monday as I set the saddle and bar height for a good starting point to begin fine tuning the position. After that I do plan to take it on an inaugural 25 mile ride.

anx

Not sure what I did wrong here, didn't stop me from enjoying the rest of my ride. Sometimes I wish i had a horn on my bike, can't bring myself to attach a bell.

rumrunn6

video can be deceiving & I don't ride in the city much, but looks like you came around a blind curve too hot then made it worse by trying to pass a vehicle on it's right & you knew nothing of the situation & vehicle cuz you came up on them from a blind curve. you cudda gotten squished right there. but good thing for your catlike reflexes!

rumrunn6

not sure, but I think maybe that paved trail thru Maynard gets plowed

mr_bill

Sometimes it's on the quietest one-way streets like Orchard where we are lulled into traps lying in wait.

(Somerville too is filled with some of the quietest *BUT* confounding can't get theah from heah one-way streets so you spend too much brain power on figuring out if THIS one-way will work or not. My favorites are Clarendon and Washburn/Newbury, which Cambridge says are two-way and Somerville says nope. And the streets off Kidder Ave are posted by an evil genius.)

A bell wouldn't make a difference. Voice might come in handy.

Anyway, the driver has their foot on the brakes when you first see the Ford. Huh. Then the brakes come off at 05:23 (frame 131) and since you didn't see the reverse light before the brakes came off you shouldn't assume the driver put it in park. Hmm. That and the front tires pointing right add up to possible Scooby Doo "ruh roh" moment ahead. And then the "ruh roh" came at nearly the worst possible moment. (Can't tell, did you hear them release the parking brake?)

Finally, the other surprise would have been either of the passenger doors opening.

Anyhow, your speed was low enough that you had a bunch of outs.

Bottom line - it happens.

-mr. bill

anx

Yeah for sure, i only posted part of the video, the SUV had passed me a moment earlier on the same street so I knew he was up ahead, just hadn't expected he'd be stopped in the middle of it. I was too eager to pass for sure, should have just hung back and waited, lesson learned.

I know these 1way/2way streets only too well. Love bikeyface's take, she's the best. I would gladly bike anywhere with Brian Blessed, ha.

I've had a couple of days to reflect on this, and realize I could have really done myself some damage if as you say that passenger door had opened, patience is a virtue. Lesson learned.


Was thinking about heading out at lunch but it's snowing again and pretty darn cold skill. Maybe if it warms up a degree or 2 by noon

anx

I lived in Maynard when they were building this, never got to ride or walk it, glad to see that it's being maintained during the winter months. Hope the plan to connect all the area towns for cyclists came together, will have to check it out some time.

Ghazmh

This morning I got out for 20 frigid miles on my new cross bike. I made another minor tweak to the saddle angle when I got home. The Force 1X doubletap has a much different feel than Shimano 5800,6800. I've got a 40t ring up front with an 11-28 cassette, I was able to get up to speed and hold it. Initial impressions are that I'm not finding my self wanting bigger or smaller rings at this point. I've decided to order a set of Schwalbe Winter tires as the stock CX3 Bontrager tires aren't suited to pavement-icy, sandy, or clean. The virgin pads and rims are still serenading me and everyone within earshot with a frightening screatch. Hopefully that stops soon. I recall my 520 did the same thing when it was new.

I pulled over at the Gropius house to unscrew my frozen bottle cap for a swig of slushy ice water. A few drips landed on top tube and instantly froze. When I got home I found a 5" icicle dangling from my balaclava face cover.

Looking forward to getting back on the saddle next week.

rumrunn6

schools expected to close ... but doubt they'll close my office tomorrow, no "blizzard" warning, no anticipated "shelter in place" directive from the Governor. but if I did have the day off, it would be another fun storm ride!

I know you die hard commuters will be out there

autonomy

Wow, that chart goes up to 80 inches! All this snow will be gone next week though.

rumrunn6

haha yeah, 80" will never happen, not from 1 storm. & yeah if you like snow, gotta ride in it when you can! & before it gets nastified

Leebo

^^^ 80 inches? Not here, try Buffalo, NY or some of the mountain west. The NWS had to add TWO more colors for that crazy Houston hurricane rain amounts in 24 hrs.

rumrunn6

sadly have to work today, no bike ride for me. enjoy you nutz!

mr_bill

1 2 4 6 9 12 18 24 36 48 60 80....

Part Mensa quiz and part Rundlet? Really, Rundlet? 1/14 of a Tun? Why?
(US and English customary units of length, volume and weights, why I scale bread recipes in grams. My favorite what(?) units still has to be gram-inches, a unit of torque.)

Also trying to figure out that nonlinear scale. (It's not logarithmic.)

-mr. bill

rumrunn6

who has a report?

• roads near you?
• the Minuteman?
• Reformatory Branch is likely snow & ice covered, worthy challenge? worth avoiding?

anx

Roads are great, any bike will be able to handle them, did my usual weekend loop from Medford, through Somerville and Cambridge along the Charles River, all roads are good to go. Watch out for pot holes and the bike lanes themselves need to be repainted in most streets.


Tufts University intersection of Boston and College Aves


Ball Square


Somerville Community Path



Somerville Bike Lane conditions not the best near Union Sq.


Bench in the Charles near the MoS


Detours along the Charles River


Charles River bike path looking good, watch out for all the joggers!



Great weather for a picnic!

rumrunn6

yup lots of good riding today. rode the Reformatory & Minuteman from Concord to Arlington. fun mix of surfaces

Archwhorides 

Good summary, the warm weather today will probably complete the Minuteman ice cleanup, although remaining snowbanks melting onto the pavement and refreezing into water ice is always likely.

Are you running studs on your machine? Couldn't tell from your pix

Archwhorides 

Despite progress, Mass Ave from Porter towards Arlington is a bit of a sh*tshow. I do think Cambridge is actively pushing in the right direction, but sometimes without a total road rebuild like Mass Ave. in East Arlington it is hard to get it right. The slalom courses around Cambridge are evidence of this.

I also think that drivers during commuting hours throughout the area have improved with respect to awareness of bicyles (pedestrians not so much). The signs probably help some, but the increasing volume and diversity of cyclists is the big factor.