rholland1951

Now I'm curious as to how legible those signs will be in the dark, for cyclists showing headlights. Reflective lettering would seem to be more useful than black... Will have to do the experiment. It remains to be seen who put these up. Wasn't ABAC...

rod

rumrunn6

and depending on their height, if you dip your lights down, maybe not so great? or maybe that's the point, if you can read this sign your lights are pointed too high?

rholland1951

So, I had the opportunity to ride in daylight for once, heading off on the Minuteman in the mid-afternoon. Atypically, I picked up the trail from a gated right-of-way off Orvis Road...


... and headed East, also atypically...


Turned around at Alewife Brook, and headed West. There was method here: I wanted to see just how many of the Dimmit Dammit signs had been posted. I found the first opposite Thorndike Field, facing the Westbound lane.


Turns out there are a total of 4, all in Arlington: at Thorndike Field and Russell Place, Westbound, and at Bow Street and Swann Place, Eastbound. None in Lexington, none in Bedford. So the mystery deepens, but it seems to be a mystery specific to Arlington.

This was a lovely ride on a cool day that was thinking about becoming colder than that, temperatures in the low 40s to start, dropping to the high 30s in the cold spots by the time the ride ended and darkness closed in. The low sun cast sidelong shadows that were kind of fun.


We've got to the bony end of Autumn.


No green was to be found in Arlington's Great Meadow.


I nodded at the prayer flags, flying like so much tantric laundry at the usual house in Lexington, and threw in an extra mantra for good measure.


The horse has his own mantra.


I was saddened by this scene when I got to Wiggins Ave., Bedford. The old farm, abandoned for some years now, has been bulldozed, presumably to make way for development. Back in the 70s, I worked a block down from this farm, which even then was no longer a going concern, but rather home for the retired farmer and whatever family, including a retired horse, surrounded by newly developed light industrial properties (including the one that housed the company that employed me to break minicomputers with my brain). I used to have short conversations with the horse on my way to the sub shop/nursery at the end of Wiggins. Since, I've watched the life drain out of the place, the weeds grow up in the remaining fields, like some maudlin bluegrass song about dead parents. And now it has reached the end of its string, and will persist only in memory.


On a happier note, the bogs at Depot Park are still open (and heated!).


rod

rumrunn6

rod, you get out of work early today? I saw those bulldozer marks a cpl weeks ago but where is that horse? bogs = bathrooms, funny. interesting photo composition of the stationary train car roof. when do they close those bathrooms? boney end of autumn - poetic. nice shot of that ivy on the overpass by alewife

rholland1951

So, I did the experiment this evening. Here's the sign opposite Russell Place, with lights mounted low and pointed at a non-blinding angle pointed in its direction. The sign is dark. So the good children don't get admonished redundantly.


Here's the sign illuminated by a 2W LED lamp beamed directly off the handlebars, parallel to the ground; the basic blinding bad behavior on the trail. The sign is considerably more legible, but would be more so if mounted a foot or so lower; currently, the top of the sign is at the 7' level.


Still have no idea who put these things up. As Douglas Adams said of planet Earth, mostly harmless.

rod

rholland1951

I fear the horse is long gone.

rod

rumrunn6

oh gotcha, before & after pics

rholland1951

I've confused things by introducing more than one horse into the story. The horse in the photo (said to have its own mantra) lives in the present day in a pasture and barn on Taylor Lane, Lexington. The "retired horse" lived on a farm on Wiggins Ave., Bedford, 40 years ago, when I knew them, and when what we know as the Minuteman was still railroad tracks. The farm horse, the farm, and the farmer were old then, and they're in the land of memory now. But the Taylor Lane horse (and another horse who lives there with it, but why confuse things further by introducing a third horse) can still be seen if you go riding on the Minuteman on the segment between Meriam Street and Revere Street. Here it is again:


The new development that's rising on top of the old farm will be called Evergreen Meadows. The old farm was called Yauckoes Farm; very little of the old place stuck to the Internet, and nothing of its old horse.


rod

rholland1951

Had quick Thanksgiving ride on the Trucker DeLuxe this afternoon, starting half an hour before sunset. Gray day, much less vehicular traffic than any other day except Christmas, Arlington Center essentially empty. Little groups of walkers on the Minuteman, family groups coming from or going to dinner. A well-dressed old lady, using a shopping cart as a walker, with what looked like fast food wrappers laid out with a partially-eaten dinner of her own, took the air and walked a little dog; we exchanged smiles. At the turn-around, started to feel, and to hear, individual raindrops. This led to a motivated sprint home through the dusk, telling myself that I was on the fringe of a larger storm, when in fact I was merely riding through overspreading drizzle. Got a good ride out of it though, and my legs, lungs, and heart were pleased at the deception. Raised an appetite for my own dinner. And I'd like to think it made the bike happy.


rod

otg 

Well, I haven't had a lot of time to check this thread lately, but the last few pages made for an excellent morning read. Happy belated birthday Jim, I hope you enjoyed the day. "The bones of autumn" was a great phrase. It was sad reading about the old farm being plowed under for whatever is next, and then reading about the path being railroad tracks back in the day. Time moves on, like it or not. I'm hoping to get out this afternoon for a much needed ride. I've been away every other week for a month now, and headed back on the road Monday morning for another week.

jimmuller 

Thanks, otg. Truth be told, all I did was manage to survive another year...

We took the tandem out for 29.3 miles today, a short ride due to time constraints. Chilly, damp day but still nice.

rholland1951

Today was drier than yesterday and warmer than tomorrow, so I worked a quick ride to Depot Park on the Rawland into a generally goofy schedule, enjoying the last couple of hours of our limited sunlight.


Several of the Minuteman regulars were out taking the air, including the young blind woman, whom I heard declining the offer of a ride from a dude in a pickup truck at Bow Street, Lexington. He seemed wounded by the rebuff.

rod

rumrunn6

with a busy weekend I was only able to run out for a little bit this afternoon on a hard packed dirt trail from Concord to Lexington. the historic Battle Road Trail

anx

Nice to see the sun out there! There was a chilly head wind from the Charles on this mornings ride but that didn't stop me from making use of the Adirondack chairs still available on the Boston side of the river. A quick 20 mile ride in under 2 hours, still a lot of joggers out there but not many other cyclists.

jimmuller 

Managed 55.4 miles on the Gazelle today but had to deal with a busted derailleur cage spring.

rumrunn6

what the heck? is that your toe clip strap? how wuz your shifting limited. not good on a long ride

jimmuller 

Yes, it is a toe strap but not one from a pedal. It was holding my spare sew-up under the saddle. Same with the Velcro straps. The tricky part was rigging them so they didn't rub on the chain. Shifting was limited to none, since the RD had no ability to take up chain. I had to pick a ring and sprocket that gave a decent chain length for the RD configuration, then just leave it alone. I locked down the lever adjustments really tight so I wouldn't be tempted to shift and so they wouldn't drift by themselves.

sherbornpeddler

Well done! In field repairs are tricky but you've got to feel pretty good about coming up with such a clever solution. I hope you were able to get a pretty good gearing combination. Can you get replacement spring?

Where were you in your ride when you invented your toeandsparestrapderailleurrepair kit and did you make a bee line home or continue single speed over hill and dale?

sherbornpeddler

No straps but no equipment problems for me on an organized 46 mile ride today from Wellesley through Dover, Westwood, Walpole, down to Sharon and back north through Walpole and Medfield. Nice back roads past some old mills and nice conservation land. I used a smartphone app with earbuds with cue sheet backup and found the app worked well. My intent was to ride in a group but the group I was with split off to take the short loop so I cruised solo until I caught up with another rider. We took turns and pushed the pace with the intent of trying to be considerate of the other. I finished with tired legs.

jimmuller 

Thank you! I should put in a plug for two bike shops. The Bikeway Source in Bedford helped me by giving me sympathy and a few zip ties to rig a more reliable tension arrangement than that toe strap kludge. The mechanic there told me to bring the bike in, put it on his rack, and gave me various bits of advice and kindness. Pre-zip ties gearing was a bit low, post-zip ties was a twinge high. But I avoided steep hills on the return.

I can probably find a spring. I stopped at The Bike Stop in Arlington and the guy gave me a busted Suntour VT derailleur to pull the spring. I tried that one and then a spring from a VGT Luxe but they are all slightly different. I think I can find another Cyclone 1st generation though. I tried a VGT Luxe on the bike but it isn't really happy with the 32T sprocket. For the time being I've installed a Shimano that works okay though not great. Maybe a Vx-S will work better.

As for where I was, that was in Carlisle. I was hoping to make 50 miles, ended up with 55.4. The mishap occurred at 24.8. I had just turned onto South St from Lowell St had gone maybe half a mile. I ended up following the route home I'd intended because it was relatively hill-free and the bike was reliable after I rigged the zip ties.

autonomy

Note the two 'ninja' pedestrians ahead wearing dark and absolutely no lights or reflective material, such that it is absolutely necessary to have the aforementioned 'bad behavior' 2W light to illuminate them. I do wish the sign also kindly asked pedestrians and joggers to be visible after dark.

Hey there, I'm pretty sure I ran into you at the Great Brook Farm State Park (who else has a blue tandem and bikes to Carlisle?). You and your wife floated by as my wife and myself (with kid in backpack) exited the woods and you and I gave each other a head nod. Cold and damp indeed.

rholland1951

The trick, of course, is to have lights that are sufficiently bright to spot invisible pedestrians at trail speed, but are mounted/aimed low enough so as to avoid blinding on-coming bike traffic. In dark, sparsely-traveled sections, a higher set beam is good for early warning, but it's necessary to be able to lower it, quickly, when conditions change. I've gone to some trouble to set up my bikes so they perform well in those two night modes. As to signs and what behaviors they should address, last year's plague of Burma Shave signs was an object lesson in the potential for mission creep that lurks there...

rod

mr_bill

I know these have been there forever, so we forget. But they actually ask all users to "Use lights after dark":



The Bikeway map was updated a year ago. Note: "At night all pedestrians should wear a reflective jacket, vest or sash. Lights are recommended."

-mr. bill

rholland1951

Amen. And these days, mostly they do. Dogs with lights on their collars are pretty common, too. But there are still some pedestrians who think nothing of walking down the centerline in darkness, wearing black. Grand prize goes to the one, some years back, pushing a stroller.

There are a few unlit cyclists at this season, some without even reflectors. I expect that from time to time they find an invisible pedestrian...

rod

jimmuller 

Even an invisible squirrel finds a nut every so often.