ModeratedUser01102018

haha yeah man 28 (N.Broadway) is one of my favorite roads. For a good place to eat check out the "Big N' Beefy".... mmmmm SO good haha

Disclaimer: If you haven't been to Lawrence, and you aren't into lineups and rims, don't go. I am joking, as well as SherbornPeddler.... as far as I can tell haha

Last night I went on a MUP with 4 of my friends. All of us had bikes except one kid on a long board. In total it was about a 15 mile trip with a stop at a gas station. I would've gone faster and father if we didn't have to wait for longboard kid. Since I was kind of frustrated, I told him to grab on my arm, and I towed his ass 4.1 miles non stop going a pretty good speed (around 13mph). My legs have never hurt so bad, I thought they were going to cramp haha. It didn't help that there were long drawn out hills. My legs ache right now but I'll probably go out later today. Without the 170lbs attached to my arm I bet ill feel faster

I called it training for the Allez

jimmuller 

Oh yeah, John Clancy. Old man Clancy's boy.

Those markers are always fascinating.

(Yes I have seen the high mailbox but I don't recall where.)

bikinggrrrl

High Taxes mailbox is on Lowell Road, headed out of Concord (headed towards Carlisle), just after the bridge. Love that sign.

Had a sweet 40 miles in and out of Harvard today. Man, I love that ride. Two high school boys were waiting for us at the end of their driveway, screaming that they want to race us. They hop on their bikes and start pedaling furiously, whooping it up, causing me to smile grandly. Perhaps they didn't realize how fast a trailer-laden tandem could go because we smoked them on the next roller. I'm still smiling about it though ... remembering those days when as kids we would race each other up and down our streets.

jimmuller 

That sounds like a delightful day. Wish I could have been out too. My music group had to play a festival in New Hampshire Sat and Sun.

However I may not be riding much in the near future. I was loading the car up this morning and turned around to walk away and a knee went OUCH! It's had a meniscus (cartilage) tear since May which my orthopedist refused to operate on. She said I could live with it, that people play football with this kind of tear. It didn't bother me to ride and I had almost gotten to the point where I could ignore it. Don't know if this is just an LCL sprain or a complication or extension of the meniscus tear, won't know for a week or so probably. For now though I will ride with you all in spirit and enjoy your descriptions.

Jim from Boston

I'd like to mention the nice ride I took on Saturday morning in a sector of Metro Boston not often described in this thread, as far as I can recall.

I live in Kenmore Square and commute to Norwood. This Saturday I wanted to go to work and do some catch-up tasks, and I planned on a 75 mile ride too. So I took a roundabout, easily followed route of Rte 28 in Milton, south to Rte 139 in Randolph, to Rte 18 in North Abington, south to East Bridgewater to Rte 106, east to Bay Road, then north to East Street in Sharon and then on to Main Street in Sharon Center and to Moose Hill St, eventually on to Norwood. After a few hours at work I then took a straight 14 mile ride back to Kenmore, but had the option of taking my bike on the Commuter Rail back to Boston too.

I left Kenmore at about 6:00 AM, and got into exurban Abington and beyond by around 8:00 AM as traffic began to pick up, yet I found those numbered routes comfortable to ride, quite often with a good shoulder. In particular Rte 106 was enjoyable, and I consider Bay Road and Moose Hill Street so pleasant and charming as to be described as "enchanting" on a bicycle. I did see a few other well-appointed cyclists on those two roads too. IMO, it's a nice occasional alternative to the Lincoln-Concord and Dover-Sherborn areas.

sherbornpeddler

Jim,
Excellent route review. I'll explore because of your enchainting rating.
Good timing too as I wasn't able to ride from the Cape the other day and am now conspiring a ride from Boston to P town and ferry back. Rt 106 sounds like a good route rather than closer to the shore.

jimmuller 

You see, I work in Rhode Island, and today is a holiday in Rhode Island. So my better half suggested I test the knee on the bike. After three days of no exercise I gotta' get some aerobic workout anyway, so why not?

35.18 miles. Waltham to Lexington to Bedford. A bit boring but hey, it's a good way to cross rt128. Started down Railroad Ave through the Bedford school area and found it under construction. They'd ground up the pavement surface and were re-paving it. You know how bumpy and noisy that kind of ground-up surface can be in a car? Well it's the same on a bike! ("That was exciting!" I sez to myself.) Glad I was riding steel. I wonder what a CF frame would have been like. On the other hand, after 1/4 mile or so I came to a section of new pavement, smooth as a baby's backside, still being rolled down. The policeman directing the mostly non-existent traffic said I could ride anywhere I chose so I tried it out. Nice. But I figured I should take a different way home.

So from Concord: Monument/River Rd to rt225, right on rt225 into Bedford, right on South St. back to Depot Park and the Minuteman Bike Path. Got a nice view of the Concord River and some of Great Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary. That part of rt225 is wide, smooth, clean. Somebody in a black pickup going the other way honked and waved but I have no idea who it was.

The knee worked okay. I can spin. If I don't push too hard it doesn't hurt, which isn't all that different from the last few months. It was good to get out.

Jim from Boston

[Hi sbp,

Thanks for your nice reply. Another enchanting route from Bay Rd to Moose Hill is turn onto Rockland off of Bay and follow it to Maple, Franklin, East, and Wolomolopoag to Main St in Sharon and on to Moose Hill. A circuit around Lake Massapoag is also very nice.

There is an annual charity ride out of Foxboro, this year on Saturday, Sept 25, called the Rodman Ride for Kids, with routes of 25, 50 and 100 miles that nicely explores this whole region:

https://www.rodmanrideforkids.org/sit...ent/index.html

About a year ago I posted a personal compendium of areas for road cycling in Metro Boston, especially for visitors, describing the various sectors centered from downtown Boston. In my description of this area, which I called the South, I wrote: “Norwood, Canton, Randolph, etc: middle class suburbia; rideable but usually on the way to somewhere else (no offense).” My descriptions were for the first-time visitor, in particular to include well known and/or iconic New England locales like historic sites or ocean views, but again IMO, the South is great as an alternative, “enchanting” place to ride for local cyclists.

sherbornpeddler

Jim,
Best wishes for a speedy knee recovery. I look forward to trying out your southernly routing.

Jim from Boston

Hi sbp,

Jimmuller (knee injury) is not Jim from Boston (southernly routing).

jimmuller 

Jim_f_B is correct. I'm Jim_f_W.

I thank you for the well-wishes. Maybe this latest event is a blessing. It is a reason to re-visit the orthopedist and maybe convince her to re-consider. In the meantime I rode the UO-8 over to the gym and back. As a ride it's better than nothing, and the knee seems none the worse for the wear. Yesterday's 35 miles didn't result in any reaction today either.

One of these days I'm going to put the Gran Sport in the car and drive off to one of the nice routes SBP and Jim_f_B have described. Still, it's hard to beat the convenience of just stepping out the front door and heading northwest.

I like this icon:

sherbornpeddler

Dear Jims,
Okay, one of you rides NW on a Gran Sport or Puegeot and the other guides us through the enchanted south.

Maybe not enchanted and more west and south, today I rode with a neighbor who showed me back roads to a stand of Chestnut trees. They are numbered, watered and pruned carefully to help bring chestnuts back to New England. They used to make up 20% of our trees and grew to 9 ft diameter and 150 ft tall. "Roasting chestnuts on a fire..." they were a popular food source for bears and beasts until 100 years ago when a blight from imported asian trees nearly wiped them out.

jimmuller 

A strain of American chestnuts resistant to chestnut blight? Yaaaay!!!

sherbornpeddler

Ain't MetroWest riding grand?
Smooth pavement in Bedford, Great Meadows in Concord, Enchanted Bay and Moose Hill roads in Sharon, both our senators biking the PMC, a new bike in Lawrence, chestnuts in Wrentham, epic rides to NH and CT and teens in Harvard were smoked by a pea-bob in a trailer pulled by a fired up, smiling tandem. Pretty nice.

Speaking of nice, chestnut expert Emery tells me only a few of the best are selected and the rest are cut to enable the chosen to thrive. Most of this patient, dedicated work is by volunteers dedicated to making this a better place. We've a lot to be appreciative of here in Metro West.

jimmuller 

And we can add to this list quite a few orchards where fresh fruit can be obtained. (Earlier this year I did a club ride which went over the hill west of Honey Pot Orchard.)

I can't ride this weekend, have to play music at a festival out in NY state. I fully expect to read good stuff about everyone else's ride though. And I got some good news about my knee today. My pain isn't caused by a cartilage tear. (There is minor weakening but it isn't serious and is in a different part of the knee.) It appears to be IT Band Syndrome, irritation of the iliotibial band where it runs over the end of the tibia. Got a cortisone shot today, should be good to go in a few weeks. Yaaay!

Ride on!

sherbornpeddler

Jim of the knee,
Yeah you're right! Honey Pot Hill Orchards and nearby the Boon monument to the first European settler of the Stow area. If one were to push it out to Wachusett will the road be open? I'm adverse to large group rides down steep hills so have not done "Climb to the Clouds" but rather a group of 7 intrepid travellers last fall; it was cooler too.

Good knee knews. As a musician you kneed to know the "band" will get you into trouble....sorry, that was "pun"ishment.

You can tell I only got in a short loop with my brother in law today. We did ride by a farm in Holliston with a cow tunnel built in the 1800s and then crossed Boggastow Brook that in early 1700s iced over in the winter to enable sliding quarried stone to the site of a stone house that later survived King Phillip's attacks.

Let's torture Jim during his convalescence with good stories of the velo.

jimmuller 

For shame, sbp, you have just tortured us all.

Jim from Boston

I'll start. It was a beautiful Saturday and I did an approximately 75 mile loop from Kenmore Square to Lexington via Waltham, and then out Rte 225 through the pretty Forge Village to Harvard and back Rte 111 to Rte 27 to Rte 117 through to Waltham and on to Kenmore Square.

On the way out I had it in my mind to post to this thread, with a complaint about two separate roadies who silently buzzed me on 225 seemingly within at least three feet as I hugged the right side of the road. One of them, in Bedford, actually passed me as a car was passing him. As you know that road is lightly traveled allowing a wide berth for passing. One other roadie did pass me widely and it was a joy to watch his style. About the first two though, I was thinking of the Howie Carr quote about "Beautiful People” when they encounter the plebians, “Do you know who I am?” No, but are the initials P.O. S.? (Sorry, but that's how I felt.)

I did encounter a lot of nice people though. Mass Bike had a ride going out from Lexington in the opposite direction from mine and I saw a lot of cyclists on Sandy Pond Road between Rte 2A-110 and Rte 119 at about 10:00 AM.

I was trying to retrace the ride I had done last year, but I forgot my map. At Rte 225 and Rte 119, I met a nice dad and his adult daughter coming out of Lexington doing a loop to Hollis NH. Dad graciously pulled out his pristine Rubel map and let me orient myself. I did proselytize BF to them.

I was surprised at how bad the pavement was eastbound on Rtes 111 and 117 within the I-495 beltway, the latter up until Weston. I have ridden 117 several times westbound and enjoyed it, and indeed as I looked at that side of the road the pavement did look pretty good. Any suggestions for a return route from Harvard / Bolton to Boston?

bettybl

Best to start early around 8-9am. It was a breeze and so much fun going from Brooklyn Bridge all the way up and into Central Park. My return trip around 12pm was just CROWDED and slow and it got realy exhausting having to brake all the time even though I'm not a fast rider. I did go into the Whole Foods picnic and got free Stonyfield yogurts, Ciao Bella shorbet, and a free Basil plant to grow myself. Can't wait to do it next week too, but I'm going to not loiter around Central Park so long so I can come back down earlier to hopefully avoid the crowds.

sherbornpeddler

Jim d’Boston, an easy answer to your 117 question is stay clear of barbed wire, buckthorn and Rt 117. Go south through Sudbury, Lincoln, Wayland then climb Glezen past the Weston Observatory into Weston. I’ll have to think about a northern route but I angle Walden to Lincoln and Trapelo Rd.

sherbornpeddler

Jim from Boston,
Sounds like a great ride. I bet you worked harder than me today riding in the same general area. I'm sorry you found Rt 117. I've held on for dear life east of Rt 126 forced by traffic over the worst of the "pavement."
Quite the opposite, I massbiked their century through lexingtonlincolnconcordactonboxboroughlittletonharvardayergrotonshirleytownsendbrooklinehollisnashua pepperelldunstablegrotonwestfordcarlislebedfordlexington on an incredibly smooth, nearly flat route. I was shocked.
As you said, perfect weather, but MassBike chose smooth, fresh pavement and managed to find a hill-less route. Ok there were obligatory rollers around ponds near Groton and long hills going towards Hollis, NH but good golly it seemed from Dunstable to Great Brook Farm State Park to Westford I barely shifted gears.
I did find a hill entering Carlisle where my derailleur finally jammed but riding a two speed to Lexington, I think I only climbed over Rt 128 (aka 95). 18 mph (solo, no drafting!) based on ride time and 16.7 based on elapsed time. Elapsed time includes consulting the cue sheet, refilling water bottles and scoffing fig newtons.
I'm renewing my MassBike membership. They are powerful. No one else could come up with such a route. Now if we could get them to tackle Rt 117.

Jim from Boston

Hi sbp,

Thanks for this delightful reply and the route suggestions; that century sounds simply supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. As I mentioned, my newfound BF converts were doing a loop through Hollis too. A nice thing about living in Kenmore Square is that I can easily explore all sectors of the Metro Boston area (except East), but any long ride usually means returning though afternoon city traffic; Allston was a real drag today after 70 miles. Leaving early in the morning outbound though is almost as serene as any rural road, plus with all the interesting sights.

ModeratedUser01102018

Hey guys check out my new bike in the Road Cycling forum!

MacCruiskeen

It was too nice not to ride today. Managed to actually get out around 6:40 and it was still pretty cool. Did a northerly loop: through Medford around the Fells, up 28 through Reading to 62, the 62 to 114 taking me back down through Peabody, Salem and Marblehead, to 129, then 107. I really wish they'd hurry up and finish the construction on 107. There's a stretch through the marshes where you're squeezed between Jersey barriers, and there's just barely enough space for cars to pass you, which was fine until a big truck comes up behind me, and I have to sprint to get to spot where I can pull aside. So when I manage to recover from that, I get back on the road, and then there's a bus. Fortunately, by that point, I'm near the end of the obstruction. Kind of annoyed that as I'm going through Revere my computer decides to stop registering my speed and miles. But I think that was the longest single ride I've managed so far--I'm trying to work up to being able to get to Gloucester and back in one day.

Jim from Boston

I enjoyed reading this post as it describes a lot of nice riding on the northern side of Boston that I don’t do often enough, because my riding destination is usually down southwest to Norwood. It just so happened that on this past Friday, I was able to do a nice ride from Kenmore Square through Medford to Woburn, Montvale Ave to Stoneham, and back down Rte 28, the Fellsway back to Rte 28, then Washington St in Somerville to Prospect St and Mass Ave. Previously I usually took Rte 28 all the way down to The Museum of Science. A particularly nice, first-time segment I did was Governor’s Ave off of Rte 38-60 (High Street) in Meffa to S. Border Rd through the Fells reservation to Winchester. That is a really pretty town.

When I go to the North Shore I never ride Rte 107 south of Franklin St in Lynn, and then only when I’ve been lost. My preferred route to the North Shore is the Alford St Bridge to Rte 99 up to Lynn Street which passes under Rte 1 to becomes Salem Street, to Cliftondale in Saugus; and I continue on to Lincoln and Boston Streets to Lynn. Then I can take Franklin St to the Lynnway to ride around Nahant (recommended), and/or Rte 1A up the shoreline. Also from Boston St in Lynn, a nice inland route is via Parkland to Broadway – Lynn Streets up to Washington Street in Peabody and on to Salem.

On an early morning departure, I might get on to the Revere Beach Parkway, to access Winthrop and/or Revere Beach. I also have taken Beacham St off of Rte 99 in Everett, which makes its way to East Boston and Winthrop. Its not well paved, but on an early morning departure, almost any road is easily ridden. The North Shore from Swampscott to Salem is pretty nice but the riding is even better IMO from Beverly up to Rockport on 127A.

Finally, Rte 62 is also a favorite road, and I have ridden it in segments from Sudbury to Danvers, the longest segment from North Reading to Danvers.