mr_bill

jimmuller 

Ooh, that sucks. Good that you are getting back out though.

NomarsGirl

Sorry to hear that. Glad you're back on the bike. I've been down with pneumonia since early June.

mr_bill

Oh, I'm so sorry. Take great care of yourself and get better. Listen to your doctors, and listen to your body. You'll know when it's time to take short walks and when it's time to go on a short slow ride.

-mr. bill

jimmuller 

I saw a near double suicide this afternoon. Approaching Water St near Arlington Center on the MM, a too-cool dude-hipster-type riding with no hands and a woman following and possibly trying to pass his rode out across the road quickly, without slowing, without even looking, ignoring the STOP sign for cyclists, as if the road were not there. I was about 10 yards behind, having given up trying to pass them a quarter of a mile back. As they entered the road a woman driving a small SUV came down from Mass Ave and managed to swerve over to the her right just enough to miss them. The driver sat there for a few seconds to catch her breath and regain her composure. The two idiot cyclist just kept going. Had there been an accident I was ready to volunteer to be a witness. Those two almost ruined someone else's life with their reckless behavior.

My commute was uneventful otherwise.

NomarsGirl

Got out this morning. Just planned to ride to Borderland State Park (about a mile away) and back. Approaching my house on the return I felt so good I kept going. Ended up doing 9 miles. Not bad after a 3 week hiatus to recover from pneumonia.

jimmuller 

It seems a lot of respiratory ailment is going around. N'sG, good to see yo are getting a new start.

I just rode my commute again. Had two flats this morning, on sew-ups. One may have been due to a small leak in the tire I used to fix the first. Just another adventure. Fortunately I carry two spares. As long as I don't have another float on the way home I'll be fine. Otherwise I will be walking a lot.

autonomy

I'm back on the Minuteman after a long hiatus. Don't know whether I've lost my desensitization, I'm slightly grumpier than I used to be, or there are simply more arrogant/mindless/irresponsible people riding bikes, but it sure does seem like the ratio of stupid to reasonable has increased on the trail. Multiple roadies passing too closely and without warning (maybe it's just because I'm going slower than usual?), an older lady on an electric... bike? (she wasn't even spinning pedals!) going 20+ miles and continuously ringing her bell at everyone with a 'get out of my way' demeanor, noobs on Hubway (or is it Blue bikes now?) riding 3 abreast and swerving... *shakes fist at cloud*

On the positive side, the Budd car at Bedford Depot is open again on the weekends! I'm sure most of you have seen these/been inside, but if you haven't, it's a neat look into the past and the crushed utopian expectations for the future of rail transit.


Lexington Center


North Lexington (looks like right past 225)

jimmuller 

Nice Budliner pics!

FWIW, I made it home yesterday without another flat. WHen I got home I put some Stan's tire seal in both tires and behold! they stopped leaking! Fixed them flats in no time flat!

mr_bill

Great news! Keep feeling better.

-mr. bill

mr_bill

Limes in Arlington MA:

In front of Mirak Chevrolet (yes, one and a half "parked" badly):


In front of Mirak Hyundai (all "parked" goodly):


-mr. bill

jimmuller 

On my commute home two days just after I'd turned onto the MM eastbound from Bow St I passed a middle-age man riding the other way on a motorcycle.

mr_bill

Lexington Bow St or Arlington Bow St?

-mr. bill

rumrunn6

hahaha, next thing, we're gonna see a horse!

jimmuller 

I believe Arlington. Near Mal's.

autonomy

You beat me to it. Saw them yesterday on Lake St. at the MM crossing. Weren't there on Wed night. They're now at every intersection on Mass Ave - neatly arranged for now. Expect to see them scattered around the MM soon.

In other Arlington/MM news, the Aeronaut beer garden was approved 🍺

mr_bill

Ghazmh

Jim from Boston

Finally!

Just kidding though. You do seem to ride an awe-inspiring amount in the early AM. Me however,

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

…I have previously posted to this thread, ”Why didn’t I ride”

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

My job; either too much to do, so I stay (comfortably) overnight and resume very early in the AM, missing my commute; or have to travel afar for a meeting...and to a lesser extent, family activities…

Having a mileage-based training schedule however, effectively motivates me to make time to ride. I have the opportunity to commute a minimal 14 miles one-way during the week (Commuter Rail home), and round-trip on Saturday all year-round, for about 100 miles a week.

During the nice weather, I’d like to put in about 150-200 miles to train and do long rides.

In reality though, I probably get in about 20-30 miles per week during the winter, and maybe about 75-100 during the nice weather (to include early evening rides).

Even much less this year.

I was particularly stirred to post this morning because this week I am laying out plans to ride a Century on September 1, Bike to the Beach, from Boston to Newport, RI, “…to raise funds and awareness for Autism, the most prevalent developmental disability in the world.” As I recall, you posted last year about doing that Ride too.This will require pretty long and intense riding according to a previously published ten-week Century Training schedule:Posting such intent makes me more committed. In fact, just this morning I wrote to this General Cycling thread, “Do You Do Charity Rides and How To Encourage People”:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

…Here in New England it seems to me that that best organized Century Rides are Charity events, and I usually just make the minimal donation myself. Besides the tax deduction, an organized Century Ride gives me the incentive to train long and hard during my busy summer time due to work and family activities.

In fact, a special needs school that I avidly support has a fund-raising Fitness Challenge that offers an organized opportunity to further train, and support that school also. “Win-win-win.”

Ghazmh

rholland1951

Some years ago, I was riding on the MM at night when a teenager on a mini-bike went farting up the path, looking very serious about his exploit. Takes all kinds, I guess. I doubt the APD looks kindly on that nonsense.

rod

rholland1951

Spent the last two weeks in Italy, on a vacation that was not bike-centric. However...

In the Tuscan city of Lucca, I rented a tourist bike and rode a couple of circuits on the walls, a total of about 5 miles.The old city of Lucca was protected by a pentagonal system of very thick walls and battlements; it was never besieged, and after the Napoleonic Wars, a female relative of Napoleon decided that since contemporary artillery had rendered the walls of no real military value, they should be landscaped as a park and promenade. The result reminded me of the High Line.


















Bicycle culture in Lucca was mostly centered on city bikes, with large numbers of tourist rentals mixing with even larger numbers of privately-owned bikes used by the Luccans themselves as short-haul transports. While the streets were narrow, bikes are well-adapted to negotiating them efficiently, and the cyclists seemed to co-exist peacefully with the drivers and pedestrians, with a certain amount of Italian banter and gestural communication employed to handle any moments of frustration or peril. The infrastructure story does have some bright spots, in particular this underpass for getting cyclists and pedestrians across a railroad line and major road, part of the approach to the (walled) old town. MAPC, take note.


rod

rholland1951

Back in Massachusetts, and back in the heat, rode East Saturday. I will plead guilty to being fixated on the stupa at the Kurukulla Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies, Medford. I always stop there on these rides, always take a picture; in this case, sweat rendered the phone interface unreliable after these pictures, and they were all I got. I find myself associating the stupa with its radiating lines of prayer flags with the Van de Graaf generator at the Science Museum's lightning show; lots of power in either case, and access to not-so-obvious aspects of the universe.


I was looking for a sea breeze, and eventually found that in Revere, but first found more heat and sweat when my rear tire flatted on Medford Street, Malden, at the Highland Ave. intersection (I think), which happened to be the arena in which a dozen picketers from two or three craft unions were denouncing scab operators hired by National Grid to dig up the street. After a not especially efficient search I found the glass sliver in the tread that caused the flat, and changed the tire (Compass Snoqualmie Pass, first flat in the ~600 miles I've been rolling on it). In the meantime, I got a tutorial in labor rhetoric, and noted that over half the union guys' utterances were actually safety and methodology tips to the scabs. Fascinating stuff, but I rolled further East to a cooler micro-climate. When I rolled back, the union guys, the scabs, and the cops had all gone home, and the hole in Medford Street was filled. No further flats, so I guess I really did find the cause of the puncture. Sweatiest ride of the year so far.

rod

Ghazmh

Ghazmh