jimmuller 

We haven't managed to get out for the past few weeks, too many commitments. I tried to make up for it today. Yesterday I turned 66 but our band had to play a gig, so I rode a birthday ride today.

I'd worked out a route on DeLorme TopoNAm that covered areas I'd never ridden before. Some could have been quite hilly. After the late night I wasn't sure whether I'd have the energy to pull off the ride I'd planned. Heading out into unknown territory on unknown energy is slightly scary. Plus the temperature was cold, upper 30's when I left the house at 10AM.

I'm happy to say I pulled it off! I rode the Motobecane 72.2 miles, Waltham west to Bolton, northeast to Chelmsford, south then east back home. Moving average speed 14.0mph, 6hrs9min, max speed 34.0mph.

Channeling my inner @JJScaliger, here's a pic of a cemetery in Sudbury; no, on further review I think was in Maynard:


And a cemetery in Bolton, just inside I495:



The run north was just west of I495. At one point a road I intend to take looked like a business access road, was signed as "private", and not a through road, leading to a Bolton recreation field. But the map had routed me that way and the road I'd been on was signed as a dead end. It seemed clear though, and I was thinkin' if I couldn't get through I might have to make a loooong detour with a hop east back over I495 which would force me to depart from my route. Fortunately the far end was blocked with a swinging gate which a bike could get around easily. Obviously "they" had intended that road to provide access from two directions without it being used as a connecting road.

The day turned out cold but not uncomfortable. Much of the run was surreal, with light traffic, an overcast sky. When I was headed north with a slight tailwind all was nearly silent, the only sound the quiet whisper of Vittoria sew-ups on clean pavement. Of course the payback on ride back south was a headwind and the steady roar of air past my ears.

A quick pic on the return, at Heart Pond in Chelmsford:



When I got home my sweetie had a surprise birthday party waiting for me.

rholland1951

Happy birthday, Jim! Nice ride!

rod

Jim from Boston

LIkewise, Jim. I tried to follow the Scaliger link, but not far enough to understand. Seems to be an insider C&V reference.

jimmuller 

Thanks. JJS is a frequent contributor to C&V. His RI and CT posts are always interesting, and often decorated with historical commentary and pics of old ruins, historical buildings, and graveyards. He's a strong rider too.

otg 

Nice ride Jim, and happy birthday! Mine is coming up in a few weeks, I'm hoping the weather is still cooperating. My ride will be 7 miles shorter than yours.

jimmuller 

Good luck with the weather. If that doesn't stop you you'll have no trouble with the distance!

For those of you in our metro area who might wish to do this ride, here are some details. I went directly west on 117 from Waltham to I495, not a great road to bike but not terrible and in places quite nice and even marked as a bike route. Just west of 495 I basically ran northward on whatever road kept me closest to 495, from 117 up to Harwood Station in Littleton. Some roads changed names or kept their name while making a significant turn at an intersection. From 117: Sugar Rd, Corn Rd, Brown Rd, E Bare Hill Rd, Westcott Rd, Stow Rd, Codman Hill Rd, across rt111, Swanson Rd, W Whitcome Rd.

Here's where the fun starts. You make a left turn onto what looks like the entrance to an office park, a road signed as private, no access except to the Boxboro Recreation Field, and for which Street Atlas has no name. It passes a few corporate office buildings then runs north northeast through open fields. 1.6 miles later it comes to the BRF on the left and a gate blocking traffic which seemingly could be raised to allow access to the field from the north for special occasions. The map shows almost no Boxboro remaining to the north, just Littleton and Harvard. It would seem the good folks of Boxboro didn't want any riffraff from those communities using their recreation field or busying up its nice long driveway.

In another quarter mile or so it hits Littleton County Rd in Harvard. A right turn there lets you continue on northward. This soon becomes Whitcomb Ave in Littleton and runs across rt2 straight into Harwood.

sherbornpeddler

Happy Birthday Jim!
May you have many more birthday rides with, "the quiet whisper of Vittoria sew-ups on clean pavement." Only a man who knows his toe clips could note and so perfectly communicate that brilliant observation. Thanks. Thanks for sharing your birthday and thanks for your post.

David325

Sounds like a fun ride! Bet you're glad you had yesterday's weather and not today's. The 2 mile ride to school was enough for me!

Bishbike

Happy Birthday Jim!!!!!

jimmuller 

Thanks for the B'day wishes, guys. Yes, I'll take Sunday's weather over Saturday's. And today's.

...should know that hands get cold when the temperature drops! I did my commute again today. 39degF when I left home. At about the crossover point from Lexington into Woburn the wind picked up, sky began to blue, the air became drier, and the temperature started to fall. The return home this evening was into a 15mph headwind with the temperature about 29degF. It was like skiing across the golf course at Bretton Woods to return to the lodge after a day sheltered from the wind in the woods. I need warmer gloves! My hands ached hard for ten minutes after I got home.

otg 

Jim, I was in Somerville yesterday, couldn't believe the number folks I saw riding in the city. Hardy bunch, and they were beating me through the traffic!

DBrim

Rode into work today, my first subfreezing ride ever (26F). A gusty 20mph headwind did not help. Still, I learned some helpful things. My layering was pretty good in some places (lower body), too hot in some (upper body), and too cold in others (gloves, mostly). I'm thinking of going to an outer glove/liner system on the hands to increase flexibility there. Alas, no ice on the water bottle.

The question "you rode in today?" probably isn't going to get old.

Also, happy belated birthday, Jim!

Jim from Boston

See this recent thread on the Commuting Forum, "If you are tough about cycling in bad weather, are you a tough person in general?"

And:

rumrunn6

impressive mileage!

chapel

I only ride a mile or so to the train.
It's less exposure to the cold than walking and it's better for the life of my engine to not drive 5 minutes.

rholland1951

After a day of industrious domesticity, got a 14-mile ride on the Minuteman after dark and before dinner, a cool and breezy night, temperatures in the relatively balmy high 30s/low 40s, enough wind to fly the flag with an occasional snap. Arlington has started displaying its ashen Winter lights, giving Mass. Ave. a spectral cast; I take a somewhat perverse satisfaction in this use of my tax dollars. Once I got on the Minuteman, I had it to myself for minutes at a time, but at one point encountered what I thought was a group of 3 cyclists that resolved itself into the two headlights and spotlight of an Arlington police cruiser, slowly trawling down the in-bound lane of the Minuteman out towards the skating rink, looking for something or someone, official business. Heard the Follen Church bell toll six. Saw a few Winter moths, but just singletons; perhaps the parasitic flies are doing their work, or maybe Jack Frost did for them...


rod

sherbornpeddler

You tough and resolute riders have been pushed into winter cold weather and keep riding. You are all resolute.
I exercised indoors until today's warm weather and even then over dressed compared to other bikers and runners. It sure was pleasant to get outdoors on a near 60F Fall day for an average 13.8 mph on a 27 mile loop from Sherborn's Nason Hill to Dover's Strawberry Hill, through Hale Reservation and back on Pine past Snow Hill then Hospital Hill.

jimmuller 

sbp, it's good to see you getting out for greater distances!

We took the tandem out today, 31.8 miles. The weather was spectacular for late November.





And this easy-to-miss granite column at Fern's:

rholland1951

More industrious domesticity and a very satisfactory Pats game, followed by another 14 miles in the dark on the Minuteman, about 10 degrees warmer than Saturday. Once again the trail was pretty empty, a small group of young men enacting the somewhat predictable rites of adolescence at the Grove Street bridge notwithstanding; no police cruisers tonight, however, perhaps they'll find each other some other time. Riding through the dark was a primarily auditory experience tonight, a confusion of church bells and carillons rising over the Mill Brook valley at six, an emergency vehicle yipping like a coyote, jets on approach to Logan singing basso descending scales with countertenor overtones, the hardy remnants of the Night Chorus making the most of the mild air, the whisper of the tires on pavement, the Unitarians' bell in Arlington tolling seven. Kept a brisk pace, chasing the headlights, racing my shadow past street lights.

rod

jimmuller 

"As the more conscientious clocks of Mahon prepared to strike the hour..."
- Patrick O'Brian, The One Hundred Days

rholland1951

Ah, that quote rings a bell...

rod

rumrunn6

sounds lovely. I drove through Dover once and I remember it being very picturesque

sherbornpeddler

RR, it is nice. I plotted it on a map afterwards rather than using a GPS. If you don't mind getting off to walk a short section there is a nice side route on the border between Westwood and Dover. It is fine to stay on Dover St after turning off of Rt. 109. Dover St becomes Powisset St. I couldn't map an alternative route that turns off Dover St on Carby St to Hill St heading southwest then almost all paved path back out to Powisset St. To prevent motorized traffic there is a chain across both ends of the steep hill near the end of the paved path. The southern end is too steep for me to ride and I make sure to get off before it is too late to unclip. The last 50 feet of the uphill is very loose gravel then followed by 1/4 mile of single lane asphault.

mr_bill

Just a couple of shots from this weekend.

The Community Path Extension to Lowell Street - so close to completion - the fence is currently scheduled to come down in the spring. Yellow is the running/walking surface (will be on both sides soon). Here are the plans.



And in the topsy-turvey world of construction projects, Beacon Street reconstruction in Somerville has begun, I'm travelling in the "bike lane" remnants here. If you haven't seen the plans for this defacto bicycle highway, you should take a look at what is coming.



-mr. bill

Jim from Boston

Picturesque!!?? Heck…I have referred to Dover as the Mecca of Metro Boston cycling.

In my Cyclist’s Guide to the Metroverse I describe Dover and environs (Sherbornpeddlerville) as: