buzzman

If that frame builder is the one that built one of the bikes in your Avatar I have done many a Harvard Loop with him. And I am sure he has not slowed down much on the climb.

Sorry I missed seeing you on your way back I was out on my 40 mile Concord loop between 11 and 1:30 pm.

sherbornpeddler

I'm impressed and delighted to hear you've been on the UCRRT. The Milford section is all aged with a hard surface except the 1/2 mile middle section which will be finished this summer-ish. The Holliston section from the center of town is brand new, smooth stone dust or hard pack dirt. To the locals that stone dust shines. On a damp day it may not be ideal for 23c spandex racing tires. The Sherborn piece is more vernal pool than high speed commuter road and the rest is nearly done in the eyes of the avid, determined, avid and determined. Nearly done to those actually trying to ride on it or even find it might more accurately perceive it as illusionary, imaginary or a pipe dream. Impossible just takes a little longer. That stone dust does shine!

Jim from Boston

Thanks for the reply, sbp. Since a long training ride requires a considerable investment in weekend time and energy, I was dissuaded last night by the usually-accurate forecast on weather.com for rain this morning (Saturday, 5/31). My only other block of time will be tomorrow afternoon.

I presume the Upper Charles trail does include that segment parallel to Rte 85 south of Hopkinton to Milford; I did not know the proper name when I rode it. If I recall correctly it by-passed a particularly dreary segment of Rte 16 into Milford. When I travel through Sherborn it’s usually on Rtes 27 to 16; or from Holliston to Dover via Fiske, Mill and Woodland, all lightly traveled and well-surfaced roads.

FYA, whenever I ride in your sector, I’m invariably wearing a lemon-yellow jacket/vest, with a light blue shortsleeved shirt, a silver helmet, black shorts with a lengthwise red swaths along the lateral thighs, black cycling shoes, white socks; and riding a red and white Specialized road bike. Approach (or avoid) at your discretion.

Bishbike

Buzzman, you are correct on both counts. He did build one of my bikes, and he has not slowed down a bit. That guy is like a freight train, as I am sure you have witnessed. I think we only stopped once entire ride, hence the lack of pictures. Too busy tring to keep up...

Hope to see you on the road sometime.

BTW, the Berkshire loop looks like it must be a wonderful ride.

mr_bill

Yesterday about 6:00.



-mr. bill

mr,grumpy 

I tried a different rout today. Instead of sticking to the (mostly) flat Bike Path route I headed into some very gentle hills. They were like mountains to me. I got out near the ocean and the wind kicked up and hat was a drag. A little rip up a small portion of the bike path where some dude let his dog run out in front of me and then home. I didn't plan the route out really but it turned out to be….. about 12 miles long! !2 miles in length at about 12 MPH average is consistently what I pull off, weather planned or unplanned. Granted, my effort level was up slightly today doing those hills but still, I would like to go farther. Baby Steps I guess but I sure am jealous of you guys who have the fitness (and time) to go 30-60 miles on a bike ride on a frequent basis.

rholland1951

My six-months-long case of too-busy-to-live disease is reaching a climax, and things should be better soon. In the meantime, I managed to sneak in a lunchtime ride up to Lexington Center on the Minuteman, temperatures in the low sixties, just cool enough to keep the trail from being hopelessly mobbed.


Overheard a little girl say to her father, "Can we take our bikes with us to Cape Cod?"

Summer's coming.

rod

jimmuller 

We broke new ground for us today, well, almost new. We rode the North Shore, 45 miles, following a route from Road Cycling in Massachusetts. I think I remember the name right. I'd loaded it in to our GPS, we met a friend in Topsfiled who lives up that way, and we set up. Topsfield, Ipswich, Great Neck, back west and northwest to Boxford, through Georgetown, back to Topsfield. Sharon and I had done some of that area before with NSCYC and following outer NSCYC routes. It was fun blindly following a GPS route. Okay, not totally blindly since I'd had to work it out in DeLorme's TopoNA.

Boxford had torn up one half mile of road so we had to ride on gravel/dirt/ripples. At least no car got impatient with us! The payoff was miles of newly paved road, fresh black pavement, no markings, no bumps or potholes, not even much traffic for stretches 4 or 5 miles long. It was AWESOME!

Some distinctive, New England Gothic architecture, the Topsfield Town Hall:


My sweetie and me:


Lunch at a local playground, I think in Ipswich:


Sharon snapped this of Clive and myself back in Topsfield:

mr,grumpy 

Welcome to my neck of the woods (in car terms, "almost" my neck in bike terms)! Did you happen to stop in at The Bicycle Shop of Topsfield while you were in the area? It sits astride a nice MUP that goes down into Danvers and is the place where I bought my first grown-up bike ever: a Diamondback MTB back int he '90s. It's a great little shop run by MTB guys who love to ride and are not just into selling road bikes to rich guys.

I have a question for you though: How do you transport that rig of yours?

mr_bill

Hop hop hop hop! (No bunnies were harmed during filming.)



-mr. bill

jimmuller 

Thank you, sir!

Oh dear, we didn't know one existed. Didn't exactly have reason to stop other than to say hi but might have stopped just for that. We did see a trail crossing sign but it was for dirt motorcycles and it was nowhere close to Danvers AFAIK.

Well, now, that's a trade secret, isn't it? We have a Dodge Caravan in which the 3rd row seats fold into the floor. The bike fits vertically under the hatch, with the front wheel sticking slightly between the front seat backs. It fit into our previous Caravan also with the 3rd row seats removed. Some people rave the Honda minivan. Some people put theirs on top of the car via a swinging support.

sherbornpeddler

Rod, Bish, Jim de B, Jim the M, Mr. B, Mr. G, Buzz and all the ships at sea,
These are great posts! You capture MetroBoston biking!

Friendly, exploring and always fascinating.
Last week I made a slow, modified 57 mile loop to Concord, did the obligatory water fountain refill in the center and slid home via the sudbury floodplain and shady Rice Rd. This Friday I did 49.7 ten town tour Friday, mowed the lawn Saturday and was about to go for a ride Sunday but was interrupted. Instead I sat out back with my 89.9 year old mother in law and listened to stories, history and life. It isn't always what I plan but gosh, weaving down a memory or weaving down a sun dappled road is nice. With afternoon sun shining through, shade where it ought to be, even the mosquitos seem to fit the occasion.
Today, trusty neighbor Bill committed me into a delightful 20 mile, low to medium ride through Norfolk in perfect weather.
Thanks kids. Thanks for all your sharing, observation and inspiration. Cheers!

Jim from Boston

Hey sbp, thanks for your gracious comments, but you are the OP of this thread, IMO, the de facto Boston Bike Forum, but see also this one.

Is your Rice Road the one that goes south from Old Connecticut Path to Comm Ave, where it becomes Oak St? There are certain roads I have discovered, unfortunately usually short, that I describe as “intimate,” or “enchanted”; so serene and peaceful, shady, lightly traveled, and without shoulders. Some others that come to mind are Lowder in Dedham, Moose Hill Parkway in Sharon. Elm St. in Medfield, and many others I never find because I’m so goal-directed to get there, or do my training miles quota with no time to get lost. Today on a 14 mile training ride from Norwood, I discovered Mill St in Westwood, between Rte 109 and Hartford St, but only about one-half mile long.

Then there was last year’s Mass Bike Ride:

PS: Another nice enchanted road in Metrowest is Salem End Rd, a designated scenic route in Framingham, to Oregon Rd in Ashland. On Oregon Rd is The Oregon Club of Ashland a nice looking steakhouse, and legendary speakeasy. Back in Prohibition Days, it must have been a really out-of-the-way place.

deburn

Hi Jim (or anyone else): how do you take a route that you find online and load it onto a GPS? I have an iPhone and a Garmin Forerunner 305. Thanks!

btw, I tried looking up Road Cycling in Mass, but couldn't find it unless it's Road Biking Massachusetts

deburn

I found this part from the article you linked interesting "A group of San Francisco activists and designers built the country’s first parklet nearly a decade ago, when they fed the meter at a single downtown parking space, and filled the parking spot they’d just rented with sod, a bench, and a tree. "

sherbornpeddler

Now this is what I'm talking about, "Most of my usual cycling is solo on well-traveled routes with definite destinations and schedules, so I always enjoy these rides where I am lost to time and place..."

Simpatico mon ami.

Yep, Rice Rd of Wayland is the 4th quarter of a favorite solo century for me where the brain and body are tired when once in a while the body tosses some fuel up to the brain and the brain puts it to the most important use; estimate fuel and remaining miles and then allow that "lost in time and place" feeling flowing along the roads, feeling bicycle wind. Swooping along River Road aka Sudbury River floodplain, , shoulder over to Glezen, Claypit and Plain and the swoop along the dappled Rice. Just enough twists and turns to keep you alert and just little enough traffic to feel the swoop and flow.

I'm not there yet this year but i plan to be.

Jim, heading south, I cross the Pike on Rice/Oak then first left (east) on Everett to get off Oak and Bogle to go south on Weston Rd traffic in Wellesley, Rt 16 back to Sherborn. I cross under Rt9 on Weston Rd rather than battle the noise and construction of Oak/Rt9. BTW, if one were to stay on Oak to Natick, the bridge into Natick after Bacon St Market is closed so one must climb over Walnut Hill. I go through Wellesley.

jimmuller 

I can answer only for our GPS, a DeLorme PN60. I would imagine Garmin and others are all different.

The PN60 comes bundled with DeLorme Topo North Am and a special cable to connect it to a computer to copy maps, GPS routes, and recorded tracks between the computer and the GPS. To create a GPS route I first create a route in Topo NAm. The process is similar to DeLorme Street Atlas, of which I have been a fan for many years. I enter a starting point, a collection of via's based on the turns specified for the route, and an ending point. I put in enough via's to guarantee that it goes the way I want it to. It computes the turns and routing info in some format and creates a route file. I then just copy it to the GPS. To follow it I just select it on the GPS from the ones stored there, tell it to navigate.

The process requires that I track out on the Topo NAm map the route instructions for the course I want to follow. It can be tedious but it means I have to study the maps of the area, which is good. Sometimes an old route doesn't agree with current road conditions. I've tried entering GPS tracks directly from club routes online, but they are usually 3000 waypoints or something similar, recorded every 50 or 100ft. Topo NAm can follow them but it is way too many for the PN60 to create a route. I learned that the hard way on a similar ride when I didn't understand the significance of the warning the PN60 gave me at the start of a ride. Some miles into unknown territory it suddenly had no more route information! Fortunately it also lets me follow a recorded track, though with less certainty. Anyway, having the maps available means I can always find my own way if necessary. The PN60's user interface is nice but took me some learning time to become fully functional with it.

In fact, the name is Road Biking Massachusetts, subtitled A Guide to the Greatest Rides in Massachusetts, by Tom Catalini. (I checked your link but I don't see any connection to the book.) It was published in 2007 so while it isn't totally contemporary it is pretty accurate. Running the routes through Topo NAm is a good reality check. We've done several rides or partial rides from it. The route we've done from my house (or Bedford) to Nashua, NH was developed from one in that book.

buzzman

Some great posts and pix in here. There are some great rides assembled in this thread. Good reminders of some rides and for anyone new to the area most useful for finding places to ride.


So, I know I'm out of the territory again, I'll be even further west in a couple of weeks. But had a glorious Berkshire ride today. Here's a couple of pix from my 45 mile "Monterey Loop".

Bishbike

Wow, thanks guys for all of the great reports and pics!

After a weekend of making music, and driving many miles to do so, I was able to get back on the bike today.

Did the same route that I did last Monday. 55 miles. Lots of climbing. Managed to add .3 mph to my average.

Mega Great Brook - Belmont, MA

Took my usual detour into the deCordova sculptue park, and witnessed a new istallation going in.

Jim from Boston

Now that's what I mean by an "enchanted" road.

I think sun-dappling is common to all enchanted roads.

buzzman

Thanks for those pix!

It takes a certain discipline to do the DeCordova** diversion for me, especially if I'm pushing the pace to add a bit of .mph to the ride. But it's always worth it when I do because it's like stepping into another world and it slows me down in the right way.

Stopping to take the couple of pix I take on a ride feels that way as well. Most of my rides these days are solo and I go at my pace and I seldom stop. It's often a good idea to stop and smell the roses as a reminder that I am not in the TDF or attempting to set a PR on every ride.

We just installed solar panels on our roof out here in the Berks and all I could think about on my ride was how much energy we were producing on this sunny long June day. Turns out it was substantial. So now on these sunny day bike rides I feel like some other part of me is getting work done at home while I'm out riding.

Jim From B- "enchanted" is just the right word for that road. It cuts through Beartown State Forest and it was my destination back in the early 1970's when I would throw a tarp and a sleeping bag on the back of my road bike and come out to the Berks to hear music at the myriad of venues out here. That road and campground are timeless for me. Though the dappled road is tricky because it conceals some pretty deadly frost heaves and potholes especially on the steep descent so again, I am forced to slow down and I love every minute of it.

** Just took a second look at that exhibit and realized why it looks familiar. I'm pretty sure that exhibit was last in NYC along the West Side Highway bike path just south of the Chelsea piers. I was riding by it every day just over a year ago. I'll have to swing by to pay homage.

mr_bill

Great memory. Paul McCarthy - Sisters.



-mr. bill

rholland1951

So, the tempo at work reached the predicted annual maximum today, and should now be a little calmer, on average, until sometime next January. I took a gentle spin on the Minuteman up to Lexington after work. Temperatures in the 70s, the air with just enough load of pollen, dust, and tiny insects to form golden shafts at times when the sunlight made it through gaps in the fully-leafed trees. This was the first ride I've had this year that had just a hint of Summer in it. Lots of company, of course. 10 much-needed miles.






rod

deburn

Thanks for the detailed reply, Jim.

buzzman

Still a bit west of the Metro East but here's a little pic of the end of pretty much every ride I do out here. I live at an elevation of around 2000' and one of the final climbs is a 1.1 mile stretch with an elevation gain of just under 700'. It averages about 12% wih a couple of 17%
sections.

I discovered this part of the Berkshires when a fellow bike riding friend said, "you like hills? I got a tough one for you. Ride this road." He was right and I fell in love with the forest it led into and eventually got a little house up here.

But man, this hill damned near kills me everytime I do it and I ride it every other day I'm here. By the end of the summer it gets a bit easier.

I usually crest it and keep right on going too tired to even stop. Today I turned and took this picture.



If it looks like it drops off into space that's because it kind of does.