Set out on the Surly Trucker DeLuxe in the late afternoon, no particular route in mind, and ended up improvising a ride that more or less traced the convex hull of Belmont Hill, approximated as a triangle,
12 miles through Arlington, Lexington, and Belmont. Threw in an architectural excursion up Peacock Farm Road, and crossed the Clark Street footbridge in Belmont, which I have fond memories of as a one-lane bridge I could drive my Fiat 128 across back in the day.
Arlington Center: Wash your hands, everything will be alright. Sound advice regardless of context.
Pleasant Street, Lexington: riding past the Wilson Farms fields.
Peacock Farm Road, Lexington: I had been meaning to ride here for some time. "Peacock Farm house" denotes a particular affordable modernist style of house that was instantiated in a number of Lexington neighborhoods, but first on Peacock Farm Road. I've known a couple of people who lived in them, and they were happy with them.
Peacock Farm even has a Wikipedia page. The houses in this photo are typical of the type. Peacock Farm Road curled and climbed, without an end in sight, and I turned and rode down the hill after a bit of climbing. I'll return another day to explore the top of it, and see where it goes.
Winter Street, Belmont: riding through the Belmont Country Club. The golf course was as green as the Wilson Farms field, but less productive. Declined the opportunity to climb the Marsh Street incline.
Mill Street, Belmont: this was once McLean Hospital, a damned fine mental hospital. Some of it may still function, but a great deal of the campus has been developed as cushy residential property. Personally, I think that's nuts. But at least it's close to the golf course.
Beaver Brook Reservation, Belmont: fresh air, running water.
Clark Street footbridge, Belmont: this connects Route 60 with Royal Road. I'm so glad it's been preserved; sometimes the angels win one.
The Library of Congress remembers this.
Cross Street, Belmont: many signs saying "Hope". Seems to me we had Hope for awhile, and then somehow elected Hopelessness.
Cross Street, Belmont: this tricks the eye better than it tricks the camera, but the kids shut out of the elaborate wooden climbing structure in the closed playground do get the point.
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