the_doctor

The CRW West Bridgewater ride is every Thursday night. There is usually a fast group which averages 21 for 33-40 miles. It is every Thursday at 6 PM. They meet at the Route 106/Rt 24 commuter parking lot.

I will be there. There is Lots of fun with this group.
Bill

jimmuller 

You must have picked up some debris in your eye, I guess.

I suggest you keep both eyes shut, espcialky whiul tyrinh tfo typf inyo BNijeDourums,

jimmuller 

I hope all of you here in Massachusetts came through last night's storms okay. Best wishes to those affected.

I chose not to do the bike commute yesterday because of the weather prediction. It was a good decision.

himespau 

If I'd ridden at my usual times yesterday, I'd have avoided the storm, but chose to listen to the forecasts and rode the T instead. Probably would have been a painful ride home with the headwind, but I took the weekend off and am way behind on where I'd like to be with regard to miles, so I kind of wish I'd done it. The tailwind out of the west was nice on the ride in this morning, but I sure hope it drops off by the time I go home.

JandersUF

Somehow in this beautiful weather I picked up a bit of a cough/cold bug. Nothing serious, but enough to keep me from riding before work the past few days. Actually going to hop on the trainer for a few minutes now (I know! I know! its 70 out! I just want to be stationary in case I fall over from a coughing fit!).

pocky

I did the commute yesterday, much to my wife's horror.

A couple miles from my office, I noticed a slow leak in my rear tire. When I left in the evening, I planned to just quickly use a pump (I stupidly took home and left home the one I *was* keeping in my office) on somebody's bike near BU, or at one of the several bike shops within walking distance, but it looks like theft here means nobody leaves pumps on their bikes, and a bus came by before I reached the shops, so I just threw the bike on the bus rack. Of course by the time I got to Watertown Sq, there were no open shops and no pumps on bikes anywhere, no bus in sight for the last leg, of the trip (and the 71 buses don't have racks anyway), and wife with car not responding to her cellphone, so I started walking and kept calling her. Less then a mile from home, when I started to feel raindrops and hear thunder, I finally got a phone call from her. I said "Oh good, you're there, can you pick me up? And she said, "You need to stop walking, lock the bike, and get inside a store or something RIGHT NOW." After locking the bike and running a few blocks, I hid in the door shelter under Sevan Bakery through a good half hour of torrential rain and extremely close lightning, and during a bit of a lull, she then picked me up, all the while lecturing me that a door shelter is not "inside", and it was *still* too bad be driving in this right now. Yeah, I know, she's right.

I'm taking her home from school on the tandem today -- should be good weather and a nice way to make up for putting her through that yesterday.

UG7890

Hi, I am very new to road bikes and to taking cycling "seriously" (I used to ride bikes literally everyday when I was little). I have recently decided to resurrect my long loved hobby (and get back into shape )

Today, I bought a Shogun 200 for $100. Seems to be in fair/good shape, but I would rather have some pro's look at it and tell me what I should do. I figure this bike is a good entry level bike. (I don't know if it matters but it's a woman's bike lol) What do you guys think?

Anyways, I am located around the Ashland/Framingham/Holliston area, so if there is any close by cycling community, I would like to get in touch.

-Eugene.

jimmuller 

Welcome to BF! A lot of people have done just what you are doing, reviving an old hobby for fun and better health. Pedal on! Keep doing it!

I'm not familiar with the Shogun models though I remember the name. But that sounds like a decent price for a rideable bike with everything in good working order. That's the key, of course. Whether it is entry-level or not doesn't make a whole lot of difference unless you are, say, trying to keep up with the A group in a club ride (which sure isn't my cup of tea, for what that's worth).

As to the bike being a woman's, the more common term today is step-through, and it isn't considered a woman's bike per se. With modern bikes all having a sloping TT anyway, there isn't any difference between a traditional "men's" diamond frame and step-through. If your bike is a mixte frame, good specimens are sometimes in high demand.

If you want advice on maintenance and stuff to check before you ride much, you should probably post a thread in Classic&Vintage. Lots of good folks hang out there! They also appreciate old and uncommon stuff, so you would find lots of mixte advocates. Pics would be good. If you start putting many miles on it you really need to be confident that the bottom bracket, hubs, and headset are clean and newly lubricated. That's not hard to do but it can take specialized tools and some knowing what to expect. Wheels should be true, etc...

I can't help you there, I tend to ride more solo. This is the right place to ask though!

UG7890

Thanks Jimmuller! (Especially for clearing up the "gender" issue)

Sorry (in advance) if I post things not in the right section as I am still getting familiar with this forum.

Just a quick update: just went on my first "ride", boy do I have a lot of work to do... Don't know the exact miles (will check tonight) but my guess is probably 2.5 with mild ups and downs and I was absolutely dying and my stomach was hurting. (makes me miss the childhood days)

What is something you guys would recommend eating before going cycling?


Regardless, was a bit windy, but other than that, great night for a first night of cycling.

Plan to drive down to the CAPE tomorrow and ride some of those trails. Should be fun.

pokey1

Check with any of the LBS (local bike shop) they will know about local rides and such.
The Charles River Wheelmen are a local group and are online

wpt

mtalinm

ouch!!!!!!! I've had a lot of dirt flying into my eyes this past week, not sure why...

20 miles to go for my 5k goal. just hoping I don't wipe out tomorrow

JandersUF

Got a pleasant 45mi in through cambridge to carlise this AM; now on to an airplane and a weeks vacation (without a bike! eeek!). I'll come back strong after this "Rest week!"

godshammgod

Easy and gorgeous 25 mile ride with a co-worker who's training for the PMC. Sometimes it's nice to just get out and cruise and enjoy the sun. Plus my legs needed an easy day with a big weekend on tap. Aiming for 150+ miles this weekend including a century on Sunday.

mtalinm

woohoo, made it! 5000 miles in a year

I'm sure a lot of you guys ride more than I do, but I bet I weigh much more than you so this is a big deal for me :-)

godshammgod

Awesome.

I also like the estimated total calorie burn of 267,000. That's a whole lot of beer.

mtalinm

clydes burn more calories per mile :-)

jimmuller 

Eating? Ah, food, I think. There's always lots of discussion about food. It depends on what kind of riding you plan to do. If I'm going out for a 50mi jaunt the critical meal is breakfast. Something with no refined sugar, but good complex carbohydrates and mixture of other stuff. I like steel-cut oats (neither trivial nor common) with some fruit and nuts such as raw almonds, maybe an egg, orange juice, coffee. That won't last me the whole trip but the egg will help in that department. I'll carry a banana and a Larabar or two, some dried fruit like raisins, dates, figs, and maybe even a sandwich on a long day. Of course one can always stop and buy something, except that the stuff available at convenience stores is usually high on convenience, sugar, and saturated fat, but low on "real" foodness. One more thing, drink lots of water.

How'd your Cape ride do? Did you find more hills than you expected?

Jim from Boston

Damn the abrasion, full speed ahead.

Today is day three after onset of my corneal abrasion, and I was scheduled for a 59 mile ride for my 10 week century training program. By day number two I felt fine with occasional relapses of slight irritation, and I really needed the long ride. So I donned my winter cycling safety glasses for further eye protection beyond my usual perscription eyeglasses, and left Kenmore Square headed down to Norwood to work for a few hours, via the South Shore. I previously described the South Shore sector in my aforementioned Metro Boston cycling compendium as:

Since my longer rides are usually time-limited, I tend to stick to main roads to avoid getting lost. This season I have become more adventurous, and today I found a beautiful “backdoor” route to Hingham and the South Shore bypassing Rte 3A. Hingham is a picturesque coastal town with a lot of stately old homes. I planned to go on to Cohasset and down to Scituate, but on a whim I went to Hull and Nantasket Beach. MetroWest cycling may be bucolic, but the bracing salt air of the Ocean coast on a sunny day is a worthy destination itself.

Leaving Nantasket, I figured I would then start heading towards Norwood to make my mileage quota. I found Rte 228 to be a fabulous cycling road from Hull to Rockland. It was shady, totally residential with beautiful homes, a road surface as good as any in Dover, and a wide to adequate shoulder. Surprisingly though, there was a lot of traffic, but tolerable since it was on residential road. Furthermore I noted a nice-looking blacktop path along side the street. Routes 123 and 139 to Stoughton were not as nice, but did have a good shoulder for riding. Pearl Street to Pleasant Street in Canton was a nice backroad from Stoughton to Canton, though with an uneven road surface. Total miles were 60.4.

It's now about four hours since I arrived, and my eyes feel little fatigued just from being outdoors, but I don't feel any damage otherwise from the ride. At about mile 50 I did apply some non-medicated eyedrops given to me by the eye doctor. The safety glasses for winter riding are fine to prevent fogging but don't fit particularly well without winter hedgear. I intend to shop for some regular goggles to go over my eyeglasses, and I'll also have to buy a helmet mounted mirror rather than the eyeglass-mounted mirror I use now since I don't think it will fit with the goggles. I am now very aware of eye protection for cycling. In response to my thread about the abrasion to the Commuting Forum, the wise buzzman of Newton wrote:

UG7890

Guys, went up to the cape yesterday. It was absolutely amazing. Went all the way up to Orleans where my gf and I rented some sweet bikes for what I thought was very cheap ($18 for road bikes and $14 for everything else). I gave my Shogun to the bike shop to be tuned and fixed up a bit, and rented a Fuji Roubaix 3.0 (LOVED this bike). We biked on the bike trail all the way through Eastham until the Welsfleet town line, then turned back (about 18 miles round trip) then biked to the beach. Was a bit windy and cold at times, but perfect with no wind and in the sun.

I know a 20ish mile bike is probably just a stroll for most of you guys, but for my 2nd day on a bike I think it's good progress. It's funny I almost have to re-teach myself how to ride a bike correctly (use proper gears for hills, etc.) and I found out I can't ride with no hands anymore (lol)

To my surprise there weren't many hills, just minor ups and downs that are stretched so much that you barely feel them. I loved the trip. Def want to do it again, just wish it wasn't so far.

jimmuller 

Glad to hear you got out and are recovering. Nice commentary on the roads. I've been to Hingham, played music there many times. They have some serious hills. Your note makes me want to go bike there.

Re glasses, I ride with aviator-style sunglasses for their large lenses and extended side coverage. And all my glasses have anti-UV coating, highly recommended by eye doctors. And I've ridden without a mirror probably once in the past 30 years. Helmet-mounted is good.

Waytago! That sounds like a nice trip. Many years ago I biked from Wellfleet to P-town and back with some friends. They have hills there too, just not as long as in some parts of the world. It's good riding. Haven't biked on the Cape for some years though. Haft'a get back.

You got pics of the Shogun?

mtalinm

drove (not rode, resting after the 5k milestone) through Sherborn, Millis, and Medfield today. those roads have nothing on Dover!

godshammgod

Did the aforementioned Tour de Shuls today. Ended up with 78 miles riding around to local temples from Lexington, Needham, Holliston, Framingham and Wayland.

A lot of rest stops and a lot of food. It was also a pretty casual and relaxed ride. Tried to take some longer/harder pulls at the front to get a better workout in.

That ride, plus a hard 55 miler yesterday means I'm tired.

jimmuller 

Didn't ride today. Took my sweetie out for 6 hard hours up then down the Ipsiwch River through the Wenham Swamp. Did however stop briefly at the North Bridge Historical Park in Concord. Lots of bikes out, and a sign for "Rest Stop" or something similar at the Monument Rd. parking lot. Was there a ride in progress through there today?

jimmuller 

We have heard from neither sherbornpeddler nor bikinggrrrl (how many r's?) for a few weeks. You okay?

himespau 

I think it may have been the team in training cancer run groups. I rode past a couple of refreshment stands for them.


Some idiot decided they needed to turn my bars while my front wheel was firmly u-locked to a post. Luckily they didn't bend the wheel, but the stem got loose. Opened my saddle bag to get my multitool to tighten it back down to find the screw holding all the attachments on had worked its way loose and all the attachments were loose in the bag. Couldn't get enough leverage to get the stem supertight so I did the best I could running the screwdriver attachment through the loop at the end of the allen. Made it home and tighted it up really good with some real allen wrenches, but it was a bit scarier of a ride than I'd have liked.