ZIPP2001

Another nice day out on the rode, I did my Worcester Airport route from work today for 50 miles.

sherbornpeddler

Zipp,
Nicely done! I dunno which is more impressive, a weekend ride from one's home or finding energy and inspiration from work or a commute.

sherbornpeddler

Metro Bostonians, we've done a lot of riding inspired by commuting, training, exercise, recreation, errands, social, fundraisers and all combinations of the above. For me I guess exercise is #1, a vague idea of training for a brevet (this is really freshening up #1) and a mishmosh of errands, commuting, social and fundraisers.

Timber_8

Well I got my riding partners bike squared away Saturday with a set of Butterfly bars, New Tape with Jell pads, Topeak quick track rack & trunk, mounted the cycle computer, pump, water cages. and took it for a quick ride to be sure it was adjusted to her. Today we left out this morning around 9 am and put down 50 miles and worked on our strategy riding together. We had a very productive day, caught a little rain 10 miles in but it cleared up nice for the return ride.

sherbornpeddler

Timber, Bike mods one day and 50 miles the next is impressive. Sounds like you are cranking just fine.
I hesitated over rain forecast but got up for an early morning ride. I don't know which I was happier about; spotting the red fox in the morning calm or winning the motivational battle to get out and on the road. One was beautiful and quick, the other grisly and grumpy.

sherbornpeddler

Cold rain today. Must be crazy.
I rode along side a mountain biker with an empty kid seat on the back and said something about us both being crazy to be riding in the cold mist. As I passed him he said he must be crazy to ride to pick up his daughter from school.

Hmmm. Saving money, exercise, father-daughter memories, bundling up in a snowsuit and helmet I bet she is both hardy and comfortable and grows up liking the outdoors; maybe even more than video games. Low carbon, environmentally friendly lifestyle, taking time out of a day but not that much; combining an errand with exercise.

Crazy

bikinggrrrl

Whoa. Nearly got blown over by the wind today. First time ever that I thought we might actually tip over. Pretty day though. Cut ride to only 25 miles to spend rest of afternoon working in a bug-free landscaping project. Too windy for bees, nevermind those pesky black flies!

sherbornpeddler

Those black flies are in Ticonderoga, NY by now.
BG your rig is like a square rigger, you should run down wind or heave to with that precious cargo.

Speaking of nautical talk, I rode Shining Sea Trail today for lunch in Woods Hole. Started at the Silver Restaurant the northern terminus near Rts. 151 and 28 to Woods Hole and (down wind) back. Another well used, great rail trail. It looks like it can't go further north than North Falmouth because the rail is still active where it turns off to Otis AFB.

sherbornpeddler

Musings or pedal pondering
Sometimes I get on my bike to freshen my thinking, to break away from the days hectic obsessions. Sometimes I look forward to the same old route. I can ride it almost with my eyes closed and certainly can ride with my brain closed; free to mentally wander in any direction.
I heard a tree crash down today, probably mortally wounded from the wind storm two days ago. I imagined it was hanging on to fall on its' own terms. It must have been big because it made a huge, long crashing sound and thumped as it hit the earth. It occurred to me the tree just moved to another stage where it will rot and be a habitat for salamanders, insects and eventually compost the soil for the health of the trees around it; circle of life stuff. So the crash is a celebration, not a death.
Gads, I might be better pushing a hard pace, fantasizing a tour stage or map out a complex route requiring diligent navigation.
So what do you ponder on your ride today?

ZIPP2001

I hit the road after work today and enjoyed the wind, yes the wind sometimes it feels like nothing can slow me down. It was one of those days where I was just in a zone where the legs felt like pistons. I was thinking that I was doing a TT, i used to love doing TT's . I used to do the W. Boylston, and Gardner one's quite often.

dmann

SPB, Zip et al........flying below radar for awhile, mission critical. Dr.'s, CAT scans and the realization of human frailty have rendered me pulling in, 2nd guessing, bewildered and frustrated. Itinerary 4/30/10; leave work 05:00, sleep 06:00, wake 12:45, CAT scan chest 13:30........"damn I'm getting tired of this, find something...please!" Home, coffee-banana-yogurt-fiber bar...much better! Finish the lawn 16:45, say Hi & Bye to the wife as I push off on the ride @17:00. Push as hard as I can for 45 minutes shaking my clenched fist in the face of the Gods we have created.....taunting their very existence. Wheel into the driveway after 14.67 miles pushing 17.0 avg. relishing the absolute Zen that riding is (thanking Specialized) This is my therapy, the unknowns' will kill you, yet finding out seems far worse.........maybe its just gas!

sherbornpeddler

Yep Zipp and dmann,
Zen, direct experience, going into TT mode and shaking your fist. Yep. biking can be a nice place.

dmann, best wishes in a healthy break away.

rumrunn6

re: "So what do you ponder on your ride today?"

it's always the same for me. a beautiful woman that makes me crazy fu*king horny

bikinggrrrl

rumrunn, can't say that thought ever crossed my mind.

Had a beautiful ride in and out of Harvard ~ just shy of 40 miles. Baby woke in Harvard and sang to me all the way home. Very sweet indeed.
When cycling familiar routes I tend to problem solve issues with the teenagers, how to tackle the next big project, and oh, yeah, I gawk at EVERYONE's landscaping. Always looking for ideas to bring home.

Today, though, riding a route I haven't taken since last fall .... I had the Armour Hot Dog song in my head, compliments of my 14 yo son. <sigh> Kept trying to replace it with something better but it is just so gosh-darn easy to make up your own lyrics to that catchy little tune.

ZIPP2001

Wow what a great day out their today, did my regular Sat. ride out to Worcester Airport after work. There must have been some sort of cycling event on parts of rte. 12, because I saw a lot of groups on the road.

dmann I hope you start feeling better. I'm riding in your area often so give me a yell anytime if you want to go for a little spin.

bikinggrrl sounds like a great ride, but problem solving teenager issues (YIKES) glad those years are over.

rumrunn6 now that very seldom crosses my mind. Although I did have lunch today with two of the greatest most loving and beautiful woman in my life ( Wife & Daughter).

SBP I did have a laugh today because I was thinking of your post on what we ponder while riding. I realized for the last two week or so I have been breaking out randomly singing the line to a Van Halen song (have you seen junior's girlfriend). Thanks for bringing my insanity to my attention.

MacCruiskeen

I rode from East Cambridge to Marblehead and back again this morning. It was the longest single ride I've managed so far, and it went well, so I feel good about that. Took a little over four hours, including a couple of stops for pictures. What was odd was that as I got further north, the other cyclists on the road got friendlier--people would wave or say hello as they went by, in either direction.

rumrunn6

hey that sounds like a nice ride, especially due to the change in scenery! what route(s) did you take? any pics? interesting noe about the bikers getting friendlier!

MacCruiskeen

I did take a few pictures, but I'm using up the last of my Kodachrome before Dwayne's closes the processing line, so it'll be a week or so before I have the photos back. The route is kinda challenging--99 up through Everett and Revere, cross over to 107, ride up that through Lynn, to 129 through Swampscott. Revere and Lynn are pretty hilly.

godshammgod

That is an impressive ride. I grew up in Marblehead actually (live in Boston now) and will occassionally see people riding along 107 or even 1A. Not exactly bike friendly roads.

What time were you up in Marblehead...maybe I was one of the people who waved to you...

sherbornpeddler

MacC,
Yes please do post your photos asap. My assumptions have been in line with "G" that those are not exactly bike friendly roads. Best times to ride?

Cambridge has a reputation of being bike progressive and going north things were better!? It is great to hear of bike friendly areas. Why do you suppose they are more friendly? Time of day when you were at each place?
Roads, homes and businesses are laid out to make biking more functional and practical? Economic practicality? More outdoor, active crowd? Active bike advocacy group?

sherbornpeddler

BTW, Just back from the NYC 5 Boro ride. Woo! what a lot of people! Too many for the route. It is exciting and an experience but I as far as a chance to ride urban streets, I'll take BikeBoston ride. In fact, I prefer Boston as a biking city.

NYC has done a lot to improve biking but the 5 Boro didn't feature much of those features. Most of the rides were on motor roads open to bikes once a year. They do have good paths but they weren't big enough for 35,000 bikers.

Saturday we rode Eastern Long Island at a bajillion mph on flat, flat roads. Don't ride there with anything less than a 52 tooth front sprocket. I know. Great riding though, like a giant rail trail; did I mention flat?

Jim from Boston

Doing the North Shore from Boston is pretty challenging until IMO you get to the Lynn shore and then it's great. Revere Beach and Winthrop can be interesting, and Nahant is a gem. I always go early on a weekend morning to avoid the traffic hassles, and return on a more inland route.

I usually go out via Rte 99, but instead of Rte 107, I may get on Revere Beach Parkway to the Beach, or take a more inland route of 99 to Lynn St-> Salem St underneath Rte 1 to Cliftondale in Saugus onto Lincoln Ave -> Boston Street and then cut through downtown Lynn to Swampscott; or head further North to Parkland Ave. to Broadway into Peabody and then over to Salem. And don't forget the Rockport Commuter Rail line out of North Station serving all those communities, which allows bikes on off-peak hours, including the entire weekend.

I agree the cycling ambiance is different on the North Shore than in the Lincoln-Concord and Dover Sherborn sectors. It seems there are more solo riders and less pacelines.

MacCruiskeen

They are not bike friendly roads, but there are not many good routes between here and there. As Jim says, it gets easier once you're past Lynn (and he clearly knows the local roads better than I do).

That's clearly part of it--when I'm riding to work, there are a lot of other commuters, and everyone else is just on their way to work or whatever. On the weekends you see more recreational riders. On my way up through Revere and Everett, there just aren't many others.

ZIPP2001

Nice day out today so I did my 30 mile after work route. Saw a few other riders out there today, it seems that I am seeing more riders than last year.

cmolway

Crappy week on the bike. Double flat that had me calling the wife to pick me up on Monday and a "Car vs. Bike" accident the next day: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...dent-this-week