rholland1951

I've been seeing it too, mostly recently at the controlled intersections between the Minuteman and Bedford Street and Hartwell Avenue, both in Lexington. In the Hartwell Ave. case, the driver sailed through while accelerating, a full second and a half after she got the red light. This earned her a catcall from the large bearded cyclist who fortunately saw her coming, hearing which she accelerated further.

rod

rumrunn6

saw my 89 yr old Mom cpl weeks ago for a family wedding. while I was driving her & my 91 yr old Dad to the reception, I cautiously stopped at a red light, when a judgement call might have encouraged someone else to go thru the tail end of the yellow light & possibly the red. & my Mom says, no lie: "I heard recently that according to the law, if you are one of the first four cars thru a red light, it's OK". I told her that was not correct at all! last night my Dad called to me to say "stop telling your mother she can go thru red lights". I told him that wasn't me but didn't go thru the whole conversation I had with both of them a cpl weeks ago. then Dad tells me she recently got a citation for going thru a red light. I asked when & he said when they were out buying him pants for the wedding. I'm telling you, they are losing it! I already took his '94 Camry from him last summer. might be time to take Mom's '03 Camry too. besides the '94 is acting up.

NomarsGirl

It can be hard dealing with aging parents. Making the decision to take the car away is hardest of all because you know you're taking their freedom with it. (And committing to driving them where they need to go).

Mom doesn't argue with me and lets me drive her. She even allows her grandchildren to drive her. (That shocked me because she wouldn't let me drive her until I was 40). Dad fought it the whole way.

rholland1951

Rode East on Friday.


It was a day that felt a little hotter than it might have, and much of my route took me on asphalt with little in the way of shade, real urban heat-island stuff. I was impressed by how much of a difference the presence or absence of clouds made. When they blocked the sun, the effect was immediate. Breezes were good, too, when they could be had, even the land breeze that acted as a headwind for much of my return.










I was on the LHT, equipped with 44 mm (measured closer to 42 last I checked) Compass Snoqualmie Pass Extralights, just the thing for making the least of broken pavement and unseen potholes. Got some good hill climbing and fast descents in Medford and Melrose. Thought of Jimmie Rodgers at one point; although West Medford is not 1000 miles away from home (more like 1000 yards), I was definitely waiting for a train.


rod

sherbornpeddler

The photography here is amazing. Clouds and trains have similarities when the photography is so amazing.
No pictures here but I was moving slower than the clouds or trains two days ago when I set out to ride a favorite clover leaf kind of ride Sherborn Dover Westwood Dover Medfield Dover Sherborn. It was hot and humid enough for me to stop a few times. Stopping in the shade the caterpillars missed wasn’t going to cool me off but did pause the heating up. I brought three water bottles; two for drinking and the third for drizzling through my helmet, over my head, down my neck to my back. I was as interested in the route the water took as my bike route which I took as a sign to shorten the ride and waft my way through a 2 leaf clover 30 mile route.

An overdue update on that cloverleaf pavement is Westfield and Summer St. in Westwood are smooth as glass with new asphalt. The culvert on Wilsondale in Dover is rebuilt but has a small new pavement bump. Dover to Medfield Pine St is awesome and North St in Medfield and Forest by Farm in Sherborn are also new smooth.

rholland1951

Took the Trucker DeLuxe out for a spin up to Lexington Center and back, after the storms and before dinner. Everything was freshly washed. However, there were signs and portents.

The first sign (or perhaps portent) was the appearance of yet another species of dockless bikeshare in the Uncle Sam park in Arlington Center.



This made me wonder: is this vendor part of the compact with MAPC and the various towns trying to organize a regional capability? Have they talked to the planners in the Town of Arlington who are trying to make sense of this? Oh well, it had been left partially blocking a path so I moved it to a less rude position. Crikey, was it heavy! I briefly wondered if it was an E-bike, but a visit to their website advised me that all that gravitational coupling is by design: "Stronger and heavier bike body for better stability". Oh good. And it will probably discourage the bikes from climbing trees, the way some of their competitors' bikes are said to do. It also makes me wonder what ANTBIKEMIKE makes of this development. These Cambridge kids appear to be tone-deaf, at the very least. I understand the "better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission" business model, having practiced it myself from time to time as a software engineer in an entrepreneurial environment, but how much forgiveness from how many quarters does anyone reasonably want to beg?

The second sign and/or portent was more portentous, if less bike-specific: an entirely too-familiar profile illuminated in a cloud.


The Gestalt Psychologists would patiently explain that when you see an image repeated enough times, you readily project it on any surface that presents itself. Personally, I preferred the image of Cthulu that appeared as rust in the bottom of a stainless steel mixing bowl that I left wet in the sink for too many days in a row, some years back.


Anyhow, the good thing about faces seen in clouds is that you seldom see them for long, and soon enough that cloud was presenting as Pagliacci, pointy hat and all (no pictures of that one). One clown or another...

Signs and portents aside, that storm had refreshed our little corner of the world.


I kept pedaling, and soon enough I was home.


Later, I ran over to Somerville to feed my son's cat.


rod

NewATBikeComute

A friend and I, looking for new adventures, decided to ride the MM, since he had never ridden it, and I had done only part of it.

Started in Watertown on Saturday, around 8:30, road to Alewife and picked up the MM; rode to the Depot in Bedford. Some rain at that point felt good. Stopped at Ride Studio for coffee and coffee cake on the way out. The predictions of showers seemed to be for elsewhere, as it was humid but not threatening. Or was I being wistful?

Before reaching Bedford, it was raining, but so lightly that it felt good. Nothing could take away from new adventures, friendship, and a chance to stretch ones legs.

Started to pick up a bit, but the heavy canopy provided by the trees kept the worst off. Looking forward to a planned stop at Kickstand Cafe, and trying their Vietnamese spring rolls helped distract from the heavier precipitation that accompanied the breaks in the trees.

Heavier and heavier came the rain. Where was my packable rain gear? In my car of course. Always trying to keep my load as light as possible, but that was beyond foolish optimism.

Got to the Kickstand, warm beverage and food while under a tree that provided little more than the illusion of some protection, but food was excellent. Admitted to my friend that it was still a good ride, but the rain 'was taking some of the joy out of it'. He agreed.

Finished the ride, dried off with some borrowed towels, headed home.


A great day!

----------
Installed new crankset on my commuter today, about to take it for a test drive. Also a great day.

jimmuller 

Nice report. It does sound like a good day.

We expected company from late morning on so I took the Masi out early, maybe 8AM over to the MM and then westward. Of course ankuweather was predicting a storm in 90 minutes so I told myself I would turn around at either Lexington or 8:30 which came first. I turned around at the Bike Stop at 8:35. Made it maybe a mile from home when the rear tire went PFfft pfft pfft fft fft. Okay, do I take the time to swap on another sewup or trust the Stan's Tire Seal I had put in, pump it up and ride? I chose the latter. Got maybe a quarter of a mile, decided to pump it up again. Stopped, pumped, listened. This time it wasn't making so much hissing noise. As I was pumping a guy in a car stopped, asked if I was okay. Then he complimented the bike and said he wanted to pull over and talk. He introduced himself with a slight Italian accent, a definitely Italian name, said he used to work at Farina's Bike Shop in Watertown, the same place that also sells lawnmowers. He rides a Raleigh Pro so we talked about old bike as I pumped. It was a neat chance meeting. Eventually I packed up as the sky was darkening steadily. I made it home about 9:30, with 15 minutes to spare before the rain started.

rholland1951

I could be wrong, but I believe in a previous epoch ('70s), Farina's also repaired Fiats. I had my Fiat 128 in there once or twice; they did good work.

rod

Ghazmh

rholland1951

Sounds like quite a ride you have set up, looking forward to hearing about it.

rod

Ghazmh

E53 

Hey Gazmh, that sounds like a blast, happy trails!
I rode my usual route on my Roubaix today minus the optional 5 extra miles by doing the Pantry road loop. It was just too hot!

mr_bill

Been there, sort of done that a few years ago. On the return, I bailed onto 6A and the center of Orleans Main Street to Main Street. Much less white knuckled, and rejoined the trail where the throngs were on the roads. BTW, it's not a race, but there are always a few "pacelines"....

-mr. bill

rholland1951

The paceline factor has given me pause about signing up for the PMC. Never did learn to enjoy that culture, though I have an abstract appreciation for its biomechanical advantages.

rod

mr_bill

I'm a lone wolf. I rarely ride with others, and the few times I ride with others we are a small group of very good friends. Except for charity rides.
(Except in city traffic I'm riding in traffic, which once upon a time meant I was riding all alone, but no longer.)

The minimum fundraising has given me pause about signing up for the PMC. But I've done the BikeMS rides multiple years now (not this year, see mono).

There are very very few pacelines. Most are very well behaved, and they pass the masses on bikes safely.

Most importantly, *YOU* don't have to ride in any paceline.

Related, never had trouble with people who have aero bars. Everyone takes the admonishment to not use them in a group pretty seriously.

-mr. bill

rholland1951

Thanks for the insights. "Lone wolf" pretty well covers the subject here, as well.

rod

rumrunn6

the living legend returns! & what a great idea!

rumrunn6

got back on the Assabet extension to the Bruce Freeman Trail for a 34 mile round trip (Stowish to Lowell)

they haven't made any improvements to the poor bollards but just a few hundred feet from the one that snagged Wifey was this barrel over one of them. I think even Wifey wouldn't hit that!





the Northern entrance



I seem to have a knack for heading out too late in the day



the 4 miles on the road, between the two trails, weren't so bad, but then, it was a quiet summer Sunday night

rholland1951

Connecting the Assabet River Rail Trail to the Bruce Freeman hadn't occurred to me. What roads do you use for that?

rod

rumrunn6

Route 27, it's right there at the S. Acton train station. then just turn right at 2A/119 until you see the big new bridge. there's an entrance ramp on the northbound side of 2A/119

rholland1951

Thanks!

rod

autonomy

That bike - or another of of the species - is now by the Ed Burns skating rink, a mile and a half west up the path as of this morning! You're right, they don't climb trees that well, but they surely do sink well.
I got a bike for my daughter, so now she's a proud occasional user of the bike path - propelling herself, for the most part (previously it was the stroller). Wife and I were walking her on the bike this weekend and saw LimeBikes everywhere, so many that I got tempted and downloaded the app to my phone, thinking I'll cycle next to my daughter instead of walking. But then, in typical toddler fashion, she refused to ride on the way back and that was that. But I still have the app, so I'm tempted to take one up some hills just for kicks.


You're looking at it wrong. It's just an upside-down happy high-five congratulating you on all the riding you've done in this heat

rholland1951

Dockless submarine?

Now I'm seeing a left-handed high-five with a pinch flat...

rod

autonomy

Kudos for going out in that weather and braving it (guess you had no choice...). Family and I went peach picking and we didn't bring the rain gear thinking 1. We'll make it before the rain starts 2. The gear won't do much in the heat/humidity as we'll just steam from the inside.