cmolway

Essex County Velo is hosting their annual "Tour D'Essex County" century/BBQ on Saturday. Ride goes from Manchester by the sea to Newburyport and back. Should be a good turnout. Cost is a measly $10 to cover BBQ costs.

https://ecvcycling.org/tour-dessex-county/

JandersUF

I'm stuck working this weekend, but good luck with all the B2B prep... its certainly crunch time. I think I am going to pre-ride my buddy's 1/2 Iron Man Bike and Run course with him on Friday, so that'll be a nice 70-odd mile jaunt.

Yesterday I drove in to work early, and got a nice 42 miles in, starting in the Blue Hills and rambling south around Sharon in a figure-8. Even went up to the Blue Hill Observatory-- I hate that hill. I mean, I set some new 5 minute power highs, but I also believe I developed angina, exercise induced asthma, and severe self-loathing.

Anyone have good tips on how to connect the Blue Hills area to areas further south? I ended up crossing I-93 via 138, which was a bit busy. However, looking at the map it seems that there aren't all that many ways to get over/under I-93 in that area...

himespau 

Wow it was so nice this morning. First time commuting in a week and a half. I'd let weather.com scare me off from riding several days when it didn't end up raining. So nice to get back on the saddle.

cmolway

Surprised by the big yellow thingy in the sky this morning. Road the "sweet ride" into work this morning with the hopes of getting in 50 miles on the way home from work. Wish there was more days like this for the past month. I still commute in the rain, I just just don't get any "real miles" in.

Cold, rainy weather has me way off my mileage for this time of year (trainers and rollers are "garbage miles" and don't count). Should be fun to see how the body responds to 100 fast miles on Saturday with the lack of training.

jimmuller 

Did the car/train/commute thing this morning after waiting 14 months for the rain to stop. It was glorious.

Of course, the train was 20min late. (Did anyone see the Globe's report last week about how the MBTA has surreptitiously changed their penalty/reward structure for the commuter rail company? It comes home to me when I have to make a meeting at work but the train is so late.) So I hammered a bit on the way in today, did the trip in 57min, made my meeting on time too. Also had to ride back and forth to a physical therapy session for my back, about 10 minutes each way.

Later today I will ride back to the train station. I trust it will be as much fun and stress-free as the ride in, but in rather less of a hurry!

Edit, posted much later: It was indeed a lovely ride back to Attleboro. Made it in 52 minutes, arrived about 20 minutes before the train was scheduled. The train was about 2 minutes late, which isn't really late at all by most people's standards. I nearly fell asleep on the train.

himespau 

Didn't see the story, can you give a summary?

jimmuller 

The commuter train service is not part of MBTA itself but is instead an independent contractor to provide commuter service. Over the last 5 years or so the MBTA management has cut fines for late trains and instituted a reward mechanism for trains that are on time, the end result being that there has been no financial penalty for the commuter train system even though there has been an ongoing degredation of service. Some of these rules changes were apparently never even discussed at meetings of the MBTA board of directors, but instead were simply made quietly, on the side so to speak.

The story can be found here: https://www.boston.com/news/local/mas...reak_on_fines/

himespau 

Wow, that does seem asinine.

Jim from Boston

Hi mtalinm,

Thanks for the reply. I realize that as one who never rides into the “belly of the beast” (rush hour traffic) I may view urban cycling through rose-colored glasses.

I think we both have a good base mileage left over from the winter commute. Certainly the springtime is more inviting to ride. Were you going east to west or vice versa on a segment that we overlapped? I was on that section somewhere between about 9:00 to 9:30 AM. I saw two riders on-coming and was passed by one other. BTW, when I encounter other cyclists I may or may not wave, but usually give a hearty “YO” as my trademark. So BF’ers, flag me down and say Hi. I have ridden several miles with mtalinm on a hastily planned ride, and about 100 yards when I met godshammgod.

Speaking of scenery, while I have many fine routes for my training rides, I have ridden them so much, that while not completely boring, they have lost their novelty. My current remedy is to keep my head raised higher and look farther afield from the road. Whenever I drive a car on my well-traveled cycling commuter routes, I’m surprised at how much more I notice. I miss a lot on the bike because I’m so focused on the road surface when cycling as compared to looking farther beyond when driving. So now if boredom sets in, I just try to look for something new in the scenery.

I’m planning on a century ride in Michigan on July 9. This will be the third annual and BF 50+ Forum Group ride. Last year about 10 subscribers to that forum gathered at Watkins Glen NY in conjunction with an organized bicycle club weekend touring the Great Finger Lakes region. This year’s rally will be the One Helluva Ride sponsored by the Ann Arbor Bicycle Touring Society. I plan on an early July century because I do a 10 week training program preceding it and it’s not until May that the early morning temperatures are inviting enough to add extra miles to my commute.

I’m a native of Michigan and my son is spending the summer in Ann Arbor. He’ll be in Boston for the July 4 weekend and then need a ride back. Two birds with one stone as they say. If you think this is a long drive for a bicycle ride, one BF subscriber, seenoweevil, drove up from Alabama last year, and he's going to Michigan this year.

I usually ride Moose Hill on mid Saturday morning, and I might be passed by about three cars over about the three or so mile stretch. When my wife and I used to bicycle tour, that’s the kind of road we would describe as “intimate.”

Just click on that little square next to my name with the “>>” symbol in the quote box and it should route you to the full post.

mtalinm

not exactly sure where I was at 9am, but here's my transcript: https://connect.garmin.com/activity/87009131. I was in a yellow jacket on my road bike, so there's a chance we saw/missed each other...

wish me luck - need to do 267 miles in the next 9 days! that's 30 per day, a bit tough but hopefully doable

Thanks for your summary of the Boston-area "areas". I haven't done much outside of the south and west, so this is helpful. I hear that Dover is everyone's favorite place to ride. I live next door in Westwood, and although I haven't ridden in Dover all that much, I don't ever recall seeing a pothole when driving through there. roads like glass...

himespau 

I'm kind of bummed. I work at Mass Eye and Ear and up until now I've been taking the Esplanade in from BU. This nice weather means that I'm going to have to find a new route as it was getting crowded yesterday and I can only imagine it's going to get worse.

jimmuller 

Warm weather does have its fringe benefits. Soon the Esplanade will be loaded up with sunbathers.

cmolway

I was able to sneak in 40 miles on my way home yesterday. Nice to finally get some sun on my pasty-white legs!


Fun century! Had a great tailwind on Saturday last year that had our paceline making record time (until we turned around into a fierce headwind that is). Tried to break 5 hours but a mechanical and lingering at the rest-stop (not to mention drawbridges) killed it for us. I think we waited 15-20 minutes for the drawbridge in Portsmouth, leaving my legs feeling like concrete until I could spin out the lactic buildup. They should put a water stop there. I'll be doing it again this year with the North Shore Cyclists. We usually get 10-12 fast(ish) riders from the club that know how to paceline.

I know I already mentioned it, but there's a small, cheap ($10) century this weekend hosted by Essex County Velo. They are awesome at hosting and sponsoring events (Gloucester Grand Prix anyone?) so this should be a good one (and there's BBQ at the finish).

JandersUF

Got in a nice 40 mile ride (mostly MM trail, with a loop out at the bedford end) this AM before work. Plus my 3-mile each way moonlighting commute in this nice hot weather.

Going to do 70mi down in East Freetown tomorrow with my friend... I looked at the route and it might be the flattest ride i've gone on since I left Florida.

mtalinm

what is your route in east freetown? I am looking for som mileage without a lot of hills.

JandersUF

So the route I am going to try is this:
https://www.mapmyride.com/s/routes/vi...eetown/2946845

Its the Patriot Half Iron Man route (two loops for a half iron).

I'll let you know what its really like once i get done!

JandersUF

So a nice (HOT) 75 miles in this morning. We did that Half-Iron route posted above; average 20mph for the first 60. Then took an easy pace and checked out the run course to finish.

Its a very nice route, with little traffic and rather nice, non-potholey roads. Its also pretty damned flat for Boston, with my garmin claiming 1000ft of elevation in two loops (59mi). Most of the hills are either very short, but slightly steep, or incredibly gradual. Would be a great area to do long intervals.


Also, did I mention, its hot?

jimmuller 

Yeah, you did but I'm not sure I believe all of everything else you wrote!

I did the commute thing today, with extras. It was cool this morning but it het up as I climbed up from the B. River. Then I rode over to physical therapy and back, only about a mile or so each way but hilly. I left work early, and the ride to the train station in the middle of the afternoon was indeed hot. I caught an earlier train, and driving home I stopped at Harris to pick up some bar tape (my 35y.o. already tattered tape finally gave up).

Plus a neighbor's boy was graduating from high school today, the ceremony being held on the Bentley U. campus maybe 2 miles from the house. While I was biking to the train station my sweetie called to ask me where the camera was and I said I was on the way home so she said great, come by Bentley when you get home. I couldn't reach anyone on the cell phone when I got home so I hopped on the bike and rode over, figured that would be easier than finding parking. Even climbed the hill up to the top of the campus, but I never did find the graduation ceremony. (It was hot.) So I started home and since I was in that neighborhood I rode over to a store to pick up some beer. (A 6-pack makes the panniers just a bit lopsided.) Just as I was getting home the phone rang - it was my sweetie saying she was walking home. So I rode back over there and met her, then walked home with her.

Lots of water, a banana, some salt, and most of a beer later...I'm feeling better.

It was an exhausting day.

Also, did I mention it was hot?

mtalinm

Did the Freetown loop around the lake this morning. Beautiful ride from Westwood down there, qnd I was on track for q century until my chain and front-derailleur broke on the way home in east taunton :-( as you can see in the link below

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/88532202

thanks jandersf for the suggestion!

Jim from Boston

I presume your picture was from the lake in Freetown. I annually do the Rodman Ride for Kids Century in September from Foxboro, and the nicest segment IMO is past the Lakes somewhere in that vicinity, from about miles 40 to 60. What route did you ride down to there, and what did you do about the chain? There was a recent thread on either the Commuter or Road Forum that asked who carries a chain tool.

Today's Century training schedule called for 53 miles and I did 53.17. From Kenmore Square to Concord via Trapelo Road, then Rte 126 into Wayland and found a really nice road off of Rte 20 called Rice that took me into Natick where it became Oak. From Natick Center onto another pleasant road, Cottage Street, to Rte 16, to Lake Street in Sherborn and into Dover.

I was pleasantly surprised to come upon Farm Pond in Dover, which I had never seen since I usually ride East and South of that part of Dover. I met a trio of lady cyclists assembling there for a ride. One showed me her GPS, and as we parted I recommended that they check out Bikeforums. This year I am seriously considering getting a GPS to find more of those idyllic roads, like Rice and Cottage Street, since usually I get lost when looking for them. I saw two pacelines of a dozen or more in Sherborn and in Dover, and probably more cyclists than cars in my 10 miles in that vicinity, as was the case also from Waltham to Concord and Wayland earlier.

Eventually I got onto Rte 27 to Rte 115, then Rte 109 into Medfield, and a peaceful residential route to Walpole, but then back to Rte 109 and Westwood to top off with a few additional miles to get to Norwood and make my quota. I was on the road from about 6:00 to 10:30 AM. I'm at work now for a few hours, and then will take take the train, or maybe cycle the 14 miles home. It might sound kind of wonky to be motivated by mileage, but for me that’s the justification for the expenditure of time to do a "long" distance, with the reward of a beautiful ride.

mtalinm

jim, i called my wife to come pick me up. i'll now never leave home for a distance ride without a chain tool and a powerlink.

the route is on the link above, but it was basically southeast from Westwood through Stoughton and Brockton. very nicely, RideWithGPS routed me around downtown Brockton, which is a real bear to ride through.

sounds like you were quite the rider today as well...i got a GPS after getting lost a few times...

it is not at all 'wonky' to be motivated by mileage! i've done 4,916.31 in the past year and am shooting for 5k

jimmuller 

How did the chain break? A pin just give up and pop out of a side plate?

No. I did no riding today. My sweetie and I climbed Mt. Tom in Holyoke. A pleasant hike, though warm and humid. Almost got hit by a big t-storm, had lightning crack right over our heads. But we survived. After yesterday's commuting and other rambling by bike my quads were definitely tired today.

himespau 

Most of my usual riding is pretty flat. The loop I did today was pretty short, but had some rollers in it and I was hurting by the time I was done. Wasn't the quick and easy route I'd planned.

mtalinm

not entirely sure. i was trying to downshift on a steep grade -- dumb, dumb, dumb -- and the chain locked up. somehow i cracked the front derailleur, so that's probably what got the chain. it didn't break in two but rather pulled one of the links away from the pin to the point that it was unusable.

godshammgod

Scratched my plan to ride part of the B2B route yesterday, but I did end up with 74 HOT miles. Went through Acton and up Nagog Hill with a small group out of Quad Cycles in Arlington. It was a little frustrating though. Advertised as a ''fast'' ride by the leader, but there wasn't all that much speed. We just never really got a quality paceline working despite my best efforts. It was still fun.