Moving to Boston - Advice?
02-10-15, 09:41 AM
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Moving to Boston - Advice?
My wife and I are very likely moving to Boston this summer. We currently live in Michigan near Ann Arbor and I ride a fair amount--over 6500 road miles per year for the last few years. I'd like to stay near my current yearly mileage rate. Most of my rides are in the 30-50 mile range, and cycling a few times a week is what keeps me sane.
We have some flexibility on where we could potentially live. I'm not at all familiar with the Boston area, so I guess I have a couple questions?
1. Are there places to find 30-50 mile road routes with a reasonable number of stops for traffic, etc? If so, are the routes clustered near certain areas where we should look for housing? I'd like to avoid driving somewhere to start a ride, if possible.
2. Do most of you that ride in that area ride before work? After work? It gets darker quite a bit earlier there, which I assume means that for much of the year it's easier to do morning rides.
Thanks is advance for any knowledge you can share.
We have some flexibility on where we could potentially live. I'm not at all familiar with the Boston area, so I guess I have a couple questions?
1. Are there places to find 30-50 mile road routes with a reasonable number of stops for traffic, etc? If so, are the routes clustered near certain areas where we should look for housing? I'd like to avoid driving somewhere to start a ride, if possible.
2. Do most of you that ride in that area ride before work? After work? It gets darker quite a bit earlier there, which I assume means that for much of the year it's easier to do morning rides.
Thanks is advance for any knowledge you can share.
02-10-15, 12:09 PM
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My wife and I are very likely moving to Boston this summer. We currently live in Michigan near Ann Arbor and I ride a fair amount--over 6500 road miles per year for the last few years. I'd like to stay near my current yearly mileage rate. Most of my rides are in the 30-50 mile range, and cycling a few times a week is what keeps me sane.
We have some flexibility on where we could potentially live. I'm not at all familiar with the Boston area, so I guess I have a couple questions?
1. Are there places to find 30-50 mile road routes with a reasonable number of stops for traffic, etc? If so, are the routes clustered near certain areas where we should look for housing? I'd like to avoid driving somewhere to start a ride, if possible.
2. Do most of you that ride in that area ride before work? After work? It gets darker quite a bit earlier there, which I assume means that for much of the year it's easier to do morning rides.
Thanks is advance for any knowledge you can share.
We have some flexibility on where we could potentially live. I'm not at all familiar with the Boston area, so I guess I have a couple questions?
1. Are there places to find 30-50 mile road routes with a reasonable number of stops for traffic, etc? If so, are the routes clustered near certain areas where we should look for housing? I'd like to avoid driving somewhere to start a ride, if possible.
2. Do most of you that ride in that area ride before work? After work? It gets darker quite a bit earlier there, which I assume means that for much of the year it's easier to do morning rides.
Thanks is advance for any knowledge you can share.
…. Back in the 60’s in the Motor City, I had an “English Racer,’ and longed to tour at about age 14, but then joined the car culture. In Ann Arbor MI in the 70’s I really realized the utility of bicycles for commuting, and began touring on a five-speed Schwinn Suburban, but soon bought a Mercier as did my girlfriend, later my wife. We toured in Michigan and Ontario.
In 1977 we moved to Boston on our bikes, as a bicycling honeymoon from Los Angeles to Washington, DC and then took the train up to Boston. We have toured in New England and the Maritime Provinces, and one trip to the DelMarVa peninsula…I have pretty much been a year–round commuter only, but in the past few years I have done a century or two a year and I follow a ten week training program for centuries published long ago in Bicycling Magazine….
I have a really great commute that belies, IMO, the image of Boston as a city unfriendly to bicycling. I live in Downtown and ride to a suburb 14 miles distant in the reverse traffic commuting pattern. Then in the evening, I take my bike back to Boston on a commuter rail train, since the train is empty on the reverse commute. The Train Station is about 3 minutes from work, the Downtown Station is about three miles from home, and the train ride is about one-half hour long….
In 1977 we moved to Boston on our bikes, as a bicycling honeymoon from Los Angeles to Washington, DC and then took the train up to Boston. We have toured in New England and the Maritime Provinces, and one trip to the DelMarVa peninsula…I have pretty much been a year–round commuter only, but in the past few years I have done a century or two a year and I follow a ten week training program for centuries published long ago in Bicycling Magazine….
I have a really great commute that belies, IMO, the image of Boston as a city unfriendly to bicycling. I live in Downtown and ride to a suburb 14 miles distant in the reverse traffic commuting pattern. Then in the evening, I take my bike back to Boston on a commuter rail train, since the train is empty on the reverse commute. The Train Station is about 3 minutes from work, the Downtown Station is about three miles from home, and the train ride is about one-half hour long….
That should get you started, and consider me a resource. Welcome to “the Hub.”
02-10-15, 01:30 PM
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Thanks, Jim. I'll give that thread a look.
02-10-15, 05:58 PM
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Hi, DAB, and welcome to Boston/New England even if you aren't here yet! You picked a heck of a time to show up, you know, with record snow in just 17 days and the Pats winning the S.B. Of course some might say it would be a cold day in heck before the Pats won another one... 
There are plenty of places to ride around here. Bike activity is probably higher here than most places in the country except for exceptional cities like Portland, OR. In the city there are bike lanes and some paved bike routes, but as always they carry a lot of traffic, wheeled and non-wheeled. It is possible to do great rides without driving somewhere first, but it depends on where you live. Once outside of I-95 a.k.a. 128 (the old state route number and still called 128 around here) it is easy. If you live in Cambridge or Somerville or Boston proper you have to get out of town to avoid traffic, but there are ways to do it. This area is heavily populated so rush hour traffic can be high, but is generally polite to cyclists and bike-aware.
I live in Waltham, technically a city west of Boston and just inside 128. From my house there are a few ways out and I typically take the Minuteman Bikeway for about 12 miles to Bedford. From there is is easy to run another 50 miles west or north on rural or nearly rural roads. For a tandem ride my wife and will generally drive to Bedford but that takes only about 20 minutes. Most of my rides are in metro-west or northwest. It is possible to loop around north of the city to go east. JimFromBoston likes metro-south or southwest, but I am not familiar with the roads that direction.
Be aware that New England is hilly, even close to the coast. Unless you go to the mountains (there are some good ones) the hills aren't especially long but can have stretches quite steep. 10% grades aren't unheard of even inside 128. A mile of 7% with 90degF temperatures can get old fast too. So your flatland gears may be problematic! My solo bikes have a low gear somewhere around 32 inches.
Days are actually long here in the summer, with sun lasting till 9PM. I have occasionally put my bike in the car and stopped on the way home from work for a quick 30 miles. I was bike commuting until mid-December but the run home required lights because the sun would set by 4:30. From April on (if the snow ever melts) there should be good biking after work. My neighbor often goes out for a quick aerobic ride just at dawn.
Hope this helps.
I can fill in some details later this evening, for example the town I am familiar with. Of course housing costs affect one's decision of where to live.
There are plenty of places to ride around here. Bike activity is probably higher here than most places in the country except for exceptional cities like Portland, OR. In the city there are bike lanes and some paved bike routes, but as always they carry a lot of traffic, wheeled and non-wheeled. It is possible to do great rides without driving somewhere first, but it depends on where you live. Once outside of I-95 a.k.a. 128 (the old state route number and still called 128 around here) it is easy. If you live in Cambridge or Somerville or Boston proper you have to get out of town to avoid traffic, but there are ways to do it. This area is heavily populated so rush hour traffic can be high, but is generally polite to cyclists and bike-aware.
I live in Waltham, technically a city west of Boston and just inside 128. From my house there are a few ways out and I typically take the Minuteman Bikeway for about 12 miles to Bedford. From there is is easy to run another 50 miles west or north on rural or nearly rural roads. For a tandem ride my wife and will generally drive to Bedford but that takes only about 20 minutes. Most of my rides are in metro-west or northwest. It is possible to loop around north of the city to go east. JimFromBoston likes metro-south or southwest, but I am not familiar with the roads that direction.
Be aware that New England is hilly, even close to the coast. Unless you go to the mountains (there are some good ones) the hills aren't especially long but can have stretches quite steep. 10% grades aren't unheard of even inside 128. A mile of 7% with 90degF temperatures can get old fast too. So your flatland gears may be problematic! My solo bikes have a low gear somewhere around 32 inches.
Days are actually long here in the summer, with sun lasting till 9PM. I have occasionally put my bike in the car and stopped on the way home from work for a quick 30 miles. I was bike commuting until mid-December but the run home required lights because the sun would set by 4:30. From April on (if the snow ever melts) there should be good biking after work. My neighbor often goes out for a quick aerobic ride just at dawn.
Hope this helps.
I can fill in some details later this evening, for example the town I am familiar with. Of course housing costs affect one's decision of where to live.
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With great bikes comes great responsibility.
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Last edited by jimmuller; 02-10-15 at 06:02 PM.
02-10-15, 08:26 PM
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What??? Only 2 wheels?
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Some followup. First question - How well do you know the Boston area? Perhaps I'll be typing things here you already know.
The city and town political layout in New England is different from most everywhere else in the country. Here, every place is part of an incorporated city or a town, there are no non-town places. A typical town may be 5 miles across. Cities vs. town boundaries correlate fairly well to how developed an area is largely because local governments have control of their own environment. Boston and its surrounding cities are typical densely-populated cities but not all that large by, say, New York standards.
The surrounding towns however are typically suburban with pockets of urban-like development. Most towns have a designated town center which may contain a significant business district and thus a fair amount of traffic, plus half a dozen other urban-like areas. The closer it is to Boston the more classic suburban or urban it will be. A town outside 128 may have just one or two business areas around the intersection of numbered state highways, and the rest of the roads may be largely wooded with frequent houses and occasional farms here and there. Those roads are great for biking. Numbered state highways can be great too except for the handful of roads that are way too big and everyone know what they are. Even within the more inner towns though you can find good biking roads or designated bike lanes, but you just can't do a timed power ride as easily because you have to stop so often.
Here are some specifics you can trace out on a map to get a sense of what is where.
The Minuteman Bikeway runs from the Alewife T stop (outermost terminal of the Red Line subway) in Cambridge (definitely a city!) westward through Arlington (fairly urban but with suburban areas), through Lexington (large town mostly inside 128, mostly residential/suburban with many good roads) to Bedford. Bedford has an urban town center along rt4/225, but away westward from there it trends toward rural with farms and less densely packed houses. From there you have easy access to Concord, Carlisle, Sudbury, Westford, Acton, to infinity and beyond, yea even unto New Hampshire. I did a birthday ride (72 miles IIRC, I overshot my age) this past November on a big triangle from my house in eastern Waltham, west to I-495, northeast to Chelmsford, back home. (Rt 117 was okay, not the best bike road but okay. I'd probably avoid it on our tandem unless we left early on a Sunday morning.) A common short bike loop runs from Concord up to Carlisle and back on a different route.
Metro-northeast is largely medium-dense suburban or rural. Everything from places on the north shore such as Essex, Ipswich, or Hamilton inward to Andover or Billerica or up along the coast through Boxford, Rowley, Georgetown, Newburyport, and along the coast to Portsmouth, NH can be very nice biking. I did a century once from my house northwest into Carlisle, then east over to Harold Parker State Forest in North Andover, then looped back home.
My commute goes north across Belmont and Arlington, west for 2 miles on the Minuteman into Lexington, then north through Woburn. Some of it is urban but it is doable. In that 16 miles a pass one farm (or two if I want to climb a very steep hill), climb 1600 to 1700 ft, cover 10 miles on the MM Bikeway or on roads with a very wide shoulder.
I'm sure other metro-Boston riders can say more about other areas.
The city and town political layout in New England is different from most everywhere else in the country. Here, every place is part of an incorporated city or a town, there are no non-town places. A typical town may be 5 miles across. Cities vs. town boundaries correlate fairly well to how developed an area is largely because local governments have control of their own environment. Boston and its surrounding cities are typical densely-populated cities but not all that large by, say, New York standards.
The surrounding towns however are typically suburban with pockets of urban-like development. Most towns have a designated town center which may contain a significant business district and thus a fair amount of traffic, plus half a dozen other urban-like areas. The closer it is to Boston the more classic suburban or urban it will be. A town outside 128 may have just one or two business areas around the intersection of numbered state highways, and the rest of the roads may be largely wooded with frequent houses and occasional farms here and there. Those roads are great for biking. Numbered state highways can be great too except for the handful of roads that are way too big and everyone know what they are. Even within the more inner towns though you can find good biking roads or designated bike lanes, but you just can't do a timed power ride as easily because you have to stop so often.
Here are some specifics you can trace out on a map to get a sense of what is where.
The Minuteman Bikeway runs from the Alewife T stop (outermost terminal of the Red Line subway) in Cambridge (definitely a city!) westward through Arlington (fairly urban but with suburban areas), through Lexington (large town mostly inside 128, mostly residential/suburban with many good roads) to Bedford. Bedford has an urban town center along rt4/225, but away westward from there it trends toward rural with farms and less densely packed houses. From there you have easy access to Concord, Carlisle, Sudbury, Westford, Acton, to infinity and beyond, yea even unto New Hampshire. I did a birthday ride (72 miles IIRC, I overshot my age) this past November on a big triangle from my house in eastern Waltham, west to I-495, northeast to Chelmsford, back home. (Rt 117 was okay, not the best bike road but okay. I'd probably avoid it on our tandem unless we left early on a Sunday morning.) A common short bike loop runs from Concord up to Carlisle and back on a different route.
Metro-northeast is largely medium-dense suburban or rural. Everything from places on the north shore such as Essex, Ipswich, or Hamilton inward to Andover or Billerica or up along the coast through Boxford, Rowley, Georgetown, Newburyport, and along the coast to Portsmouth, NH can be very nice biking. I did a century once from my house northwest into Carlisle, then east over to Harold Parker State Forest in North Andover, then looped back home.
My commute goes north across Belmont and Arlington, west for 2 miles on the Minuteman into Lexington, then north through Woburn. Some of it is urban but it is doable. In that 16 miles a pass one farm (or two if I want to climb a very steep hill), climb 1600 to 1700 ft, cover 10 miles on the MM Bikeway or on roads with a very wide shoulder.
I'm sure other metro-Boston riders can say more about other areas.
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Last edited by jimmuller; 02-11-15 at 05:33 AM.
02-11-15, 04:13 AM
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My wife and I are very likely moving to Boston this summer.…
2. Do most of you that ride in that area ride before work? After work? It gets darker quite a bit earlier there, which I assume means that for much of the year it's easier to do morning rides.
Thanks is advance for any knowledge you can share.
2. Do most of you that ride in that area ride before work? After work? It gets darker quite a bit earlier there, which I assume means that for much of the year it's easier to do morning rides.
Thanks is advance for any knowledge you can share.
Hi, DAB, and welcome to Boston/New England even if you aren't here yet! …
Days are actually long here in the summer, with sun lasting till 9PM. I have occasionally put my bike in the car and stopped on the way home from work for a quick 30 miles. I was bike commuting until mid-December but the run home required lights because the sun would set by 4:30…
Days are actually long here in the summer, with sun lasting till 9PM. I have occasionally put my bike in the car and stopped on the way home from work for a quick 30 miles. I was bike commuting until mid-December but the run home required lights because the sun would set by 4:30…
Nice descriptions, and I’ll keep this thread bookmarked because I enjoy such inquiries about Boston cycling. I don’t think DAB will be impressed by summer daylight lasting to 9PM though. Michigan is at the far western edge of the Eastern Time zone (about 700 miles west of Boston), so their daylight portion is actually more like the Central Time Zone and the summer sun sets closer to 10 PM. Of course it rises an hour later, which affects me as an early morning riser, and appears to be a desirable situation to DAB.
It’s quite noticeable to me as an East Coaster to drive to Michigan in one day and note the dramatic change in daylight, at any time of year.
02-11-15, 02:57 PM
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Welcome to Boston!! I wrote my experiences at "Where do Boston cyclists ride?" thread last summer. You can access it via https://www.bikeforums.net/northeast/...l#post16950775 You'll love it here if you like 30-50 mile rides. Towns are usually 10 miles away from each other and each has its beautiful offerings.
As you point out it gets darker here early. I used to live in Rochester, NY where I was able to leave home 7pm and get back after 9:30 whole summer with no issue. Here it's more difficult to ride on weekdays after work. Even during the longest days of June/July, it gets dark around 8:30pm. So your evening rides may be limited to 20 mile rides even on long days. I don't prefer riding before work but if that's something you could do, sunrise is much earlier than MI here. So you could potentially leave home at 5 am and still not need a headlight.
As you point out it gets darker here early. I used to live in Rochester, NY where I was able to leave home 7pm and get back after 9:30 whole summer with no issue. Here it's more difficult to ride on weekdays after work. Even during the longest days of June/July, it gets dark around 8:30pm. So your evening rides may be limited to 20 mile rides even on long days. I don't prefer riding before work but if that's something you could do, sunrise is much earlier than MI here. So you could potentially leave home at 5 am and still not need a headlight.
02-11-15, 04:18 PM
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When you get here, check out the Charles River Wheelmen. They have rides scheduled almost every weekend of the year. No need to join to ride with them, just sign a waiver.
02-16-15, 07:13 AM
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I'm coming late to this particular party, and the other posters have already given you a good synoptic view. One factor that I don't think you've specified is where you'll be working, and how you'll commute there. This will matter, as it will tend to bias you to settle in or near one or another of the several good-riding areas people have mentioned. Another thing that will take some getting used to is the patchwork of settlement and land-use patterns here, a reflection of economic history. Starting from an agricultural and trading economy, we were one of earliest adopters of the water-powered industrial revolution, which left us with a network of old mill towns along streams and rivers, along with later layers of technology-driven light industry and automobile-oriented suburban sprawl along post-war highways (e.g., Route 128); there are also significant holes in the map made by military bases and various flavors of conservation land (some of these present riding opportunities of their own). Learning to navigate through this geographic complexity takes a little time, but rewards effort.
For the dark season, I ride mostly after work, mostly on the Minuteman: LEDs are our friends. For the cold season, studded tires are a wonderful advantage, but coming from Michigan, you know that.
Enjoy.
rod
For the dark season, I ride mostly after work, mostly on the Minuteman: LEDs are our friends. For the cold season, studded tires are a wonderful advantage, but coming from Michigan, you know that.
Enjoy.
rod
Last edited by rholland1951; 02-16-15 at 07:18 AM.
02-16-15, 08:46 AM
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I live in what's know as the "Metrowest" area and it's good for cycling. big cycling community in the Carlisle area, not far from me. Stow, MA is pretty. Acton has lots of services. Concord is expensive. my town has town center, sidewalks and needed services incl a movie theater, just 40 min NW of the city, easy access to plenty of highways and commuter train. love it here and the real estate prices are lower than most. easy to get on the bike and rack up 30-50 miles no problem. I can even bike to Boston, it's just about 23 miles away past apple orchards and corn fields then through a couple suburbs until reaching the city. kinda fun even if the rd hazards increase in the city. I won't tell ya what town tho, don't want the rates to rise! :-) :-)
02-16-15, 10:21 AM
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I'm coming late to this particular party, and the other posters have already given you a good synoptic view. One factor that I don't think you've specified is where you'll be working, and how you'll commute there. This will matter, as it will tend to bias you to settle in or near one or another of the several good-riding areas people have mentioned. Another thing that will take some getting used to is the patchwork of settlement and land-use patterns here, a reflection of economic history…
I live in what's know as the "Metrowest" area and it's good for cycling...my town has town center, sidewalks and needed services incl a movie theater, just 40 min NW of the city, easy access to plenty of highways and commuter train. love it here and the real estate prices are lower than most. easy to get on the bike and rack up 30-50 miles no problem. I can even bike to Boston, it's just about 23 miles away past apple orchards and corn fields then through a couple suburbs until reaching the city. kinda fun even if the rd hazards increase in the city. I won't tell ya what town tho, don't want the rates to rise! :-) :-)
Last edited by Jim from Boston; 02-16-15 at 11:04 AM.
