Ghazmh

thanks! I don’t recall getting that close to the water. There was one beautiful clearing overlooking a grassy wooded area with whisps of early morning autumn fog. I anticipate getting back in there maybe next Saturday. It’s a tad too far for my morning ride routes and sundays I really enjoy the group rides I’ve been doing.

My New Years resolution should be to stop and take more pictures.

jimmuller 

@autonomy, you have permission to complain about the MM all you want. Some of those rider can be pretty obnoxious. The abundance of 'destrians doesn't help but that's no excuse for riders being discourteous. I call out "passing on your left" or some variant for every pedestrian and bike I pass (and I pass about as many bikes as pass me). If I'm in hearing range of another cyclist I try to call out loud enough for them to hear my example. It is rewarding to hear so many pedestrians call out "Thank you" as I go by. I wish other cyclists would get the message. Of course, pedestrians who walk 3 abreast and never seem to notice how they are obstructing the active roadway are a whole 'nother world to complain about.

@rumrunn6, your pics of the Assabet Refuge are great. My sweetie and I walk the loops of the trails there fairly often. Probably go through tomorrow morning. Have you stopped at the Rice Tavern historical marker? (Intersection Winterberry Way and Taylor Way) Somewhere online I have a pic. It's a simple marker that says Rice Tavern 1700-1815, IIRC. Someone built a tavern there more than 300 years ago and it lasted for 115 years. Pretty cool.

Ghazmh

I covered 30 miles on my freshly cleaned and waxed Seven Redsky before the 36 miles group ride with RSC. After that I rode another 34 miles for a grand total of 100.15. It was seasonally warm with the beauty of early autumn scenery.

rumrunn6

no! I'll have to look for it! sounds a little like Billingsgate Island!

rholland1951

Counting will be done at Swan Place, adjacent to (or, in case of inclement weather, in) Kickstand Cafe. I'll be taking the noon shift on Tuesday. Please sign up if you can.

rod

Ghazmh

Today I decided to ride my slow and heavy 520 for 61 miles.

jimmuller 

From Sunday:

Only 30 miles, but such miles!

rholland1951

I'm still about three weeks from getting back on the bike, but I did pull the noon to one shift on today's Minuteman count. Beautiful day for it.


rod

rumrunn6

"we" are invited to the BFRT ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new section of trail in West Concord. The ceremony is this Friday September 27, 2019 at 2:00pm. The Friends have ordered perfect weather, special rail trail ice cream, and plenty of cake. Also there will be a free raffle and souvenir map bandannas. The ceremony will be on the trail at Nashoba Brook at the end of the commuter parking lot. Parking will be available in West Concord Village

BFRT on FB

TXBDan

I was driving today, but saw a motorcycle cop pull over a cyclist on Mass Ave today. Near Mass Ave and Bates St., a few blocks down from Lake St. I didn't quite see it, but i think he ran the red light. Is this a regular thing?

Ghazmh

Back in 2017 I was pulled over in Concord for rolling through a 4 way intersection with no other cars around (besides the officer behind me). I got a stern tongue lashing and threats of a ticket.

rholland1951

It's rare (like any other moving violation enforcement in this state), but it does happen. I've seen it twice: once in Arlington Center and once in Concord, at the intersection of Sudbury Road and Route 2. In both cases, the cyclist had made such an egregious maneuver that I cheered the cop for making the stop.

rod

autonomy

On nice spring days and afternoons Arlington seems to post police officers on the Minuteman at the Lake St. and - less commonly - at the Mill St. crossings to educate cyclists that they don't have the right of way and can't just blast out into the crossing at 15MPH and expect cars to stop for them. In the past there were even a couple of pursuits/arrests (ha!)
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...brL/story.html
https://arlington.wickedlocal.com/ne...l-traffic-laws

That's a 'regular thing'. As far as pulling over cyclists, like @rholland1951 said, it's probabl just a fluke - but sure, you can get a ticket for doing something very stupid on your bike. I've read that Cambridge police do frequent stings, pulling over cyclists who run red lights, but have not seen this myself.

As far as riding, I was able to get out for a rare-for-me midday ride this week, just a few miles on 225/Monument St./Virginia Rd. Riding in Lexington was extremely unnerving, with heavy, impatient traffic on roads which are typically empty on weekend mornings. Probably had something to do with avoiding a massive backup on 95 north due to a crash. It quieted down around Bedford and then it was smooth sailing all the way through. Monument St. felt amazing at that time of day, like being somewhere up north in NH/VT, with unmistakable signs of fall being around the corner. I counted more cyclists (not commuters) than expected at this time of day, I think the final number was 8.

jimmuller 

I rode my commute again today. And a spectacular day it was too. I got passed by a Giro Hero on the MM. The riding head-down at maybe 25mph, weaving through tight spaces. I wish the local police would stand out on the MM with radar guns. Courtesy police wouldn't be a bad idea either. Sill, it was nice a day.

jimmuller 

Are you looking for a really really really nice ride to do in early October? Check out this link!
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ccrt-ride.html
Most of us ride vintage bikes and participate regularly in the Classic&Vintage forum. But we don't bite.

The CCRT is 22 miles from Dennis to Wellfleet. This time we will probably start at a new western end to make it about 5 miles or so longer. If we add a short run over to the Atlantic it will be a 50 mile round trip. Really fun. No one has been attacked by a shark on the CCRT on any of the rides we've done.

Ghazmh

I so want to do it! I was already planning to do the CCRT one more time this year, hopefully early mid October. However, I will be in Portsmouth with the wife and kids that weekend.

NomarsGirl

How fast do you ride? I'm kind of slow. I rode it today so i know I can go the distance.

jimmuller 

@Ghazmh, too bad you can't make it. But there is always a next time. You ride a lot anyway!
@NomarsGirl, we don't ride especially fast. At least not by roadie standards. Often we stay more or less together on the way out, or as together a bike riders can be who aren't in a paceline. We usually stop at least at Nickerson on the way out, and Orleans too. But one or two will often head back faster than the rest because they are anxious to finish. If someone is slower there is always someone to keep any eye out and slow down for the company. It is a social occasion, not a competition.

E53 

Here I am while getting an evil hex removed from my Roubaix.


In Boxborough on Hill Road you can usually see these two hanging around.


On Bolton Road in Harvard there is this miniature horse place. I guess they have some donkeys there too.
Anyway, Harvard seems to be the big draw for me this year. One cool thing about it is that I have a friend there who is 89 and still rides. I visit with him every time I'm out there.
The ride is always nice. Starting from Fern's in Carlisle I follow 225 to Powers Rd., and at the end of that, I cross Rt 2A onto Shaker to Goldsmith to Harwood. At the end of Harwood I then choose between three different routes.
There are climbs to be had no matter which way, but I think going left (Taylor) then to Hill Rd. is the most climbing especially when you get to 111 and turn right to get into Harvard.

rholland1951

Going a bit nuts after a month off the bike, I bought a 1982 Specialized Sequoia from another member of the BOB list. It arrived Wednesday, and I spent the next day and a half down in the basement, reassembling it. The draw was the frameset, a good example of the then-current sport-touring geometry, American design, and Japanese materials and craftsmanship. The previous owner's build interested me, with a tasteful selection of components that both converge with and diverge from the choices I habitually make. Aside from swapping pedals (MKS Gammas) and replacing the binder bolt with an old Campy QR bolt (thank you, Mike Kone), I'm leaving the build as-is for the moment; I figure I'll learn something.






Of course, I had to ride it around the block for a smoke test, so I guess I'm back on the bike. I saw my hand surgeon yesterday, and she seems happy with me, so there's less moping and more pedaling (and wrenching) in my immediate future.

rod

mr_bill

So no pics yet, but the Frankndale build is done.

My first contemporary frameset build. Internal electrical wires not hard to put together, though testing the pieces before the bottom bracket went in somewhat reminded me of Ripley’s final interrogation of Ash in Alien.

“You have my sympathies” sans flamethrower.

Longer than expected, Cannondale slaps BB30 stickers on everything, even if they are press fit, even if they are asymmetric. So it took three adapters (with waiting for shipping) and a delay caused by biz trips happen (this time to NOLA) to get the last bits together. Cannondale docs suck, but in the end, the neon red frame with Ultegra bits works well, “Si” be damned.

Have had it out for the obligatory first spin, and mad props to the LBS for comping the confusion and holding my hands just the right amount.

In NOLA, went out on several rides on their BlueBikes (no relation) around town. All the “stories” about riding in NOLA being a [expletive-deleted]show for riding are stories. Mitigating that, compared to Greater Boston it’s Amsterdam. Didn’t even ride along the Mississippi trails, all road (and a bit of Audubon, not to be confused with Autobahn).


Friday afternoon free from biz obligations, headed to Frenchman for music. (Most amusing moment, while walking on the Mississippi levees, tourists asking if that river is the Saint Joseph? Uh, no, that’s the Bright Mississippi. Turns out a local cousin put one over on folks coming to a wedding. Not sure if I wouldn’t want to play poker with the cousin, or would want to play poker with the out of towners.)

Finally, too often after travel biz home biz consumes all for catch up time.

BUT, adult child (now living in Cambridge) invites me to Monty Python on the big screen in Davis. So I take a Lime-E to the Cambridge border, then walk to Davis, dinner and movie. On the flipside, Lime can’t force you to leave the bike within the Geofences, but they can apparently keep you from unlocking a bike outside of the Geofences. All of the bikes in Cambridge and Somerville were “out of service.” So I did the Red Line back to Alewife, then walked to the nearest in service bike (and cursed myself for reporting the bent crank on the first bike).

Other than that, they are very heavy bikes that hide their weight with assist. Off the line, however, a nearly startling amount of torque applied for your convenience.

I miss the Lime-sansE.

-mr. bill

rumrunn6

how was "wrenching" with the hand? & I must have missed a post or two? did you have hand surgery?

mr_bill

Rod style - The Frankndale:



-mr. bill

rholland1951

Wrenching was ok, I've learned to work around the busted middle finger and pinkie on my left hand, and they're in much better shape now than a month ago. The folks in the Mt Auburn ER did the initial work on the hand, stitches and splints, then referred me to a hand surgeon for follow up.

rod

rholland1951

Uncle Sam likes it!

rod