rholland1951

I waited to take the Rambler out until the Thursday rainstorms had headed out to Massachusetts Bay to go whale watching, leaving us with wet roads and a little drizzle. When I went to air up the tires, the rear tire's valve core tried to make a run for it. By now this was a well-known, well-loved trick for Schwalbe tubes, and I not only restrained the little mechanical delinquent, but had a small valve core wrench in my pocket for just this contingency, and a tube of fluorine grease readily to hand to anoint the valve core threads.


Then it was once more onto the Minuteman; the idea was to assess the Rambler's handling--traction, braking, shifting--in wet conditions.


Traction was fine, the Pasela treads on the Soma C-Lines seemed to have plenty of grip, and I cranked along at a brisk pace without qualms. Never a hint of a skid. Braking took a bit of attention, but was manageable, the Paul Racers doing their jobs. After the first shift or two, the derailleurs shrugged off the water. No complaints about the SKS Longboard fenders, they kept water out of the machinery and off my feet.

The Minuteman was pleasantly empty for much of the ride. Wet weather is good for that, I guess. By the end of the ride, conditions were improving, and folks were coming out to try their luck.


rod

Ghazmh

Lots of talk about our collective new favorite LBS. Yesterday I picked up my Trek Boone 7 cross bike from BRB. they replaced the aged and well worn bottom bracket bearings. I’ll leave the studded tires on for another few weeks just in case.

rholland1951

Good move. Premature stud removal causes snow.

rod

mr_bill

Just a pic of the new Arlington High School entrance.

With old bike parking at capacity.

Plus a few bikes locked where they aren't supposed to be.

Plus many more bikes locked (off frame) where they can be.

The times
They are
A changin'



-mr. bill

rholland1951

Took the Ocean Air Cycles Rambler out for a shimmy test Friday afternoon. Low-trail bikes are sometimes prone to shimmy. It's easy to tell if that's an issue on a bike: ride fast down a steep hill. If the frame oscillates alarmingly, you've got the shimmy. Putting a hand, or a thigh, on the top tube for a moment will damp the vibration. This is by and large a problem that can be fixed, most often by using a needle bearing headset and putting just enough of a pre-load on it to damp the shimmy. I went through that process with my Rawland Nordavinden, when I first had it on the road. My Rambler has a Token headset that was inherited from a previous owner, and I didn't know enough of the history of the bike to know its pre-load status, so a test was in order, as part of the larger series of shake down rides.

My route for the test involved two steep descents in Lexington, on Paul Revere Road and Massachusetts Avenue, plus enough of the Minuteman to get me out and back, 15 miles in all. It's a pleasant hill ride just for the fun of it, but in this case it was convenient for diagnostic purposes. The longer, higher hill, on Mass. Ave., starts at the Old Stone Store and descends to the Battle Green.


I clocked 28 mph on the descent, and had no shimmy whatsoever. I'd say the bike passed. FWIW, I had a small bag with a U lock in it on a Mark's Rack over the front wheel, so the front was lightly loaded. Front loading is thought to be one of the variables affecting shimmy.


So, no shimmy, but a speedy ride to the bottom of the hill. I'll take it!

rod

rholland1951

Saturday, I took the Rambler and rode East.


This time it was the Rambler's turn to go whizzing over the hills and in and out of traffic, through Arlington, Medford, Malden, Melrose, and Stoneham, cutting well-known and well-loved capers. The clouds suggested that the forecast afternoon rain might actually make an appearance, so perhaps wet capers would be cut at some point.


Sure enough, rain moved in towards the end of the afternoon, not perhaps as much as the weather witches had offered, but enough to cure the day's drought, and give the bike's tires something to dip their toes into. I was dressed for the occasion, and only got a little wet.


During the rainy end of the ride, I found some of the drivers in Medford unusually testy, and was honked at two or three times on High Street. It was as if they were themselves unnerved by the rain, and thought I should be, too. Or perhaps they thought riding in the rain is inherently dangerous, and wanted me to appreciate the gravity of my situation, a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. However, Occam's Razor suggests a cleaner and more likely hypothesis is that they were simply self-absorbed characters communicating their importance, like silly geese. HONK!!!

Technical note: I dropped the tire pressure from 50/55 PSI to 45/50. The 38mm tires were getting a little bouncy at the higher pressure.

rod

rholland1951

Took the Rambler on a late-afternoon ride on the Minuteman, a cold wind gusting from the WNW, making for a toilsome headwind outbound, a jolly tailwind inbound. The clouds looked cold, and served to deliver a warning of colder days to come.


rod

rholland1951

The cold wind did blow into town, a little optional Winter for those inclined to indulge, or unable to escape. I preferred to stay in doors and put a few finishing touches on the Rivendell Rambouillet: lights, a loud bell, a second bottle cage, a quick release seatpost binder bolt, and a saddlebag to carry a U-lock, spare inner tube, tire tools, and other needfuls.




It'll be a bit warmer tomorrow. I'll ride then.

rod

rholland1951

A bit warmer, yeah. Upper 30s, with a gusty WNW wind. I took the old Rivendell Rambouillet (there are no new Rivendell Rambouillets, although this one is new to me), and rode the first of several shakedown rides.


I stopped in at Battle Road Bikes to have the handlebar and saddle angles tweaked (thaks, Matt!), then continued to ride. The sun was bright enough to stripe the trail with tree-trunk barcodes.


The Ram moved through the buffeting headwind with relative ease and grace, and, after the turnaround, sped ahead of the tailwind with acceleration seemingly limited only by my willingness to pedal. Wheee! I had no idea this bike was so speedy. I look forward to learning more.

Meanwhile, the Mile 4.0 Cairn Builders have been at it again. Cue "Also Sprach Zarathustra"...


rod

bike_tom

I decided to venture westward beyond the Bedford Depot for the first time this season. How was the Reformatory Branch Trail (RBT) ? It was pretty good. There were some muddy spots, such as near the Bedford Concord line, but I would say it was better than average. I bridged the gap from the Depot to the RBT via the path along Elm and Mongo brooks, which was quite dry. Here's a view looking north along the Mongo toward the RBT:



At the Route 62 parking lot I had an extended conversation with a local resident about the pros and cons of the pending plans to pave the Bedford part of the RBT. Personally I am neutral on the paving, though I like the planned underpass at Route 62.

Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge (GMNWR) was very peaceful:




I made it to Trails End at Lowell Rd and then retraced my route. Back at the Bedford Depot, I had the seating circle to myself. The fresh mulch is a sure sign of Spring:



Round trip from Arlington and back was 28 miles.

Here is the all-important restroom status report:

Bedford Depot: still closed for the season.
GMNWR: restrooms closed, two porta-potties
Lexington Visitor Center: saw someone use one when I was outbound (about 2pm), closed when I wanted to use one on the way home (about 4:15)
Minuteman Historical Park: (status from walk my wife and I did there last Sunday): closed, signs say re-opening April 1st.

rholland1951

Got out on the Rambouillet late Wednesday afternoon, temperature in the upper 40s and the wind, such a faithful companion for the last few days, strangely absent. I rode my habitual short route on the Minuteman at the fastest pace thus far this year. I also made a minor adjustment to the saddle, which solved a small, nagging fit issue. It has occurred to me that one of the functions of acquiring this bike was to trick myself into trying a Brooks B17. Good trick, I like it.


rod

bike_tom

I think this is a good place to post some news about what Bedford refers to as the "Minuteman Bikeway Extension", which we typically refer to in this thread as the "Reformatory Branch Trail", as it is called by the Friends of Bedford Depot Park. This project has been in planning for some time, was approved by Bedford Town Meeting at several stages, and is in the MA DOT 2022 budget:

https://www.bedfordma.gov/department...ension-project

https://hwy.massdot.state.ma.us/Proj...JECT_NO=607738

Apparently it arose recently that some of the land along the right-of-way is in private hands, not the town of Bedford's. To proceed, Bedford needs to acquire that land. There were articles among those voted on at this week's Town Meeting to approve that expenditure. I was curious how that played out, so I went looking for news on what happened. Here it is:

https://www.thebedfordcitizen.org/20...-meeting-2022/

I am happy to ride the trail either way. Well, maybe some preference for it remaining dirt. I do think that paving it, along with Concord's section, would make it more likely that we would someday see a direct connection to the Bruce Freeman. For that I would give up having a readily accessible stretch of mostly doubletrack packed earth to ride.

rholland1951

Took the Rambouillet on a sunset ride along the first mile of the Mystic River and the Eastern shore of the Mystic Lakes, turning back where the Aberjona flows into the Upper Mystic Lake. Temperatures in the low 50s, with a stiff W wind that wanted to dance with the bike.
















rod

rholland1951

Saturday, I took the Rivendell Rambouillet and rode East.


This was the by-now traditional hills-and-traffic route through Arlington, Medford, Malden, Melrose, and Stoneham, variations on a theme with plenty of alternative route decisions available. This time, the wind called the tune, with 25 mph gusts augmenting the gradients of the hills and trying to help steer the bike. The Rambouillet likes to climb, handled well in the wind, and inspired confidence in speedy descents. It also behaved nimbly in traffic, holding a line and dodging pot holes in turn, with steering that I began to think of as "obedient".


Paused for a minute on the Northern Strand to take this photo, just because I thought the color of the bike and the color of the C0R-TEN steel mast harmonized nicely.


It seems Melrose has developed an infestation of garden devils. Harder than it used to be to find a good landscaper with exorcism skills.


rod

rumrunn6

not a sunny day, but it was nice to get out for a roll around town


was fun & interesting using the new sportcam

rholland1951

Rode the Rambouillet on a quick sprint along the East bank of the Mystic Lakes this afternoon, 6 miles in half an hour. This photo is from the Tufts Sailing Pavilion on the Upper Mystic Lake, which gets traffic from a diverse group of users over the course of the year: sailors, of course, but also distance swimmers, sunbathers, people staying cool with their dogs (including the legendary Giant Schnauzer), unsanctioned skaters when the lake is frozen, kayakers, paddleboarders, and, on this cool early spring day, a solitary fisherman.


rod

bike_tom

Took a quick ride out and back to Bedford Depot on the MM this afternoon. Beautiful weather. Outbound headwind, which seems to be the norm.

I was pleased to see that the Bedford Depot restrooms are now open for the season, even on weekdays:



There is a news item about this on the Depot website: What's New from FBDP

BTW: the water fountains are not on yet at either Lexington or Bedford.

Tom

rholland1951

On the Rambouillet again Monday for a quick spin up the Minuteman in the mid-afternoon, headwind outbound, tailwind inbound, with lots of sunlight and a comfortable riding temperature.


Several dozen merry cross country runners were on maneuvers. Popular sport: they just kept coming.


The Ghost Bike welcomed Spring in its own way..


As I rode past a vernal pool, I was treated to several rounds of frog song. Froggy, it seems, did indeed go a-courtin'.

rod

rumrunn6

wow! special thanks to the mystery person!
EXCERPT:
March 30, 2022 Freight House Public Restrooms
An anonymous donor is making possible the opening of the Freight House public restrooms on weekdays in April, a time of the year when they ordinarilly would be open only on weekends.

THANK YOU for lettings us know!

rholland1951

Tuesday, I took the Ocean Air Cycles Rambler out for a spin on the Minuteman in the mid-afternoon. The weather was above reproach, and the number of trail users didn't quite qualify for "throng" status, but did make a good faith attempt. Speaking of vernal pools, here's one in Lexington.


rod

rholland1951

Reached for the Ebisu All Purpose Bicycle this afternoon. It's the only bike in the stable named for a Shinto deity, the lucky fisherman.


Aside from the normal recreational function of the ride, I needed to redeliver a copy of The New Yorker that the USPS had delivered to me by mistake. Its intended target lived the next street over, at the parallel address. He even had a first name that could easily enough be mistaken for mine, if you were in a hurry and trying not to get any names stuck to your brain. This occasioned the FIRST USE of the rat trap on the Pletscher rack that the Battle Road Bikes folks were kind enough to install on the Ebisu recently, along with a set of Honjo fenders, as part of a general overhaul/partial rebuild.


The rat trap worked nicely for the purpose, and I continued up Mass. Ave. to pick up the Minuteman in Arlington Center. I stopped to chat with Sam, who wanted to talk about fishing. Must have been the bike.


I went cranking out the Minuteman, making good time, the wind unnoticed at my back outbound, noticed a lot in my teeth inbound. The clouds said rain was coming, and the weather radar concurred. But not for a while.


Like many another old railroad right of way, the Minuteman conceals chthonic infrastructural complexities: in this case, a regionally-important sewer main. Maintenance equipment added two or three additional classes of trail user today. I believe that we really, really want those folks to be successful at their tasks.


There are times when encountering the artifacts of the Mile 4.0 Cairn Builders make me feel like Indiana Jones. However, I don't see a whip playing well with spoked bicycle wheels, and so the moment passes.

rumrunn6

wow that folder really stayed put, eh?

rholland1951

It did. The rat trap may turn out to be useful.

rod

rholland1951

Took the LHT and rode East on a bright, windy Friday afternoon.


Climbs, descents, gusts, traffic. Lots of all of that. Good day for it. It reminded me why I love the LHT: stability in chaos.

rod

rumrunn6

if anyone knows this dog or it's owner, my Doctor would like to know if the dog has had it's shots





we met for brunch today, with me as the main course, near Great Meadows Rd, on the Reformatory Branch Trail, at the field which is C. Courtney Comeau Land, Concord MA 4/9/22 8:30am. if you see them & the dog is off leash, brace yourself




link to map
https://goo.gl/maps/f4fvDfmENsvht8cYA