cmolway

Getting up for a pre-work ride nowadays means starting the ride in the dark. That coupled with temps in the 60s (for a refreshing change) makes it feel like summer is quickly coming to an end. Before we know it, we'll be donning arm and leg warmers, shoe covers while stuffing a wind vest into back pockets before rolling out.

Rolled a nice and fast 33 miles this morning, averaging just over 20mph. The cool temps and the double espresso before ride helped a bit.

jimmuller 

Orrery, I mentioned that some Boston BF folks hang out in C&V. It should be noted that some of the folks here in "Metro Boston..." ride bikes considerably more modern, and are appropriately fast too!

Re the Minuteman, at the western end in Bedford you can go straight across South St, follow the road around a school, go right at the stop sign at McMahon St. This brings you to a T intersection with Rt62, a nice biking road. Left on 62 goes into Concord, either directly or by a left onto Old Bedford Rd about a mile or so past the Concord/Bedford line. Concord Center is a very popular bike locale. I pick up the MM in Lexington and use that route. From there you can go almost any direction.

jimmuller 

I'll have all (well, almost all) of Sunday free. Sharon sez so! We play a music festival in New Hampshire on Saturday. If I'm not too tired after that I'd like to do some distance on Sunday. My longest single-day ride this year has been 57.7mi. I'd love to do up near 75mi or even my first century, but I'd feel safer doing that with someone. Well, Sharon would feel safer if I was doing that with someone. Also, someone who knows more roads than I would be a welcome resource.

Sharon may want us to hit a farm stand in the morning so that may rule out starting at oh-dark-thirty. But I'm sure Sharon would let me start super early for the right circumstances.

Mind, I ride a '73 Raleigh Gran Sport, not a TNT-powered carbon-fiber lighter-than-air helium-filled uber-bike. I don't mind climbing but I spin rather than hammer up. On the flat I can go at a moderate pace (15-17mph) for a long time, but 20mph is, ahem, for downhills or for short distances. The fastest I've ever ridden (that I know of) was 38.2mph dropping down into a valley in New Hampshire last fall. I will not try to pedal at those speeds!

Oh, and I like to stop to eat.

Or if someone wants to cruise for some moderate distance, that's good too.

cmolway

road a total of 80 miles yesterday. Last ride of the day had me home just before dark. Threw the leg over the saddle this morning at 5:30am--felt like I never got off it. Cool temps, nary a breeze, 35 miles and just over 1000' of climbing before 7am? That's what I call a good start to the day.

jimmuller 

It sure was nice this morning. I did the commute thing this morning.

Unfortunately about 10 minutes into the ride I played the "Let's do something stupid" game. Tried to wait out a stoplight then re-start just as my forward velocity and my skill at track-standing (which is pretty near zero) reached their limits at the same time. Went over as I was trying to start back up because my feet were, um, preoccupied. Scraped my elbow a bit but didn't even tear my jersey. When I got to the office 45 minutes later I found an huge knot had swelled up on my elbow. No pain, just swelling. Walked off to a medical facility quarter of a mile from the office. An hour later I got out with (1) the knowledge that I didn't break anything, (2) a few stiches in the arm where they'd incised the swelling to drain it, (3) instructions to the effect of "Don't do that again." So much fuss over a glorified bruise.

rholland1951

This was the first day of a 10-day vacation, and the only day I'm sure I'll be able to take a long ride. So what did I do? Log in and work through the morning (chump!). Left the house (E. Arlington) at 1, with the notion that I could ride out to Groton and pick up the Nashua River Rail Trail. Sure enough, a run out the Minuteman and then a longer run out Rt 225 got me to Johnson's Drive-In in Groton, a first-rate, old-school purveyor of fried clams and homemade ice cream. Ignored the clams, had a cup of blueberry ice cream that was appropriately blue and tasty. Then rode a few more blocks on 119-225 past Lovers Lane (really) to Old Ayer Road, then a block down that to Peabody St, which Google Maps told me the Nashua River Rail Trail would cross. Rode too far; I'd missed it. Went back to look for it, and found that it ran through a tunnel under Peabody St, about 15' below grade, hidden by overhanging trees. COOL! After the early rush hour traffic on 119-225, this was welcome. Rode North through Groton, Pepperell, and Dunstable, conservation land and working farms. Crossed the New Hampshire line just far enough to spit, and took a picture of my bike leaning against the "Welcome to Nashua" sign, in case my kids don't believe I left the state. Then realized that my late start had left me with the need to not waste time. 119-225 was sufficiently vexing to be worth avoiding on the return, so took 113 E from Pepperell to Dunstable, then bombed down the West side of Massapoag Pond and Cow Pond Brook Resevoir on Hall Street, Old Dunstable Road, Hoyts Wharf Road, and Cow Pond Brook Road. Crossed Rt 40 to West St, zagged through Graniteville back to the rideable section of 225 on the E fringe of Forge Village, and rolled home. At a pit stop in Depot Park, Bedford, ended up jawing about bicycles with another rider for longer than was entirely sensible, and so did the last 10 miles home on the Minuteman in the dark... a familiar pleasure. E. Arlington to Nashua and back on two rail trails and some connective tissue (not counting the fact that I ate a peanut butter sandwich on the first 10 feet of the Bruce Freeman on the way out), 77 miles. Oh yeah, and saw another snake...

rod

bikinggrrrl

YeeHaw! Got to do a short little ride with Cmolway towing his little man while we towed ours. Shared the Sherman Bridge loop then relaxed at Emerson Park while the boys played. Of course I forgot to take photos.

Rod, I am starting to see more snakes these days too. I don't know much about snakes, except that I freak out if they are in my house. Perhaps they are starting to lay the groundwork for hibernation? Or maybe these cooler nights lure them to the warm pavement and make them too sluggish to get out of the way before the next car comes along?

Very cool sight, once again, on the backside of the Old North Bridge. Approaching the summit of the hill, a red tailed hawk swooped down to try to snag something on the other side of the road next to us. He dropped through the trees at a tremendous speed and when about 10 feet off the ground he sat up, spreading wings and tail feathers as large as he could with feet and talons reaching out in front of him. When he spotted us (he was less than 5 feet off the ground), he aborted the hunt and retreated back up into the canopy as silently but not as swiftly as he had come in. It was beautiful!

rholland1951

I like the warm pavement theory, too.

rod

cmolway

I wasn't planning on getting such a workout in--you guys can certainly fly with a trailer! next time we'll do a long ride and spend less time at the park. Thanks again to you and your family for being such wonderful hosts. We look forward to the next "parachute ride".

pocky

So I'm guessing that means you're no longer looking for a partner for a longish ride on Sunday?

jimmuller 

Well, not necessarily no longer looking, if you can decipher the double negative here. We got in late from playing up at the Pemi Valley Bluegrass Festival so I'm getting to bed about 2AM. Sharon wants to hit a farm stand tomorrow morning. Then I can bike! The elbow is doing fine. You got anything in mind? Of course, I may be energy-limited.

Bkg, cmolway, great to hear of your family trip!

rholland1951

How was Pemi?

rod

pocky

I do need a ride today but I'm not necessarily in the mood to ride in thundershowers. Going to keep watching the weather... I'm certain the 4pm MTB ride I was hoping for is not happening due to mud.

I was thinking of taking the Kona and hooking up with the 2pm CommonWheels ride from Allston to the MIT Museum (which is a little short for my taste, if it ends up happening today at all), and then skipping out of the museum pretty quick and heading out for something along the lines of the Blue Heron Trail from Watertown out to Auburndale (with some cyclocross in Cutler Park if it's not too muddy, but probably not on your Gran Sport!) and then wherever from there (no off-road riding required), then back to Allston for beers at the shop if the timing is right.

But I'm up for other options too!

jimmuller 

Pemi was great! No t-storm, no rain until very late, warm and humid but not excessively hot. Great crowd, bunch of very good bands. We were scheduled only for Saturday so I drove home last night. Tough ride home trying to stay awake.

From a musician's standpoint it was very good but there is always one thing, you know. I would have like to have heard the Gibson Brothers, haven't heard them in a few years. But one band, who shall remain nameless, when given the 2-song sign by the MC launched into a song/humor combo that lasted over 25 minutes and of course played a encore (as did every band), hardly fair to every band who followed or to the audience. [Second edit: None of that affected our show. We started just after darkness had settled in and were finished by then.] That's when it started raining too. So we had to pack up and leave before the Gibson Bros started. As one of their guys said to one of ours, it's gonna' make the difference between them getting home at 3Am instead of just 2AM. Still, we had a great time. Seems like everyone else did too!


Yeah, I'm not too keen on riding in rain or t-storms either. We've got a few errands to do and right now it is actively raining.
However "beers at the shop" sounds intriguing. PM me or drop some email jimmuller@rcn.com through the day if the weather clears. Right now though it doesn't look friendly for the GS.

Jim from Boston

On Saturday for my intended Kenmore Square to Norwood 64 mile “commute,” I planned to go by way of Nantasket Beach, Cohasset and Scituate. Back in May I found a nice route to Hingham via Route 53 and Broad Street in Weymouth that bypassed busy Route 3A. At about 5:30 AM as dawn broke, the clouds looked ominous, but the Doppler and hour-by-hour Weatherscan forecasts promised no rain.

I rode Morrissey Boulevard to Quincy to Route 53. In Weymouth I was passed going uphill by cyclist who looked older and heavier than me. About a mile down the road I saw him with a couple other cyclists apparently assembling for a ride. I asked where they were going and they said to the Cape. I told him I was going to work and he said “Come with us, you'll have more fun.”

Shortly afterwards, following my new route via “dead reckoning” I took a dead wrong turn and got pretty lost in Weymouth, adding about four extra miles. That's not a bad thing considering I had a quota of 64. Eventually I found my way back to 3A and as usual it was a busy and heavy duty commercial road for another extra three miles back to Hingham.

From Hingham I went to Nantasket beach and decided to ride the length of the peninsula to Hull. The mid-portion of the peninsula was pretty unremarkable and unshaded, but Hull itself was scenic, and I saw a quite a few cyclists, both well-appointed roadies and casuals. At the tip of the peninsula I had already done 32 miles, so I decided to go back to Norwood and skip Cohasset and Scituate, saving them for another time.

I previously had discovered the beautiful, IMO, Rte 228 through Hingham and took that for its length into Rockland. On my previous excursion I had then taken Rte 139 as a pretty direct but boring route to Randolph, and then on to Canton and Norwood. This time I tried back routes through Weymouth to Braintree and on to Randolph using my AAA paper map. I got lost twice, adding about another 5 miles to the ride. Also I had to stop frequently to check the map, and I think when I ride on an uncertain route, I tend to ride slower. Thus I wasted a lot of time, ultimately arriving at Norwood an hour and a half later than intended, with an additional 9 miles for a total distance of 73. My watchword for these long rides to fit into my work / family schedule is “This far and no farther” (a quote picked up from the evildoer on an episode of Columbo). It's time to shop for a GPS.

A further note on this ride: last week I had to have my handlebars and brake levers replaced. One is always advised not to make any drastic changes before a long bike ride, and this was a shakedown cruise to test out these new arm positions. Kyle at Back Bay Bikes had done a great job and set up the fit quite well.

jimmuller 

Well, we did get a ride in today after all. By late afternoon the sun had come out so when an email invitation from pocky came in Sharon shoved me out the door. Pocky and I planned to meet up in Waverly Square at 5:30 and ride out to Concord and back. That meant getting home perhaps 8PM or later so Sharon made me take the Peugeot because it has lights. Pocky had lights too, which was good because we ended up getting home about 8:30.

It was a very pleasant, if humid, run out through Lexington, Bedford, Concord. We had some nice conversation and general visitin' on the bikes, something I don't get to do very often. We talked about bikes of course, and tandems, and Concord, and life in general. We spent a few minutes walking over the North Bridge and then headed home. By the time we got back to Lexington evening was setting in so we flipped on our lights for the rest of the run. (My brother called my cell phone then too. Good timing. I have to call him back. After dinner.)

The light served us well coming down the hills past Belmont CC and McLean Hospital. 31.2mph on a bumpy surface in growing darkness... By the time we got to Waverly it was pretty dark. So the possible beer session didn't happen. Bummer, maybe next time.

It was great to meet fellow BF member pocky. Great ride too, and unexpected considering the morning's weather. 34.5mi. Thanks for the prompt!

pocky

Yes, it was so humid my glasses were fogging up randomly! Not enough to be a problem, but enough to be a bit annoying. I found them fogging up a bit on my commute today, too. I can't recall ever having had this happen before, but then again, it's really not usually this humid.

Great ride -- I can't believe that in 15 years of living in Boston, I'd never been out to Minuteman National Historical Park before. And great to meet Jim in person. We'll have to schedule that beer in next time!

mtalinm

my son is going on a 3-day bike trip on MV starting Thursday. he *really* likes the folding bike, I think in part because it will grow with him (he's already taller than me, at 13).

of course I souped-up the folder a few months back with drop bars, 451 wheels, and road brakes. he doesn't know how to use STI shifters, and although I spent some time trying to teach him he got really nervous. also tried to convince him to take the Trek Soho instead, but he really wanted the folder.

so I spent a few hours tonight tearing it down to the frame (well, I left the crank in place too) and building it back up with the original 8-speed drivetrain, flat bar, and v-brakes. also transplanted the Topeak rack and bag from the Soho so he has enough carry space for all his camping gear.

will take it for a test ride in the morning. i think the derailleur is a little bent, so the shifting isn't perfect. but we'll see how he does.

I think I will reward myself for this effort with a new Xootr Swift frameset, which I will then build up the "right" way :-)

jimmuller 

Sure which I knew what the heck you were talking about! They didn't have any of that stuff when I was growing up. Dnt hv txtng ethr.

But good luck to your son on his trip!

On our Concord run the other day pocky and I saw a young fellow zipping down a sidewalk on a skateboard while txtng. Either he's going to contribute to the evolution of an enhanced life form with a wondrous new skill set or he won't live long enough to have prodigy. Either way he's a possible Darwin Award finalist. Of course, the same could be said for people who ride crazy two-wheeled contraptions at speeds over 10mph. With both wheels in a straight line so it is bound to fall over.

The weather and considerations at work have conspired to make bike-commuting not such a good idea this week. I'm getting fidgety. This weekend is committed to music so not much riding is likely then either. Maybe I can swing it tomorrow.

pocky

I've done the commute every day this week, including through the rain last night, unfortunately.
My evening opera gig in Roxbury is in production week, and getting there at rush hour any way *but* by bike is prohibitively annoying.

godshammgod

First real road ride in about 2+ weeks. Ended up with a nice hour around my wonderful hometown of Marblehead. Back actually felt pretty good. Threw in a few hard ''efforts'' here and there. Good to be riding again finally. Though I let my legs get way too hairy...

mtalinm

quick spin on the San Antonio bike share: https://connect.garmin.com/activity/106018857. more tomorrow.

jimmuller 

Got out for 10 quick miles into Cambridge and back yesterday. On the return I stopped for a short while to listen to a bluegrass band playing in Saltonstall Park (Watertown).

Today I did the car/train/bike commute thing. After last week today's weather was spectacular. Bit of a headwind heading west this morning, then a bit more when the route turned north. Coming home this afternoon the light had the yellow glow of autumn. Sun is setting earlier too.

pocky

After the gig last night, I beat the rest of the cast (who were driving cars) to the bar. Mashing up to the top of Beacon St at the end was fun on Schwinnie's fixed 52-16. The wife just went out of town, so today before the show, I think I'll take the MTB and the pooch to Blue Hills and run him silly.

The conversation last night went something like this:

Me: Where are we going?
Soprano: The Publick House.
Me: Cool, I'll see you there.
Soprano: How long will that take you?
Me: About 20 minutes.
Soprano: But that's how long it will take us to drive.
Me: I ride fast.
Soprano: Don't you want to leave your bike here and I'll drive you there and then home? I have a key to the hall and can drive you here again tomorrow and you can get your bike then.
Me: Nah, it's nice out, and I like to ride.
Soprano: We'll save you a seat.
Me: Nah, I'll probably beat you.
[shocked silence]

Ahh, sopranos.

jimmuller 

How many [sopranos/banjo players/violinists/guitarists] does it take to change a light bulb?

What? You've got to be kidding, right?