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Metro Boston: Good ride today?

Old 04-29-22, 04:57 PM
  #9976  
rholland1951
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After two days of talking myself out of rides, I talked myself into one Friday afternoon, taking the Ebisu for a windblown ride on the Minuteman.


Speaking of the wind, here's a picture of it.


Pretty much the first thing you get to in Lexington that isn't Mal's is a secluded little park on Bow Street. Somebody appears to have donated a chair to it, for quiet contemplation. Wonderful!


rod

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Old 04-30-22, 02:14 PM
  #9977  
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today was right on the money

I think my new favorite riding temperature is 56 degrees!

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Old 04-30-22, 05:10 PM
  #9978  
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Took the Ocean Air Cycles Rambler and rode East.


Aside from allowing me to pay my respects at the Kurukulla Center's stupa, it got me the usual round of drills in the flats and hills of Arlington, Medford, Malden, Melrose, and Stoneham: climbs, descents, and dodge-em, in cool, sunny weather with an ESE wind that gave me a headwind outbound, a tailwind inbound, and a contrary crosswind at odd moments. Only a couple of photos for this one, too busy riding.


rod

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Old 04-30-22, 08:41 PM
  #9979  
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Originally Posted by rumrunn6
today was right on the money

I think my new favorite riding temperature is 56 degrees!
I just got another look at that photo, and realized it's shot from above. How... ?

rod
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Old 04-30-22, 09:29 PM
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Originally Posted by rholland1951
I just got another look at that photo, and realized it's shot from above. How... ?
camera stick

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Old 04-30-22, 09:30 PM
  #9981  
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if anyone can't sleep
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Old 05-03-22, 08:19 PM
  #9982  
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Took the Rawland Nordavinden for a quick sprint before dinner on the Mystic Valley Parkway, along the Mystic Lakes.


Last chance for a dry ride for 24 hours or so.


rod
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Old 05-06-22, 03:56 AM
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took a dark spin around the Assabet perimeter roads, at dusk, last night. dumb-dumb decided he didn't need lights. I did have a cpl marker type lights that use only watch batteries. better than nothing I guess. but riding thru water in near darkness was spooky to say the least. after 45-55 minutes, by time I got back to my car, it was completely dark. would have been OK if I did it all an hour earlier. but I picked up the MTB from the shop, after work, then had to swap on the summer tires. but when I got home with the bike, I put my feet up on the couch for a good 20 minutes. yada yada yada shudda brought lights. good news is the wheel hub service & new drivetrain components feel great & I had no trouble hill climbing & zero sign of chain suck. even tried cleated pedals / shoes on the MTB for the first time. I might just keep them but not 100% sure I want to deal with them & cleaning them in sand or mud



the FEMA bunker was a welcome lit-up oasis

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Old 05-06-22, 04:02 AM
  #9984  
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Originally Posted by rholland1951
Took the Rawland Nordavinden for a quick sprint before dinner on the Mystic Valley Parkway, along the Mystic Lakes.
Last chance for a dry ride for 24 hours or so.
that curvy road gif is quite good
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Old 05-06-22, 11:03 AM
  #9985  
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Originally Posted by rumrunn6
took a dark spin around the Assabet perimeter roads, at dusk,



That stretched your sensorium, for sure!

rod
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Old 05-06-22, 11:24 AM
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Originally Posted by rholland1951
That stretched your sensorium, for sure!
tempted to put together a short video, mostly nothing but blackness cuz the sport cam can't capture what my eyes were able to see. so the video would be blackness but the sounds of the night, the frogs, the birds?, the gunshots & the sound of bike tires over gravel & thru water
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Old 05-08-22, 11:39 PM
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Last Thursday's bright and balmy weather already seems like a pleasant dream. My grown son John and I met up that afternoon at Seven Hills Park, Davis Square, to go for a ride. Most of our recent rides had been out the Minuteman, and John wondered if there were good routes to the North. I described a couple to him, and Bike to the Sea/Northern Strand caught his interest, so off we went.


I had us ride from Davis Square to Alewife on the available paths, and then pick up the Alewife Greenway to get over to the Mystic River. Crossed the Mystic on River Street/Harvard Ave., then on into West Medford, onto High Street, and across the tracks. Up and over the High Street hill, then up and over again at the Winthrop Square rotary, followed by a fast descent into Medford Center. In the flats now, we pedaled out Riverview and picked up the path system through the series of parks that culminates in the Mystic River State Reservation.


John climbed the lookout tower, and had a look, while I made sure the bikes didn't become autonomous vehicles and pedal off without us.


John played a glissando on the chimes as he rode past on his Cross Check.


We continued on River Path, then crossed the busy Fellsway and rode through Station Landing Park and picked up the Wellington Greenway as it paralleled the Orange Line tracks. At the mouth of the Malden River, we paused to look across the Mystic at the Amelia Earhart Dam, which keeps the salty, tidal harbor water from inundating the fresh water of the Mystic Valley, while providing traffic on the river with access to the sea. We'll be hearing more about that as the sea level rises.


On past Wellington Station and its parking lot, then under Route 16 on a well-maintained but very nearly secret path, and through the parkland of the River's Edge district. There's a small hill with a fierce grade here, to remind us that all trails did not start life as railroad tracks.


Leaving the parkland and briefly on the road, we rode a few blocks that took us out of Medford, into Malden, across the Malden River, and onto the Northern Strand Community Trail, a.k.a. Bike to the Sea. This is paved for its entire length, with the caveat that there's more work to do at the Lynn/Nahant end, and various extension projects are underway. We pedaled out the Northern Strand through Malden, and then on into Revere, stopping to admire the street art decorating the US-1 overpass.


We paused again to admire the Rumney Marsh, which appeared to be at high tide just at that moment. Infrastructure fans may notice on the horizon the waste-to-energy plant that buries its ash in huge pits dug in the wetland. It's enough to make one hesitate to take out the garbage.


Following the Northern Strand, we rode out of Revere and into Saugus, through woodland and suburban neighborhoods that ultimately got us to the Saugus River estuary, where we paused for a few minutes near the new bridge.


We crossed the Saugus River and rode into Lynn, and out a section of the trail built on a causeway through the estuary.


When we reached dry land again, we turned around, and proceeded by a somewhat more direct route to our dinners with all deliberate speed. I discovered I hadn't recorded a track (drat!), but worked out the distance as 32 miles through Somerville, Cambridge, Arlington, Medford, Malden, Revere, Saugus, and Lynn. I think this satisfied John's desire for route novelty, and we agreed to start earlier some time and ride all the way to Nahant.

And then the weather changed. But that's a story for another day.

rod

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Old 05-09-22, 04:13 AM
  #9988  
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Originally Posted by rholland1951
Last Thursday's bright and balmy weather already seems like a pleasant dream. My grown son John and I met up that afternoon at Seven Hills Park, Davis Square, to go for a ride. Most of our recent rides had been out the Minuteman, and John wondered if there were good routes to the North. I described a couple to him, and Bike to the Sea/Northern Strand caught his interest, so off we went.
he asked the right person! an early Fathers' Day event, eh? told my kids if they wanted to, for Fathers' Day, to go for a ride w/ me, would be fun for me. (& Mom would get a day-off)
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Old 05-09-22, 08:25 AM
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Originally Posted by rumrunn6
he asked the right person! an early Fathers' Day event, eh? told my kids if they wanted to, for Fathers' Day, to go for a ride w/ me, would be fun for me. (& Mom would get a day-off)
My kids, when little, loved those rides that were matched to their stamina at the time. I think I occasionally overdid it, and there were some protests. But as they got old enough to ride me into the ground--if it came to that--a pleasant time was had by all, and it became a preferred way for me to keep in touch with my grown children.

rod
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Old 05-09-22, 06:58 PM
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got out & back before sunset this time

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Old 05-09-22, 09:57 PM
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Originally Posted by rumrunn6
got out & back before sunset this time

Beautiful!

rod
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Old 05-10-22, 12:30 AM
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Friday, non-bicycle priorities got the better of me. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, the promised change in the weather occurred, which made the TV weather witches gleeful as it came when conjured from their mathematical models. They explained it at great length, but the relevant part was this: for days at a time, we'd have gusty winds from the NE or ENE, not our usual directions, and colder than is absolutely desirable in May. This weather seemed like an opportunity to me.

Saturday: with Boreas huffing and puffing, I took the LHT East for my standard ration of hills and traffic. The promised sea breeze was in effect, and all the normal winds were running backwards. The LHT has exceptional stability in the wind, with its long-wheelbase touring bike geometry and frame and its 44mm Compass Snoqualmie Pass Extralight tires. It behaved true to form, and I had a vigorous ride at a brisk pace.


Sunday: as I remember it, this was the windiest of the three days, and I took the Ebisu All Purpose Bicycle out to dance with the gusts. This is another bike with a lot of stability, and nimbleness to boot, but the 32mm Compass Stampede Pass Extralight tires necessarily have a smaller contact patch than the bike before and the bike after it, a fact whose significance I realized as I blew by the Knights of Columbus on Winslow Street in Arlington, approaching the Mystic Street intersection, and was blown 3' sideways in turn by a vicious cross-wind that appeared to be amplified by a wind tunnel between buildings. I've encountered this wind tunnel before, but Winslow Street is my preferred dismount point from the Minuteman, and I'm loath to detour from it. I noted with interest that there was a brief but undeniable shimmy when this happened. If that recurs, I may need to adjust the preload on the Stronglight headset. All this occurred at the end of a pleasant, if windblown, ride out the Minuteman.


Sunday: the winds worked all day, still from the NE, but had abated somewhat when I took a quick ride out along the Mystic Lakes before dinner and before Arlington Town Meeting. I took the Surly Trucker DeLuxe, rolling with 55mm Compass Rat Trap Pass Extralights. If want of a large contact patch is the problem, this is the solution. It was a calm ride at a brisk pace on a quiet evening.


Cool breezes notwithstanding, Spring was trying to force a passage and take possession of May. It's still trying.


rod

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Old 05-11-22, 09:48 AM
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Not exactly Metro

I haven't posted in BikeForums in years but got a nice message from rholland1951 requesting an update. This is from today's gravel ride in the Berkshires, where I now live and ride.

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Old 05-11-22, 03:18 PM
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Originally Posted by buzzman
I haven't posted in BikeForums in years but got a nice message from rholland1951 requesting an update. This is from today's gravel ride in the Berkshires, where I now live and ride.

@buzzman, that looks beautiful! Definitely qualifies for honorary metro status.

rod
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Old 05-11-22, 08:58 PM
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This was one of the perfect riding days: temperatures in the low 60s, a gentle NE breeze, 5mph as opposed to 20. Took the Rawland Nordavinden out on the Minuteman for a fast spin out to Lexington Center and back, cleared my head before dinner and before Arlington Town Meeting. Arrived home devoid of mental contents, Mission Accomplished!


rod
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Old 05-12-22, 08:41 AM
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Originally Posted by buzzman
I haven't posted in BikeForums in years but got a nice message from rholland1951 requesting an update. This is from today's gravel ride in the Berkshires, where I now live and ride
well, that's a slice of heaven, eh? looks like a peaceful place to ride!
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Old 05-12-22, 08:42 AM
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Originally Posted by rholland1951
This was one of the perfect riding days: temperatures in the low 60s, a gentle NE breeze, 5mph as opposed to 20. Took the Rawland Nordavinden out on the Minuteman for a fast spin out to Lexington Center and back, cleared my head before dinner and before Arlington Town Meeting. Arrived home devoid of mental contents, Mission Accomplished!
love the repeating shadow! never fail to surprise & innovate w/ the animated gifs!
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Old 05-12-22, 06:49 PM
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Took the Ebisu All Purpose Bicycle out for a mental health ride on the Minuteman in the late afternoon. The Minuteman disappeared, along with its users, their behaviors, and their little dogs, too. All that was left was cranking along on the bicycle. I made good time, and didn't collide with any of the disappeared.


rod

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Old 05-13-22, 01:14 PM
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I've been mostly doing the routine MM ride out to Bedford and back the past couple of weeks, riding the Fuji. This morning I continued on the Reformatory Branch to Concord. The trail was quite dry, even the usual quagmire at the Bedford Concord line. There were lots of people in the woods - dog walking, jogging and biking.

Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge:



Coming back on the MM around lunchtime was borderline hectic. I guess the nice weather brought everyone out. The MM will be crazy this weekend I bet. Speaking of which, there are signs up listing an organized run on Sunday morning, May 15th, 2022.

Tom
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Old 05-13-22, 10:37 PM
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Took the Rivendell Appaloosa out for a ride in the beautiful weather Friday afternoon, up the Minuteman to Depot Park, then on to the Narrow Gauge Rail Trail as far as the Billerica line.


Here and there the frogs sang beautifully.


Helical strakes, my favorite.


Plenty of greenery enfolding the NGRT, but also plenty of dry dust on the trail surface. If I rode over to the Cambridge Reservoir, would I see mudflats again?


A bit after the turnaround, the Nitto Billie bars--broad, swept-back handlebars designed for riding with an upright posture--decided to rotate downwards about 45° in the stem. This was a little freakish, since I was wondering how it would be to rotate them down a bit. Telepathically-enabled prototyping?


In any event the bars seemed secure at that angle, and I rode in a more aero posture than anticipated.


I stopped at Battle Road Bikes when I came to it. They were just closing, but Cammy offered to restore the bars, and did: a little of the timely tactical bike adjustment that is one of the reasons so many of us love the place. After that, I rode the Appaloosa home. A block from my driveway, the bar slipped again. I'll take the bike back to the shop next week; it will be interesting to see what's going on here.

rod

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