Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

… we assembled at 6 PM on Friday at our condo in Kenmore Square for a leisurely bike ride along the Charles River…

Saturday was a perfect cycling day. Marc and I took a ride through downtown Boston from about 7:30 AM to 9 as the City was waking up for a fun-filled July Saturday. At about 10:30 AM the Kentons, Marc and I left in our cars in a caravan on a smooth 45 minute drive to North Acton. The starting point was a verdant gem of a hidden suburban park with a beach on a small lake. We had previously decided to register for the 30-mile ride vs the metric century (or the imperial one). I have to say this was one of the nicest but more adventuresome routes I have ridden in Massachusetts in my 30+years riding around here,

The route took us on leafy, well-paved and lightly-traveled roads though the ritzy suburbs of Carlisle, Concord, Bedford, and Lexington. I have a personal term for such roads as “enchanted,” and the stretches I encounter on my usual routes are very short, but here they went for a few miles each. We had a few segments of more major roads of not more than a half mile, and these were not bad either, with decent shoulders.

The adventuresome part began in Lexington where we were directed onto the Minuteman Historic National Park. This is a 5 mile long roughly-paved to hard pack to slightly sandy trail with historic makers. It traces the path the British took to return to Boston from the fights at Lexington and Concord. There are signs that are marked by descriptions of, and the time of day that various skirmishes occurred during the march. I had never been there and I switched from tour guide to tourist along with the others.

Also a few historic houses and visitor centers are along the route, such as the Capt. Wiliam Smith House pictured below. The family tended to a mortally wounded British soldier for his last few days and he gave them gold sovereign he had hidden in his coat. Captain Smith was cousin of Abigail Adams. While riding the trail, we saw a demonstration of how the Minutemen loaded and fired their muskets.

The ride was fascinating, but the Kentons and I were on 25 C road tires so the going was slow, but the company was marvelous….While the route was pretty-well marked, we did get puzzled at one point on the “Reformatory Trail.” Tom used his GPS, and the two of us perused the cue sheets and we searched out some dead end directions. Meanwhile, Miss K and Marc simply asked for directions and got us back on track. Otherwise, Tom had a flat and Miss K a slipped chain, all not too disastrous. A few miles before the end of the ride we rode over the Old North Bridge where “Here once the embattled farmers stood / And fired the shot heard round the world.”

Most of my usual cycling is solo on well-traveled routes with definite destinations and schedules, so I always enjoy these rides where I am lost to time and place. We arrived back at the starting point just before closing time and had some delicious barbeque sandwiches and local Sam Adams brews (second cousin of Abigail Adams’ husband John). We arrived back in Boston by about 6PM...