Northeast - Minuteman: Broken glass @ Alewife

There seems to be quite a bit of broken glass lying around behind the Alewife T entrance lately (the sad empty paved area) right before the Minuteman starts. I guess this is what happens in desolate places. Just a warning for anyone who goes through there a lot. (I usually scan it for glass w/ help from reflected sunlight before biking through it)

broken glass can mean broken liquor bottles. single riders should be very careful when they ride that area. In the '80s someone was raped there, and about 10 years ago I was almost carjacked but I saw the gun behind his hand and took off before anything happened. take a wild guess who is living in those brick tenements across the street.

really Sweetie - think twice before riding over there by yourself, and NEVER ride that area at night

Thanks for the heads up! Still new to the area...

You're welcome! You might enjoy riding along the Charles River on the public path along Memorial Drive near Harvard. Very public, lot's of students and activities up Mass Ave to Harvard Square. They also close Memorial drive to traffic on Sundays for a few miles.

Yes I've seen people biking there and also the closed off Memorial Drive, but it looks rather impossible to bike there with so many people walking and jogging. Minuteman is still reasonable with people generally sticking to staying right. I like to bike as fast as I can :D. Are there any other Minuteman-like trails around?
I guess I'm still trying to get over the fact that I don't live in the Netherlands anymore :(

The Netherlands? How nice. I hope we don't disappoint you. Regarding riding fast, I kmnow what you mean. I like that too. You can always just get up really early in the morning and ride before the crowds show up.

I have a car and I've enjoyed riding "rail trails". You know, converted railways to paved bike paths. They are very straight and engineered for gradual elevation gains. Nashua, NH has one that is 11 miles long. It's mostly uphill going North but then mostly downhill coming South.

But my all-time favorite rail trail is now the Cape Cod Rail Trail which begins in South Dennis, MA (exit 9 off Route 6) and ends in Wellfleet, MA. One can go fast and even rack up as much as 22 - 26 miles each way! The "Cape" also has gorgeous beaches.

If you are without a car and want to ride from where you live, then keep researching, there are lots of bike clubs and preplanned routes on fairly nice roads that can be found.

Welkom!
Lots of paths. I suggest you might like a Rubels bike map from your local bike shop.
Search this forum for Boston riding. Check out http://www.massbike.org/bikeways/
You might like riding in Hub on Wheels http://hubonwheels.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=289514 to have a chance to ride Boston roads like Memorial Drive when it is closed to cars.
I occassionally ride Minuteman from Bedford and like being able to lock my bike at Alewife station.

..If you are without a car and want to ride from where you live, then keep researching, there are lots of bike clubs and preplanned routes on fairly nice roads that can be found.

Another riding possibility is to take your bike on the MBTA Commuter Rail to get out of the city directly into great riding territory. Bikes are allowed outbound from Boston on weekday mornings and early afternoons and all weekend, and inbound early afternoon, evenings and all weekend. FYA, I posted a little compendium of my cycling destinations over the entire Metro Boston area, all accessible by the train:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?p=9085402#post9085402

I don't think the area around Alewife is quite as dangerous as Rumrunn makes it out to be. During the day there are always lots of people going through the area, and I've never seen anything there to make me worry about my safety. During the day anyway... I've only ridden the Minuteman trail after dark once, and I was more scared I would run into someone than anything else.

Once you get to the end of the Minuteman, there's lots of great cycling in Concord, Carlisle, etc. The Charles River Wheelmen have some great routes through the area. It's definitely hillier than the Minuteman Trail, but there's very little traffic and lots of other people on bikes.

You can find the routes at http://www.crw.org/cgi-bin/calendar.pl/?recurring=yes (look near the bottom for Friday TGIF Unwinder) and use GPS Visualizer (http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/map_input?form=google) to draw them in Google Maps. Just put the address of the .gpx file into URL of Static Data box near the bottom right.

Thanks everyone for the tips! I have been wanting to ride with CRW for some time, which I will do soon hopefully.

I also did get a Rubels bikemap of the area :) (it felt rather strange to have to look at a map to see where the bike paths are compared to the Netherlands where it's biker's heaven!)

(BTW wasn't it nice riding the last couple of days with a nice break from the heat/humidity?!)

I don't think the area around Alewife is quite as dangerous as Rumrunn makes it out to be. During the day there are always lots of people going through the area, and I've never seen anything there to make me worry about my safety. During the day anyway... I've only ridden the Minuteman trail after dark once, and I was more scared I would run into someone than anything else.



+1

I used to live in Arlington, very close to Alewife, and it's a nice area. Of course bad things can happen anywhere, so use common sense. But seriously, you'd be as safe there alone and at night as you would be just about anywhere else.

I've noticed from the forums that rumrunn6 is a bit of a nervous nellie, and is especially condescending to women ("Sweetie"?). So keep that in mind when taking his advice.

The most likely cause of problems on the Minuteman trail after dark is high school kids who like to hang out and smoke/drink. But they mostly keep to themselves.