rholland1951

Cold-enough 15 miles in the dark on the Minuteman tonight, enough solitude to go around. Winter lights are starting to appear, the best tonight on the Battle Green. The big tree on Taylor Lane is dark for the nonce.


rod

rholland1951

Took the Rawland out for a cold, dark Minuteman 10-miler before supper, under a bright, cloudy sky giving back the city's electric light, brightest to the East.


The big Mirak lot was ablaze with electric glare, and the car roofs gleamed like pebbles in a stream.


A rescue truck crossed Drake Road overpass with a honk like a diesel locomotive, pulled into the Drake Village parking lot, and set the whole place to flashing red.

rod

guidoStow

Sorry I should have said "my" instead of "the"... It is a very local tradition...

Ghazmh

I rode the CCRT today. The parking lot on rt 134 in Dennis is closed for the season. I parked at a boat ramp parking lot on the Bass river about a mile away and rode to the parking lot. I saw no signs about the trail being closed just the parking lot. I made it down the trail to the first intersection only to find an impenetrable 10 foot high chain link fence that extended well into the woods on each side of the trail. Evidently when they closed the parking lot they also closed the first .5 miles of the trail. No big deal I just turned around and went up Great Western Ave and picked up the trail again. Not as pleasurable as August or September but it sure was a nice change of scenery as its been a little over a month that I rode somewhere other than the Lincoln, Concord, Carlisle area. The trail was heavily coated with pine needles and scattered leaves. It left me and my rain bike thoroughly coated with natures finest road muck and gunk.

rholland1951

Ten miles on the Minuteman at twilight, temperatures dropping through the 40s. Rode through clouds of winter moths in Arlington, two of which appear in this photo.


rod

rumrunn6

wow never heard this before!

rumrunn6

spooky!

rholland1951

Took the Rawland out to Depot Park and back before the Pats game, temperatures falling through the 50s. Aside from the temperature, it must be December: the sun was already low when I set out at 1:45, and the glare riding into it was intense (one reason I stuck with the Minuteman today). Long shadows at the start, which only got longer.


Lots of folks out today, and conditions on the trail were a little chaotic: when I saw the Report Hazards sign, I was tempted to send a message to mmbikeway@gmail.com reporting "ubiquitous bad choreography", along with "winter moth infestation"...


The Friends of the Lexington Bikeways are soliciting contributions to keep the Lexington segment of the Minuteman plowed; unlike Arlington and Bedford, the DPW doesn't do that job in Lexington. Last year the Friends did a great job keeping up with all that snow; you can send them a charitable contribution at Friends of Lexington Bikeways.


Continuing the Minuteman infrastructure theme, I was happy to see that the Lexington DPW has fixed the hazardous drop-offs along the path beyond Bedford Street: now there's a good, hard shoulder most of the way to Hartwell Ave. Bravo!


Speaking of the Lexington DPW, they've announced a closure of the Minuteman between Revere Street and Camellia Place for the rest of December.
Turned around at Depot Park and headed home. Both the sun and the thermometer were getting lower, and the clothes that were just right at the beginning of the ride were getting to feel just a tad skimpy.


The Taylor Lane horses were enjoying the last of the short day.


Back to Arlington Center, and home.




Jim Muller, did I see you riding solo on the Minuteman?

rod

jimmuller 

Rod H asked:
Today, quite possibly. It took the Motobecane out for a quick 51.3 miles, some of it on the Minuteman. It's a great way to get beyond 128. It was cool when I started, rather pleasant when I finally got home. I rode from home out through the uncharted wilderness between Concord and Carlisle. Fortunately I did not lose my way.





Yesterday we took the tandem out for only 49.9 miles.

rholland1951

Rumor has it that today had the earliest sunset (4:11 p.m.) of the year. I got out a couple hours after that, in full dark, temperatures in the 40s and a gentle sea breeze that gave me a benign tail wind on the ride out to Lexington, just enough head wind to notice on the way back. 10 miles on the Rawland, spinning in the mild night air.


rod

rumrunn6

spooky

jimmuller 

Riding in the dark??? I've been doing that on my commute home for the last month. Traffic has been barbaric lately.

Speaking of riding in the cold, a bunch of us, mostly from the C&V forum, are doing a ride Saturday Dec 26. We did one last year and it was great fun. C&V bike is appreciated but not required. We did about 45 miles last year, and I'm aiming to do at least 50 this year. Start at Depot Park in Bedford about, oh, 9:30AM, head either northwest or west. Details at 11...

rholland1951

Riding in the dark and cold is the unavoidable consequence of living this far North, as well as this far East in the time zone (we could, of course, be in Bar Harbor...). Might as well enjoy it. The good news is that the dark and cold are usually phased: first we get the worst of the dark, then we get the worst of the cold...

rod

rholland1951

Took the Rawland on a quick ride out to Lexington Center and back, in a frisky mood which the bike willingly answered. Played Drop the Pursuer coming and going, enjoyed the ground fog that developed over the Great Meadows and overspread Arlington Heights on the return. Too intent on making time to make any photos of that, but took this one in the garage after the ride.


rod

Ghazmh

I took advantage of the mild weather and rode my 30 mile loop last night. Spooky wisps of fog along the valleys of Monument streets rolling hills. Dark is still dark, but with a little imagination I pretended it was a sunny August evening. It was far warmer than Tuesday evenings ride along the same route. My water bottle top had iced over. Oh how I already long for next summers day tours of the Vineyard and pan-Cape rides.....

rholland1951

Took the Rawland out the Minuteman again tonight, turning around at the barricade at Camellia Place. The air was really shockingly warm, with occasional breaths of even warmer air puffing in my face... or perhaps it was me who was warm and puffing. Lovely ride, in any case, and riding the Rawland is more like flying than anything else I do. Vagrant fog thickened and thinned throughout the ride, never entirely absent, sometimes strikingly present.


A particularly thick bit of fog caught the Seasons Four lights.


The sign at Hancock Street says the Minuteman's closed...


... for the rest of the month...


... another sign at Camellia Place insisted on this...


... so how closed was it?


Really closed.

rod

jimmuller 

We took the tandem out for our ritual run to Carlisle for lunch, 51.5 miles. Stopped for a snack at the North Bridge and check out this relatively new memorial, a piece of relatively unknown local history.









On the return we stop to visit a friend working at the Concord Free Public Library, a very formal-looking building.



We rode the Minuteman and of course encountered the closure. Negotiating around it was easy heading west. Detour signs let cyclists out through a parking lot to rt4/225, right on 225 with a well-marked bike lane for 200 yards, then right on Revere St back to the MM. East bound wasn't quite so easy because you have to cross 225 at the Revere St light to make a left, then turn left off 225 also at the next light. But it wasn't really hard.

rholland1951

Took the Rawland Nordavinden on a 30-mile ride through Arlington, Lexington, Bedford, Concord, Lincoln, and Waltham, in the middle of the day in the splendid weather. Started out on the Minuteman. It didn't look any less closed in daylight.


The detour on Bedford Street was straight-forward, although one field of broken glass in the bike lane got my attention (but no harm done).


Picked up the Minuteman again, and rolled down the hill to Bedford, stopping at Depot Park for a pit stop, but... maybe next year.


Hopped on the Reformatory Branch Trail after that, for a little dirt fun, not to mention getting that deferred pit stop at the bog at Great Meadows NWR, which demonstrated a capacity for at least two bikes.


The sunny bits of the ride were warm and brilliant: got to enjoy this stuff when it's on offer.


Lots of folks out on the Reformatory Branch today, including a surprising number of cyclists. Guess the word is out that it's no longer the sucking mire it once was.


Bounced through Concord Center, initially following my nose on a well-established scent trail that would ultimately have taken me home via Virginia Road and Mill Street, but thought better of it, back-tracked, and headed out 126, instead. When I stopped at the inflection point, I took a picture of the old burying ground creeping down the hill into folks' back yards.


Waiting at the light to cross Route 2, another cyclist looked at the Rawland, and asked if I were a randonneur. I said that I wasn't but the bike was. The light changed, and I proceeded down 126, past Walden Pond, to Baker Bridge Road, Lincoln. The motto "Lincoln is too pretty to waste" popped into my head.


Baker Bridge Road turned hilly shortly thereafter, and a second motto, "Lincoln is too hilly to waste," was established. Grinned at the Gropius House along the way.


Picked up Sandy Pond Road, and dashed past the DeCordova Museum--no time to stop. Rolled over the hills on Trapelo Road through Lincoln and Waltham, hitting 39 mph during the long, steep descent to the Cambridge Reservoir, then picked up Smith Street/Spring Street/Marrett Road/Mass. Ave./ Maple Street to the Minuteman, and home. What a pretty day for a ride!

rod

Ghazmh

What I hope is a 24 hour bug kept me on the sofa today. The 40 mile ride I had planned will have to wait until tomorrow.

rumrunn6

~Jim classic!

just came from a Christmas house warming party in Concord with costumed carolers and storyteller

Ghazmh

The 24 hour bug has indeed passed enough to ride today. With the kids at the grandparents this morning I dident feel rushed to get home and managed to crank out 50 miles in just under 3 hours. It was nice to ride in daylight again, it's been over 2 weeks since my last daytime ride. Photos from rides to come after Christmas

jimmuller 

We had commitments for this afternoon (planned to do some recording) so Sharon and I took the tandem out for only 28 miles, turned around in Bedford. Had a nice encounter on our way west. Someone on the MM called out to us, and it turned out to be mr_bill. (Hi!)

A quick snack stop in Bedford:





On our way home we managed to catch a muster of the Lexington Militia:

mr_bill

What Jim didn't say is I was on foot. If my destination is a mile or so away, I usually walk. But I did, as promised, go out later that day.

Still think this is the best view of the BU Bridge:


And 'tis the season - to double park (Central Square-ish edition):

Double in the bike lane:


Or, in this case, just park in the bike lane in the middle of Mass Ave & Pearl St intersection (H Mart ahead on the right, one of my stops yesterday):


And half-way between Central Square and Harvard Square. Must park in the road because if you park in the no-parking spot you might get a ticket:



-mr. bill

rholland1951

Wanted a ride in the fog tonight. Checked the weather radar, which showed a line of storms moving in, but the timing looked about right to run out to Lexington and be back ahead of it. That was the way it played out, with the rain starting as I put the bike away. In the meantime, I was treated to the quiet, eerie beauty of the fog, diffusing the available light to soften the darkness, in saturated air that actually got warmer over the course of the ride.










rod

jimmuller 

Pretty cool Rod. I did my commute again, a nice ride into work this morning and a misty drizzly ride home. My glasses fogged over after a mile or so, so I had to remove them and fly with my natural-born vision which is fortunately good enough even in the dark.