sherbornpeddler

The Lexington coffee and bike shop sounds cool. Like Jim, I rode not so cool through Bellingham, Blackstone and Woonsocket down to the beautiful Bryant University campus. I am curious to visit a small culture and industry museum in Woonsocket. There are several nice looking bistro kind of spots to eat and a nice park by a magnificent industrial era dam. The area outside "the French Quarter" is a little tough but nice enough folks and the urban traffic is moderate and drivers are used to pedestrians and bikes. I pushed east through Woonsocket and returned through Franklin for a nice loop.

jimmuller 

Just got back in, Waltham, Lexington, Bedford, Concord, Carlisle, and back of course. Found Ride Studio in Lexington but didn't stop. It looks interesting though. It is on the north side of Mass. Ave. along the eastern half of Lexington Center.

I hit the jackpot for good roads. Had been looking at the map for variations and spotted a different route from Concord to Carlisle instead of Lowell Rd/Concord St. From Concord, go north on Lowell Rd, left on Barretts' Mill Rd, right on Strawberry Hill Rd which is well-named. Used my lowest gear a few times but not for very long. Then a right on Pope, left on West, right on South over to Concord St to Carlisle Center. A lovey deviation from the typical loop. Of course the return to Concord is via 225 and River Rd/Monument Rd. Distance door to door 47.14 miles. Total time, 2hrs, 40 min. Avg speed 17.67mph. Next time I hope to ride my age (61 miles). Just have to find the right route. (Just finished lunch. Why am I so sleepy now?)

sherbornpeddler

Jim! Thanks for the road tips and congratulations on a very impressive ride!

jimmuller 

Thank you. Fact is, I didn't intend to ride that hard. Wasn't sure how mugh energy I'd have after a hard night but I wanted to push some distance. On the Minuteman I got stuck behind two couples dressed in full cycle gear and looking like they'd fly, except they were running in the 15's. The Minuteman is slightly downhill Lexington to Bedford and I spent much more time coasting behind them than pedaling. So I went around when the trail opened up. Now, I think it's discourteous to pass someone then slow down. Also I didn't want to be a jerk, i.e. someone who passes not because he wants to go faster but because he wants to look like he wants to go faster. So for courtesy's sake (and ego ) I felt obligated to keep up the steam pressure. The same thing happened once I left the end of the Minuteman. By then I was feeling good. Plus I hit almost no traffic, hit all green stoplights, and kept my rest stops short. Didn't stop at all until I hit Pope Rd which was un-signed so I had to think for a moment to avoid getting lost. It's easier to run high average speeds if you don't average in zeroes!

One more thing helped too, I believe. A month or so ago I swapped my 27" x 1-1/8" Pasela TG's for 27" x 1". After several trips I've settled on about 110psi. I'm really liking those tires. Did I mention that I spent so much time coasting? They seem to roll very easily.

bikinggrrrl

I can add a few miles for you, Jim. Instead of taking a right onto South in Carlisle, stay on West (lovely road they just repaved this year). Right onto Acton Street. At end take Left onto 225 West (briefly) and next Right on to Curve. Takes you down past a cranberry bog. At end of Curve, take Right onto Lowell Street (briefly) and immediate Left onto North Road which will take you past Great Brook Farm. At stop sign, take Right onto Rutland. At stop sign you can either take another Right onto East Street, which will take you back into Carlisle center, or Left to head over to Maple Street which is a nifty road to get back onto 225 headed towards Bedford.

jimmuller 

Thank you, bikinggrrrl. That looks really intriguing on the map. I haven't driven that area much and not lately. Skied and walked through Great Brook though. My recollection is that the main roads north of Carlisle and 225 to the west are curvy, hilly, blind-turny, and busy. So without your recommendation I would likely have stayed away from the area completely.

Now if I can just figure out why my freewheel seems to shrink from the beginning of a ride to the end...

even2flow

Hey everyone, not sure if this is the right place to post, but figured I'd try.

I'm working north of the Metro Boston area, near Concord, and I was wondering if you guys knew of any training races that go on near the area? The only two I was able to find were one in Montague (no idea, but looks really far) and one in Hingham, which starts at 6, and I was told I'd never be able to make it from here even if I left at 4 or 4:30.

I used to do the Bethel training series when I lived in CT and those were awesome, and I'm looking for something similar, does anything like that exist north of Boston? Or know somewhere to look?

Edit - For something mid-week is what I'm looking for.

bikinggrrrl

Time trials every Wednesday evening out of Concord, I believe. Is that what you are looking for?
https://nebc.us/wp-content/uploads/20...2010-flyer.pdf

BarryJo

The training race in Montegue is run by Greg180 here on Bike Forums. It's a hike for sure, but it's supposed to be very well organized and a fun race. In other words worth the trip.
You should PM him for details.

BarryJo

Another option, drive out to our shop ride in Leominster on tuesday nights.
The A ride is more or less a race advertised as a fast group ride.
The B ride is the A ride at a more moderate 19-21mph average.
It leaves from Gear Works in Leominster at 6:00pm.

sherbornpeddler

CRW does Saturday morning rides from Newton https://www.crw.org/cgi-bin/calendar....thCalendar=yes with a similar groupings ideas: reasonable, pretty fast, just plain fast and wicked fast groups. Beautiful routes and easy to find a challenging peleton.

Wells Avenue https://www.bostonroadclub.com/wells_ave by the BRC is serious stuff and my favorite casual, heart throbbing, pleasant, burning 7 mile TT is in Dover https://markdionne.com/tt.html run by Mark and Karol, two of the most dedicated bike aficionados and fine people I know.

even2flow

Thanks for the input guys.

I've been doing the Landry's Tuesday rides out of Cleveland Circle, and I really like those. I just didn't know if there was something similar to Wells Ave but mid week. I've also heard good things about the Tuesday night worlds (why is everything on Tuesday?) but I haven't made it out to that yet.

For the CRW group rides on Saturdays, I thought you had to be a member in order to ride those?

jimmuller 

Because it falls between Monday and Wednesday?

I envy anyone who can get out mid-week. I have enough trouble getting out on weekends. Work is a hungry monster which eats up all the other days.

MacCruiskeen

A good ride today--not a long ride, just from work out to Arlington, but there was a new bike at the end of it! Yay! A birthday present to myself--A new Jamis Aurora Elite. Of the bikes I've tried, it felt like the best fit, and the LBS was giving me a good price that was hard to resist, so I didn't. I still need to do a little tweaking with the saddle and handlebars, and I think those flat fenders have to go, but it's pretty nice. A huge improvement over my old Trek mtb.

sherbornpeddler

New bike tweaks are the best. A good fit trumps everything else. Congratulations and Happy Birthday!

jimmuller 

Managed to do 33 miles this morning. Went out with a friend who used to race but who hasn't ridden much lately. I do most of my road time alone so this was an unusual experience. It is disconcerting to have someone ride my wheel! Nevertheless, it was nice run despite the heat, 93 out there now. Glad we didn't wait any later in the day.

sherbornpeddler

Jim,
Like you, I got out for a similar ride and today am going for another pre-peak heat ride, this time with my daughter in preparation for our Prouty ride this weekend from Hanover, NH. It should be in the cool 80F range by Saturday.

Anyone see the Longjo Classic in Fitchburg?

Jim, is it possible for anyone watching the TdF to not worry about a close-on-your-wheel comrade?
I ride mostly solo and am not always the most attentive in group rides calling out potholes, traffic and signalling when stopping. I wouldn't want to follow me.....

jimmuller 

Yow! My wife and I watched a criterium in Salem many years ago. As I recall, every heat ended with a multi-car pile-up on the last turn. Bodies and bikes moving fast together...yeah, sure! Where do I sign up?

Actually, I did have one near mishap because of my friend's presence. We were approaching a Y intersection. I had gotten one brief glance at a car behind us with his right turn signal on. We wanted to go left so I had signaled clearly and taken more of the lane but I was afraid the car would pass us anyway and turn right in front of us. Unfortunately Rich likes to ride further out in the road than I do. Every time I checked my mirror all I saw was his red jersey. I couldn't see what that car was doing and lost it completely. I was so intent on trying to find it again that I missed the fact that another car came out of the road to the right and turned left in front of us across our intended line. It was my error because it had the right of way. Rich called out to me but it was late enough that if we'd been on a collision course I probably couldn't have prevented it. Oh, did I mention that I found riding with someone disconcerting? There were so many things I couldn't control and that one almost bit me.

Oh, we did stop at Ride Studio. Interesting premise. The guy came out and held the door so we could bring our bikes in. Don't know what difference it made otherwise unless I strolling and decided to buy a very high-end bike after having a cold drink. But it was nice to have a way to pull the bike inside. A shop worth looking into.

jimmuller 

No ride today. However I did make a bike move, so to speak. My speed ride is a vintage '73 Raleigh Gran Sport with many non-original parts. The front rim is a Fiamme Yellow Label and the rear is a heavier Mavic built for me by a friend for combat duty on city roads. And the rear has a 5-speed freewheel on a 120mm hub washer-ed out to fit a 126mm dropout spacing. Don't even know if the 126mm is original or not, but I suspect it isn't. Yes, I've done all my recent miles on a traditional 14-28 freewheel, mostly using only the 17, 20, and 24.

Now, I've had another perfectly straight, lightly used Yellow Label rim hanging on my garage wall for decades. So today I took it over to Harris to have a new wheel built up on a 126mm Quando freewheel hub with DT stainless double-butted spokes. (I'd build it myself but I don't have much time.) I'm going to pair that with a Shimano Ultraglide 14-28 6-speed freewheel and a new SRAM chain. Yes, it is obsolete. So is everything else about the bike except the tires, and even they are 27"x1" with Schrader valves. But I'll have two matching lightweight rims now. And 6 speeds!!! Four whole gears to cover my previous 17-24 with 16-24 instead. The 20 goes to a 21, the 17 goes to an 18, and I get a 16. The two main "cruisin' gears" will be slightly lower, all slightly closer together, with a usable 16 above my previous "cruisin' high". I'm figuring it will encourage me either to run a higher gear more often or to slow down.

[I have little use for my 14. I used it once to hit 30+mph on the ride this past Monday. But it sure wasn't necessary. Don't know the top speed for sure because the computer said 86mph.]

Yes, there are some questionable decisions here. Why not go with a 7-speed? With friction shifting via DT levers it would mean more precision is required and a greater chance I'll lose track of which gear I'm in. Why not a cassette? They are all 130mm, as far as I can tell. Why not a more expensive hub? Have you priced a Phil Woods lately??? In any case, those sealed bearings are mighty smooth. My only real regret is that that danged Shimano freewheel has black inner cogs and the rest look like dull bronze. It will be replacing a pretty brass Pro Compe. Oh, well. At least the whole wheel isn't costing a nominal egg.

And the cast-aside wheel and chain will probably end up on the Peugeot. It won't go to waste.

Forgive the rambling. I'm just excited. Been thinking about this project for a long time. If I don't like the result I can always put the previous wheel back and chalk it up as a not-too-expensive experiment.

sherbornpeddler

Jim,

My main comment: cog color wouldn't bother me due to my poor cleaning habits. Everything turns black.

PS Wow! Nice contemplation, planning and pondering! A nice facit of Metro Boston biking is hardware rambling with so many fine bike shops and a history of bike making. Most bike shops like "ramblers" in off peak hours and some like configuration-contemplators any time. I'm looking forward to further adventures of the Gran Sport.

Given it isn't a down to the last detail restoration, 6 speed sounds comfortable, compatible and all around "able." What are your front sprockets?

As long as we're rambling, after a major mountain ride, I decided to alter my Raleigh 6 cog with a Shimano Deore XT derailluer and "Megarange" 14-34 cluster mated to the original 42-51 fronts. That 34 rear sprocket got me over a bunch of hills. Since then I converted a 1960 era Italian bike to an oh-so-practical, get parts anywhere, works fine, Shimano 105 triple w 9 speed cassette and barcons. I'll swap the Raleigh back to original Campy and comfortable one of these days.

jimmuller 

True enough. Except that this pic will always haunt me.SN..jpg

Thank you, sir! I will keep you informed.

48,34 Sugino. I "invented" the compact double for myself decades ago! I realized long ago that I almost never used and didn't really need my first bike's 52/16 combination, let alone its 52/14. When I upgraded its drivetrain I switched to 48,36. Then I acquired the drivetrain-less GS frame for a piddlin' sum, so those upgrades got transferred over. Earlier this spring I swapped the small ring from 36 to 34 after a CRW ride took me up a really steep hill when I was hungry and winded from a sprint against traffic. With the 34/28 I've been able to climb any hill I've found, just slow down to the mid-8's and keep breathing!

So your low is a bit over 33 gear-inches. Mine is a bit under 33, or about the same. If you can climb mountains with yours, then there is hope for me! You really have 42 and 51, not 52?

sherbornpeddler

Metro gearing!
JimM, Good ole Raleigh came standard with a 51 so with 14 rear (assuming 700/23 and 700mm cranks) I get 95.7 gear inch high and 42 front-34 rear I get 32.5 for a low. It is a 6 speed circa 1980.

Having said that, for Metro Boston I mostly ride a modern steel, generic 53/39 with 12/25 10 cog cassette, a rig I do not ride on real hills out west between Wachusett and Greylock.

I could have used it on the 50 mile version of the Prouty ride yesterday in Hanover, NH but chose the single speed (with fenders) and a sedate pace (with fenders) in the rain (with fenders).

jimmuller 

Re the 51, I didn't know that, wouldn't have known it. It has always seemed to me that the manufacturers were always splitting hairs back then to gain a little marketability. As for the low, of course it would be under 33. I was figuring a 27" outer diameter, which of course isn't real anyway. It is, umm, splitting hairs.

I won't get to ride this weekend. I play music and our band had shows Saturday and another this evening (Sunday). Could have ridden this morning maybe, but went to yoga instead. So many decisions.

I did manage to take a pic and post to this thread:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...-and-your-bike!
Old ride, new ride. Ages 38 and 37.
Where are all the other Boston are riders?

sherbornpeddler

37 mile loop via Dover's Strawberry Hill and Pine Streets then home juuust before 90F temp.

jimmuller 

Tell us more. DeLorme Street Atlas shows a Snow Hill and a Pegan Hill in Dover, and a Pine St.

More importantly, tell us about Prouty. I looked up their website, Prouty.org, read about the history. That's quite an event. I, ah seem never to have bumped into it before. You rode with your daughter, I believe you said? How'd it go?