rholland1951

Another telecommuting day. Took a noon ride to Bedford and back in the fine weather (when will we next see the like?) Different crowd on the Minuteman at that hour: more phones in more ears. Towards the end of the ride, met a fully-loaded cycle tourist headed West. Rode home feeling somewhat inspired, but wondering where the summer went.

rod

cmolway

why do people who are jogging on the center-line of a shared path (like it's a fidelity commercial or something) oblivious of the person trying to pass them b/c their headphone are too loud, get so bent out of shape when after asking "on your left" 3 times, I yell it loudly as I am 6 feet behind them (and travelling the same speed as them)? All I could muster was "watch your mouth", passing him while he hurled expletives at me.

Whatever. I had a good ride in and made a good choice when I left the rain jacket at home.

sherbornpeddler

I bet that beer was about the best you ever had. Perfect company, great country and the opportunity to make someone else's life a bit better. Congratulations and thank you for sharing your story. Inspirational!

sherbornpeddler

SillAlise, If you PM'd me I've not been able to find it. Looking at our tag lines, I understand it won't be difficult if we both try and we won't fall off if we keep moving. Cheers!

sherbornpeddler

Cmolway, Good perspective.
Good for you for alerting them and good for you for concluding it was a good ride. I try to remind myself I am pleased people visit a beautiful overlook on conservation land and hope they will eventually broaden their perspective to the point where they will choose to carry out at least their own trash. In the meantime I pick up glass and cans.

It is good headphoners are out on a trail and maybe they will grow up enough to be considerate and take in at least some of the sounds part of the experience. Jim M not only listened but chose to change direction and share his walking stick.
On your left.

mtalinm

this is why I have a bell mounted on my right STI lever (and a mirror on my left, Fredly though it is. three klings and most people hear it. for some reason, folks don't seem to mind a bell as much as being spoken to.

on my commuter I also have an AirZound for the truly oblivious...

jimmuller 

Thanks for the nice words, sbp, but 'twarn't nuthin' special. I just figure somebody has to be the nice guy occasionally. When your turn comes, you just do it. As for the beer and bbq, yeah, it was great!

Just another day at the park:

rholland1951

I use a bell, too. Was once riding behind a couple of evidently stoned cyclists who were riding two abreast in such a way as to occupy both lanes. After a couple of rings, one said to the other, "Ice cream truck?"

rod

jimmuller 

Wrong product. A Cialis commercial, and they were probably distracted. Why anyone would ride a bathtub down a bike path is beyond me.

cmolway

no I mean the fidelity investments commercials where the guy has his own personal line on the ground (green line) that he walks along: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzTqvDEGg6s

If there's a line on a road/path, stay to the right of it please. Playing "tight-rope walker" on it only confuses anyone who wants to pass.

rholland1951

Lot of folks seem to want to take their half out of the middle...

rod

bikinggrrrl

I dont' get it either. Now that I am spending waaaayyyyy too much time running the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, I see all sorts of bizarre behavior. Hardly any cyclists give me an "on your left" but I always acknowledge with a wave and a 'thank you' as they pass. Personally, I appreciate the heads up that someone is about to tear past me.

bikinggrrrl

I dont' get it either. Now that I am spending waaaayyyyy too much time running the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, I see all sorts of bizarre behavior. Hardly any cyclists give me an "on your left" but I always acknowledge with a wave and a 'thank you' as they pass. Personally, I appreciate the heads up that someone is about to tear past me.

rholland1951

Did they ever get around to painting a center line on the Bruce Freeman? I remember a certain amount of, uh, creativity being practiced there.

rod

jimmuller 

As I recall, it had a center line when I biked it a few weeks ago. (BTW, your link goes nowhere.)

I have to say hi to bkg here too. It was nice of you to say hi at our Verrill Farm show a few weeks ago. Your little guy was really something but he seemed not too fascinated with the banjo.

rholland1951

Hmmm, the elusive MISSING LINK. Standard response is "It works for me!", but this is one of those epistemology-and-ontology-having-a-fight things that just doesn't converge. In any event, under some circlestances the link points to https://groups.google.com/group/Bosto...e859461b27edfd; in others, it doesn't.

Good to hear about the center line, it was needed.

rod

jimmuller 

I'm hoping this isn't a case of creative memory. A center line isn't something I pay much attention to in most cases. I stay right, line or no, as some people go where they will, line or no.

rholland1951

Well, you have a center line, whether or not Bruce Freeman does. ;-)

rod

mtalinm

didn't think I'd get any riding in with my wife out of town, but my boys gave the go-ahead so I did a round-trip to Boston College High School, where my older son started this year.

on the ride up I went via all the bike paths I could find, including Truman Pkwy, Blue Hill Ave, and the Neponset Valley MUP. The last stretch across 93 and Morrissey Blvd was a bear but doable. it turned out that I was following the Hub on Wheels course for most of the way - would have liked to do the whole thing but couldn't've left the kids home alone for that long!

let the Garmin take me on the shortest route home, which went straight through the heart of Dorchester and Hyde Park - ended up taking longer with all the lights. in the end, managed to average 18, which is good for me.

bikinggrrrl

I completely forgot to come on to Bike Forums to brag that I got to meet you and your lovely wife! Music was absolutely wonderful but my 3 year old was much more enthralled with the goats and sheep. I wish we could have stayed to chat, but the need for his nap pretty much overtook the rest of the universe.

Regarding a center line on the BFRT, I only use the lower section, up to Chelmsford center, which is not marked by a line. I would love to go through Chelmsford and continue on but goodness gracious, waiting for the crosswalk light to change can be a ridiculously long stall. Agreed with PP that whether or not a line is marked, there is an implied line, just as there is on any driving road, and we all would be better served if we just stuck to our predictable sides.

rholland1951

Got a mid-afternoon ride out to North Bridge (33 miles round-trip from E. Arlington). Riding conditions were like a little island of Summer, lovely. Had a chuckle for the umpteenth time at the signs for Buttrick Hill Road and Balls Hill Road, which turn up at about the point in the ride when that region of the anatomy starts calling attention to the bike seat. Got buzzed by a matron in a Volvo wagon on 225 who absolutely was NOT going to cross the center line (no on-coming traffic), and took it as an article of faith that everything would just fit. If not, I was the round-off error.

rod

jimmuller 

Got out this morning for my usual route, Waltham to Bedford and back, 23.4 miles. The air was and still is like pea soup, only not as green. Still, a nice ride.

buzzman

40 mile loop to Concord. Getting over a cold so I took it very easy. Pleasant. Helped a small snapping turtle across the road.

bikebadger14

Turned out to be a nice day, and I had a heck of a fun time riding in my first Hub on Wheels. Did the 30 mile route. The parts through Forest Hills Cemetery and along the water were especially beautiful.

rholland1951

The timing of this morning's commute required me to stop by the side of the road in Bedford and conduct a teleconference. Within a minute after resuming the ride, I met a turkey, which I chose to regard as a message from the Collective Unconscious, or some damn thing, about the folly of interrupting a perfectly good ride to yack about software development. Got a late start on the return, riding mostly after sunset. The night chorus at Great Meadows, while not as loud and varied as it was a few weeks ago, still provided an intimate soundscape for the ride down the headlight tunnel in the dark.

rod