sherbornpeddler

Back biking, Jim nudging and all these posts are so inspiring.
I don't recall riding the Alford St. Bridge but do ride North Washington St across the Charlestown Bridge. The bridge is a little dicey with the metal surface, high curbs and slippery sidewalks. You can walk across the Charles River Dam just west of the bridge. Once across the bridge, jog east a block and take Main St. to go north to Alford St.
There is talk about adding bike paths to cross the river with the train tracks out of North Station but for now there is the beautiful crossing under the Zakim on the north side connecting to Paul Revere Park.

Bishbike

26 mile out and back to Concord. Legs were toast from the hills yesterday, but still managed a decent avg. speed.

Out and Back to Concord - Belmont, MA

No turkeys, no sculpture, just a ride.

The headwind on the return ride had me thinking "What if I took a frame and ran stings from the top tube to the down tube? Could I create a rolling aeolian harp?"

Jim from Boston

As a regular reader of this thread, I found the above references obscure, in particular, “Jim nudging.” I would normally mind my own business, but this Jim recently posted to a thread on the Fifty-Plus Forum, “I ride near home”:

Say no more. Also,

Where is this crossing, on the Boston side?

Finally, another recent obscure post was:

But I’ll mind my own business here.

rholland1951

Find a creative frame builder, and get some braze-ons for tuning pegs?

rod

jimmuller 

Yes, well, you see, a week or so ago I dropped SBP a PM asking how he was doing, seein' as how he'd been absent from BF lately. It's good to see him back.

Just a bunch of musicians trading comedian lines, I'm afraid. Nothing untoward or even all that interesting. Unless you need a good one-liner, in which case you came to the right place!

Sharon and I are planning to do the 50+ ride. We'd do 50 miles but not if it involved climbing 5000ft on a 90degF day. It would be nice to see a route beforehand. I'll have to check the Mass Bike website again. I thought I checked it a week or so ago and didn't see what I was looking for.

Edit: Found it. We'll most probably ride the Metric. Acton isn't very far from us but 7AM sure is. (Options are Century, Metric, and 32 miles.)

Jim from Boston

Thanks for the reply. I too was wondering about sbp, and always glad to read his posts.

This morning I looked up the Event on the MassBike website, and links to the routes of the three rides were provided. Last year there were four of us, and we all registered on site, all for the 30-mile route; socialization trumped distance. The current short route appears the same. That route did include about 5 miles in the Minuteman National Historic Park, which was very interesting, but not the best on skinny tires.

BTW, besides the Long Ride itself, we usually make the Fifty-Plus Annual Ride a two-three day affair, Friday to Sunday, with some additional activities.

sherbornpeddler

Ha! Both Jim's enthusiasm and bicycle adventures inspire and encourage aka "nudge".

jimmuller 

Well then, if that's the plan that's what we'll do too. (Will have to check with my sweetie first to be sure she's happy with the distance.) Any idea which route others are registered for?

We've never ridden through that part of the park. Might be fun if the ground is dry enough to support our tandem on 32mm tires. If not, we can back out and run up rt 2A to Meriam's Corner and let everyone catch up there. Some of the rest of that route is, ah, curious. For example, the run south along rt 4 up from the river isn't my favorite for the tandem though it provides access to Dudley Rd. (In fact, Dudley Rd is a quiet, out-of-the-way, old, indeed ancient bumpy road worth seeing at least once, but may not tolerate a few thousand cyclists at once.) The section from Hartwell to Rt 2A will be, shall we say, short but interesting too. Still, lots of people ride those roads.

Also a great idea. I assume it means a ride on Sun and a gathering or picnic or Friday, possibly a gathering on Sunday also before everyone heads home. I'll likely be working on Friday but a Friday evening thing sounds good.

sherbornpeddler

J from B, sorry for the obscurities. The crossing I tried to describe is the North Washington St-Charlestown Bridge and once across on the north side of the Charles River cross under the Zakim Bridge on the bike and walking path west towards the Paul Revere Park or northeast towards Bunker Hill or Main St. This map is from the MAPC trail map. Just east of the Zakim and west of the Charlestown Bridge is the walk-only path across the Charles River Dam which is a lot less hectic.

Jim from Boston

Though other riders come from afar, it's usually a "show and go" affair.

Here's a proposed schedule as suggested and updated from last year, and based on previous Annual Rides I to V:

Last year, one couple came in late Thursday and toured Boston on their own on Friday, followed by a leisurely group ride along the Charles, then dinner at Legal Seafood, and a walk to Fenway Park. On Saturday evening after the Ride, we went to dinner in the North End. One rider stayed until Sunday and toured Boston by bike on his own, and wrote a glowing report on his cycling blog. [See links.]

buzzman

Not exactly Metro East but I work my way west in the summer. This is from my 45 mile Berkshire Loop I did yesterday. (3679' of elev. gain) these shots are from the stunning Tyringham Road.



Plenty of scenery to keep your mind off all the climbing.

sherbornpeddler

buzzman's beautiful scenery is a nice glimpse of other places and adds perspective and contrast to our own turf.

Spouse and I are recently back from back-road biking in England. No cities and nothing more touristy than the UK version of the Wayside Inn or Saugus Iron Works. We rented a car and bikes and hopped all over England to pre-selected routes and a few simple wanderings; all with pubs, inns and friendly folks. The hedgerow lined, narrow twists and turns kept speeds down and everyone on alert. Canal tow paths were quiet and flat. . Very friendly, comfortable riding.

jimmuller 

SBP, that sounds and looks delightful!

sherbornpeddler

We did ride

to the bitter end.

Jim from Boston

+100. That looks so idyllic. I would love to visit Europe, especially England, and tour by bicycle, but I don't fly. So on such a trip that would take a long time to arrive, I would be hard-pressed on where to go and what to see. Have you been before? Personally I would go to London first, but I live in Kenmore Square.

I once read of a proposal to build a bridge across the Bering Straits, so one could drive from Boston to Europe by way of Canada, Alaska, and Siberia.

rholland1951

Beautiful! I spent a few days riding in the English countryside in the summer of 1973, until my traveling companion's knee blew out, and we sold the bikes and rented a Mini. Fun while it lasted, and quite enchanting. Touring in the Mini had its own virtues.

rod

sherbornpeddler

Jim de B, there are different ways to do most things.
Take the train to NY and Queen Mary 2 to Southampton, UK.

Next door to Southampton they also do things differently. The New Forest is 150 sq miles of open pasture formerly (935 years formerly) owned by William the Conqueror. There they fence in their gardens to keep the beasties out rather than fence in cows, horses, bicyclists, etc.

As for bridges, be careful because as you know they are not all bike friendly yet.
Today a friend (not William I) and I conquered a not-bike-friendly rotary in West Springfield to ride across the Memorial Bridge and invaded Springfield. It turns out the truck and car drivers in the rotary and the sidewalks on the bridge were very bike friendly. We had a great ride from the B Ball Hall of Fame, up the bike elevator*, biked the bridge over the RR tracks and zig zag, zig zag, zz, zz and zz again on the ramp down to the Connecticut River Walk and Bikeway. Their map shows a fine path next to the impressive river. It flows a lot faster** and has steeper banks than our Charles. It also has a bike path on only one side so we rode up to Chicopee, bridged to West Springfield and noodled on streets back to the beautiful Memorial Bridge. The bikeway is nice and too short.
Back in Sherborn, I ran an errand on the magnificent Holliston portion of the Upper Charles Trail. There is no place like home.


* I suppose the elevator is for pedestrians as well but one can literally bike right on.
** wiki says Charles is 9m3/s and Conn is 483m3/s

Bishbike

SBP and Buzzman, those are some nice rides!


Out and back to Concord today before a gig.

Still comptemplating the whole "aeolian bike" thing as I had a headwind on my return.

Bishbike

Exactly!!!!!!

buzzman

A nice Weston/Concord jaunt today. Saw several cyclists and wondered if they were BF'ers.

Jim from Boston

I know about ocean crossings (I thought about the QE2), but driving is more convenient to schedule.

BTW, I plan to ride through Holliston via Rtes 16 and 126 to 140 tomorrow on a 59 mile training ride from Kenmore Square to Norwood for Week #4 of my 10 Week Century Training Program. I have been on that Upper Charles bike path, but I don’t feel moved to ride out to Hopkinton and Rte 85.

Jim from Boston

I once posted about that same question a few years ago:

Bishbike

Did a what now seems weekly ride out to Harvard. 62 glorious sunny miles!

Rode with a local framebuilder today and discussed the possibilities of building an "Aeolian Harp Bike".

Who knows, stranger thins have happened.....

jimmuller 

How'd you manage that? I did my usual commute, roughly 30 miles total, and I got wet on the return.

Bish, you are thick, you know? You should thee a doc.

Bishbike

Ha! Meant to say stranger THINGS. But you are right, I should see a doc. All of this talk of Aeolian Bikes and such...

Also, was on the bike at 9:20, and home by 1:30, so it was dry and sunny.