rholland1951

Took the DeLuxe out to Lexington and back, 10 miles, Ra low and dazzling on the way out.


The big catalpa is in bloom on the Minuteman in Lexington.




rod

rholland1951

15 miles on the Minuteman this evening, a lazy spin outbound, something of a sprint on the way back.

Arlington DPW has posted signs at Mill Street, Arlington, and Bow Street, Lexington, about the partial closure of the Minuteman next week.


Ra looked in on Lexington Center.


rod

jimmuller 

I rode the Gazelle to the office and back today. A lovely day it was too. Alas, no picture.

Does anybody except me remember from gradeschool english classes that none is supposed to be singular? As in "No pic" instead of "No pics".

DBrim

Very quick (for me) run out to Lexington and back on the Minuteman today. A hair over 15 miles round trip if I cut over on Broadway to Arlington Center. There was some sort of festival going on in Arlington today, but time didn't permit seeing what it was.

Relative sprints like today just remind me that I need a road bike. Even on the weekend rides I'm on my commuter which, of course, is outfitted with fenders and a rack. It's a hybrid, too - today it felt downright heavy!

rholland1951

Took the DeLuxe out today on a hilly variant of the North Bridge loop, 38 miles with 3788' of climbing through Arlington, Belmont, Lexington, Waltham, Lincoln, Concord, Carlisle, and Bedford. Climbed Belmont Hill on Concord Ave., then rolled out to Spring Street, picking up Trapelo Road through Waltham, down to the Cambridge Reservoir, then up to Lincoln Center, on to Sandy Pond Road with a stop at the DeCordova Museum, then another climb on Baker Bridge Road with a nod to the Gropius House, then up 126 past Walden Pond and Concord Center to Monument Street; enjoyed the familiar rollers on Monument Street, with an excursion to Balls Hill Road and its associated trails, then continuing to River Road, Skelton Road, Route 225, a bit of the Minuteman, then Wiggins Ave. and the Bridge Street foot bridge to sneak over to Page Road for the EXTRA CREDIT CLIMB. On one of the descents, I apparently hit 34 mph, but don't ask me which, there were a bunch of fast ones. The point of all this climbing is a possible ride in Central Vermont next weekend: I wanted to assess my bike, heart, lungs, and legs for what looks to be, weather permitting, an interesting time with a lot of climbing. So far, so good.

The climb up Belmont hill on Concord Ave. occurred about 5 minutes into the ride, before I was warmed up: a real wake-up call for my cardiovascular system and legs.


Concord Ave. presented several other climbs and descents, including this one at the Modernist enclave at Barberry Road.

Paused here at the end of the climb up Trapelo Road in Lincoln. Peaceful.


The climb up Belmont Hill reminded me of Bishbike, so I stopped briefly at the DeCordova Museum and sculpture park. Has anyone heard from him?


Absolutely no climbing on the art.


A climb up Baker Bridge Road led me to the Gropius House. A woman in an SUV stopped to ask me what it was, so I told her the story.


Monument Street offered its familiar charms: hills, history, and beauty.




To be continued...

rholland1951

Continued...

I've noticed Balls Hill Road as I've passed it on many a ride, sometimes getting a chuckle out of the name if the ride was a long one and I'd had about enough time in the saddle. I did some research and discovered that it has several conservation areas associated with it, with trails. But the maps don't really tell much about the condition of the trails, or their permitted use. So I took a detour today to explore.


Turns out the glass is about 3/4 full: Balls Hill Road itself is charming, secluded, and leafy, with old stone walls and old-fashioned rail fences.




At the end of the paved run of Balls Hill Road, the first conservation area ("Balls Hill Road Site") is reached. This proceeds through meadows and forests, with a generous and well-maintained path, easily ridden with wide tires (I was on Compass 26" x 1.75" today). In one of the meadows, I startled a big doe, who bounded away gracefully.








Soon enough, I crossed a border into what I think was the Beimfohr Term Restricted Land. The path was still well maintained, and the terrain interesting--this old foundation, for example...


However...


It was also aggressively posted, some signs threatening lawyers, some dogs. That last got my attention, especially since the sign seemed quite new. I back-tracked, and made a mental note to contact the Concord Conservation Commission and find out what the story is for passive recreational use on these trails. Should be interesting. In the meantime, there are other trails in the immediate area, perhaps not so RESTRICTED, that I haven't yet explored, so I may well be back. It's a pretty place.

I finished Monument Street and River Road, and headed home by the usual route, making the detour to Page Road for ONE LAST HILL. I got there via the Bridge Street foot bridge across the Shawsheen River, a convenience for many that always seemed a fine and secret place; it must have a history, but I don't know it. As luck would have it, my son called me as I came to it, so I stood there for several minutes, gabbing.


After that, I cranked up the Page Road hill, enjoying myself, but also enjoying the fact that there wasn't an EXTRA EXTRA CREDIT CLIMB in the offing. Towards the top, I exchanged a wave and a greeting with Susan Corey, the farmer of "Please don't squish my chickens" fame. Then I went barreling down Grove Street in Lexington, connected with the Minuteman at Revere Street, and dodged amiable trail users whom the good weather had brought out in swarms; the bell helped with this.

Somewhere in the midst of all this hill-climbing, I remembered a moment, as an undergraduate working on Beacon Hill, when I happened to look out a window and saw a series of hills (I think Bunker Hill may have been one of them), looking like a stop-motion photograph of a choppy sea. That image, of the Earth's surface propagating slow-moving waves which we and our works decorate briefly like so much ephemeral foam, was quite vivid, and has stayed with me to this day. I had the definite feeling that I was out sailing on that sea today.

rod

jimmuller 

I rode my commute again today. Today's ride was the Motobecane. The weather this morning can best be described as a steamah, not a soachah but a steamah.

The ride home was eventful in an offbeat way. A few miles from home I came upon another cyclist standing beside his parked bike so I stopped and asked if he was okay. His rear tire had blown and he was trying to flag down a car (he said he was hoping for a truck but he wouldn't have seen many on that road) to carry him the 2 miles or so to Belmont Wheelworks in Waverley Square. I said I'd give hm a tube or patch his except that I was riding sew-ups. After a few moments of discussion I recalled that someone on BF had posted about someone putting a sew-up on a clincher rim in a pinch. So I pulled out one of the two spares I was carrying and put it on his rim, pumped it, and we rode away!



I suggested he might want to be careful, especially as the route involved one downhill where you can easily hit 35mph. A short while later we pulled into Belmont Wheelworks, I got my tire back, and he went to the counter to buy a tube.

One noteworthy thing about this incident is that when I went to pump up the tire I found the tip of the valve stem was gone. Just gone. I think it might have broken off. Or been eaten. Or vanished into thin air. Since the valve is held closed by the air pressure there was no problem pumping it up. But it makes me wonder if that tube has a removable core. The tube was put in by TireAlert and I have no idea what he used except that it doesn't appear to be the lightweight tube I requested.

Life is full of mysteries.

Bishbike

75 miles today through Malden, Arlington, Lexington, Bedford, Concord,Lincoln, Carlisle. noticed a new installation at the Decordova sculpture park. Hot and steamy. Saw some turkeys crossing the road by the Hansom runways. Drivers seemed polite enough today. Lots of smiling cyclist everywhere.

rholland1951

Took the old GT Karakoram out for an evening ride on the Minuteman, floating along on the 55 mm balloon tires for what the pocket devil's weather radar assured me would be a ride between storms. For once, it wasn't having a little joke. 10 miles, breezy and humid, then home to an Ispwich Ale and a plate of andouille and cabbage sauteed in harissa-infused olive oil (thanks for the oil, Jess!). Yum!






rod

rholland1951

Took the LHT out for a mental health ride this evening, ten miles out to Lexington Center and back. Got caught in a bicycle traffic jam in Arlington Center, pretty funny. More crowds on the Minuteman, including a bumper crop of skaters. A jolly crowd, all in all.


Ra was dazzling along Broadway, Mass. Ave., and sections of the Minuteman.


Kept a good pace in spite of crowds and glare. Two blocks before arriving home, I failed to miss a field of broken bottle fragments, and flatted my rear tire. Walked the remainder and locked up the bike: it was dinner time. I'll fix the flat another day.


rod

Bishbike

Enjoying the cycling in Malden. Got out at lunchtime for17.7 miles of hills today. Did a loop consisting of Woodland Rd. to Fellsway East 2 times, then onto climb South Border Rd. into Winchester. Then it was on to Washington St. to climb Forest St/ Marble St., and them Fellsway West to the Elm St. climb in Malden.
.

rholland1951

Took the Trucker DeLuxe out for an evening ride on the Minuteman, 15 miles. Towards the turnaround point (Bedford Street, Lexington), I came upon an older* man bent over his bicycle, fiddling with his rear brakes. When I returned, he was still at it, so I stopped to render assistance**. Turns out his wheel had wandered a bit in the drop-out, and his brake pads were rubbing the rim; having been bit by that one myself once upon a time, I was able to recognize it, and showed him how to fix it. Mercifully, the fix worked. Rode home as the day faded, singing "I Saw the Light" to a couple of guys who were violating the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with their headlights. Pretty and peaceful evening, otherwise.






rod


* i.e., older than me.

** I blame Jim Muller for my behavior in this situation, on account of his having set a good example on numerous occasions.

jimmuller 

You blame me for singing?

I rode my commute again, as usual. Had to raise my voice to three drivers though. It wasn't singing.

quidquam

Did cambridge -> arlington -> concord-> sudbury -> arlington -> cambridge ... CACSAC

Happened upon a wooden bridge right at sunset, beautiful ride!

Bishbike

Nice pic quidquam!

Bishbike

Wonderful day for a ride out to Harvard!

quidquam

Thanks -- it doesn't do it justice. I wish I had a better camera with me.

rholland1951

I've read about folks riding the gravel roads of Vermont, and so I jumped at the chance to play hooky from the Jenny Brook bluegrass festival on Saturday, riding a 23-mile loop up from the Tunbridge World's Fairgrounds into the Central Vermont hills, 3442' of elevation gain, up hill and down dale in the towns of Tunbridge, Chelsea, Vershire, and Stafford. This ride included a lot of long, slow climbs and long, fast descents (hit 49 mph on one of them), with a sampler of Vermont road surfaces, from smooth pavement (just the thing for a fast descent) to well-graded gravel to rougher gravel to a Class 4, abandoned road whose roadbed had turned into a streambed for a quarter mile (got wet feet on that one). The route was chosen after staring at about a half-dozen maps of the same area, which disagreed with each other on key points in a surprising number of cases; to some extent, the ride was chosen to test the maps, and to help me learn how to interpret them for Vermont's unique complement of roads.

I rode a few blocks on VT 110, along the White River, taking a slight detour to have a look at one of the several covered bridges in Tunbridge.


The Vermont architectural idiom is organic, likable, and endures through use.


Got to Stafford Road and started a long, long climb up from the White River to the highlands to the East. I chose Stafford Road for this initial climb because it looked to have the gentlest grade among the available choices. It is well-paved, and much of it appears to have been recently surfaced. I fell into a climbing groove between a gentle mash and a productive spin, using the low range of the Sugino triple crankset in a way that seemed allow sustained progress with a minimum of dawdling.






Turned off onto a dirt road to have a look at the Stafford Road Cemetery.


At 1500', after a climb of 1000', I turned North onto County Turnpike, recently graded gravel. This was beautiful and rolling, a pleasure to ride.






One surprising feature were little orange butterflies, in groups of up to a dozen, who sat together on the road surface and fluttered up in clouds as I approached. I'd see them, and others, for the rest of the ride.


To be continued...

jimmuller 

I rode my commute today as I do most days. Had reason to be at work earlier so I left the house 45 minutes earlier than normal. Light traffic, light mist falling. The Masi didn't seem to mind.

Two noteworthy events today, one each way. The trip in gave me a reason to test my brakes. A giant oak tree had fallen across the Minuteman Bikeway and cyclists were crawling through the shrubbery to get around it. It will be interesting to see if it has been removed by tomorrow morning.

After flying down a hill on the way home and reaching speeds over 30mph I had to swerve to avoid this. I hit the brakes, went back and picked it up so no one else would hit it:



I snapped this pic after I'd moved it off the road. I didn't want to carry it home as that seemed kinda' dangerous. I didn't want to throw it into the woods as that seemed irresponsible. I figured it should go into someone's trash. So I went up the nearest door, carefully putting the knife down on the step behind me. I didn't want to scare anyone seeing a strange man come to the door holding a knife in his hand. No one was home. I tried another house. No one was home. I wandered into a few other driveways. The houses look dark and quiet as a cloister. Ah, that house across the street has cars parked, looks to be populated, lots of junk on the porch. I had seen a utility van pulling away. I went over, noticed one door slightly ajar. Rang the bell, no answer, knocked, no answer. Looked at another door, quiet as a mousetrap. Out front were several garbage cans loaded with the detritus of home repair and painting. I tossed the knife in with that stuff, hopped on the bike and finished the ride home.

Everyday is an adventure.

rholland1951

Took the GT Karakoram out for a standard evening mental health ride, 10 miles. The Arlington DPW, or perhaps marauding beavers, have made short work of the tree that had fallen across the trail: here today, sawn tomorrow.


The pumping station's fence remembers the tree, but perhaps not fondly.


It's been a year since I first noticed the Egg, so I took it's picture tonight. The Egg has survived four seasons, a couple of blizzards, and the curiosity and adulation of various humans, including the one who attached a note to the artist to it, while evading the malign attentions of the Bad Boys. It has proved itself to be admirably robust, and I wish it well as it begins its second year. It's got Humpty Dumpty beat all to hell...


rod

rholland1951

Continued...

County Turnpike delivered me to Jenkins Brook Road, Chelsea, after a net descent of 500'. Stopped at the corner of Jenkins Brook Road and Vershire Center Road for a little lunch, and struck up a long conversation with Bob, who has lived at that spot for 35 years. We discussed the fact that different maps often disagree about many of the roads there, and he allowed as how the track extending Jenkins Brook Road to Turnpike Road (Vershire) through the Chelsea Town Forest was passable: "My wife and I have walked it many times". The verb "walked" turned out to be significant.


I thanked him and continued out Jenkins Brook Road, rougher and steeper now, climbing past the old buryng ground at the edge of the Chelsea Town Forest. After that, the road disappeared from some maps, and quickly showed its Class 4 colors. Riding activity alternated between picking a line and proceeding with caution, to dismounting and THEN picking a line. At some point along here, I hit the high point of the ride, 1771', and started a rough descent. For about a quarter mile, picking a line consisted of picking the next stepping stone, and trying to keep the bike in water shallow enough to not soak the bottom bracket: the roadbed was an active, flowing stream-bed, helping to water an extensive wetland. THIS WAS ALL BEAUTIFUL.








Along the way, I encountered another cluster of butterflies, of a different, larger species, taking their ease on the road surface. Wonder what that's about?


Eventually, conditions improved, and I was consistently riding again, headed S on Taylor Valley Road, and descending. This was a beautiful gravel road, not as recently graded as County Turnpike, but ridable at speed, running alongside the West Branch of the Ompompanoosuc River, which was every bit as pretty and out-of-the-way as its name.




This descent ran about 800', and brought me to the Justin Morrill Memorial Highway in Stafford, well-graded gravel, where I turned NW and commenced a 600' climb. Along the way, gravel became pavement and the Justin Morrill Highway picked up the alias of Stafford Road. Admired the pastures and elegant horses at the top, to say nothing of the peaks of the Green Mountains rolling off to the West, then rolled down Stafford Road for a fast descent, topping out at 48.8 mph, if the little pocket devil that makes up numbers for me is to be believed. The good condition of the pavement was much appreciated just then, as were the stability of the LHT geometry and the Compass 26"x1.75" tires, which performed reliably in all conditions encountered.




This ride made me happy, and I'll come back when I can.


rod

rholland1951

15 miles on the Minuteman tonight. Strange ride: I felt like I was crawling, but when I checked the stats afterwards, it was one of my faster times. Feeling weary, the long weekend won't come a minute too soon.

rod

Bishbike

Got out for 56 miles through Malden, Medford, Winchester, Belmont, Lexington, Lincoln, Concord and back. Hit some pretty nasty hills on the way including Fellsway East, South Border Rd., the Rt.2 access road, Clifton/Prospect St., Concord Ave from the Belmont police station. Trapelo Rd., Bedford Rd. in Lincoln, Forest St. in Woburn, and Elm St. in Medford. Gonna feel this one tomorrow...





Saw a new (to me) installation at the Decordova.

rholland1951

10 miles this evening on the Minuteman, still bright with July's long day, not even a hint of sunset color yet. Encountered runners in packs, the bell had the desired effect.


rod

antimonysarah

No pictures, alas (and I carried a camera with me, I just...never took any), but a beautiful day on the bike. Rode north (from West Medford) to Ballardvale, over to the Harold Parker State Forest and then zooming down a dirt road, and then over to Topsfield for lunch and to pick up the new-ish railtrails -- Topsfield Linear Common/Wenham Rail Trail/Danvers Rail Trail/Independence Greenway, which was gorgeous and had lots of people enjoying it without being a crowded pedestrian-dodge-game. It was nice smooth stone dust except the Independence Greenway bit, which was larger gravel and a bit rough, and then dumped us out on a busy road (although I was expecting that, and it was still not the worst place to cross back to our side of Rte 1). Then we headed over to Wakefield where we stopped to have some Italian Ice from a cart and the last bit home.