Originally Posted by Kilgore_Trout
i'm looking to both. at some point i'd like to ride down to philly for the sake of just hanging out, but i'd also like to be able to have the strength and endurance to do longer rides.
For when you're in boston- some detailed cue sheets for medium-long training rides are at:
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/huca/training_cuesheets.htm
I can email you a couple more, if you're interested.
A fun ride is boston to providence ~45 miles each way- a bunch of folks recently did it along route 1, but if you take washington st, which parallels route 1 most of the way, it's a lot more plesant. Nice thing is that you can ride down in the morning, hang out in providence for the day, and then hop on the commuter rail for the backwards leg, if your legs don't feel up to a 90+ mile day.
Another more scenic ride is up the coast towards gloucester-it's a bit hairy getting out of the city that way, but being able to duck into one of the beaches which dot the coast is pretty cool.
The minuteman trail is ok during off times, but pretty packed after people get off work, or on any nice weekend day.
General tips- for long rides: drink lots of water, and bring food with you.
Take things really easy at the beginning- you'll thank yourself when the end rolls around.
Bring a pump, patch kit, spare tube, map, and multitool. Sucks to be stuck in the middle of nowhere because you got two punctures on one ride, totally lost because you missed a turn, or have to ride home standing up because a bolt on your seat came loose. Not that any of these things have happened to me.