Originally Posted by
apricissimus
Can I just say that Hyde Park Ave SUCKS to ride a bike on?
That is all.
I'm surprised by that comment. Admittedly, I ride it only occasionally, and outbound early in the morning, but it seems pretty wide until it gets to Cleary Square, and thereafter seems somewhat residential.
I haven't had a chance to study the bike map in depth, including the red and blue distinctions, but it seems to include all the routes I have learned over the years, including my prized route on Weld through West Roxbury. BTW FYA I wrote a post on my routes from Kenmore Square southwest towards towards Norwood:
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
I’m lucky to have an early morning reverse commute from Kenmore Square to Norwood, and then I take a commuter train back to Boston with my bike. A well known bicycle guide to Boston is the Boston Basin Bicycle Book, which likens Boston to a basin with a rim defined by the hills through which Route 128 (now I-95 and I-93) runs. A smaller rim of hills also runs around the approximate circumference of the city. I have four major routes from Kenmore to Dedham, each defined by the hill I climb, and the local environment, and then there is a final common pathway from Dedham to Norwood.
Each route is about 14 miles long in an approximately southwest direction and though different, they are encompassed within a distance of less than about 2.5 miles from the farthest east to west. In order of the difficulty of the hills, I describe them as:
-“gritty” urban (Centre and Washington St through Jamaica Plain and Roslindale)
-pleasant suburban (Pond St to Goddard St and on to Newton St and Independence to the VFW Parkway and Rte 1 through Brookline)
-pleasant urban (Jamaicaway and Centre St to Rte 1 through Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury)
-ritzy suburban (Walnut St to Warren to Lee and on to Newton St through Brookline and Newton).
BTW, these are not especially tough hills, but noticeably different in effort. My favorite route is the pleasant urban one, and it is also the best maintained during the winter; today it had a few millimeters of slush but with good traction.
When I go into training for a century according to a ten-week schedule I follow, my weekday mileage goes up to about 30 miles and I expand my routes, going to Norwood via the east through Quincy, Milton, Canton, Walpole; or from the west through Newton, Needham, Wellesley, Dover and Westwood. On Saturdays I often go into work for a little while, on routes from 44 to up to 75 miles, from the east through Brockton, West Bridgewater, or Marshfield; or from the west through Holliston, Hopkinton, Franklin or Marlborough. All the Bostonians will recognize these places as pleasant suburban to ex-urban towns and even horse farm country, with a lot of nice cycling roads.
Whenever I meet someone, I invariably ask them where they live, because I‘m sure I’ve cycled somewhere nearby.