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Originally Posted by FrozenBiker
(Post 22905458)
Nice time, and good info on the trail status. Did you ride the swirly ramp up to Powder Mill Rd?
not uncommon for a cyclist to be legally in the right, but not popular with a local resident. why spoil a fun day w/ rude encounters. at least you tried something new :thumb: not far from that spot, I have parked at the Sanborn School aka Concord Middle School & worked my way to the back lot, then across a field, to a little foot trail, to the paved trail. seemed harmless enough, on the weekend that I tried it, one time, a cpl yrs ago https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3c0a0de27d.jpg heading out soon w/ Wifey to the RBT from Concord ctr to Bedford. hoping not to get bitten by a dog off leash. Wifey recently heard about another dog bite on next-door.com |
Originally Posted by FrozenBiker
(Post 22839907)
And while scrolling Google Maps to find potential parking areas, it shows a Radio Flyers field nearby. I'll have to check that out also.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d5ece811b9.jpg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...11b38b5b88.jpg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...41c2a9bf54.png across the street from where the BFRT ends. this is what the end of the BFRT used to look like https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e4a461bc29.jpg I came out there, crossed 117, then rode into the Davis Farm trails. very pretty. but lost sight of any RR bed in Davis Farm |
July 2019
the round trip from Sanborn, to 117, across 117, into Davis Farm, until the trails get small & confusing, then back North across 117 again & into the brush of the BFRT I reach route 117 at about the 2:40 mark before I got digital image stabilization & don't know why the audio cuts out. it's a pretty bad video, I'm sorry just some of the bushwhacking |
A couple of PSAs from the BFRT Facebook page:
Chelmsford DPW will be conducting mowing operations on the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail starting Tuesday July 25th and for the remainder of the week until finished. Please use care when you see the machine on the trail and pass only when safe to do so. Message from Westford Public Works, the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail will be closed on Wednesday, July 26 from 7:30 am to Noon for the removal of a tree. Closure is from Greenwood Road to Griffin Road. |
An otherwise unremarkable ride mostly on the BFRT today. That tree in Westford has indeed been cleared, but mowing in Chelmsford hasn't gotten far, as of the early afternoon. The machine was doing the section north of town center and nothing else had been cut yet.
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Nice colors this week and a good crowd on the path. I began in West Concord, heading north up to Rte 225. That was the southern-most point in 2012 when I rode down from Lowell. Turning around there, I headed south to the end at Powder Mill. This was a fun ride!
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3349d8563d.jpg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...22ff393ed8.jpg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f8941c3009.jpg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...897b85d1cd.jpg More pictures from this ride in the link below |
fwiw - driving to work this morning, noticed some new signage at one of the Route 27 crossings. the really awkward, off-angle crossing.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ed2a1b0db0.jpg or maybe I just never noticed it before??? https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...98ba288232.jpg https://maps.app.goo.gl/chRG5C18N6Fn5W5fA |
Originally Posted by rumrunn6
(Post 23065160)
or maybe I just never noticed it before???
Hey I meant to post this comparison last month (2012 - 2023) https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6dc44a648a.jpg ) |
Originally Posted by FrozenBiker
(Post 23065350)
The signpost was there in Mid-October. A women asked if I were lost while looking it :love:
Hey I meant to post this comparison last month (2012 - 2023) https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6dc44a648a.jpg ) & wow, nice comparison! look at that! trying to think when I first started riding that trail. my kids were small & we used to park in the dirt patch https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...438aa418bc.jpg we drove there to ride to the Brickhouse for lunch. I guess I never really looked South. I'll bet that would have been fun to explore! |
Originally Posted by rumrunn6
(Post 23065160)
fwiw - driving to work this morning, noticed some new signage at one of the Route 27 crossings. the really awkward, off-angle crossing.
or maybe I just never noticed it before??? https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...98ba288232.jpg |
fwiw
- South of the Acton train station there's a packed down foot track that looks terribly bumpy & icy - further North, I saw no center foot track & lots of trees hanging down over the path |
Originally Posted by rumrunn6
(Post 23123987)
fwiw
- South of the Acton train station there's a packed down foot track that looks terribly bumpy & icy - further North, I saw no center foot track & lots of trees hanging down over the path |
Originally Posted by EVlove
(Post 23124546)
There've been a few skiing and snowshoeing pictures from the BFRT on social media. It's their turn now! I did occasionally see people training on roller skis throughout the summer.
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Word on the Friends of the BFRT Facebook group is that either "everything melted" or "there is still slushy snow." I might get a ride in tomorrow.
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I did have time for an extended recon ride today, from Chelmsford center to NARA Park. I parked at the library and made my way past this impressive flow (Beaver Brook, one wonders how many hundreds so named there must be in the country) to the Brickhouse lot to pick up the trail.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9cd032eba2.jpg I found the trail still pretty dicey until I got to Westford, and unrideable on parts of the first section, between the center and High St in Chelmsford. I was on the Zizzo, which is on nominally 38-406 tires, with a very mild tread pattern. Not optimal but provided for good exercise of the line-picking and reflex-sharpening kind. I saw only one other bike track, and only in one direction. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...63aa138abe.jpg I followed suit on my return and bypassed that section via Littleton Road/Route 110, which runs parallel and within sight, but is very busy with a 40 mph limit. Not something I like to do. The rest of the way to NARA was quite alright, although strewn with tree debris. Here and there fresh wood chips told of larger obstacles having been cleared. ETA: And do mind the snow berms at several of the road crossings. |
EVlove wow, that's a workout!
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Originally Posted by EVlove
(Post 23127143)
Ah, not really. About 14 miles out and back, at a modest pace and all flat, except where the BFRT briefly leaves the old rail bed at NARA Park.
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Originally Posted by rumrunn6
(Post 23128239)
oh good! I remember a cpl rides over frozen footprints & slushy mounds intersperse w/ frozen mounds & it was quite a workout
Anyway, academic now. I managed to get 4.5 miles in today, in between downpours, and now we have proper winter temps in the forecast. |
Wifey & I were super curious so we rode West Concord to Hudson Rd, Sudbury
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9fd2116f4c.jpg funny how they tried to close it at the Powder Mill overpass anyway we battled the unfinished road crossings, wow there are a lot! https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1b8ee16c74.jpg soooo interesting how they redid the washout just before Fairview Farm. I wonder if they did anything about the drainage problem that causes the washout https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...22ff96b6ef.jpg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7ab69fd575.jpg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e7b8dfe010.jpg we won't be going back until they finish & it's all safe. really encouraging progress tho! |
one of the top days of the year. warm & sunny. great to feel the heat of the sun but with occasional clouds. light aroma of drying pine needles, my favorite
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1a645641b2.jpg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...248903cebc.jpg kept an eye on those pesky bollards! https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6f2e8d62b8.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3c9cdcf985.jpg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...be5f79a659.jpg gorgeous day https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...746b4fbfbc.jpg got bunched up at one of the road crossings. even ran out of time but the driver at the light waved us on https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...20d18593de.jpg |
gave it another try from West Concord South. got about a mile? South of Route 20, to about Framingham, maybe. about where I put the little grey google pin (P)
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...15f5779ea1.png google doesn't quite know about the undeveloped RR track https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...703229a2eb.png saw 2 trains today! https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...18a8f693d6.jpg lovely, undeveloped area https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7e15152d50.jpg beautiful, mild, winter day https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9f10dba4ad.jpg gravel is not what I wanted to ride on w/ these tires at full pressure https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...39741d2b77.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2e508e0ce0.jpg |
looking for the Southern parking in Framingham. "ai" says it's on Mechanic St in Framingham. so we tried that but it was just a short road that ended at the aqueduct. looks like a nice area to ride thru when they pave it
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b1adcc3fae.jpg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0d818cf52b.jpg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9da9f5b7af.jpg we parked here at CJ's Gormet Grill & Pizza 29 Hudson Rd, Sudbury, MA 01776, which was closed today, Monday, Labor Day https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2cef1b61cf.png & rode North, past west Concord, past the prison & just over the rte 2 overpass. got in a bout 2 hrshttps://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...149ed279f0.jpg |
this would probably be a better Southern, legit, trail parking lot. Broadacres Farm parking lot, Sudbury. 62 Morse Rd, Sudbury MA 01776
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ce52246dc0.jpg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...cb5daa1684.png |
if anyone is interested, the trail looks AMAZING out around Acton & heading North. just a thin light coating of snow. if I had freedom & time I'd be out there with my studded tires & gopro. sorry no pics
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