Brookline/Boston rentals?
 

Like so many other residents of Polynesia, Madame Pobble and I have been wanting to vacation in the Hub and we are now on track to do it in late May. Only problem is that we would like to do some riding while there and thus need to find a rental outlet. We'll be based in Brookline between Coolidge Corner and Washington Sq. Hoping to ride on the paths along the Charles and maybe the Emerald Necklace if it's still there, so city bikes would be fine but road bikes or MTBs would also do if necessary. Any suggestions will be much appreciated!

Landry's on Comm Ave. (just north of Coolidge Corner)

http://www.landrys.com/services/Bike...s/default.aspx

the Emerald Necklace is still there, but it's still a little dicey making the jump from Fenway to Jamaica Way (have to cross Huntington Ave., which isn't obvious. There is no unified Emerald Necklace path that is off the main road system, but you can chain a lot of the various parks and paths together and go from, say, the Fenway to Jamaica Plain and return to the Back Bay via the Southwest Corridor if you don't mind navigating traffic.

Check Massbike's list of Boston area bike paths for advance route planning. Having a copy of Rubel's Boston map (which you can buy at Landry's) is helpful.

^^

Sounds good -- thanks!

Landry's is the place to go, and it's easy walking distance from where you're staying.

I can't say I'd have expected Hawaiians to dream of vacationing in Boston :)

Technically I think it might be the Riverway between Boylston St/Park Drive (where the Fenway ends) and Huntington Ave... but no matter.

If one's up for a ride up the necklace to JP, I might suggest taking the paths along the Riverway up to where it crosses Boylston St (yes, you cross Boylston twice) and then take Boylston St up to where it becomes Route 9 (in Brookline Village). Make a left and your first right and you can either hop onto the sidewalk by the Jamaicaway or take Pond Ave on the Brookline-side up to Jamaica Pond at Perkins St. Continuing on to Franklin Park may involve more rotaries and complication than you'll want to deal with... but there are sidewalks from Jamaica Pond to Arnold Arboretum.

I'd be somewhat cautious on the Southwest Corridor... in the past there have been some safety issues (although personally I've never had a problem).

If the weather's nice and you're up for a journey that might at times involve riding on the street, Larz Anderson park in Brookline (very close to Jamaica Pond but I can't guarantee there are sidewalks the short way from the pond to "Larz," there's a longer way from Cleveland Circle that you could stick to sidewalks almost the entire journey).

I think that may have been true in the past when JP and Roxbury were much sketchier neighborhoods, but they've gotten rather gentrified now and you're more likely to get cut off by a hipster on a fixie than cut down by a gangbanger on a BMX while riding through there -- especially in the daytime; but I used to take the SW Corridor at night while visiting Bikes Not Bombs for mechanics classes and never felt unsafe.

I should, add, btw, on the subject of rentals that MassBike maintains a pretty good reference list of bike rental sources in Boston, so if Landry's happens to be all out that week or weekend, you have alternatives.

As of 3 years ago there was still some problems... but I agree, there isn't much of a safety issue during the daytime (Jamaica Plain has partially gentrified, but the park still cuts through mixed neighborhoods).