mr_bill

Will be doing Bike MS with these two this year. Yellow Jersey has done the Bike MS ride many times. Orange Jersey and I are noobs:


Blocks behind were closed for the Cambridge River Fest. Love the colors on the construction. This block is car-free Mass Ave:


JP I think:


I'm told damn good hot dogs:


Boston Medical:


Boat under a Train under a *BIKE* under a Plane:


-mr. bill

jimmuller 

Have no fear, the "lunch issue" had nothing to do with Kate's Corner. In fact, Kate was a welcome respite on the return. Lunch was provided by my sweetie, kept on ice in our panniers. Homemade chicken liver pâté, homemade sauerkraut, baked turnip cubes, broccoli, baked sweet potato, homemade non-dairy (coconut) yogurt and berries. It was good but didn't proved much quick-recovery of my blood sugar level. We should have known better too. The way to ride long is to eat often. Sharon had requested that run but didn't realize how long it was.



Today's ride was just a Recovery Ride, a.k.a. Feel-Your-Pain-Again Ride. Took the Motobecane on a roundabout loop through Concord.

jimmuller 

mr. bill, that looks like a very good day!

Bishbike

Rod, thanks for posing these routes. I will have to venture up to Groton the next time I am out in Harvard.

Bishbike

Quick 26 mile out and back to Concord this morning before brunch.

rholland1951

It's pretty country out there. Once you're past 495, it feels like the bicycle has gotten you somewhere else...

rod

rholland1951

Jim, that looks like a very good lunch!

rod

jimmuller 

Once you cross 495 you're in western Mass. Central Mass is the stretch between the N and S-bound lanes.

Thank! It was. Just not enough quick-acting calories, plus we didn't carry sufficient snackin' food. You need bike fuel every so often.

rholland1951

Lubed my sweetie's old Raleigh hybrid, pumped up the tires, and accompanied her on her first ride of the year, a 4 or 5 mile cruise on the network of bike paths around Alewife: the East Arlington section of the Minuteman, the Alewife Greenway, the embryonic segment of the Mass. Central Rail Trail that runs along the Little River out to Belmont. I rode the old GT with the balloon tires. Shorts and sandals, a pleasant ride and a literal change of pace.

rod

Bishbike

Rod, how is 225 between Westford and Carlisle? Never taken it past Ferns.

rholland1951

Pretty, hilly, sometimes pretty hilly. Traffic isn't bad until after Forge Village, when it merges with 119 until Groton Center; that stretch is rideable, but can get a little nerve-wracking, so I generally detour around that. The stretch between Fern's and Forge Village is both direct and pleasant. Mostly the pavement is in good shape, but there are a few exceptions. The worst pavement is on the hill just west of Carlisle Center.

rod

Jim from Boston

+10. Thanks for that report, Rod. Rte 4/225 from Lexington westward is one of my favorite long (about 70 miles) training rides from Boston; and then I return by way of Harvard. Last year, for about 3-4 hours along the route, starting in Boston, I was passed by wave after wave of strong riders on the B to B Harpoon ride going up to Vermont.

Looking at the at the map, I think I by-passed Rte 119 via Westford Road to Sandy Pond Road to Ayer Road into Harvard; and back to Boston via Route 117.

The first year I did it, (?) 2011, in Harvard or thereabouts I encountered riders on the Annual MassBike Summer Ride which had started from Lexington. In 2013, and this year, that Ride that starts from NARA park in North Acton, on Rte 27, just a short distance south of Rte 225. (That venue on July 26 of this year is reprised as the Boston version of the Sixth Annual Fifty-Plus Bikeforum Ride, attracting subscribers from as far away as Michigan).


B to B Harpoon riders in Arlington

Bishbike

Out and back to Concord via Rt. 60 to the Concord Ave. climb.

jimmuller 

On the little 2-night/3-day mini-tour we did last summer with some BF members we took 225 to rt110, then 110 south to the Minuteman Campground. (Some of us, for example us with the tandem loaded to 105lbs, went around the hill on 225 west of Carlisle by going north to Great Brook Farm SF, south along the BF for a short ways, then west on Greenwood Rd to Old Lowell Rd; Griffin works too.) Picking up the narrative...rt110 through Littleton isn't too bad because it has a wide shoulder in most places but it carries a lot of traffic, and there is a fairly tricky section with narrow shoulder on an uphill past a busy ice cream stand. Once we made camp Sharon and I took off along Willow/Westford/Sandy Pond to the supermarket where 225 hits 119. That was a beautiful stretch, and easy with the bike unloaded.

I've contemplated the remaining 110 into Ayer a few times but we've never found ourselves in a position to try it. One previous ride scouting the tour route we did run out to that same Willow/110 intersection via Bruce then looped Sandy Pond around to the rotary, and back 110 to Bruce. Not a bad run.

hubcyclist

Moved a couple of towns to Winchester this past weekend (but basically right on the Woburn line), so I no longer have the Northern Strand Trail mere blocks from my home. Went for a 18 mile ride this morning, made it down to Arlington Center, should have tried out the minuteman since I was there, but I just turned around. I think I'm gonna like it here.

Bishbike

Hub, you got some nice climbs over there if you like climbing. Forest St. off of Washington, also South Border Rd.

Bishbike

Did my usual out and back to Concord.

hubcyclist

Indeed. I'm so used to riding the rail trail so being forced to ride the roads is a good thing for my riding. Plus being here gives me easier access to several local riding groups

rholland1951

Had a quick mental health ride before dinner on the Minuteman, and was overtaken by Biskbike. We had a nice chat, then rode off to cook dinner for our respective sweeties.

rod

Bishbike

Deperted from my usual out and back route to Concord, and decided to take the Minuteman.

Out and Back to Concord via Minuteman - Belmont, MA

On the return trip, I passed a cyclist and cycle who looked kind of familiar from pics on this forum. I turned around at the next intrsection for further investigation. My suspicions were confirmed, and it was none other than our own Rod Holland.

Great to meet you Rod!

As I arrived home I noticed that my bike is becoming encrusted with a yellowish-green film of pollen.

rholland1951

Bish, likewise!

rod

rholland1951

Evening ride on the Minuteman in the drizzle or mist or whatever that damp stuff was, grey light diffused by it and everything just a bit soft-focus, a little blurred and caught between two worlds. A little smokey pack of teenagers seemed to be working diligently on getting a little blurred when I rode past them on one of the Arlington bridges on the outbound leg. On the return, they (or others of their cohort) had moved down to the darkened AHS athletic field, where they were hooting, hollering, carrying on, and having a high old time.


rod

mtalinm

Great ride in Copenhagen today. Right up there with Munich in terms of infrastructure for cycling

rholland1951

Wonderful! As I recall, the young women in Copenhagen ride in short skirts and hose. A very pleasant alternate universe you've found yourself in, mtalinm...

rod

mtalinm

Bike Ride Profile | 12 kilometers near Copenhagen | Times and Records | Strava

it was more of a granola scene ...maybe weekdays are different