DBrim

Busy weekend for me. I commute from Lynn to Salem, and after work on Friday, I took a tour of Nahant. It adds about 9 miles to the commute, but the shade and water along Lynn Shore make it pretty doable, with a bit of a break after the first ten.

As a Northeastern alum this picture of the bike (and its new fenders) was obligatory:


On Saturday I rode 127 out to Gloucester for the first time. Very hilly compared to what I'm used to. A nice ride, but I'm not 100% "there" yet. I need more practice. I took my bike onto the commuter rail for the first time after the ride. A few cyclists got on at Rockport so the bike area on the car next to the high platform was already full by the time I boarded. It wasn't the best experience; you'd think that the train would be better than the bus but so far my experience is that it is not.

Today, just the normal commute. My bike is starting to get a bit cranky with the rear derailleur and there's a clicking sound coming from the left pedal. It's probably time for a bike shop visit.

rholland1951

10 miles on the Minuteman before dinner, 88, muggy, and glaring sun to start, but the shade deepened and the air cooled during the ride. Lots of company but no misanthropy, for whatever reason, although I did find myself smelling some of my fellow cyclists as they blew past. The warmth and damp got the night-singing creatures all excited; they were tuning up noisily for the show to follow. And the egg is still in suspense.

Mostly, though, I noticed the plants, especially the wildflowers. It was a ride in the Garden.










rod

Jim from Boston

Did you see the gum emplacements?

rholland1951

The gum emplacements are not to be missed...




Good old Bike Forums string matching... ***'s for everybody!

rod

Jim from Boston

Great reply...

Fabulous link…

I’ll take two...

jimmuller 

Ride up to Odiorne Point on Rye, NH (MetroBostonNortheast). Hidden in the woods they have some big emplacements there too, a very large shell casing or two, a plaque describing the reason they were built. Capable of sending a shell to hit a ship 35 miles out to sea.

Obligatory bike content: It's a nice ride up that way along the coast.

rholland1951

Ten miles on the Minuteman this evening, warm and windy, the big old line of storms over the horizon looking like Chinese dragons on the weather radar, the celestial bureaucrats of clouds and rain. The sky to the West was dark gray, to the East a sort of gray-white, an inversion of the normal luminence gradient at the end of the day. Kept a good pace.

rod

jimmuller 

It was indeed warm and windy today. I rode my commute on the Masi again today and once again I had no flats. Isn't life wonderful? Had a bit of a headwind on the return though.

My Woburn greeter was there again today. I saw her on the other side of the street this time and about half a block away. She saw me coming at the same time and immediately waved and called out. A nice neighborhood touch. She is a bit older than 10 though, and is always running a Lazer scooter instead of a skateboard, and probably heading to the YMCA about half a mile behind me. Okay, so I can't judge distances, and as I've gotten older I have become completely unable to judge anyone's age. Okay, so I don't remember details very well either.

Traffic was light through Waverley Square today. Don't know why. The road isn't paved any more today than it was yesterday. Or the day before that. I believe the Masi is developing a bad bearing in the BB. Will have to tear it apart.

Jim from Boston

When I did that ride over two weeks ago, Waverley Square was indeed a notable mess. The rest of Trapelo Road all the way to Cambridge was also not very good.

I will post the most recent plans for the Ride later today, to include the most recent weather forecast. I use weather.com, and I find that their predictions for nice weather are pretty reliable, and for rain are tentative, particularly the further in the future is the forecast.

That website also provides hourly forecasts for the next 48 hours, so even if rain is generally predicted, I can perhaps find a window of opportunity to ride. Notably, last night rain was predicted this morning, but now at 7:18 AM on the current forecast (6:15 AM), no rain until noon.

For Saturday, 7:00 AM:

7 AM: 66° Partly Cloudy [emphasis mine]
FEELS LIKE: 66°
HUMIDITY: 84%
PRECIP: 10%
WIND: SW at 5 mph

Addendum:
The decision about rain is not so much whether to ride, but what bike. The carbon fiber road bike will not go out at the least chance of rain, to keep the drive train clean.

DBrim

I did not. Maybe next time!

After about 3/4 of a warm and muggy commute yesterday, I turned off of the end of the Salem portion of the Marblehead Rail Trail for the home stretch of my commute. Then... bounce, bounce... bounce. I haven't dealt with a flat before, but I was pretty well aware of what was happening. I found a shady spot and dismounted. I removed the rear wheel, got the tire and tube off, got the spare tube out, started putting it in... and discovered that it was the wrong size. Great, the bike shop sold me the wrong size spare tube.

I ended up walking the last two miles with a flat rear tire on the bike. When I purchased the spare, I went in with the bike and said "I need a spare tube" so it's not like I gave them the wrong size or anything. I'm not thrilled with the bike shop right now, but I'll be going there this afternoon to see if they can make it right.

sherbornpeddler

Jim, Bravo for your work to put this together. Well done. I used to worry a lot about weather until several wise people told me several times, the worst day on the bike is better than the best day in the office. Yesterday I rode 66 miles through the thunderstorms that had been forecasted a few days earlier and the only time I got wet was when I squirted water on my head to cool off. I wish I could join your ride and am sure it'll be fun.

Jim from Boston

Hi sbp,

Thanks for your reply, though you probably did not see my Addendum:

It's 11:40 AM in Norwood, and no rain yet. Doesn't really matter though, because I didn't cycle in this morning anyways.

Do watch out for lightning, and:

jimmuller 

"I have a gub." - Woody Allen, on a note as he is attempting to rob a bank, in I forget which movie

Re the 50+ ride on Saturday - I received a note from BF member bikemore saying he wanted to ride with us. (He hangs out in C&V mostly and I don't believe he is 50+ per se. But then, I'm a poor judge of age.) He also said he hadn't been doing so much riding lately, typically just 20 miles at a time, so he would be limited to the 30-miler.

Sharon and I will be biking over from Depot Park in Bedford arriving in N Acton some time before 11, maybe as early as 10.

Jim from Boston

Take the Money and Run.

"I can't read this. What is this?
'Abt natural?'

No it just reads, "Please put $50 thousand into this bag. Act natural."

Does it say, "Act natural"?

I, uh, am pointing a *** at you.

That looks like "gub", it doesn't look like "***".

No, it's "gub". That's a B.

No you see, it's an N... G-U-N.

- Oh, I see, this is a hold up.

- Yes.

May I see your ***?

Well, you'll have to have this note initialized by one of our vice-presidents before I can give you any money."

MORE TO FOLLOW.

rholland1951

DBrim or anyone who knows: the Saugus segment of the Northern Strand Community Trail (crushed asphalt) ends at the Lynn line. The railroad roadbed continues, and from the map looks to go to some useful places. Anybody have experience riding this? What shape is it in?

rod

DBrim

I haven't been out that way, unfortunately. Wish I could help you!

Jim from Boston

Well, the final plans for the Boston venue for the Sixth Annual Fifty-Plus Ride are falling into place. rtool is traveling from Ohio, planning to arrive on Friday afternoon, and we may do an easy ride on the Charles River Bike Path. He and I have met personally on the Annual Rides II and III. He’ll be staying with us in downtown Kenmore Square til Monday, so we’ll probably do some touring, likely on foot and/or subway, when not cycling. We could also use the Hubway Bike Sharing System for short hops to get around and not worry about the bikes.

The weather forecast for Saturday 9 AM, as of 3 PM today (Thurs), is sunny and 73°. We initially planned on doing the Metric Century on Saturday, which starts at 9:00 AM in North Acton. As above, Metro Boston BF member jimmuller and his wife plan to ride too on their tandem. Again Saturday through Sunday are open. If anyone else is interested in the above activities, send me a PM so we can make further arrangements.

PS to jmm: See my PM to follow. For identification:

Last week while thinking about the Ride it occurred to me that in the pictures of you and Sharon, you are both similarly dressed in matching long black pants and gray tops like tunics. I was thinking that they vaguely resembled the uniforms on the original Star Trek. Did you ever think about getting some Star Trek insignia to add some extra panache? (Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. )

sherbornpeddler

I'm looking forward to the meeting and the early morning bike ride tomorrow. It is in Boston and I'll go in via Central Ave to Newton Center to Beacon to Commonwealth and Clarendon over to S. Boston. Cranking big miles this week. Wednesday was 67 miles to Carlisle and today 72 to the NE corner of Connecticut. nlike wed, today was about 15 miles more than a quick estimation. Only a few miles in to the ride I decided to take some known, quiet roads that weren't quite so direct and then I explored a few more. Next I tried google maps-bicycle routing and it went well until it nagged me to try the Southern New England Trunkline Trail in Blackstone (it is still loose gravel and better suited for mountain bike) and then River Rd. in Millville/Uxbridge. I did manage the dirt River Rd because it was full of dirt wave chop and a lot like rowing a small dingy in choppy water. Interesting mix of beautiful farm, mill homes and small industry. Up to Webster, Uxbridge, Mendon, Hopedale, Milford (and a bit of my fav Upper Charles Trail) and into Holliston. From Uxbridge to Milford seemed 80% fast downhill and the rush hour traffic was friendly and cooperative. Just for contrast one car full of brave kids yelled the deepest thoughts they were able to generate from their still developing brains when I was about 4 miles from home. From Uxbridge east to Holliston seemed 80% fast downhill and the rush hour traffic was friendly and cooperative. I hope I remember the route for next year.

mr_bill

Who dat?



-mr. bill

jimmuller 

Well, what the...? Umbalievable. Simply umbalievable. Are you stalking me, mr_bill?

Okay, where was this? From the bike selection (the dark blue Motobecane with half-chrome fork) it must have been on my commute yesterday or today. I don't quite recognize the intersection so I can't tell from the shadows whether it is morning or afternoon. I'd guess this morning though, on Lowell St from Arlington into Lexington.

Today's commute was lovely. Cool and fairly non-humid. Traffic was light too, maybe because people had already split for the weekend. And that Motobecane is a joy to ride. I believe it is a '74 Champion Team, a special-order model offered in response to Luis Ocana winning the TdeF in '73, this one painted to look like an '82. It rides like a TdeF winner tool, sew-up tires and all. It and the Masi are far better bikes than I ever expected to ride, let alone own. With no headwind today, fortunate stoplight timing, and fairly cool temps I made the run home in 1hr on the nose. I've ridden to work every day this week, a total of 150 miles just from commuting.

I generally turn off Mass Ave at Wilson Farm and usually take Pleasant St to go under Rt 3. Today I didn't feel like thumping those short but steep hills so I stayed on Winter, went over Rt 2, and bombed down the hill past Belmont Country Club. Of course, light traffic or not, someone always comes up behind me. One thing I don't want to do is make some impatient driver angry, so if I can't get out of the way I at least try to go as fast as I can. So I just pushed it into high gear, took the center of the road to avoid all the bumps on the shoulder, and hammered down the hill, probably hit 30.The driver behind me back off and eventually turned off before we got to Concord Rd. I won that race against a car!

sherbornpeddler

Jim, this may be a first. I think you have it wrong.

Star Trek is in the future and is trying to emulate real trend-setters.
If they, Star Trek, were to be so bold, they'd lose the dopy insignia.

jimmuller 

Obligatory response:

This is Captain James L Muller, captain of the tandem Enterprise. Captain to stoker. Come in, stoker.... We need more power!

mr_bill

This afternoon. You are Mass Ave inbound and just passed the National Heritage Museum, I'm on Marrett, ditto.

-mr. bill

jimmuller 

Yeah. I found it on Google maps street view just before logging back into BF to find your answer. I'm usually hammering through there so as not to hold up right-lane traffic trying to get past the rotary at Maple. Which means I'm watching the road and traffic carefully but not wasting brain cycles on anything else!

rholland1951

SBP, that description exemplifies the Buddhist virtues of compassion and detachment: better than the little buggers deserve. You're a gent! Sounds like a great ride.

rod