sherbornpeddler

BG! You are awesome! Another cow tunnel!
If it isn't a secret, tell us where and we'll organize a Grand Tour of Commonwealth Cut and Cover Cow Tunnels.

On the other hand suggesting a 2500ft climb, 47 mile jaunt before my last Quixotic assault fades from memory is harsh. Couldn't you have waited a week or so? It looks like a terrific route through beautiful towns. To add insult to injury it is tempting to hop off busy Rt 101 and add favored back roads of Temple and Wilton Center to the route. Temple Pass west to east looks much more challenging; 9%+ grade is "pyreanical".
Moo!

jimmuller 

Two cow tunnels? The list grows and the mind boggles. Pray tell, BG, where is this newly discovered architectural wonder? I have yet to see even the first. I wonder if a route could be found to visit both in one day...

As for practicing on a 9% grade hill, I'm afraid it would be practicing on me instead.

The winery gig was fun and had a good crowd, but it was cold. It rained for a short while too but that didn't seem to bother too many people. It didn't bother the kids at all. Did I mention that it was cold? But I did drink a very, very, very good porter. Two women wandered through the crowd with spiffy CF bikes. And our banjo player, a bike racer in his younger days, said someone came through with an 80's-vintage Univega (I think he said it was). And did I mention that it was cold?

sherbornpeddler

I've a metric century tour sherborn, dover, wellesley, weston, lincoln, concord, carlisle, concord, sudbury, wayland, natick, wellesley, natick, sherborn that would do nicely if BG's tunnel is on Westford St close to Carlisle Center. My favored loop at the northern Concord/Carlisle end goes up Monument/River St. then down (south) on Concord/Lowell St. The southern most cow tunnel is in Holliston on Bullard St.

There must be more.

bikinggrrrl

The Carlisle tunnel is located on the Towle Conservation land on 225 (Westford Street) just a short distance from the center of town. I haven't visited it myself (yet) but presume it is marked (1) on this map


SBP sounds like a beautiful ride planned, especially this time of year.

Jim, bummer it was so cold. I was looking forward to seeing/hearing you perform. Hopefully I can catch you another time.
Gosh, I think I have one of those 'vintage' 80's Univega bikes in my parent's barn. It was my first grown-up bike.

jimmuller 

We are gigging on Saturday (Hampton Fall, NH) and the weather for Sunday looks maybe okay, maybe not. I'm up for another metric century. (Probably won't get the chance this year to do my first English Century.) Shall we make tentative plans for Sunday? Name a starting time place. BG, cmolway, zipp2001, you in? sbp, how does that strike you?

sherbornpeddler

Folks, I'm booked this weekend. I might get a pass 6 Nov. and am available 13 and 14 Nov.

ZIPP2001

I'd be interested in doing a ride on the 13th, might be able to get the 14th but not sure yet. I'll be in New York next weekend, hoping to get some riding in with my son.

jimmuller 

Nov 6 and 7 I am booked (Bedford and Club Passim in Cambridge). If it isn't too cold a ride on 13 or 14 might be nice. On the day following I turn 62 and will suddenly become old and decrepit. Therefore I must ride while I am able (assuming my wife lets me).

sherbornpeddler

Hah!
We can scale back the pace or distance for oldness or decrepitude but not both. Metrowest has age and, ah, weathering but those features are tourist attractions on buildings, cobblestone streets and cow tunnels. I think your 62 thing may be "patina." It is envied and admired and, like oxidation on a musket barrel or fine old axe, has nothing to do with function.
I've heard those of us who do the best are those who deny limitations or change in goals and expectations until they can no longer achieve them. At that point change goals, recalibrate and start to rail against and deny any age related limitations.
My take away is MetroWest ought to deny any loss of competitiveness with other parts of the world and rail against ...just rail. Anyone claiming to have a better place to ride is wrong.
I deny or don't remember anyone passing me and I catch up to and pass those in front of me, pretty sure.

jimmuller 

sbp, I am humbly honored by your eloquence.

Now I feel obligated to be a rusty gun barrel or at least the son of a gun. Or maybe a cow tunnel. However age has not yet withered me and if (I do not say "when") it does I shall certainly rail.

You are right about the patina of MetroWest, indeed of Boston in general. Would that we all age as gracefully.

As for biking, I don't mind at all riding pavement that was first laid down in 1776 and patched just after the war ended in 1865. It adds a sense of history. And I am quite certain that no one passes me unless I have already been riding for several hours and he just started a few miles back. Oh, quite certain of that.

Jim from Boston

Hi guys,

While I haven't posted here much lately, I still lurk. Let me second that emotion--an excellent essay by sbp, and "patina" is the mot juste. I'm pretty avid on the Fifty Plus Forum, but I never see you guys there. Occasionally threads about aging do come up, and when an appropriate one occurs I'd like to post a link to sbp's comments if you don't mind.

Jim

sherbornpeddler

Jim, as valued part of this Metrowest thread* (and our Metrowest character), it is communal and collaborative. Post away.
BTW, I mended a bit of spelling and grammar. Like aging, despite a fair amount of evidence I deny it was ever anything but "just right."
Cheers!

*"thread" Do we deserve to be considered cloth by now?

jimmuller 

I could justifiably place a foot in MetroWest, C&V, 50+, and Road Cycling. I tried and ran out of feet.

50+ has often felt like Road Cycling but limited to riders coming off of injuries or just starting up after a 20 year hiatus. Perhaps I should read it more determinedly. Thank you for the bump.

jimmuller 

I got a ride in today, out to Concord then south into Sudbury, had lunch at Verrill Farm. It was marginally cold, fairly windy. Not many bikes on the road but I saw a few cruisers on Rt 62. I did only 40.48 miles though. I got a late start, plus my knee started acting up, maybe from the cold, just like it did after the lunch stop on my Chelmesford ride. Plus my sweetie had wanted to take the canoe out this afternoon. So heading home seemed prudent. It was a good day nevertheless.

Some gratuitous cultural pics:

Crossing the Sudbury River:


Lunch at Verrill Farm:


After the bike ride we put the canoe into the Concord River at the Lowell St landing (the Old Calf Pasture) and went upstream on the Sudbury. We got as far as that bridge (Sudbury Rd) pictured above. Coming out at dusk was magical. We saw one muskrat, one white-tail deer, and one beaver who slapped his tail in anger at our presence.

The junction of the Assabett and the Sudbury rivers hosts a second stone engraving. "On the hills above...at the meeting of the rivers..." It appears to be a memorial for the native people who lived there before Europeans arrived. We couldn't read it completely because it was dark by the time we got back to it. Unfortunately I could dig up no information about it on www.ConcordMa.com where the George Bradford Bartlett memorial is described.

sherbornpeddler

You are having way too much fun.

Next to the Old Calf Pasture the Egg Rock tablet was set in 1885 to announce,

"On the hill Nashawtuck, at the meeting of the rivers and along the banks lived the Indian owners of Musketaquid before the white man came."

jimmuller 

Ah. Too much fun. That must be why I'm so tired now. I've been wondering.

Now, about the Egg Rock tablet. 1885 huh? That's 11 years before the GBB memorial. (How'd you know that? I can't remember anything before 1900, it's all just a blur.) One doesn't expect to find stone engravings accessible only by canoe on a small river, let alone two of them within a few hundred yards of each other. Of course, to judge by the old photos in ConcordMA.com the water level must have been maintained a bit lower 110 years ago.

You get any riding or were you tied up all weekend? Today would have been windy and fairly cold. The race at Applecrest seemed to have been well-attended. Unfortunately we couldn't watch any of the action.

sherbornpeddler

No miles for me on Saturday but today I left in the quiet darkness of 6:40AM. Lights were required and I was a bit overdressed for the 44F morning. My boring, free range meandering paralleled the Boggastow and Charles Rivers speculating about early European settlement. We cycled past landmarks relating to King Philip in Boggastow (aka Sherborn, Holliston and Millis), Medfield and Dover. My riding buddy (aka victim) FOR SOME REASON seemed inspired to push the hills and separate but I caught up in time to regal him with stories of Metacomet, Massasoit, germs and politics. We coasted to modern day conservation and zoning topics finished with family updates. Pretty typical Metrowest Fall ride.

sherbornpeddler

wooo I am struggling to get on the road. I finally left at 4:15PM today and rode a very familiar 37 mile route finishing in the dark with good bike lights. What I couldn't see I remembered.

There is something nice about night riding. Maybe just surviving or maybe it is the greater sensation of speed. I think the air is "heavy" and has more texture and the darkness makes things seem to fly by faster.

Cow Tunnel anyone? Is there still interest in a Cow Tunnel Metric Century? November 13? I'm open to ideas but to start the process I suggest we could meet in Wellesley (lots of coffee shops, limited parking), Weston (one coffee, one parking), Lincoln (both I guess), Concord (like Wellesley), or at a cow tunnel town, Ferns in Carlisle or Coffee Haven in Holliston.

jimmuller 

SBP, I like your style. Wish I could ride at night occasionally. My Peugeot has a nice light and generator, and would be good for it. But around here the traffic is seriously heavy so night riding is best done in the daylight.

I'd love to do a CT ride but I'm now committed on Nov 13. Maybe Nov 14.

sherbornpeddler

Good point. How about dark glasses or squinting?

14th is difficult but not impossible. I'll investigate.

There is just one thing: I plotted and planned favored routes and when I twist and turn, stand sideways and squint with dark glasses at night it is coming to 70 miles. Shooting up and down Rt. 27 and 126 is a mere 62 miles but trafficky and lacking in scenic ness. I'm OK with the distance but guilty of false advertising a metric century.

jimmuller 

Providing my knee doesn't act up I'm in good enough shape to do 70 miles, and I think the knee should be okay. But I'd rather see scenic than cow tunnels (plural) just for the sake of cow tunnels (plural). So if distance is a problem we don't have to hit both of them in one trip. It may be a moot point. Right now the weather doesn't look to be very good.

bikinggrrrl

I have been woefully absent here. My computer blew up right after my last post and I am just now getting back into the swing of things. Metric Century is not feasible for us but we might just hunt you down and meet up en route if weather is nice enough.

sherbornpeddler

BG, Welcome back.
We could scenic tour the area around one tunnel or connect during a grand loop. If it is Sunday the 14th I can go for a morning only ride so a shorter route is better.
1. Carlisle Cow Tunnel and Environs
2. Holliston Cow Tunnel and Environs
3. 70 Mile CT Connection

jimmuller 

+1 on the welcome back.

SBP, surely you don't expect to complete a 70-miler before noon, do you? You plan to start at zero dark hundred hours minus 30?

ZIPP2001

I'm still up for whatever mileage you folks want to do, seeing I haven't been on the bike in almost 2 weeks I'll enjoy the suffering. The 13th is still the best day for me, I'll have to make some coverage arrangements for me if it's Sunday the 14th. If you can decide which day you want to get together by Thursday, Friday the latest if I have to get coverage it would be helpfull. Thanks and I would enjoy meeting up with some of my fellow Metro Boston riders.