buzzman

Did the ride back to Newton from Rehoboth. Left around 4 pm expecting to have to deal with a ton of traffic but it wasn't too bad. The route is sweet for the most part- a couple of points of congestion but not bad really. Weather was splendid. Another 44 miles down. Tomorrow the Berkshire blast- 130+ This will make for a nice little 3 day tour.

buzzman

Fantastic ride today! Left Newton around 8:30 am arrived in Berkshires around 6:30 pm.

130.2 miles. I start the ride @ 67' and finish @ 1900' with a ton of up and down between. The climb out of Northampton on 66 is always brutal and then I descend and climb the elevation all over again. At mile 120 another road rider powered by me on one of the climbs. I tried not to let it bum me out but wanted to yell to him "I've just done 120 miles!" But maybe he just had, too.

I sometimes avoid the long brutal bumpy road at the end and swing around it but I decided to tackle it. Embarrassing how slow I went up it but I made it. The final insult was a 1/4 mile from my home- as I climb one last monster- my neighbor's pit bull was loose and charged me. Fortunately, the owner managed to call him back before he devoured my tired leg.

All in all a great day. But I guess I'm not really a metro east rider anymore.

bikinggrrrl

Great Bridge? Where is that? Sometimes I am on a tandem hauling a chariot. More often than not, though, these days, I'm hauling him with my single.

cmolway

130 miles? Awesome day on the bike!

I rode my a$$ off yesterday in anticipation of four days off the bike (damn weddings!). Did 25 before work + 20 commuting + 25 riding to and from a group ride + 20 on said group ride. 90 miles total.

Legs felt like two bags of cement on my commute in this morning.

cmolway

sorry I mean great brook reservation. must have been you I saw. I was on a friday crw ride.

bikinggrrrl

Indeed it was. Gawd, I love that road

Daewon774

Hi everyone, I just started riding road bike about 3-4 months ago. I recently purchased a Garmin 305 for running/cycling. I've been reading about local rides around Boston but would love to see some gps files to see where everyone rides? How about some gps posts!

buzzman

Check out mapmyride.com

Once you put in your location you'll be able to see plenty of rides with downloadable routes in your area.

mtalinm

classic...

buzzman

I might start yelling that every time someone passes me. No matter how many miles I've just done.

cmolway

We'll have to plan a "bike anchor" (kid in trailer) ride some weekend out there then.

bikinggrrrl

Yes please!

Had a great ride through Bedford, Concord, Lincoln, Sudbury and back to Carlisle today. Wicked long wait at the train crossing in Concord but what a beautiful day!

mtalinm

I used to feel the same way when people passed me on the Mass Ave bridge just before I rolled into work. wanted to say "hey, I started an hour ago in Westwood!"

nowadays I mostly pass people .. on my folder ... but everyone now and then I get pwned by someone on a MTB so I try to stay humble

jimmuller 

Sometime I feel like yelling "Hey, I started in Attleboro!" but I never see any other cyclists when I'm commuting.

But the bottom line is this: Nobody likes to be passed, including me!

mtalinm

Attleboro to Boston? every day? surely you jest.

jimmuller 

No, I do not jest. I just tell only part of the story. This has been posted elsewhere in BF but probably not so much in Metro Boston.

I work on the western side of Lincoln, RI (not Lincoln, MA - wouldn't that be nice!). It is about 50 miles by car. My boss lets us work from home some days so I was driving 100mi/day three times a week. This spring I found a better way.

I drive from Waltham to the Rt128 train station with my bike in the car, take a commuter train to the station closest to work, then bike about 13 mi which includes a few miles on the Blackstone River Bikeway (gorgeous!) and climbing the western slope of the river (steep!). I reported it here:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ears%29-on-UO8

And then someone started this thread:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/735197-How-about-this-Show-a-map-of-your-C-amp-V-commute!
so I put up some maps and stuff. Here is a shot of my typical morning:



I've been doing this steadily for several months. It's a great way to start the day! (I did get caught in a steady rain coming home once.)

A week or so ago I finally upgraded the cottered crank to a new Velo-Orange compact double with exactly my preferred chainrings. (This is the second time I've replaced the steel crank with a cotterless one.) Also replaced the steel bar with a nice alloy bar. This cut a pound from the bike's weight. This bike and I are old friends.

mtalinm

I thought you meant you were biking from Attleboro to Boston (which would be 50m each way). but I see, you drive to 128, train to Attleboro, and ride 13m (same length as my ride). still, 2.5 hours each way? that's something...I would probably not be up to that

jimmuller 

Right, not Attleboro to Boston but Attleboro to Albion (in Lincoln). Let's see, I catch the 8:10 at rt128 and arrive at the office about 9:40 to 9:45, so a bit over 2hrs each way. But it saves me from having to go the gym when I get home!

I've started a culture change in the office too. A co-worker who is a very good runner has started riding his Bianchi from Providence occasionally. My boss started talking about getting a road bike in place of his mtb and last week showed up with a spiffy new uberbike. Then another guy who runs triathlons rode his bike 18 miles from home. We've never had any more than 3 bikes at a time in the office, but I'm hoping for 4 one day. In our last group meeting the boss even mentioned the effort to "go green". Pretty cool, huh?

mtalinm

ah yes I get it. i live a copule miles from the 128 station, so our paths have probably crossed. but I"m not sure why you bother with the train, why not just drive south 95 (reverse commute, we do it to Foxboro and there is never any traffic) and then ride from N. Attleboro or Cumberland?

agree it is cool to see others hop on board. one of my colleages has started commuting 8m RT from Newton to MIT,and another guy bought a bike and done it a few times as well. he is buying a desktop computer now so he won't have to lug the laptop, and move which helped me tremendously!

bikinggrrrl

Whats the deal with the elliptical bike? While on Water Row, I saw one for the first time yesterday. Part bike, part scooter, part elliptical machine. Looked kinda fun although I'm not sure I would want to be doing elliptical if I could be riding my bike.

jimmuller 

Because I'm trying to reduce the amount of driving. Partly it's to go green and partly because I've just gotten so tired of the stress of it. The train is so civilized.

I've driven it partway one or twice, then biked the rest of the way. But driving partway is a slippery slope. Once you (which is to say, I) start the drive, where do I stop? What I'd really like to do is not have to drive any of it, but biking to any of the Providence Line stops in town would add so much more distance and time that it isn't practical on a regular basis.

Jim from Boston

The Saturday mileage quota for week number 9 of my 10 week century training schedule was 75 miles, and I visualized a route on my map to go from Kenmore Square to Norwood in that distance, to work for a few hours and take the Commuter Rail home. I had just replaced the battery in my cycle computer so I started off at about 6:00 AM on a measured 3.00 mile segment in Brookline to calibrate, and the settings were perfect. I then rode to Watertown and out Main Street (Rte 20) to Waltham, then Rte 117 to Stow, and Rte 62 to Hudson. Rte 62 for all the lengths I have ridden it, from Danvers to Stow, is a favorite bicycle road.

From Hudson I rode to Upton, and avoided a good part of commercial Rte 85 with a parallel side road, Fitchburg-Pleasant St into Marlboro, and then back onto a residential part of 85 to Rte 30 through Westboro (very nice), and then the extremely enjoyable Upton Rd to Hopkinton Rd. Hopkinton Rd is not particularly nice but has been very recently repaved, though there is no shoulder and the traffic is heavy, with a screeching downhill run into Hopkinton. Nonetheless I did want to stop by and say Hi to an acquaintance on that road. He gave me a cool shower with his garden hose that really refreshed me.

My mileage was on track at 61 miles as I stopped at Hopkinton Common, but I underestimated the final leg to Norwood, though I took the shortest route I could find, via Holliston, Sherborn, Dover (lost for about 2 miles) and Westwood. I finished with 87 miles, and felt good, so I guess I’m Century-ready. It was a beautiful day to ride, and it was my first ride on my Bridgestone RB-1 after it was expertly prepped by "Alaska" at Back Bay Bikes, including a new chain and rear cassette.

mtalinm

go Jim! you're definitely ready. if your century is local (though I think you said it was in Michigan), let me know and maybe I'll ride with you. finally got the drivetrain sorted out on my folder, and now it needs a distance challenge :-)

JandersUF

I haven't been posting this week, so here is my week in review:
(1) Tuesday-- I carve enough time to get a nice 45 mile ride in before working late. For the first time ever, I double flat, each time 1 mile after leaving home. One was a patch that apparently gave out (weird). The other was a huge nail that went through tire, tube, tube, rim tape and stopped on the head of a spoke. So by the time I sorted both of those, I only had about an hour... so I did hill intervals going up Lowell St. to the Hospital in Somerville x5. Vomit inducing for a fatty like me. Did set a new 45sec-to-90sec power record.
(2) Wed-- Once again I mis-time things, and only get about 20 miles in. I don't love the 3-5 first/last miles from my place in Cambridge, so it was nice but not great.
(3) Thurs-- Finally, I get a ride in. Did about 30 miles, on the modified CRW Sat. AM Fitness ride (there is a bridge out, so its a bit different than normal).
(4) Sun-- I rode over to Wells Ave, and did the C-level Crit. Fun like normal, and had No problem hanging in the pack, but just had no spring in my step for the sprints. Have felt like I have no top-end for weeks... need to work on that. After that I went on a 2 hours Kayak adventure with the family for a little "cross training"

Long story short... only 90 miles this week, but felt ok by the end. Going to the White Mountains for a few days this coming week, so I am hoping to annihilate myself on climbs.

Jim from Boston

Thanks for the encouragement, mtalinm; it is in Michigan where most of my family lives. On top of that, my son, the Boston native, is living this summer in Ann Arbor, near the ride route. He came into Boston this weekend to visit and we'll drive back to AA on Thursday. Even more propitious, I just found out last night my small, beloved high school is having an all-class reunion Saturday night, so I'll be able to attend that with the bragging rights of just having ridden a Century that day, and in the Motor City (environs) of all places.

The initial attraction for the ride is that it will be the venue for the Third Annual Ride of the Fifty Plus BF Forum, and several subscribers will attend, including seenoweevil driving up from Alabama. I attended the similar Second Annual Ride last year in Watkins Glen, NY around Lake Seneca. FYA, see this thread: “Ann Arbor, Michigan, 3rd Annual 50+ Summer Ride, ‘One Helluva Ride’ Invitation”

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...uot-Invitation

The title of “OHR” is because on occasion the ride would pass through the town of Hell, MI.

It’s a bit of a letdown to finish the ten week century training schedule, because it puts me into an elevated state of fitness, yet demands a lot of time and energy, especially weeks 7 to 10. I hope to try and at least maintain the week 6 schedule for several weeks, until my next anticipated century in September. As I’ve mentioned previously the schedule with daily mileage quotas is a tremendous motivator to ride much farther and longer than my minimal commute, and further savor the nice weather.

As usual, my typical Saturday morning ride will still be a roundabout route from Kenmore Square to Norwood, for a distance of about 64 miles, hopefully to arrive before noon in Norwood. Since you live in nearby Westwood, and if you’d like to ride together for some part of my Saturday ride, let me know. My schedule is pretty much constricted to that time frame, but we could construct a route to accommodate you for a mutually convenient distance and time.