rholland1951

10 miles to Lexington, all that family obligations permitted on the glorious 4th, the chimes of the First Baptist Church drifting across the AHS athletic fields at noon.

rod

jimmuller 

Our band played at the Concord festivities today so we couldn't ride during the day. And our neighbors had asked if we wanted to see the fireworks in Newton, the next town over, and we'd said sure. Normally we'd walk the 1.9 miles over to the park. Except they'd walked a great deal during their visit to the USS Constitution, so Deb had this brilliant idea of riding bikes instead of walking. Ah, yeah, okay, we have lights on the tandem...

Our neighbors Deb and Larry. Larry's bike is an upgraded and urbanized Super Course. (His "good" bike is a lugged-steel Serotta.) The tandem couple is Sharon and myself, of course.



It was fun.

rholland1951

Rode over to Ball Square to visit with my LBS, Tyler at Paramount Bicycle Repair, and get the LHT a mid-season check-up. The wheels were fine, but the chain had stretched enough to warrant replacing, and so I rode home with that new-chain-on-old-gears slightly wonky shifting. I switched to friction shifting until the chain and gears made friends. After lubing the derailleurs (they were due), rode a 36-mile loop through Arlington, Lexington, Bedford, Billerica, Carlisle, Concord, and Lincoln, basically the North Bridge loop with bits of the Narrow Gauge Rail Trail, Dudley Road, Route 4, Treble Cove Road, and Maple Street added, and bits of Route 225 subtracted. Pleasant ride on a warm summer day, and by the end of it the new chain was better behaved and I was back to index shifting. On the Minuteman segment of the return, I passed two kids on scooters. The kid in the lead was wearing flip-flops, the kid behind him was barefoot. The first kid lost a flip-flop; the second kid caught it between his toes and wore it, without breaking stride: a virtuoso performance.

rod

jimmuller 

I managed to squeeze in a 19mi ride, home to Lexington, the MM out as far as Hartwell Ave, and back. It was quite pleasant, a bit warm, but relaxing even though I hammered it on the way home.

Anyone who has ridden the MM probably knows that Lexington is a high point, it being slightly downhill toward both Arlington and Bedford. On a previous ride I had measured the elevation difference between Lexington and Bedford with my altimeter watch and came up with 180ft, pretty substantial for nominally flat terrain. So for yucks I tried something. After crossing rt4/225 westward at a nominal pace (started from scratch after waiting for traffic) I let the bike coast. It coasted all the way across rt128 and into the section where the trail flattens out with the recycling center on the left and marshland on the right. That's about 1.3 miles. I finally started pedaling again within about 200yards of Hartwell Ave. It doesn't prove anything, of course, except what we already knew.

rholland1951

It's all down-hill from Lexington. I believe that's the town motto.

rod

rholland1951

Rode 63 hot miles Friday afternoon, through Arlington, Lexington, Bedford, Billerica, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Westford, Tyngsboro, and Groton; forgot to start the My Tracks app when I left the house, so recorded the 43-mile loop that started and ended at Depot Square, instead. Rode North on the Narrow Gauge Rail Trail, including the unsanctioned Billerica section that comprises a conspicuously posted private road (hard to contest an established right-of-way, the lawyers tell me) and a section of single-track that terminates abruptly in an industrial park. From there, picked up the segment of Dudley Road between Concord Road and Route 4, pausing to have a look at Job Hill Cemetery, one of those seldom-noticed places that has become invisible through its stillness.


Crossed the Concord River on Route 4, making a mental note to stop for a meal at the Riverview Restaurant and Drive Thru sometime, looks like a candidate for the cultural ecological niche occupied by the late, lamented Willow Pond Kitchen. Jogged onto Treble Cove Road to pick up West St./North Road, pedaled up that past Great Brook State Park. At Lowell Street, headed North to Proctor Road, crossing the Bruce Freeman and continuing on Parkerville Road north of Heart Pond, past the Middlesex County 4-H Fairgrounds (in case anyone was wondering where they put that) and the Heart Pond Cemetery.


Crossed 495 on Tadmuck Road, Westford, where the 20th-Century Modernist aesthetic persists in a Cubist back-yard fence.

That house is for sale, btw, so this could be regarded as an opportunity for a little free-lance historical preservation.

Continued Northwest on Depot Road and Dunstable Road, past another burying ground (I see dead people), catching a glimpse of Long Sought-for Pond, and enjoying the relaxed lake cottage architecture.


From there, a long climb up Scribners Road, which I believe JandersUF referred to in a recent post. It was certainly noteworthy. In Tyngsboro now, turned West on Groton Road, a roughly paved roller-coaster where I reached 30+ mph on a down-slope, only to hit such a steep upgrade at speed that I got a bit of whip-lash. Fun. This got me to a favorite beauty spot on the Tyngsboro-Groton line, the dam at Cow Pond Brook Reservoir, where I stopped for a sandwich and some water.


Up the Island Pond Road hill into Groton, past Upper Massapoag Pond and more lake cottages, to Old Dunstable Road; followed that South to the unpaved-but-well-graded Rocky Hill Road, past the entrance to Dan Parker Road, deferring the re-try of that for another day.


Rocky Hill Road becomes Martins Pond Road, a beautiful paved road that threads through a mix of splendid conservation land, low-density housing, and a few working farms. This is country riding at its best, very little traffic and something new around every curve, e.g. the mailbox with the hand-painted image of the mummified Osiris deftly rendered on it. Mid-way down the road is Baddacook Pond, a blue gem where, thanks to effective conservation, the wild shoreline is largely intact and virtues other than the charm of lake-cottage architecture are in evidence.


From there, South on School House Road and East on Lowell Road (Route 40) to Lost Lake Drive, and into a tangle of steep hills, deep, lake-filled valleys, and a mix of cozy cottages and wild conservation land. At one point, passed what looked from my perspective in the saddle like THE BOTTOMLESS PIT, green and deep, with no apparent bottom, a woodland singularity with signs of human activity on its slopes; needed the momentum at that moment too much to stop to take a picture of that, which I now regret, it was oneiric. Continued on, skirting Lost Lake and Knops Pond.


Stopped at the Sargisson Beach conservation area for another water and fuel break, then found a Town of Groton trail (single-track, stone dust) connecting Duck Pond Drive to Hayden Road. I have some personal history on Hayden Road, and it was a pleasure to have happened on it unplanned, although some of the recent residential development was disorienting. Rode past the extensive Carmichael Swamp Conservation Area and connected to Forge Village Road (Rt. 225). From there, home by familiar roads, enjoying familiar sights, with a watering stop at Fern's.

rod

rholland1951

After yesterday's slog, had a gentle 20-mile spin today out to Depot Park and back in weather that was much milder than the previously-forecast ferocious heat. For some reason, saw one catbird after another on the Minuteman, along with a placid pit bull that was the spitting image of Petey, the Our Gang Comedy dog.

rod

sherbornpeddler

Wow!
You all have been doing serious cruising with fireworks, virtuoso skateboarders, conservation land and cubism. Inspirational!

I worked my way up to venturing off of a tried and true loop de loop and joined a ride from Sherborn up through Holliston, Hopkinton, Echo Lake, Lake Maspenock, Upton, Hopedale, Milford and back for 33 miles. It was a new route to me and had shaded country roads with challenging hills. I generally had my head down, focussed on keeping up and it seemed every time I moved to the front to do my share of the leading I was rookie-surprised with a twisting, narrow descent and an out-of-no-where dirt section. Nice to get out. I've no where near the documentation you all have been contributing and will try to re-create it another day.

sherbornpeddler

Over done! I agreed to a trip to Carlisle and am exhausted. Too fast a pace for my second metric century of the season. Other than commiserating over a fellow rider's flat in Lincoln, liberating a couple of fig newtons at Fern's and helping fix a flat in Wayland, my primary impression of the ride was exhaustion.

rholland1951

52 miles yesterday, through Arlington, Lexington, Waltham, Lincoln, Wayland, Sudbury, and Concord, in a ride that recalled the old joke about the difference between Theory and Practice.

The theory went like this: the Town of Sudbury has 32 designated Scenic Roads. I'd ridden on several of them in the past (e.g., Water Row), ridden past others (they're marked with a distinctively formatted road sign), and begun to wonder about the rest. The first thing I discovered was that I couldn't find a single map that called them out as a group. So I made one with a printed Google map of the Town of Sudbury (that's the high-tech part), and a purple pencil (that's the appropriate-tech part); I'm sure there's a better way to do that...


It seemed to me that it should be possible, possibly a lot of fun, and certainly right Scenic to put together a ride that traversed all 32 Sudbury Scenic Roads in a sort of space-filling curve; I hadn't, of course, actually characterized that curve, beyond the notion that it should connect all 32 Scenic segments, and had a dim awareness that some of the possible curves would be more fun to ride than others. I had a free day on Sunday, and arranged with my grown daughter to ride it with me; we were to meet at 11 at her house in Lincoln. That was the theory, something between a math proof and a snipe hunt: looked like fun, a little eccentric, but probably Scenic.

As for the practice... For starters, there was the map. As of Sunday morning, it was still just a concept, aside from a partial free-hand first draft. Turns out it takes time to do 32 Google Maps searches and make 32 moderate-fidelity squiggles on a paper map. Upshot was that I left my house in E. Arlington an hour later than I had promised my daughter I'd be in Lincoln. I kept her informed of my progress, or lack of it, and she's used to me. Took the mostly-direct but also mostly-hilly route to her house, Concord Ave. in Lexington and Trapelo Road in Waltham and Lincoln. Reached her house, now spectacularly late, went over the map and Theory of the Ride with her, and got started. Then...

A few blocks from her house, she turned up with a flat rear tire (it had been fine to start). I tried pumping it up, to see if it would hold air; no soap. She had no spare tube, my spare was too big for her tire; relying on the patch kit seemed a little dubious. I walked her back home, and agreed to have dinner that night with her and her beau. Then I headed out, entering Sudbury via Sherman's Bridge Road. The wooden bridge itself was bumpy as ever, and scenic in its own right; on the Sudbury side, Lincoln Road was the first Scenic Road of the set, although it's not clear to me that I realized that at the time.

The second Scenic Road on the trajectory was Weir Hill Road. I'd often ridden past this on the way to Water Row, but never followed it; this time I rode it to the end, read the information boards and trail maps at the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters area, and vowed to return sometime for a walk.


Weir Hill Road dead-ends, so I rode back to Lincoln Road and continued to Water Row...

... at which point I realized my pump was no longer on the frame. Hmmmm, the strap fold for the Topeak Roadmorph has always seemed to me to be a little subtle, and I recalled wondering at the time if I had gotten it right... I back-tracked, and found the pump, intact, on Lincoln Road a few feet beyond the wooden bridge (that explained some of the bridge noise), not run over although very much in the path of traffic. Between my daughter's flat and this mishap, I would have been on firm shamanic ground for taking this as an omen that the Spirits of Compressed Air were not pleased with this ride, but took the non-destruction of the pump as an off-setting sign of their sufferance.


Re-attached the pump, getting the fold right this time, and returned to Water Row. This is a beautiful place, Scenic in any town, by-law or no.


Went a little space-filling-curve-crazy riding the graph comprised by Newbridge Road, Clark Road, Plympton Road, and Candy Hill Road. The "Hill" in Candy Hill Road is there as a warning to the unwary; it's ALL hill, and there is a right way (down) and a wrong way (up) to ride it; I did both. Here's a picture of DOWN.


After this tail-chasing, returned to Water Row. At the intersection with Route 27, noticed what might be termed a "Sudbury barrier":

Like a Jersey barrier, but more organic (and Scenic). The poison ivy is the active ingredient, of course.

Continued on to River Road (Wayland), and picked up Old County Road, the next Scenic Road on the trajectory, which completes the Water Row/River Road run. Not sure which of the Scenic Road By-law criteria this satisfies, presumably the invisible ones, since the most scenic thing on it is an immense BMW dealership at the intersection with Route 20. At this point, the lack of prior planning began to tell: there were some relatively isolated Scenic segments, South and West, that might reasonably have come next, but also Goodman's Hill Road running back to Sudbury village center. Intending to do one thing, but doing the other, I wound up climbing the Hill on Goodman's Hill Road, then continued up Concord Road, enjoying a vista with tombstones in the foreground, school buses and a playground in the background, the whole Sudbury life-cycle passing before my eyes.


Picked up Morse Road, then Marlboro Road, then Haynes Road. These are genuinely pleasant rides, and gave me a peaceful feeling--though that might have been incipient fatigue. At the corner of Haynes Road and Pantry Road, there's a wonderful old building, Bowker's Store, a remnant of pre-World War I rural cross-roads commerce.

Diagonally across the intersection is a tastefully understated house, an exemplar of 20th-Century high architectural style, partly hidden in a grove of trees.

Taken together, they stand as a fair visual summary of the whole ride.

Took Pantry Road (the last Scenic Road segment of this attempt) to Route 117, riding that to Concord, Sudbury Road, and home on a relatively flat route.

The track of the Sudbury section of this ride looks vaguely like a lady's foundation garment with excessively long straps (well, that's how I see it, anyway). It covers 14 of the 32 Sudbury Scenic Roads enumerated in the By-law, missing all the disconnected segments and all of the bits in the South and South-West, as well as some of the bits in the North-West. There's still work to be done here, and I expect I'll make another attempt some time, with a little more planning, an earlier start, and a more sensible understanding about what I'm really trying to do: geek out, have a good ride, or both.

rod

rholland1951

Gentle 10-mille spin to Lexington Center and back, just to keep the moving parts moving.

rod

jimmuller 

All I managed today was the usual 25 mile round trip commute. On the Masi. I set it up with different gearing yesterday, 47/42 chainrings and 14,17,20,24,28,34 freewheel. That gives me a true half-stsep arrangement and a truly useful small cog. Never had either on a bike before. I actually used the small cog twice on the commute. Yeah, I could have overspun it but I didn't need to, which was the whole point.

It was a good day.

sherbornpeddler

Yes, a good day!
This morning I rode my single speed to meet up with a biking buddy at Back Bay Station. I had planned to take the train from Natick but the new schedule means non-commute, bicycle friendly trains aren't available until after noon. Beacon St eastbound bike lanes work well and car drivers are tolerant.

We met up at the feet of March on Washington organizer A. Philip Randolph and took the SW Corridor Path to Mass Ave to see the 1812 exhibit at the Mass Historical Society. Next we found Harold Connolly at the Earl Taft School in Brighton. This would have been a completed trip in itself but we took Cambridge St across the river and Putnam into Harvard Square where I had a Deval Patrick at Bartley's. Out to Memorial Drive and followed the river to Watertown and the Clap biscuit for bass monument, then split up at the Waltham train station. I rode the Riverwalk Park trail and ambled back to Sherborn. The Deval and I didn't always agree but got along well enough to enjoy Metro Boston paths, historic stops and 56 miles of cruising.

rholland1951

According to Google My Tracks, running on my Korean phartphone, ostensibly using a satellite constellation operated by the Gummit, I rode 1,711.69 miles today, attaining a maximum speed of 415.5 mph, and climbing 44,369 feet. Damn, I'm good!

Since it appears my Korean phartphone was in communication with a satellite orbiting the Bizarro Planet, I reconstructed the actual route with Google Maps. Today I rode 71.2 miles, was in and out of the saddle over the course of nine hours, climbed some, went fast sometimes (down-hill), but overall poked along like the sexagenarian on a touring bike that I am. I rode through parts of Arlington, Lexington, Bedford, Concord, Sudbury, Framingham, Marlborough, Hudson, Stow, and Maynard, and satisfied my curiosity somewhat about some of them. It was fun.

At the very start of the ride, met Martin from Cleveland at Depot Park. He was in town visiting family, and had brought his bike. He wanted to ride to Concord, and since it was on my way, I convoyed him over. In the process I heard a bit of his story: career electrical engineer in the Defense industry, now semi-retired and working as a house painter. It's tempting to regard this as the National Story in microcosm; it's certainly a facet. Nice guy.

Targets today were the Sudbury Reservoir and the Marlboro-Hudson section of the Assabet River Rail Trail. There were other targets, but by the time I finished planning this morning (there's the problem), there wasn't time to hit them, so we'll save the artifacts of all that planning for another ride. As a matter of convenience, several of the Sudbury Scenic Roads not traversed the other day were in the way, so I rode them. Here's a picture of the Wayside Inn, located on Scenic Wayside Inn Road.

and here's a willow tree I liked on Scenic Dutton Road:

Anyhow, Sudbury was a means to an end today. Before Sudbury, there was Concord, with this barn-observatory on Route 117:

After Sudbury, there was Framingham, with the Friends Meeting-house, along with Nixon Road (not shown), where I was nearly run down by drivers unconsciously enraged by the subliminal reference to Dick the Trick (a Quaker himself, as I recall).

Then came the Sudbury Reservoir. The part I rode past was in Marlborough; most of it is in Southborough. None of it is in Sudbury. Dunno who gets the water. A large gentleman with a fishing rod who was clambering down the bank seemed apprehensive about my phartphone photograpy there; I didn't take his picture, which is only fair, he didn't take mine.

On to Marlborough and the Assabet River Rail Trail. Avoided more roofing nails and machine screws on Maple Street than I've seen outside of a hardware store. Traversed a serious hill on Lincoln street (at least 30,000 of the 44K climb that the GPS reported), down in the granny gear, not quite closing on a bored pedestrian trudging up the same hill. I beat him to the bottom, though...

The neighborhood in which the Marlborough end of the Assabet River Rail Trail starts was interesting; don't know what the denomination or ethnic roots of the little church with the golden dome was, might be worth a trip back to find out...

Oh yeah, at this point the shifter for my rear derailleur blew up; it's friction shifting for me!

In any event, this paved portion of the Assabet River Rail Trail in Marlborough and Hudson reminded me a bit of the Bruce Freeman Trail, only more so. Much of it is urban, e.g. this roofer doing his thing above the traffic:

But there are also surprising natural vistas...

Ultimately left all this behind me and reached Stow, which has all towns previously mentioned beat hands-down for sheer exurban charm.

Rode the unpaved Stow section of the Assabet River Rail Trail, and noted that a certain amount of jeep traffic for local fishermen is the norm there in the late afternoon. I like that dirt road, it's serene (more pix of that but the Forums proprietor maintains a 10-image limit; here's a sneaky one; here's a sneaky 'nother). Things got so serene that I failed to notice a pot hole (or small trench) in the dirt surface; didn't actually fall, but in the ensuing flailing of arms, legs, and bicycle parts, my abdomen had carnal knowledge of the bike's bell, which stung a bit. If bicycles had existed in the 17th Century, this would probably be illegal in Massachusetts, but things being as they are, it's simply covered by Murphy's Law.

After that, hopped back on Route 117, the shortest distance between some points, and rode home without further incident.

rod

rholland1951

Relaxed 10 miles to Lexington Center with my eldest son, who wanted to show me his new-old Shogun 1000, bought refurbished from Bikes Not Bombs, plus a couple more miles for a visit with Tyler, at Paramount Bicycle Repair, to marvel together at The Incredible Exploding Shifter. He's going to have a little chat with his suppliers about that; meanwhile, I'm happily friction-shifting.

rod

jimmuller 

Did about 100 miles on the Masi today. It doesn't have a computer so I had to trace it out on a map. (I'd mount a Cat-eye on it but I'd hate to cover up those nice Cinelli logos on the bar, and I've found I use all the taped sections.) Rode a circuitous route from home over to Harold Parker State Forest in Andover, and a more circuitous route home. It's my personal longest.

The route outbound - Waltham, Belmont, Arlington, Lexington, Bedford, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Billerica, Tewksbury, Andover. The route back home - Andover, North Reading, Wilmington, Chelmsford, Carlisle, Concord, Bedford, Lexington, Arlington, Belmont, Waltham.

A few events from today's ride:

About 25 miles in I got stung by something under my watch strap. Never saw what it was.

There are a few significantly STEEP hills in Andover, just long enough to be a real pain.

Investigated alternate routes on the return but found nothing better than the original plan worked out from Rubel's bike map.

At one point I had to double back and do some exploring because a bridge was out.

At one intersection on the return where I stopped to check the map I had a nice conversation with a fellow cyclist, a woman who came up on a bent and asked if I needed help. It turns out she rides distances regularly, has ridden the Pan-Mass Challenge which amounts to back to back centuries. She told me about that bridge, said it would take a while to be fixed because the towns were fighting over who was responsible.

I stopped in Concord on the return for a bite to eat and some water from the public fountain, and as I was putting the bike off the curb to ride away I heard another cyclist behind me tell someone "That's the bike from Breaking Away." We spoke briefly, and he said "That's a real classic." Ah, it's nice to be noticed!

The post-ride beer tasted mighty good. It was a good day!

rholland1951

Jim, that sounds like a great ride!

rod

sherbornpeddler

WoW! I was impressed with keeping Cinelli logos and then you added a totally epic ride. I'm hugely impressed. Congratulations!

rholland1951

A work day interrupted the brief run of vacation time that's allowed me to "tour in place" over the last week, but had a 20-mile sunset ride on the Minuteman, as the Summer heat began to cool.

Overheard in Arlington:
She (smiling): "I'm pregnant."
He (also smiling): "Oh. My. God."

Overheard in Lexington:
Kid: "Look! They have a Goldendoodle!"
Dad: "Everybody has a Goldendoodle."

There's a sequence here: first you get the kid, then the kid gets the Goldendoodle.

rod

Bishbike

Been off the bike all week due to gigs and teaching at jazz camp. got back on the bike today for a 25 mile out and back to Concord. Felt great to get out for a spin!

rholland1951

Picked up my sweetie at 6 a.m. this morning at Logan (not on a bicycle: after a double red-eye, that would not have been received as the right welcoming gesture). This left me up and doing at a time on Saturday when I'm usually still down and dreaming. Took advantage of that to be on the road before 9 and ride the 32-mile North Bridge loop. I was struck by how little road traffic there was this morning: was that the day/hour, or the fact that this is a prime vacation week? In any event, it was delightful, more bikes than cars on River Road and Monument Street a bit after 10 a.m. Got the ride done before noon, and missed the brunt of the day's heat.

rod

jimmuller 

For me it's not all week but all weekend. Played at a festival in Brandon, VT. No biking. It was HOT. tomorrow doesn't look good for the bike commute either. It will be a few days, I think, before I can get back on a bike. Heck, I'm too tired to bike now anyway.

rholland1951

Sunset ride on the Minuteman to Lexington Center, 10 miles. The rites of mid-summer were in full swing, young women cycling in halter tops, young men prowling aimlessly in packs. Cicadas! (but only in one spot so far).

rod

Bishbike

25 mile pre-gig out and back to Concord.

Jim, isn't Brandon around a 4 hour drive? I am tired just thinking about that drive, but it must be beautiful.

sherbornpeddler

Hot enough for you?
I took 2 days off and yesterday I rode to Carlisle, refilled water bottles at the Concord water fountain and made it most of the way past Verril's, back via Water Row, Glezen, Rice and Rt. 16 at pretty good speed. The reality of my conditioning and the heat recalibrated thoughts of a longer ride. Yikes is it warm.