antimonysarah

Got lost while trying a new route -- let's, um, call it good practice in reading a cue sheet. Or good practice in vetting a cue sheet ahead of time, since it was missing a critical piece of information. Thus only went 13 miles instead of a planned 25, since once we figured out we'd lost the route, we also figured out we'd brought the wrong Rubel map. (I dragged my husband along, who made noises about not riding much and being out of shape, and still had to slow down for me; stupid genetics.) Still a nice ride through Melrose and Malden, except that I need a different set of shoes; the ventilation in my new-ish shoes that was so nice in the summer was a little too much today.

I think the route, though, once I actually ride the whole thing, is a strong contender for being my standard training loop, which would be really nice. All my old ones were out Lexington-wards, and while they're still nice rides, tacking the ~20 miles to/from the start makes them too long for a quick hard ride.

jimmuller 

No riding today, or yesterday, nor likely tomorrow. It's snowing hard at the moment and everything is slippery. We were supposed to get rain. They missed, I guess.

telkanuru

So, um, this on my way home today:


This is one I forgot to post from my commute on Sunday morning:

rholland1951

Nice! Time to put the Nokians back on the Winter bike...

rod

sherbornpeddler

Good for you all for getting out. I've only managed local errands; nothing more than 5 miles on in-town errands. I did pick up a 1970 era Triumph 3 speed. It needs lights and a chainguard or chaincase to be a fine in-town winter bike.

jimmuller 

I see two Triumphs there. Kind of like this, two red:

welshTerrier2

Sixty degrees... no wind. I've been off the bike for a couple of weeks. Too wimpy to ride in the cold, in the dark, in the snow, in the wet leaves.

Yesterday I hammered out 25 miles across the backroads and bike trails of Michigan. Just beautiful.

Oh, did I forget to mention this was all done indoors on an exercycle supported by great music and a great cycling video?

I used to work for a company that had an on-site employee fitness center... until some bean counter decided this was a bad idea. They sold off all their fitness equipment. I bought a Randal Windracer. Have it right here in the bedroom. For the last few years, it's done an excellent job as, what you might call, a COSD (closet overflow storage device).

Here's a link to the video I watched while doing my indoor ride. There's a series of 6 of them. If you know of other good online rides, please post them. I also queued up my online Pandora radio station. It's not everybody's cup of tea for exercise music but it works great for me. It's a mix of folk, bluegrass, blues and oldies. It's called welshTerrier2 Radio. Between the cycling, the video, the tunes, and the balmy sixty degree temperature, I was a truly happy camper.

I've been thinking of buying a Kinetics fluid trainer but I'm not sure it would provide a better workout than the exercycle I have. Any opinions on this? I sort of like the idea of using my own bike but the exercycle has all kinds of built-in programs that add to the experience. You can race against a virtual rival; you can do pre-programmed intervals; you can do "watts" workouts at any level you set. It's clearly not as enjoyable as outdoor riding but it has real promise to maintain fitness over the winter.

Sunday and Monday look like outdoor temperatures might just exceed the WT (wimp threshold). I might just get in another outdoor ride or two this season.

jimmuller 

wt2, good to see you getting some mileage in, even if it is indoors.

I managed to get out to the Blackstone River Bikeway for a bit this afternoon. The weather was sunny and cool with a stiff north wind, but since I went north to Woonsocket the ride back was much easier! I've been riding the tandem so much with so little solo-bike work that even the UO8 felt like an agile featherweight! At least for the first few miles anyway.

welshTerrier2

Great to see some of our BF warriors are still riding outside. I just checked out the web page for the BRG. Very cool. I used to ride from Ashland down to Cumberland on Route 126; it wasn't exactly pastoral. This looks really promising. I can't quite figure out what's paved and what isn't, though.

I wonder if they'll eventually tie it into the East Bay Bike Path that runs from Providence to Bristol.

jimmuller 

Ashland, MA(?) to Cumberland? And you spent a week trying to get through Woonsocket one day.
The Blackstone is paved from Woonsocket (at least) down to rt123 and somewhat beyond. I've ridden it up to Woonsocket but never ventured further. Perhaps that's as far as it goes northward. The southern end has a few spurs, but the main route crosses the river between Cumberland and Lincoln, dumps out at Ann&Hope St, then continues. My commute (possibly done for the year) jumped off there and picked up rt123 into Attleboro. I've ridden the Blackstone further but haven't tracked carefully where it went. I believe the intent is to connect it to the East Bay.

sherbornpeddler

More Blackstone postings!
WT2, I've made the ride from our area down to Woonsocket and Greenville and a certain French tandem bike did the equivalent from Dover, MA to the Pawtucket Resevoirs in Cumberland which eventually flow to the Blackstone River.

I ride the Blackstone only a few times a year and enjoyed visiting the Smith Appleby Museum several weeks ago. It WILL connect Worcester to Providence. There are complex plans to connect Pawtucket through Providence to East Providence and the East Bay down to Bristol.

Last night I had opportunity to walk across Boston Common with two young fellows and told them about the previous owner, William Blackstone who, depending on who you believe, was ripped off by Governor Winthrop and wound up re-settling in Rhode Island which then became attractive to the freedom seeking Roger Williams and the site of the American Industrial Revolution on the Blackstone River.

sherbornpeddler

Oh Oh Oh!
Looks fast standing still.

Our roads and the Fall season are a perfect match for either of these magnificent modes!

sherbornpeddler

There ought to be good postings from rides this weekend.
Until then, this'll have to do: After my previous digression about Reverend Blackstone I had no choice but to ride down past the Pawtucket Reservoirs to the Blackstone River Rail Trail in Cumberland to Woonsocket then back on the roads to Blackstone, Mendon, Hopedale, Milford where I picked up the Upper Charles River Rail Trail to the eastern end, Bellingham Holliston and back to Sherborn. Two rail trails, splendid day for 52 miles although due to my late start and a few stops to refer to my plan vs actual route I was glad I brought my lights for the last few miles.

jimmuller 

SBP, nice pics, nice Blackstone report. Not be outdone, I rode the Blackstone at lunch today, rt16 to Woonsocket and back. How's that Cat Stevens song go? "I'm being followed by a Woonsocket", I think.

I saw a lot of animal activity today. Bipedalling bipeds, bicycling bipeds, wet-in-river bipedal troutus anglicanus, dry-in-river kayakers, and even two eastern ribbon snakes making a not very concerted effort to flee to safety after apparently having concluded reluctantly that the pavement wasn't the safe warm place it seemed to be.

rholland1951

Had the day off, the weather cooperated, so I took off this morning on what turned out to be at 47-mile ramble through Arlington, Lexington, Bedford, Concord, Sudbury, Wayland, Lincoln, Weston, and Waltham. Didn't really have a plan when I started at 10:30 this morning (should have started earlier, but coherence in the morning does not come naturally to me, three or four cups of coffee helped), but thought to head out Sudbury Rd with the intent to go West on Rt 117, monitor my pace, and pick a route based on that and the 4:24 sunset (ugh!).

Took a short-cut to Concord on the first Bedford section of the Reformatory Branch Rail Trail, between Railroad Ave. and Hartwell Ave. this is generally a good idea, but today, it involved a little unplanned Cyclocross...



Rode through Concord Center and picked up Sudbury Road, then got stopped for a few minutes while some arborists brought down a damaged tree. Took just long enough to transform my phartfone from a map into a camera ("Go go Gadget, Camera!") that the trunk fell 20 seconds before this picture was taken ("Move along folks, nothing to see here...").


Followed Sudbury Road out to Verrill Farm, stopped for a quick lunch, then did a little exploratory detour up Wheeler Road and Plainfield Road, Verrill Farm's back forty. Came to the conclusion that the Verrill Farm Stable was the most interesting thing to be seen there, and turned around and took Plainfield down the the hill to Rt 117. Rode out Rt 117 as far as Pantry Road, noted the time, and decided my pace was slow enough that the sensible thing to do was to ride some familiar Scenic Roads in Sudbury, rather than go farther afield. This took a familar form: Pantry Road, Haynes Road, Marlboro Road, Morse Road, and Concord Road into Sudbury Center, via the Sudbury Necropolis...


Picked up Goodman's Hill Road (33.5 mph on the descent, fast for my slow self, hooray for gravity!), wondered at what may have been a wood-chipper that sounded more like an air raid siren, took a nibble at Rt 20, and proceeded on Old County Road, River Road (Wayland), and Water Row. Water Row looks different at this time of year: the green is gone, and all the oneiric tree faces and clutching twig fingers ever dreamed are there, along with a road-kill coyote, worth a nightmare in itself.


Took a detour on Weir Hill Road in hopes of having a quick whiz at the Visitor's Center. No soap: closed for the Federal Holiday. But enjoyed the view, anyhow.


Back down the Weir Hill Road hill...


...and across the Sudbury River to Sherman's Bridge Road, Wayland (is that Sherman's Bridge, by the way?)...


On to Concord Road up to Waltham Road, which of course required the obligatory photograph of the Toaster House, Wonder of the XXIst Century! Their dog barked at me, in a nice, responsible, Labrador retriever way.


Across the Lincoln line, Waltham Road became Old Sudbury Road, and a really eccentric series of images ensued, none with a photograph here (the shadows were getting longer, and I had to pee, so I just kept pedaling, no matter what). Some involved architecture: one really admirable XXth Century contemporary, a bunch of nice old farm houses, and an apparent Vile Enormity, Stone Hedge Farm, complete with a sculpture park that boasts a life-size stone bison (note: this is NICE if you like that sort of thing, please don't sue me). Then there were the pastures, populated in turn with grazing cattle, sheep, llamas, and... ROCKING HORSES! Someone had arranged several rocking horses in a pasture of their own (speaking of oneiric)... I promise to go back sometime and take pictures...

Picked up Rt 117 in Weston (marked as a Bike Route, apparently because of a painted shoulder), then took Conant Road and Old Conant Road (more interesting XXth Century residential architecture) to Old County Road, Lincoln, then crossed the Cambridge Reservoir on Trapelo Road and climbed the hill into Waltham. On Smith Street, a tall, young doberman wearing an elaborate harness was being walked by a grave-looking middle-aged man; the dog eyed my right calf, whined, and lunged; the man restrained it, and said "No", quietly, and with a falling intonation. God knows what creepy novel they were from, but I rode away from it with all deliberate speed, taking Spring Street to Marrett Road to Mass Ave. to Maple Street to the Minuteman and home by sunset.

There had been long shadows even at noon, and at times I found myself feeling suspended in a sort of abstract space, always with enough real-world situation awareness to ride safely with the traffic, but with the feeling that this is definitely a strange season to be out and pedaling in, even without cold weather.

rod

welshTerrier2

Finally got back outdoors today. Started off taking some nice backroads past Hopkinton State Park and then up into Hopkinton Center. I picked up the Upper Charles River Trail aka the Milford Bike Path just a short run down Route 85. I'd never seen this path before and it's been on my to do list for some time. Real nice scenery although the whole path was only about 4 miles each way. Lots of rock outcroppings and lots of water views. Parts of the trail, especially near the Route 16 end, were a wee bit crowded with pedestrians, dogs, and skateboarders. I assumed it had something to do with Veterans Day or maybe just the exceptional weather.

I stopped in at the Milford Bike Shop and tried out a Kinetic Fluid trainer. Man, that thing is really quiet. I'm thinking about buying a used one to save some money. The new ones are reaaaallllly pricey.

There was a sign on the bike path that said something like: Entering Water Fowl Seasonal Hunting Area. I stopped to consider the implications of this. Were they trying to tell me that this is the time of year that water fowl use this area to hunt for food? Or... were they letting me know that people were going to be shooting things and I should stay as low as possible? Either way, I wasn't quite clear what to do with the information provided.

Stopped at a friend's house on the way home. They just got a new puppy. Very cool. Got home just at the edge of darkness. Good thing, too. I have no lights or reflectors. This getting dark early business needs a re-think. Is there someone I can see about that? I'm thinking about something like triple daylight savings time in the winter. Let it be dark in the morning; I'd rather have sunlight later in the day.

Really great pics, Rod. Keep 'em comin'. And Jim... now I have that stupid Cat Stevens' song stuck in my head.

sherbornpeddler

WT2, Glad you enjoyed the UCRRT. FYI, the Milford portion is the only that is paved with asphalt so far. The northern end you rode is nice and can get 2000 users on a weekend. The section beginning next to the Dunkin Donuts on Rt 16/Main St south to the "Missing Link" is a little tricky to follow on back roads but then does pick up on Rt 109 east to Holliston. The photo I posted is that end where I enviously show the beautiful Milford marker, cobble stones and asphalt with the far more humble dirt path where a comfort or mountain bike is better suited than a spandexed, 23C tired Tour de France aspirant will be disappointed. A wild life, tree hugging, railroad architecture and bird enthusiast with fat tires will thrill further east.

Much further east and downstream from the Charles, I thrilled riding incomplete sections of other trails and fancy pavement along memorial Drive (this view from Magazine Beach) and Summer St. in Boston.

sherbornpeddler

Folks,
Must have been switching from single speed urban to steel and carbon spandex biking on semi-rural but I had for me a brief moment of multiple synapse, polysyllabic thought. I wouldn't confess this to anyone else than you. The good news is without spinning wheels, I'm unlikely to maintain my balance on this soapbocx for long.

1. Riding along a winding road through treed and leafy conservation land I saw a plead for anti-littering. Earlier this year we commented on an impulsive moment of trash pickup.

How about we organize a trash pick up hour for us cyclists? The incentive is doing a good thing, thanking the communities we ride through and we (and others) get to enjoy improved roads. I am believer that if an area is clean it is less likely a ne'er-do-well will mess it up; if it already has litter it is more likely a mutton-head will litter.

I don't know if there is time to pick a weekend hour when we grab a plastic bag and each spend 60 minutes picking up litter on a road of your choice or pick a Spring day next year. Our own positive reinforcement could be posting the road and a snapshot of the trash, maybe copy it to the local community paper to let the locals know bicyclists appreciate their communities.

Worst case 5 people in 5 different or one single location pick up some trash and 5 people know about it. Best case a few communities see a message bicyclists payback and support efforts to preserve and maintain these wonderful environs. Clearly everyone that contributes to this forum really, really appreciates our area. Your stories and photos prove that. Maybe we could inspire a few more and contribute to community-bicycle relations.

2. State agencies are soliciting feedback and making decisions on roads and transportation. Money is tight but what money there is will be allocated according to laws and policy. Staff that collect, compile and report are, like us, human. They like to come home at night and reflect on accomplishments.

Now is the time we can influence decisions on MetroBoston roads. I was at a Metropolitan Area Planning Council Fall meeting where 30% of the stuff included bicycling and now I think the buzz word du jour is, or will be, "multimodal." You heard it here; even Wikipedia isn't up to date. 30 years from now we really will be like Munich, Amsterdam or the way Shanghai used to be; where we move about by various means in large part by foot, bike and public transportation and shop locally rather than drive SUVs to malls and big box stores; buy fresh baked bread and eat cheese and regionally distinct vegetables (and wine) and have time to communicate face to face because we don't spend as much time in motorized metal isolation boxes on gridlocked highways and traffic lights.

MassDot, MPO, MAPC and tons of other agencies are "all ears" about transportation improvement (TIP).

Okay, someone give me a hand and help me off this soap box. I did have a great time today splitting wood in the morning for the town forest volunteers and riding 40 sweet miles on back roads in Metro west. Let's advocate for bike lanes for the future and build rapport today!

rholland1951

Sounds good to me. Wonder what we call it? "Cycle, recycle, and pack out your trash"? "60-minute pick-up"? "First, do no harm. Second, pick up after the morons."?

Or something.

rod

jimmuller 

First, I got out on the Blackstone again today. Work has been, shall we say, pressurized for a few days but I managed to escape for a while this afternoon.

SBP, I like your idea. I wonder how one would implement it. There are two goals, of course, to pick up trash and to publicize the effort. The first is something all of us can do when the opportunity strikes, and I suspect most of us actually do it occasionally. The second, the real gem in your suggestion, requires more effort, I think.

sherbornpeddler

Yeah, a catchy name and publicity plan.
Press release
Personal notes to recruit influential people to sell it to MetroBoston communities.
We could start by getting a contact at
bike committees,
MassBike,
Clubs like Charles River Wheelmen,
Bike shops and retailers like REI
Bike brands like Trek, Cannondale, Giant
Maybe get a sponsor to pay for free bags, road sign saying, "Caution, Bicyclist Road Cleanup"
Social media campaign and facebook page with a place for photos of all the contributors,
Postings in various forums,
Form letter for each cyclist to send to their local paper.
Maybe sell Bike jerseys and/or reflector vests for safety and promotion to defray sign and promo expenses. It'd be nice to keep this grassroots and have no expenses.

jimmuller 

Something to think about while riding this weekend.

We may take the tandem out tomorrow. I have lots to do though.

Now about Sunday... I made arrangements to throw the Masi in the car and meet JJScaliger in RI to ride a route he mapped out. A few days ago he confirmed the details, with a route of 73 miles. (Gulp!) Not that I'm too worried about the distance, but the days are getting shorter and the temperature is lower and I have to drive for an hour and half just to meet him. So early in the morning I will heading south with some trepidation. If I survive I'll post a report and some pics!

jimmuller 

35.4 miles on the tandem with my sweetie. It was actually a "pre-recovery" ride in preparation tomorrow with JJScaliger. Today was cool, not much wind but high temps a bit below 50F. Tomorrow will be about the same except that we'll be starting earlier.

Memo to self: Get to bed early tonight.

rholland1951

36 miles today through Arlington, Belmont, Lexington, Waltham, Lincoln, Weston, and Wayland. I was motivated by three constraints: 1) the desire for a little novelty; 2) the feeling that I couldn't spend the whole (shortened) day on the bicycle; 3) a feeling of serious obligation to photograph the Rocking Horse Pasture mentioned in the Veteran's Day post. So I took off through Belmont, a town I live next to but have almost never ridden in, climbing Belmont Hill on Prospect Street; this was where the 22% grade reported by the MyTracks app was encountered. While I realize that the touring triple on my LHT permanently disqualifies me from any hill-climbing braggadocio, I was pleased that I could do it without distress (and that the front wheel only left the pavement briefly, once). Took Marsh Street to Concord Ave., and rode through that long swampy section, with the Western Greenway somewhere to my left. Things got more hilly, with slow climbs and rapid descents, Belmont gave way to Lexington. Noticed a sign for a Bike Route on the Metropolitan Parkway; turns out this is part of the Beaver Brook Reservation, what the DCR made of the grounds of the former Metropolitan State Hospital. Looks like that will be worth exploring on another trip. After crossing Waltham Street, made a short detour on Barberry Road and the Five Fields neighborhood in Lexington, enjoying this little outpost of Modernism, developed in the early '50s by The Archtects Collaborative.


Continued on Concord Ave. to Spring Street, Lexington, and Smith Street, Waltham, then down the hill on Trapelo Road to the Cambridge Reservoir and Old County Road.


Rode South along Old County Road, enjoying the views of the Reservoir, and enjoying the speed bumps.


Crossed Winter Street and rode the little stretch of single-track that connects Old County Road with Old Conant Road. Enjoyed another little cluster of Modern houses here (N.B.: as a refugee of the 20th Century myself, I have gradually made the mental shift required to regard "Modern" as a particular historical-cultural moment, rather than simply a synonym for "Contemporary"; it was, of course, a long moment, lasting several decades, and to me it feels like home ground; when I encounter good exemplars of it, I feel happy).


On down the hill to Conant Road, Weston, and crossed North Avenue (Rt 117), continuing South to Weston Center. This is a good ride, with the caveat that there is serious utility work in one spot that requires a hilly detour (the utility in question appears to be coal, they've got a hole in the road deep enough to pass for a mine). Saw a very active red squirrel, and several blocks later a largish hawk swooped across the road at eye level. A bit further on, a cyclist headed North veered across the road ahead of me and disappeared into the underbrush. When I reached that point, I saw that he was already several hundred yards along a dirt path in an abandoned railroad right-of-way. I'm guessing this is the nascent Wayside Rail Trail/Mass Central Rail-Trail (but don't really know); whatever it was, I'd cross it again later. Finally, approaching Weston Center, I got a peek at some truly whimsical and wonderful sculpture on the grounds of Joseph Ferguson's studio at 17 Conant Road, one piece looking like a fantastic ornithopter.

Rode through prosperous and cheery Weston Center, and picked up Concord Road, Weston. This is a lovely ride, and I met squadrons of roadies along the way. At one point, at the top of a hill that Concord Road winds its way up, the out-sized Campion Center loomed. This is a Jesuit retreat center with extensive grounds and an interesting history, which rewards a quick Google. Took Sudbury Road when it forked West, becoming Glezen Lane at the Wayland line, then headed North on Concord Road, Wayland (Rt 126), turning East again on Waltham Road (no pictures of the Toaster House today); I did notice that the Vile Enormity mentioned in a previous post is actually on Waltham Road, and I have nothing further to say on that subject. At the Lincoln line, this became Old Sudbury Road, and I pulled out my phone for a few photographs.

This sheet-metal shed had caught my eye on Monday's ride, and I found I was still fascinated with it (perhaps it's the resemblance to the Toaster House).


On the other end of several scales, there was another exemplary Modern house.


As on Monday, there were cows...


... and sheep, and llamas...


... and ... ROCKING HORSES! In their own little pasture! The apparition had not yet vanished...


After that, what was left but to ride home? This was a dandy little ride, took me to some new places for all its relative compactness, and gave me 2579 ft of climbing, to boot. It did take somewhat longer than planned, in part because of pauses with the photography, and in part because of a wardrobe malfunction with my right glove, which I spent at least half-an-hour fiddling with (in 3-minute, non-pedaling intervals, every time my right hand got chilly), and which complicated the mechanics of shooting the pictures. Oh well, Winter's coming, it's too cold for the nudist camp, gotta wear clothes, and sometimes put up with a few hassles.

rod

sherbornpeddler

Brilliant trip reports. I'm just one of the herd myself and followed a south eastern version of your examples with a familiar path to Burnt Swamp in Wrentham then ventured to last week's adventure up Tower Hill Rd. in Cumberland, RI, Woonsocket then Blackstone, Mendon, Upton, Grafton, Westborough, Ashland to Sherborn, this time before sunset. 70 miles, wore booties, enough layers, good gloves, balaclava; pretty manageable.