rholland1951

Took the Seven out for a quick spin late Thursday afternoon, pleased that the Sun continued to shine. It was a jolly ride. Lots of company on the Minuteman, but nothing too much.


rod

rholland1951

Late Friday afternoon, I had a quick spin, lickety-split, up the Mystic Valley Parkway and along the Eastern shore of the Mystic Lakes. A series of quiet scenes prevailed there, a few canoes or something similar, a few people fishing, and a fair number of people on road bikes. I was rolling on the Nobilette, which fit right in.


I have a fixed idea that the folks I see fishing are fishing for the table, and dinner is at stake. I'm not quite sure why I believe that.


It was a pleasure to ride the Nobilette, as always, but airing up the 28mm tires seemed to point towards a fault in my floor pump. Something to investigate.

rod

Trocadile

Don't know if this has been mentioned in this thread yet, but Waltham has opened up a couple miles worth of the MCRT that connects to the Weston section. This picture is of the easternmost part currently open (Middlesex Rd. is across from the Petco parking lot off Main St.). Between the Waltham and Weston paved parts there's still some civilized single track with a couple old railroad bridges, but nothing the minivelo can't handle. Anyway, a big improvement over other ways of getting through Waltham to the west.

rholland1951

I returned from California Friday, decided Saturday's forecast looked likely, and took the Sam Hillborne for a ride East.


This was yet another iteration of the hills-and-traffic drill through well-known roads in East Arlington, West Medford, Malden, Melrose, and Stoneham, with an option on a few other conurbations should the spirit dictate. The hills are always with us, but the traffic varies a good deal. Today things were a bit more congested than usual, and featured chartered shuttle buses substituting for Orange Line trains while the MBTA did some needed maintenance. The shuttle buses were a striking shade of yellow. Here's one:


While I started encountering a light drizzle in Medford, early in the day, I didn't run into an honest rain shower until near the end of the day. This is not a complaint. Even that was relatively gentle in the scheme of things, and the Sam Hillborne and its Barlow Pass Extralight all-road tires and Paul cantilever brakes handled the mild change of conditions with aplomb..


Good to be back on the bike after a week away.

rod

rholland1951

Took another ride out to Depot Park and back with my son John, he on his Soma Pescadero, I on my 1982 Specialized Sequoia.


Both bikes are set up with STI machines (a.k.a. brifters), and support riding along two abreast and chatting. Which was exactly what we did.


Good ride, good talk. And we stopped at Battle Road Bikes and scheduled some work to be done.


rod

rholland1951

One of those days when the time gets squeezed up from the bottom like toothpaste from a tube. Days like that, I most often take a little ride, all I have time for, and most often, it's up along the Eastern shore of the Mystic Lakes. That's what I did today, taking the Seven Evergreen out for a brisk, quick spin, turning around at the mouth of the Aberjona River, thinking to see the demotic and institutional response to the First Warm Day. And at Shannon Beach, that's more or less what was on offer.


On these rides, I've got a fixed pattern: Shannon Beach first, then down at the Dam to look at the more relaxed scene (usually) at the Tufts Bacow Sailing Pavillion. Today, uh-uh. Somebody's been taking Lemming Pills.


Usually, with congestion at that level, somebody has had the wit to hire cops on a traffic-directing detail. Not this time. No telling what happened, there and then, but if anybody knows, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

Good ride, nonetheless. Some sort of Arboreal Cruft got into my eyes, stung a bit and kept me blinking. But the Seven kept reminding me that I really should ride it more often , preferably on a longer-distance ride than these little Pee-Wee Derbies.


Tomorrow's another, etc.

rod