Westerly winds

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Today I was in the mood to push a bit farther than usual. It's a blustery day and I wasn't sure how much it would affect my ride. I started out along the Charles, and then went up to Alewife to hook into the Minuteman Trail. Once I got to Bedford I took Rt. 62 into Concord, then followed 62 westbound through Acton and Maynard. From there I headed southeast on 117 through the southern part of Concord, Weston and Waltham. From Waltham I tried to hook back up to the trail along the Charles, which is frustrating because there are stretches between Waltham and Watertown that are not paved. Eventually I meandered along the Charles all the way back through Watertown, Cambridge, and back home. Total ride: 52 miles. I am now chowing down a substantial lunch...

South by Southwest

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Weekends these days are getting a bit crazy, and I was not very happy that last weekend I did not get out on my bike. Of course the weather isn't helping. So on Saturday morning I hopped on my bike and headed south. I am finding that there are a lot more nice roads going south and west than there are heading north. I started out along the southwest corridor path, rode around Franklin Park, then pushed farther south to Milton. I hadn't planned on coming this close to Blue Hills but decided that I was not feeling good enough to try the observatory again, so instead I wrapped around Brush Hill back toward Hyde Park, then headed up through Stony Brook Reservation.

Along the way I went across a pedestrian bridge over Mll Pond. It suddenly struck me that Fall is just about here -- the view over the pond is still dominated with green, but you can start to see trees losing their leaves, and in other places the leaves are already changing colors. Anyhow, after riding through Stony Brook I pushed a bit farther northwest through Brookline, then home. I was worried about being late for a lunch meeting so I kept the total ride to just under 30 miles. I wonder how many more weekends of riding I will be able to get?

The MInuteman trail

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Today I had some pent up frustration and had been running around all day, so around 4:30pm I decided to hop on my bike for a ride. Last weekend I was going to go do the Minuteman trail, which starts at Alewife (Cambridge) and ends in Bedford some 11 miles later, but instead rode around on the North Shore. So I headed off to do it today. I had to stop for some chain lube at Back Bay Bicycles as my derailleur was starting to chirp every time I shifted gears.

After a quick lube I hit the Charles, headed west along the river and wound my way up to Alewife. From there it was pretty straight shot -- albeit with lots of stop signs and some traffic lights. At one traffic light in Lexington a girl in front of me just about got killed when a car did not stop for her in the crosswalk (after the car coming from the left had made a full stop).

I pushed myself reasonably hard, it took me altogether 2:05 of riding time (1:05 out and 1:00 back) for the full 33 or so miles. Given all the stops and intersections along the way that does not seem too bad.

North shore

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This was a weekend of great exertion. After yesterday's ride, this morning I played soccer, then drove up to Beverly with my bike in the trunk, dropped off the car with Pietro at Endicott and headed off for some riding. I decided to go visit Maryellen for lunch in Essex but she was not available until 1:30pm, so I headed north on 127 and wound my way through Manchester, Magnolia and Gloucester, before heading west on 133 to Essex. It was a gorgeous day and I enjoyed stopping by Magnolia Beach to sit on a bench while chomping down on a power bar washed down with Gatorade.

After lunch I headed home. This time I thought I would try to follow 107 South all the way into the city, but that was a mistake. With the exception of a few portions, much of the road is not very friendly to bikes, especially when you get down into Everett/Revere. I have to say that generally coming down into the city from the North Shore is not fun. I also have to say that by the time I got home I was pretty beat -- all told I rode 80 miles this weekend (55 on Sunday and 25 on Saturday) and played a soccer game. All on about 2-3 hours of sleep... But it feels good to be able to do that!

Brookline to Milton and the Observatory again

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Today Pietro was playing soccer at Curry College in Milton, and I had to drop off my car at the dealership in Brookline for a 5,000mi service check. So I threw my bike in the trunk of the car, and rode from Brookline down to Milton. I made a quick stop at the home of a friend who lives very close to Curry before the game. The game itself was good, but once again the Endicott College Gulls lost - though it was a close game.

The weather was surprisingly chilly and windy, at half time I laid down on the astroturf insude the batting cages behind the stands, where the was no wind and the sun was quite toasty. The picture on the left is the view looking up.

After the game I was pretty hungry (1pm) and not feeling on top of my game, but I decided that being all the way down there I should try the Blue Hill Observatory road again. My brain tried to make all sorts of excuses for why I would not make it: wearing a backpack, tired, hungry, muscles not warm... but I would have felt like a wimp if I hadn't tried, so I went for it. This climb is definitely a reach for me. The last 100 yards or so are just brutal! But I did make it to the top without dismounting. If all goes wall tomorrow I will go on another ride, though it should be easier.

Beverly for soccer

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Pietro's team was playing a home game at Endicott College in Beverly, so I decided to ride up there to kill two birds with one stone. The ride was pretty easy (except some of the usual urban aspects of the ride, including really rough roads in a couple of places) and not very long at exactly 25 miles. Not much to report along the way, I found myself going through some parts of Saugus I had never seen before.

On the way home it was getting too dark to ride back so I threw my bike in the back of Karen and Rick's car. Along the way we enjoyed one of the most spectacular sunsets I have seen in a long time (well, at least in Massachusetts -- I did see some amazing sunsets during my recent trip to New Mexico). What made the sunset particularly amazing was a long band of clouds aligned east-west: at one point the western part had bright yellow colors, while the eastern part was bright pink, with a nearly full moon next to the pink clouds.

Blue Hill Observatory - and then some

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Last night I spent a lot more time than I had anticipated messing around with my front derailleur, even watched a couple of YouTube videos, and still did not get it quite right. But at least I was able to get the bike to shift with some reliability into the smallest front chainwheel, which made me feel comfortable for attacking the Blue Hill Observatory hill. I left my house shortly after 8am. The ride down to Milton (through JP, Roxbury and Dorchester) is quite nice. At first I missed the entrance to the Observatory Rd. and had to double back. Once I found the road, I dropped into my lowest gear and off I went.

That hill without question is the toughest thing I have tried to date. I made it to the top, but a couple of times I really started to wonder if I'd make it. It is really steep in a couple of places, and even where it is not as steep it never really lets up. There is one last kicker not far from the top, it was my second or third time up on my pedals and I did not think I was going to make it. But I did make it, and it felt great to be up on top. The view is pretty, although you can't look back toward the city because of trees. I am sure there is a trail to get to the north-facing side of the hill.

Back at the bottom, I went slightly farther south on 138, then took Hillside St., which winds around the reservation. The area near Houghtons Pond is really pretty. This would be a nice place to come for a hike or to hang out by water. I followed Hillside to Randolph Ave. (Rt. 28). Next time I am here I should remember to stay right on Chickatawbut Rd. to hook into Randolph Ave., Hillside after it veers off of the Reservation is very bumpy. Anyhow, I then followed Randolph Ave. through Milton Center, then hooked into Adams Ave., and right on Dorchester Ave.

At this point I gave serious thought to following Dorchester Ave. to Mass Ave. and home, but instead I decided to hang a right at Savin Hill Ave., went to Morrissey Blvd., rode around the UMass campus and the JFK Library (there is an annoying stretch of the path that is unpaved - not fun. From there, I followed Morrissey Blvd. again up to Broadway, then followed Broadway back into town, going over the bridge onto E. Berkeley St., then through the South End and on home.

Once I got home I ran to Whole Foods for some bread, and indulged in a delicious lunch consisting of a nice piece of Wild Coho Salmon (grilled with a bit of olive oil, lemon, lemon zest, rosemary and salt), a nice green salad, some fresh bread. Topped it all off with a bit of chocolate and an espresso that really hit the spot.

In the mood for some hills

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Today was moving day for Elena. 7 hours of going up and down the stairs to her fifth floor apartment put me in the mood for some hills. That and the fact that we went to pick up her boyfriend, who lives on Parker Hill Road, and he mentioned that "you can get about half way up before you have to dismount and walk your bike." In all fairness to him, he has a clunky and probably very heavy mountain bike. Since I had already done this particular hill, and since by the time I was ready to go it was already getting pretty late, I decided I'd do a short but hilly ride.

First, I did Parker Hill Road three times, and in between I went up Lawn St. and Esty St., a short but rather nasty hill. Then I rode down Rt. 9 and went up High Street Hill. From there I rode across Rt. 9 on Cypress and wound my way up to Aspinwall Hill. As I wound my way down Winthrop Rd. toward Beacon St., I had to stop as a flock of wild turkeys was meandering across the road. Not something you see everyday, at least not in Brookline. I took a picture with my phone, but when I got home it was gone - not sure what I did wrong.

Finally, as I wound my way North through Brookline, I suddenly made a right turn from Corey Rd. onto Summit Ave, only to find myself staring at a nasty steep hill climbing up the back side of Corey Hill. Now, that was a test of my remaining strength, especially since my front derailleur is misbehaving and I can't get the chain to go down to the lowest ratios. That hill is a bitch, and the road is so pockmarked with potholes and patches as to be a real uncomfortable ride, even at the rather low speeds I was able to attain on the climb.

From there it was mostly downhill. I went north through Brookline into Brighton and Allston, up Harvard Ave. right on Cambridge St. and then hit the bike path along Storrow Drive and on home. All told the ride was shy of 14 miles, but I was more tired at the end of that ride than I had been in a while. Walking down the street to meet some friends for dinner I thought my quads might just cramp up.

Now it's time to go see if I can figure out how to adjust my front derailleur because on Monday morning I want to try the hill up to the Blue Hill Observatory...

Essex to Boston

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Yesterday afternoon I got a ride up to Essex, got dropped off near my old house, and rode back down to Boston. I was meeting some people for drinks and dinner so I wanted to keep a good pace. In spite of a wrong turn that took me down into East Boston and required me to back-track maybe a mile or so, I was able to get back in a bit over two hours. The majority of the ride was great, the roads were actually in pretty good shape. The only glaring exception was after I had back-tracked out of East Boston and headed west through lower Everett back to Rt.99. This is the same road where I got a flat tire a few weeks ago (the one that required me to grab a cab). The roads there are in horrible condition - I was really wishing I had a mountain bike! I will have to find a different way to head north bypassing this road in the future.

Random Saturday ride

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Today I was meeting a friend at the Moakley Courthouse to talk business over coffee. After the meeting I headed off in a somewhat random direction. I started by heading into Southie, then over to Castle Island for the loop. From there I decided I would try to get to the Franklin Park Zoo, but got a bit sidetracked and ended up on Savin Hill. There is very nice park there with a great view of the Harbor.

From Savin Hill I managed to find my way to the Zoo, and then rode down and through the Arnold Arboretum. I have always liked the Arboretum, today I rode to the top of Peter's Hill, which has an amazing view toward downtown Boston. From there I rode up to and around Jamaica Pond, then north and west to Chestnut Hill Drive. I followed that up to Washington St. in Brighton, where I headed left and drove past my old house at #58. I toyed with the idea of stopping to say hello, but I was pretty sweaty and I did not see anyone outside, so I rode past. From there on down to the Charles, past the boat house at Community Rowing, then over toward the Arsenal Mall, and eventually wound my way back to the Eliot bridge, and finally along the Charles and back home. Total distance: 36 miles. Getting easier!

Auburndale, Waltham and Belmont

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Today was a gorgeous day, but e-mail distractions prevented me from hitting the road until about 9am, which is unfortunate as the weather got pretty hot toward the end of the ride. I started out going along the Charles (Boston side), all the way to the West through Brighton, Newton and down to Auburndale, where Commonwealth Ave. crosses over Rt.128 - right by the Kayak place. Along the way I rode past a beautiful little spot with a railroad bridge and a pedestrian bridge going over the Charles. In fact, most of the path along the Charles is quite lovely, with some beautiful spots along the way.

I then headed north on Norumbega Road, and ran across a cool tower called the "Norumbega Tower," which according to Wikipedia was erected in 1889 to mark the supposed location of a Norse fort and city. I then proceeded north, through Brandeis, North Waltham, and up until I hit Rt.2. Realizing that I could not ride down Rt. 2, I headed back a couple of blocks to take Concord Ave. back toward Belmont. Eventually I rode around the south side of Fresh Pond, down to Memorial Drive - which is closed to car traffic on Sundays - and back along Storrow Dr. When I crossed Comm Ave on Mass Ave I stopped by Back Bay Bicycles where they keep a pump outside during business hours. I had only ever used my small hand pump, and it seemed like my tires were running soft. The tire says it should be kept between 100 and 125psi. When I plugged in their pump, the tires were reading somewhere south of 40psi. No wonder I got another flat tire last weekend! Probably every time I went over something the tire was pinching the tube all the way to the rim. Once I pumped up to 110psi I noticed that the road seemed a bit rougher... I will be curious to see how it feels next week.

Total ride length was abotu 34mi (my GPS was on the fritz for the first few minutes, Google tells me it was 33.6mi, my little bike computer said exactly 35mi). I stopped a couple of times along the way, Google claims my average speed while moving was a whopping 13.7mph, with a total elevation gain of 2,761ft. Interestingly, using the same data MapMyRide tells me my total elevation gain was only 502ft. Now, that's a big discrepancy! My legs of course tend to agree with Google :-).

Moon Island attempt

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Today I thought I would try to go to the south side of the Boston Harbor. I saw on the map Moon Island, connected to Squantum, and then in turn connected to Long Island. I rode through some not-so-bike-friendly roads, including a bridge under construction (Neponset Ave, connecting Dorchester and North Quincy), which had extremely narrow lanes that made me go real fast to avoid having cars try to pass me.

There is a nice stretch of road on East Squantum Rd. where you get a good view of downtown Boston, and Logan airport beyond it. The view is not as nice as the view I got last weekend in Winthrop. but it is still quite nice.

As I got close to Moon Island I got another flat tire - again the rear wheel. I popped off the tire and found that the leak was actually right at the base of the valve stem - very strange as this was a new tube. Anyhow, it was not patchable but I had a spare tube and was able to fix it. I then rode on another 1/4 mile just to find out that Moon Island and Long Island are off-limits. As it turns out the island is owned by the City of Boston and is use as the Police Department firing range and a Fire Department training facility.

On the way back I had to hurry home so I took a fairly direct route, up Neponset Ave to Dorchester Ave, Southampton and then Mass Ave. In all, a shorter ride than I wanted to do, but not bad.

Deer Island - no flat tire!

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Today I decided to try to make it to Deer Island again. I followed the same route as last week, along Memorial Dr. then through Charlestown, Everett, Chelsea, East Boston, Winthrop and on to Deer Island. The ride is mostly nice, though there are some stretches (especially through Chelsea/Everett) where the roads are awfully bumpy. Also, I thought I was going to blow a tire going over the Andrew McArdle bridge - the metal grating on the bridge has a spacing that is way too big for road bike tires - I had to stop immediately and clamber over to the sidewalk, where a more conventional grating size made it manageable.

It was very cool riding over the causeway on Saratoga St., crossing into Winthrop on 145. The road is juts past the end of one of the runways at Logan, and because of the wind patterns, aircraft were landing from this end - buzzing overhead as I rode along. I also stopped at a very cool little spot called "Simon J. Donovan Beach." The beach is not exactly a place where I would hang out, but you get a great view across the bay to Logan, and downtown Boston beyond.

Deer Island itself is very cool. It's no longer really an island, apparently it became connected during a hurricane in 1938, and a road was built over the new connector a few years later. You are actually pretty far out into Boston Harbor, you can look back toward the city and see many of the islands that are often visited by ferry from downtown, including Spectacle, Georges and Long. I found the wastewater treatment plan to be quite fascinating in its own way. There are two wind generators, today it was pretty windy so they were spinning at a good clip - I love the swooshing sound they make.


On the way back I took a slightly different route: after getting off Deer Island I climbed up to the water tower at the southern tip of Winthrop, then rode along the coast up to the rotary where Revere begins. I then headed west on Rt.16, which had nice wide emergency lane until it crossed over Rt.1, at which point it became a less-than-ideal ride with cars zooming by and absolutely no emergency lane. I then headed south on Rt.99, back down into Charlestown past the Bunker Hill Community College, then crossed over toward the Museum of Science, down to the Esplanade (where I got free ice cream, there was some sort of regatta taking place), and back home. Total mileage just a hair over 30 miles, took slightly less than 2.5 hours including a few photo stops and the ice cream break.

Short, expensive ride to Chelsea

Today I was planning to ride out through Charlestown, Chelsea and Winthrop to Deer Island. I made it as far as Chelsea when I noticed my rear tire seemed low. I pumped it up a bit but realized soon that I had a flat. Luckily I was near a sort of dock area where I found a water hose and a bucket, so I set out to fix the flat. Found the hole, patched it up (the tube looked pretty old), and then as I went to pump it the entire valve stem ripped.

After considering my options and thinking about walking to a Target about 2 miles away, I decided that it was a bad idea as it would be unlikely that Target would even have the right type of tube. Fortunately I happened to be on a street near a couple of major taxi depots, so there were empty cabs going by all the time and I got one to bring me home with the bike in the trunk. $32 later, I now have to go find a new tube and fix it. Oh well. Maybe I'll try Deer Island again later today or next weekend.

Watertown, Belmont and Charlestown

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Took another nice long ride to celebrate Independence day. My legs felt fine after yesterday's 20+mi ride, so today I pushed a bit farther and did about 24mi. First I rode west, with waypoints in Watertwon and Belmont, then went east through Cambridge, past my place, all the way to Charlestown, before heading home. A couple of worthy places.



The Oakley Hill Golf Club in Watertown is situated atop a hill with beautiful views of the surrounding areas (though a woman who lives there told me the views are not what they used to be because of the trees). There is a beautiful old building that I thought was the club house, but in fact it was converted to condos in 1984. Also got a snapshot of a funny sign about low-flying golf balls...

Speaking of funny signs, while coming back through Charlestown and the Paul Revere Park again, I noticed an inscription on the concrete wall underneath the Leverett Connector (for you non-Bostonians, this is a long off-ramp from Rt. 93 that in my opinion is the stupidest part of the "Big Dig"; I still believe that this was meant as a temporary structure but was left there as the contractors ran out of money). Anyhow, the base of the connector, just behind the Garden, has a huge inscription that says "The greatest neighborhood this side of heaven."
No shit? This has to be one of the funniest and most feeble piece of marketing I have ever seen. I don't even want to think how much it must have cost... and it is nearly invisible -- I have probably driven by there dozens of times and never noticed it before...

Southie (mainly)

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Nice long ride, really enjoyed looping around Castle Island after crossing Southie on Broadway (and stopping for a new battery at Radio Shack). This is a well-traveled path probably familiar to a lot of people who ride around Boston. One place I liked is Dorchester Heights, a hill with a 115-ft tall tower that celebrates the importance of this hill during the America Revolution. Apparently the occupation and fortification of this spot in 1776 represented a significant turning point in Washington's campaign against the British in the Boston area.

Roxbury - Mission Hill

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Did a lot of looping around smaller streets looking for hills to climb and sights to see. A couple of things really stood out.

Highland Park, a.k.a. Fort Hill. At the top of a small hill in Roxbury there is a tall tower that could look like a steeple. Turns out to be a standpipe that was built in 1869.

New England Baptist Hospital. Never really cared much for hospitals, but this one is set on top of a relatively large hill with spectacular views of Boston.

Esplanade, Charlestown and Beacon Hill

Discovered some cool areas along the Charles on my birthday ride.
View Biking Boston: 19 June 2011 in a larger map

Highlights (I am skipping any obvious landmarks like Bunker Hill):

Spaulding Rehab Center - small but nice park at the eastern end of the Esplanade, right on the water.

North Point Park, a lovely area with grassy knolls and benches overlooking the Charles, directly opposite the Spaulding Rehab Center. Accessible by taking Museum Way right across the street from the Museum of Science

The Boston AutoPort. This place is tucked under the Tobin. It is where container shops drop off new cars on their way to dealerships. Not a pleasant neighborhood but an interesting sight.



Paul Revere Park and the locks/dams at the end of the Charles. Walk past the USS Consitution to the end of Consitution Rd. Go under the underpass and hang a left to get to a nice little park. But then if you follow either of the paths that go along the sides of the brick building at the end of the park, you will be able to walk across the locks at the end of the Charles (unless boats are going through, in which case you have to wait). Very cool, you end up behind the Garden / North Station.

Welcome to Biking Boston

I recently got a road bike (2001 Iron Horse) and started to go on rides on weekends to explore the city. It is amazing how many places there are that are easily missed when we just drive or take the T. I wanted to start this blog as a way of reminding myself of the rides I do, and also to make a note of special places and things I see along the way.