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?