JB's Miscellaneous Ramblings

Last week, we (dancingdeer, H* and I) wanted to ride. So we rode.

Mass Ave from Porter Sq. to Rindge Ave. to the secret underpass to Alewife, and then all the way out the Minuteman to Bedford. We continued through Bedford, down Railroad Ave. and found the continuation of the old railbed, now a dirt trail - which winds scenically along the side of the Great Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary (Ok, according to http://www.town.sudbury.ma.us/services/conservation/custom/landspages/lincoln.asp : "The 78-acre Lincoln Meadows Conservation Reservation located in the northeastern corner of Sudbury Is part of a large, unspoiled 1080-acre area In the Sudbury River Valley. This area includes of the Great Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary (U.S. Department of Interior), the Pantry Brook Reservation (Massachusetts Fish and Game Division), and Round Hill (Sudbury Valley Trustees), all of which are contiguous.")

Instead of searching for the final bit of the path all the way to the bitter end, we turned left on Monument Rd and went into Concord Center, where we could not find an ice cream parlor. This is just wrong.

Out Walden St., across Rt. 2, and a stop at Walden Pond. Continuing on Walden St., left on Baker Bridge Rd. and a quick zoom around the grounds of the DeCordova Museum. Baker Bridge becomes Trapelo Rd., across the Cambridge Reservoir and 128, with a stop at the gas station at the corner of Smith St.

Left onto Smith, right on Concord St., left on Waltham St., right on Marrett Rd., left on Maple St just across Mass Ave., back onto the Minuteman and back to the start.

35.3 miles. One hill (Trapelo Rd., after the reservoir) that's marked on the Rubel bike map with their finest (least significant) hill marking, which kicked my ass. I'm not nearly as studly as I'd like to believe. :)

The next time, if I want to go out to the DeCordova, I'll go out the same way but then reverse the journey home. Much flatter.

Then, 6 days later, i found myself very lucky in regards to equipment failures...

(Thanks to dancingdeer for filling in the blanks...)

So, dancingdeer and I were riding home from doing a couple of quick errands after dinner on Friday evening. We'd just turned from Cedar onto Elm and there was a sound like a firecracker going off behind me and my ride gets soggy, for want of a better word.

Eventually it got through my consciousness that my rear tire'd blown.

Luckily, we were only about 2 blocks from Ace Wheelworks. Unluckily, it was 8:30, so they were closed. Ah well. We locked up the bike on the rack outside the store and went on with the evening.

The next day, we went back over there, I bought new tires and tubes and swapped them out outside.

The timing is in the fact that, had this happened 6 days earlier, we might well have been in the middle of the woods, between Bedford and Concord, on a narrow dirt track miles from a bike shop.

This was a much better option.

(The new tires are Specialized Nimbus Armadillos. They seem to have good reviews as being nearly bulletproof, which is important around here. :)

Do you ride bicycles in and around Boston?
Come check out bostoncycling.

It's brand new, but we have hopes...

Bike for me...

About 22 miles, including:
Around the Fresh Pond Reservoir, along the Charles to where the bikepath ends in Watertown, across the river, back along it on the Boston side, through the really very nice park area that I've driven by Many many times, all the way down to the Longfellow bridge, back to the Smoot Bridge, across, along the river and Mem. Dr. back to the home side of Harvard Sq. and then to home.

It would have been perfect at 5 deg. cooler, and without whatever got into my left eye while I was going around the reservoir.

Thanks to Joanne for suggesting the ride.