Urban Adventures & More

It’s been quite a while since I posted here. That’s not for lack of desire, but rather lack of time. Somewhere between the evening activities, the new apartment, and the lovely (and not so lovely)  summer weather, I log about 1 hour per month on the computer outside of work.

A few of my activities in the last eight months:

• Full time bike commuting. I can’t say it’s 100% figured out, but I’m pretty far along. While I have a gym membership to change/shower, I have rarely used it the last few months; I now wear my office pants, and just throw on the shirt when I get there. Sweat isn’t a problem (a big one anyway, even in the high humidity and warmth of the heat waves), as I just ride slowly. I put my gear in a bag and the bag on a rack, so there’s no gross sweaty patch on my back. Leave the heavy lock on a rack at the destination. This also includes doing everything by bike, challenges be damned: just strap the thing to the bike rack. Just today, I moved a bike (!) on my rack, which was surprisingly not so challenging (definitely use a front rack only; probably best to use zip ties, not bungees next time…). I wish someone had taken a picture so I could send it to CETMA.
• Volunteering. I have been putting in regular hours with Bikes Not Bombs on Wednesdays for their volunteer night: stripping parts off donated bikes or flattening bikes for shipping. I have a mental block against sorting small parts, so I now avoid it at all costs. Also, yesterday I went to do mechanic work for Boston Cyclists Union, mostly fixing brakes and shifting issues on a street corner. Finally, I am getting involved in bike advocacy: I have been attending Livable Streets advocacy meetings to get more infrastructure, the Somerville Bike Committee (what they do, I’m still working on figuring out… no offense guys), and also looking forward to doing some Boston Cyclists Union stuff as well. I especially like the approach of the latter, because it is organizing the public to push for the infrastructure, versus working political channels to sneak it in (bureaucrats don’t like doing the right thing when it’s more work).
• Bike work. I’ve got a reputation among my friends as a mechanic, so I’ve been helping people get set up with bikes and the associated gear. Rachel got me a stand, so now I can do this stuff in a relaxed way; my mom got me a truing stand and a wheel to build. Now I’m considering whether to get the rest of the bike toolkit (crank puller, lockring tool, chain while, headset tools. There’s not much else I don’t have now.)
• Expeditions. Yes, of course. There’s been a ton of plain ole riding. We biked to Ipswitch; a few trips to Walden Pond, Bedford, etc.; JP; Roslindale; Newton. I’ve been less inclined to bike destinations lately because I get so much riding in just by getting around, and Boston doesn’t have a great trail system. A few attempts to go to Central MA and camp fell through (rain and illness). Hopefully I’ll do either the NYC Century, the Hub on Wheels, or both, this year. I also discovered that cold weather is OK for shorter rides (getting around), but zero-percent fun in blustery wind and frigid cold.

The future hopefully holds much more biking in store: stay tuned.

On Sunday I did the century bike ride. The basic route was as follows:

• Start at Central Park north. Bike west to Riverside, then south along 11th Avenue, 9th Avenue, and on over the Brooklyn Bridge.
• Bike West, South and East to Prospect Park. This was the first rest stop (15 miles).
• Next, we went west through Sunset Park, and then east and south through Bay Ridge (along the Belt Parkway), Sheepshead Bay and on to Marine Park, which was the second rest stop (30 miles).
• We went south over the Gil Hodges Bridge into Far Rockaway, and then north again over the Cross Bay Bridge. We continued in a pretty straight shot all the way up to Kissena Park and the Velodrome in Queens. This had the 3rd rest stop (60 miles).
• We hooked east into Queens through Cunningham park (a little path through the woods!) and then west again along Jamaica Bay and the Grand Central Parkway (we were passing all the cars stuck in traffic), and then past La Guardia airport and on to Astoria Park. The fourth rest stop was there (80 miles).
• Finally, we went over the Triborough bridge. This was a huge bottleneck because every route, all 5000 people, went over the bridge, and it has a half-dozen stairs on the bridge itself. We got off the bridge and I got a flat. It took 45 minutes and 3 tubes to fix it.
• Back on the road, we did the last loop through the South Bronx, east to Soundview Park, then a quick north and west shot adjacent to the Bronx Park (past the Bronx Zoo and Botanical Gardens), and then into Van Cortlandt Park. The last rest stop was here (mile 96).
• Finally, we went south through Manhattan over the Broadway Bridge and then through the Harlem River path and along streets back to the starting point. We were welcomed back by cheering women holding signs (mile 104).

I had been really anxious about the ride, since, as faithful readers will know, I had only done 65 miles prior. Furthermore, I had anxiety about my bike, since my choices were between the much lighter fixed gear I have been riding exclusively for months, or the much heavier 10-speed. My decision was clinched when I said, “the fixed gear hurts when I start and stop a lot and on hills.” Chris said, “You’re going to feel a heavy bike on hills and when you have to start a lot.” So, I did it fixed. I had to draft Chris a bunch, particularly along the water when we were going up hills with a headwind. However, my biggest problems from the training, fatigue and knee pain, did not come to pass; I could rest during while drafting, took more breaks, ate a ton at each stop, and drank much more water (actually sports drink) than usual.

Quite fun: two days hence, the only memories I have of it are good ones. Next year in Jerusalem!

I went up to Boston last weekend and did another training ride, this one on Labor Day (see my previous post on my New York ride). My perspective on geography there, at least in the southern part of the city, is that you can get a pretty good ride in without thinking too hard about the route just by picking a direction and turning around when you get to one of the circumferential interstates. Last time, I used I-95 as my boundary; this time, it was I-495. The route was very simple, which is good, because I didn’t make a cue sheet nor bring a map.

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Last Thursday I took a ride to help me prepare for the upcoming NYC Century ride. My route was as follows.

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I thought I’d fill in a few rides I have done just for completeness.

1. The Ashuwillticook Rail Trail was beautiful. It runs along the water, not very close to the road, not many road crossings. My only wish was that it had a swimming hole, too.

2. When I got my fixed gear back last month, I just went out around Boston in any old direction. At the time, I couldn’t even find all the roads on the map. However, when I went to Jamaica Plain a few weeks ago, I was able to place everything much better. I still am not sure of the second half of the ride (starting with Stony Brook and going until Boston College), but here’s the route anyway (with notes to jog my memory). It was hot. It was on big roads. There isn’t much to recommend it; I probably should have stuck with my original plan to go on Jamaica Way.

3. This isn’t a single route, I just wanted to reflect on how lovely it is to ride around Cambridge and Boston, especially late at night. At least half a dozen times I have taken the bike out after midnight and ridden the nearly empty streets of Cambridge and of Boston. As much as I don’t like nighttime activities in general, these have a special charm; after a certain hour, you get to see such interesting characters with their guard down. Some favorite roads and places are Broadway and Cambridge Street, Cambridgeport (which always confuses me) and Downtown and the Financial District.  For a while, Beacon Street just out of Inman Square was cursed; before my bike got its spiffy upgrades, I consistently lost my chain at the top of the hill there. During the daytime, I am a fan of the Somerville Community Path east of Davis Square, which is the extension of the Minuteman Route.

I work in Acton, and I live in Cambridge. Given that the driving distance is about 20 miles, and the biking distance about 25, it was only a matter of time until I rode the route. This week I did it in both directions, although not on the same time. All I can say is, thank goodness for the minuteman bikeway.

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July 4 was awesome, but I won’t recount it here. I just wanted to point out this very cool bike group out on the street. Disco ball bike crowd riding around at 2 am? Yes, that’s sweet.

Today I went riding out around Cambridge to improve my mental map of the place. My realization is that there are a few very old areas — Harvard, Kendal Square, Porter Square in Cambridge, Concord, Lexington, and of course Boston — with direct roads between them. The names of these roads are generally given by the larger place (at least locally), which explains the numerous Cambridge, Harvard, Concord, Lexington streets, although rarely in the place for which they’re named.

I also discovered the source of the Minuteman Bikeway. Although the maps show the starting point as Alewife Station, there is actually a pleasant extension from past Davis Square not marked there. (See also my previous post on my ride on the bikeway.)

I rode out on the Minuteman Bike Path from Cambridge to Walden Pond, and then came back on a southern route through Waltham and Watertown. Lots of roads involved, but not too well-traveled on a Sunday. I had a great partner, who asked directions at exactly the right time to keep us from getting hopelessly lost.

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I hesitate to file this under “Excursions” as it was more “exploration” than a trip someplace. Nonetheless, I went and explored Harvard Square on my bike, and rode down Mass Ave past MIT, and then back. Some observations:

• Most important, this is a real bike town. Unlike New York, where the bikes hide in parks, and only bike messengers, delivery boys, and the fearless/mentally unstable venture onto streets, people are going in all directions here. It may be partly a weekend thing, but it is truly much more bike friendly. Less car volume, less speed, better acclimated to cars. Fun. Apropos of my previous post, I think the way in which the streets are totally nonsense dissuades driving in Cambridge to a large degree.
• There aren’t any bke shops in Harvard Square. Why is that? Local residents (the three I polled) only directed me to ones a mile out along Broadway or Mass Ave (either direction).
• There are a damn lot of pubs.
• Memorial drive is not a good path to take; it is a narrow little sidewalk with lots of people and other bikes on it.
• There are not many interesting buildings to look at in Cambridge.

We’ll see how these observations evolve. I would like to take my bike out to work at some point (in Acton), although it is far and I don’t want to be sweaty all day.

I have been dreaming about the almost-completely-separated bike paths from the Upper West Side to Orchard Beach, in the Bronx, for months now. Today I tried to take them there, and failed. I am much less excited about the route now; it is very haphazard going through the Bronx.

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