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Bike bike bike
Sep. 21st, 2003 06:01 pmIt looked nice out today, so I decided to take my bike out for a spin. (It was apparently easier than cooking a pot of Annie's, but that's a different story.) I headed for the Minuteman via Davis, and headed towards Lexington. The trail wasn't that crowded today, which was kind of nice; there was still some traffic, but it wasn't terrible. I stopped around Mile 3, 7 miles from home, for wearing out a bit, but after a 5-minute break I was good to go again. And in fact I made it all the way to Bedford without a problem, even making it up the long annoying hill in Lexington fairly easily.
The Bedford terminus has been improved a bit since I was last there. Bedford seems to have decided to actually care about the trail, so they turned the old freight house into a small shop. They moved the RDC parked there across the street (and you can apparently buy a video about this; I passed). They also seem to have decided to document the two other rail-trails heading away from there; the path towards Great Meadows and Concord Center is the Reformatory Branch Trail, but that looked ominously muddy. Instead I headed up the Narrow-Gauge Rail Trail towards Billerica; I went about a mile, then realized that it was a good time to turn back if I wanted to be home in time to plan dinner.
Coming back was mostly uneventful, save that my legs decided they weren't going uphill at all. I tried shortcutting from Arlington Center to Powderhouse via Broadway, which would have been fine if it was flat or I was less worn out. I did, in fact, make it home in one piece, and right about when I expected. I think this worked out to 31 miles in three and a half hours, or so, but my cycle computer got reset when I parked in Bedford heading out so I'm not entirely sure.
At least, I've learned that Minuteman users can be easily broken down into demographics. "Parents with spoiled kids" is certainly in there. (Just before one crossing, there was an incident that involved a girl becoming separated from her bike, and she was being very loud; overheard conversation following this indicated that the girl wasn't paying attention to where she was going and hit a pole, and the fundamental problem causing her to scream was upbringing.) I found the rollerbladers kind of irritating, but there was one that was keeping up with me heading out. Though I guess I fall into the "asshole biker" demographic, so I can't complain too much. I still need the dorky shorts.
The Bedford terminus has been improved a bit since I was last there. Bedford seems to have decided to actually care about the trail, so they turned the old freight house into a small shop. They moved the RDC parked there across the street (and you can apparently buy a video about this; I passed). They also seem to have decided to document the two other rail-trails heading away from there; the path towards Great Meadows and Concord Center is the Reformatory Branch Trail, but that looked ominously muddy. Instead I headed up the Narrow-Gauge Rail Trail towards Billerica; I went about a mile, then realized that it was a good time to turn back if I wanted to be home in time to plan dinner.
Coming back was mostly uneventful, save that my legs decided they weren't going uphill at all. I tried shortcutting from Arlington Center to Powderhouse via Broadway, which would have been fine if it was flat or I was less worn out. I did, in fact, make it home in one piece, and right about when I expected. I think this worked out to 31 miles in three and a half hours, or so, but my cycle computer got reset when I parked in Bedford heading out so I'm not entirely sure.
At least, I've learned that Minuteman users can be easily broken down into demographics. "Parents with spoiled kids" is certainly in there. (Just before one crossing, there was an incident that involved a girl becoming separated from her bike, and she was being very loud; overheard conversation following this indicated that the girl wasn't paying attention to where she was going and hit a pole, and the fundamental problem causing her to scream was upbringing.) I found the rollerbladers kind of irritating, but there was one that was keeping up with me heading out. Though I guess I fall into the "asshole biker" demographic, so I can't complain too much. I still need the dorky shorts.
