Entries tagged with bike

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Bike log: urban February edition

Yesterday rode the Minuteman as far as Lexington; today explored the various Boscamberville roadway improvements.

In Boston proper, the cycle track around the North End is actually pretty awesome. But navigating through downtown Boston, especially the Scollay Square/Post Office Square area, is horrific. (I at least think I know how I'd get to work.) The bridge into Charlestown would be worth avoiding if there were any other way to go that direction.

The cycle track along Beacon Street in Somerville is somehow less impressive; maybe because the driveway crossings aren't as smooth and it's not totally clear what to do when it stops and starts and stops again.

"Sharrows" feel better than I give them credit for. They tend to communicate "sorry there's not bike lane for this block" to me, a little more than "you can take up this space in the lane which you legally could have done anyways".

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Beyond the Minuteman

Managed to squeeze in two days of biking this weekend with the Quad group, 54.94 miles yesterday (route map) and an additional 43.61 today (route map). Today's looks almost exactly like one of the "Beyond the Minuteman" route cards: go out on the Minuteman, wander around in Concord for a bit, and take the most direct route back to the Minuteman.

Yesterday's ride started slow for me but picked up, and seemed to turn into a reasonable hill-climbing day. Today's ride started at a reasonable speed but then slowed down a lot when I was heading home. I didn't feel too wiped out at the end of it, just slow. I'll take that as a weekend result.

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Biking schedule

Near-term, I'm planning on doing the Quad ride again this Sunday morning. Starts at 9:30 between Arlington Center and Arlington Heights, about 25+ miles depending on what routing options you pick, think of it as a "training opportunity" instead of "people who go faster than me". Any local interest?

Longer term, I'm thinking about maybe doing the CRW Spring Century again (May 16) since yesterday was more successful than I had expected and the date doesn't conflict with the bridge schedule. And I'd also like to do Climb To The Clouds (July 18) and actually make it up to the top of Wachusett this time (the road to the summit was closed last year). Takers?

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Quick afternoon bike run

My current work schedule may be dumb, but at least it allows for afternoon biking. Thursday I managed to forget my evening commitment (oops) but did get to orbit the Fells for around 15 miles. (Route map)

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The gym vs. the bike

Yesterday was incredibly nice out, and I figured it would be a good day to take my bike out and call it "spring". I waffled some on which way to actually go, and so cleverly avoided the Mystic Lakes in favor of a plan that would skirt the Fells and go straight into the big rotary at 93...new plan. The ultimate route involved climbing the hill on Waltham St. in Woburn and Arlmont Hill from the Arlington side, plus (in an attempt to involve the paving disaster that is Forest St. in Arlington) a little climb up Johnson Rd. in Winchester. (Route map)

The short conclusion from this, I think, is that there is some success in my attempts to use the gym to not totally atrophy over the winter. The various hills were, if not easy, at least continuous: winning on the traffic lights, I didn't stop between the light at Park Avenue and Mass Ave in Arlington Heights and the light at Route 60 in Belmont, for instance. Speed was not quite there, maybe 15-16 mph on the flat parts, and it didn't feel like my endurance was there either (though I wasn't really out that long).

Maybe next weekend, weather permitting, I'll go get thwomped by the Quad ride. And maybe I'll think about doing the CRW Spring Century again this year and hope for less rain.

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Seacoast Century

On Saturday I did finally accomplish the "four centuries in one year" plot, riding the whole of the Granite State Wheelmen's Seacoast Century. For being a much much flatter ride it also wound up taking me longer (8:45) than some of the earlier ones I've done this year; obvious factors I can add into that are an extra water stop, having to walk across five bridge crossings (including the pretty long one north from Portsmouth), and fighting the interminable headwind southbound. Also, we wound up waiting for the bulk cargo ship Gypsum Integrity to pass (especially frustrating because the lift bridge had just closed when it showed up). There was also some company; fredrickegerman rode the metric century plus the first 17 miles of the full century, nuclearpolymer and proven rode the tandem for the half century. (Route map)

I feel like I did a bad job of pacing myself on this one. Also that I wasn't eating enough, which was a little odd, since I also felt like a pigged out a little bit the first time at the Maine rest stop (but was hungry 10 miles later). And unlike last week, where killer hills need buff thighs, I was feeling this week's ride in my calves.

The clientele of the two centuries was also visibly different. On the CRW century if I could keep a 16 mph pace and finish in under 8 hours, I'd be towards the back of the pack. This week there were many more riders without clipless pedals, several more racks, more than a couple tandems; I almost always felt like I was "in the group" even when I was pretty visibly lagging coming back. I passed the hand-powered recumbent about three times. It also apparently was a big Team in Training event, with jerseys from pretty far away (Hudson Valley, Long Island, Pennsylvania) and per-group helmet thingies (one group had giant silver stuffed Hershey's Kisses). They also seemed to have their own water stop at Cape Neddick, which I didn't quite get.

Missed attraction: the Fun-O-Rama at York Beach.

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CRW Fall Century

There was this theory that I might attempt all three CRW centuries this year, and today was the third of three. It was in fact quite scenic and quite rural, to the extent that the pre-ride spiel included a mention that there was nothing at all between a store at mile 34 and the rest stop at mile 52. I'm not convinced it's actually easier than Climb to the Clouds, in that CttC had the one GIANT CLIMB, a couple of moderate climbs, and the rest rolling hills, whereas the CRW Fall Century had several hard climbs — no single climb was as big as Mille Hill Road, but there were at least a couple of places where I was running a full mile or more in my bottom gear.

I was again a little worried about prep for this ride but it came out okay. Significantly, I did not fall over around mile 60, and while I was definitely slowing down around mile 90 I'm willing to accept that. The whole thing, climbs and all, came in at 102.88 miles, in about 7 hours 45 minutes. (Route map; incomprehensible graphs)

( Read more... )

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Dominated the Dinosaur

With the CRW fall century coming up this Sunday, this past weekend was the time to take a nice, relaxing 50ish mile ride. Instead, I did the Quad ride, good for 55 miles, but comparatively intense. The variant du jour was the dinosaur ride down Route 4, which as a bike ride is more notable for the two moderate climbs than anything else. As a positive sign, I did okay on both climbs, and was still alive climbing up inside 128 in Lexington. I was starting to lag just a tiny little bit on the last mile before Arlington, with the one unfortunate side effect that the new woman who was following us didn't know to stop at Starbucks. (Route map)

Major plan for during the week is to bike to Littleton tomorrow (much like this) for a work thing, for, say, 23.78 miles each way. It'd be clever, but at this point unlikely, to hit the gym tonight; Thursday or Friday night would be clever too. Weather is tentatively looking good for Sunday (clear, high around 71). Still planning on the Seacoast Century the weekend after next too...

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Two centuries in two weeks in two weeks

With the CRW fall century coming up in two weeks and the Seacoast Century the weekend after that, it seemed like a good long weekend to get two days of biking in. The weather was quite accommodating, and I successfully went 54.5 miles on Saturday (map) and 49 on Sunday (map). I guess "successfully" for Sunday was pushing it a little; I was visibly sagging going up Strawberry Hill Road in Concord, fell out of the group heading for the airport route, and limped back home along the bike path. It was still 100 miles in two days, though, which is good to be able to do, and suggests if I do in fact sufficiently rigorously hit the gym the two centuries should be fine.

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Minor variations on an established plan

Yesterday I again did the Quad Cycles ride. I seem to have this bad pattern going where I'll do a big ride or hit some other distraction, take a week or two off, and wind up almost starting from scratch, so yesterday's ride was "only" 63 miles and I was pretty wiped when we made it to Starbucks. (I think I'm still on track to hit the September centuries.) After speculatively eyeing the weather for most of the week, it did wind up being a beautfiul day, especially when you were moving, though I also discovered the joys of iced Gatorade when I got home. (Route map)

( Read more... )

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Seacoast Century?

100 (or less) pretty flat miles along the New Hampshire coast. The half, metric, and full century rides go up a little bit into Maine; the full century also dips down into Massachusetts. Last weekend of September (could be either Saturday or Sunday or both), $35, registration closes 31 August.

I have my eyes set on the CRW fall century the weekend before, but I could use another T-shirt, and this is almost certainly an easier ride; if there was interest in riding this one socially I'd be up for it. More details online.

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Hot and slow through Needham

I figured a reasonable goal for yesterday would be to try to hit South Street in Needham, and while I accomplished this it just wound up being too hot to really go fast or far. Maybe actually getting out in the morning instead of starting after noon would have helped; so would have going with the usual group. Still, 42.52 miles. (Route map)

Also, the vaguely productive thing I did today was generating KML files from the data I have lying around so it can be plugged into various Google tooling. (Route map) If you want to look at everything all together this file can be plugged into Google Earth; Google Maps doesn't seem to want to try to display more than 8 routes at a time and doesn't even try on the rest.

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Climb to the Clouds

I was a little worried about attempting the CRW Climb to the Clouds century today, but it turned out fine. A key detail this time around is that it wasn't raining, so I got to see some of the scenery places like Justice Hill Road instead of it being this interminable damp uphill slog. Mile Hill Road was too much Hill for me to do in one pass, but with three or four stops it wasn't a big deal. End result was 101.54 miles in about 7:45. (Route map)

Even if I wasn't riding with "the pack" this time (I thought the ride started at 7:30, the first departure from Concord was actually at 7:00) I did a much better job of keeping up, and that was a huge psychological help. I did start to run out of steam around mile 60, but when I decided I just couldn't handle the next hill and stopped about 20 people came up from behind me and passed me. The water stops were similarly busy, and the parking lot at the start area quite well populated by the time I finished.

The big disappointment was that the road up to the summit of Wachusett was closed. They made up the four miles by tacking them on to the end in boring parts of Concord, which was a little sad as well. But, I didn't die coming down route 62 in Princeton at 42 miles per hour...

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Going far is easy if you don't mind going in circles

In the names our ride gives bits of the route, today was River/Monument, Strawberry Hill, Dinosaur, 62 to Concord, reverse River/Monument, reverse Dinosaur, Airport; or if you prefer a list of towns, we went through Arlington, Lexington, Bedford, Carlisle, Concord, Acton, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Billerica, Bedford, Concord, Carlisle, Bedford, Billerica, Chelmsford, Carlisle, Concord, Lincoln, Lexington, and Arlington. At any rate, all of this going around in circles was at least on an absolutely gorgeous day ("it's stopped being March in June") and came in for me at 82.13 miles. This was a little longer than I was planning, and I was seriously thinking of bailing the second time we got to Carlisle Center (ca. mile 60), but I got talked into the longer route and it was good for me, and I even did a good job with the big hill just inside 128. Yay me. (Route map)

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CRW Spring Century

Weather aside, this was an absolutely gorgeous ride. It was practically all rural roads, taking the long route through Harold Parker State Forest in North Andover, quietly ducking into New Hampshire, and returning via the nice part of the Merrimack River in Amesbury and Merrimac. I even caught the train stations in Wakefield and Topsfield for paying attention. In all this came to 101.80 miles for me (route map, since to my surprise my treacherous GPS batteries didn't die).

Biking in the rain wasn't actually so bad. I maybe went a little fast at the start, hitting the first rest area at mile 47 right around 3 hours, and so after the second stop at mile 76 I was pretty much crawling home in that "mild rises make me shift into my bottom gear and curse the world" sort of way. I wonder if focusing on longer rides would help; if I'm going to do CTTC I definitely need to practice climbing.

Was I the very last person back? It wasn't obvious; the home base was starting to be cleaned up when I got back around 4:20, and I didn't see anyone come in after me, but I also wasn't obviously being followed the way narya and I were when we did CTTC. Overall the support was present but minimal, and if you're actually traveling light you could definitely get by on the water and food at the stops. In a couple of places I would have liked to see a couple more arrows, and I would have liked the cue sheet be a little closer to reality (especially where it could have said "no really ignore the 'road closed' signs").

I finally got passed around mile 88 by the guy riding the century on an ancient fixed-gear bike. The fully enclosed recumbent was cool, particularly given the weather.

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Biking in circles

Today we'll put the (route map) link early, because it's a good illustration of the "only two roads in Carlisle" problem. We left Arlington and went the usual way up the bike path, west on 225, down River Road, out up Strawberry Hill Road, and thence to Carlisle Center. I joined a small subgroup that went out via Great Brook Farm ("no dinosaurs and a mile or two shorter, but much prettier"), and we regrouped at the 4/225 split in Bedford. With an eye towards distance, we went west on 225 again, going straight to Carlisle, straight to Concord, and then back via Hanscom. From Arlington Heights I struck out on my own up Middlesex Turnpike to Lexington Street to Horn Pond, and came back from there, totaling 72 miles in all.

It was apparently an "on" day for me, and I was able to keep up with the group pretty well. The downside of this is that I burned myself out by about mile 50; I was on my own (but not last!) between Carlisle and Concord, and had to stop climbing the hill just inside 128. The extension to hit 70 miles was somewhere in between "tired, wanna go home" and "really should get in some distance if I'm doing a century in two weeks".

( Speaking of that century... )

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There wasn't enough climbing in my life anyways

My personal trainer

narya suggested going on the Arlington ride both days this weekend, so I was out yesterday too. This was fine until my subgroup decided it was going to climb The Hill in Carlisle. I didn't even realize there was a Hill, until I finally gave out on the third or fourth segment of it, and then I was well and thoroughly dropped. Finding my way back to Carlisle Center and the group on 225 was straightforward enough. I opted for the "dinosaur" return route home via Chelmsford; the ride leader's summary, when I caught up with the other five of them lounging around at the gas station at the 4/225 split, was that it was a great ride for demonstrating that if you kept your speed up rolling hills weren't a big deal. And, to add insult to injury, I missed a light and got dropped on the Minuteman too.

Post-ride coffee was spent desperately trying to stretch some very sad leg muscles, and discovering that the board of directors of a bicycling team is very much like any other volunteer group's board. And it had in fact warmed up considerably by then. So I got home a little later than I had planned, but still on two wheels, and for 51.35 miles for the day (clearing 100 for the weekend). (Route map)

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Yup, these are getting repetitive

Theories du jour on the bike bags: I'm going to Maine after getting back to Arlington; I brought lunch for 50. It didn't help that I stuffed my colder-weather clothes in on one side, so there was a lot of volume there. The weather worked out very well, warm enough to be out in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt but cool enough that there was no risk of overcooking.

I think today I was towards the head of the "slow" group. (I think getting workouts in mid-week helps a lot here.) This had the one unfortunate consequence that, leaving Carlisle for Concord, I wound up significantly behind the "fast" group and significantly ahead of the tail, but at least now I know this group's "standard" route back even if I rode it alone. The hill behind Hanscom didn't utterly slay me, and in a promising sign, coming back via Teele and climbing Clarendon Hill at the end of the ride was just fine too. Just under 49 miles in all. (Route map)

Current Mood: whiny

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bike

Bike + wind = not so much fun

Yesterday I figured I'd go out with the Arlington group again. (Saturday's trying-to-beat-the-rain mob apparently totalled three; yesterday maybe 20 people left the shop.) Temperatures in the 40s, plus a significant headwind, meant that everyone was being slow and cranky; we lost our Charismatic Leader (and, somehow, three other riders) in Concord to his second flat tire of the morning. Then going up to Carlisle I again fell into the "I'm 0.5 mph slower than the back of the group so I can *almost* keep up" pattern.

After Carlisle the collective decision ("it's cold", "it's my first week out this year", "how does the PMC expect me to raise so much money", "it took me 9 hours to ride 130 miles", "the wind sure is annoying") was to head straight back to civilization via 225, so we did. This eventually resulted in a smallish group coming back down the Minuteman so at least there was some company there.

Anyways, 41.83 miles in all is less than I was hoping for, but I was definitely glad to get home. (Route map) With various scheduling conflicts I have only two more weekends before the CRW spring century, but in between being able to take rest breaks and hopefully being able to make a runtime decision on length it still looks attractive. So far this coming weekend looks good, so I again need to make a decision on whether to go for speed or distance, or trying to tack on extra length to the back of the Arlington ride again. Decisions...

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In which I find some biking self-esteem

Those who pay attention to my biking endeavors may recall that last week I went on a group ride in familiar territory, but somewhat faster than I usually go. This week I went with the same group on essentially the same ride (added about 5 miles in Carlisle) and it went significantly better for me.

( A bicycle trip )

When all was said and done my bike computer had 58.85 miles on it for the day. And I was still able to run around and do things the rest of the afternoon. This does make the goofy four century plan look a little more plausible. (Route map)