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The goldmine

This doesn't seem to be on the list but this was their coffee ride route until earlier this year. It was a good one.

Wachusett is a good suggestion.

Most of the good road riding is centered around Concord/Lexington/Carlisle/Lincoln/Weston/Acton/Harvard area. This doesn't have a ton of climbing but the RSC coffee route is a solid ride with a few punchier hills.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/19404079

To add miles to this I would suggest continuing straight on Strawberry Hill instead of turning right onto Pope. Grab a beer at Raspscallion, then head deeper into Acton and further west. Climb Nagog Hill once you come across it. A lot of people will continue onto Harvard from here and hit the general store. To be honest, I've never actually done that ride so I can't speak to it.

If you're interested in climbing for climbing's sake, you won't find many climbs that are better than the Arlington Heights climbs to the top of the water tower. Park Ave and Eastern Ave are the standard routes up, but there are many more. There aren't many climbs that compare until you get out towards Wachusett. Of course, Arlington isn't a town of beautiful country roads either, so this would be strictly for climbing.

There are roads with shoulders, but even better are the quiet back roads with little traffic at all. There are dozens of good rides out of the city that you can find, most go north or west. The Bikes Not Bombs bike-a-thon route is a popular ride year long. Ride Studio Cafe has tons of good routes. I don't know many people that stick to a few main routes, most link up a lot of small roads, cue sheet or bike computer recommended!

Brookline isn't that big, you're not going to find many extended routes in the town.

However, you could try looping around The Country Club: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27571796

If you want easy and near Brookline, Comm Ave after BC has the separate, quiet carriage road for a few miles.

Beaver brook in belmont has some of that going on. Battle Road out in Concord is a bit of dirt. The northern strand leads north from the city and has baths almost the whole way to salem. I posted a similar (ish) question on the boston bike party facebook page and someone sent me this route (which might be a bit technical depending on the bike)

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https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26959170?fbclid=IwAR1Jag0zvdNqtZG44nCOrU41bTPb4qG8v_HI-C3e8iO4AApbWrx1WPxks5c

It's definitely, nerve racking, the first few times. Honestly most of it is bike lanes and really fast and direct.

The route I take it here: https://www.strava.com/activities/399577920

The only really hairy parts are the 2 traffic circles but even those get easier after a few times. I've never had close calls and the people seem to be OK with letting me in.

So, I used to live in Somerville (now in Arlington, right on the path!), and used to/still do 40-60 mils rides on the weekends. From Somerville, I'd typically head out the bike path (minute man) to Bedford, then hit roads to Concord/Carlisle and loop my way back, sometimes heading up the Mystic Lakes to add in some miles. Basically, I found a good "core" loop and would add detours when I wanted more distance, and shortcuts when I wanted less. An example route from earlier this summer: https://www.strava.com/activities/344590665

I'm hoping to get a Fall century in myself (first one), but we'll see.

I rode the Westhampton Enduro a few weeks ago which had some great trails:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/20956630

The Dirty Hurty out in Ashfield was great too, if a little snowy at the time. I bet it's really good riding now, though.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27124138

I just did this route this past Saturday, here's the RideWithGPS route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/1276007

It's about 112 miles and the ferry ride back is a very nice way to relax at the end of the ride. It's a very satisfying ride with about 5,000 feet elevation. Lots of places to stop for re-provisioning or ice-cream therapy. Beautiful scenery too.

The p-town to boston ferry is a bit pricey though, so if your budget is tight, the p-town to Plymouth ferry is only $25. You could catch the commuter back to town from there.

It's not a race ... it's an un-timed but supported recreational ride. I did this event last fall ... will probably do it again this year.

It's a great ride through some beautiful areas of north-central MA and southern NH. It's got most of its elevation gain around the middle, so wear your climbing legs.

Here's the route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/3365922

Happy to answer whatever questions I can about the ride or the CRW.

Where are you starting? From Boston, going out Beacon Street past Newton Center and coming back in on Comm Ave is a decent ride. There's certainly traffic, but once you get the BC, there aren't that many lights.

There are a number of loops you could do from Lexington. Ride Studio Cafe hosts weekly rides from there, so browsing those routes could give you some ideas.

I've done this kind of loop before, and it wasn't bad. There's certainly traffic on the way out of town and back into. But I've done that loop after work, and thought it was good.

This is the top of the hill you are looking for. So many options to climb it.

To get there take the minuteman bike path to Arlington where it goes under Park St Ext, now climb park st .8 miles to the water tower or jump onto Hillside ave to go up a residential street.

Once at the top (water tower) keep going on Park st down, cross rt2 left onto Frontage Rd (a 1 mile down). Here you can try to set the world land speed record on your way down!

At the bottom cross rt 2 again and immediately turn left to start back up you now have over a mile climb back to the water tower. You can stay on the ramp up or go up a little way then cut over to spring st (which becomes Eastern ave) to climb back to water tower. There is a section of eastern ave that is brutal steep, the ramp along rt 2 is more constant pitch and a bit easier.

Edit: Ok did a search and found this great route around that area, get some great climbing with a bit of variety and most all the streets have minimal traffic or are residential.

I rode Concord Ave>Trapelo Rd.>Bake Bridge Rd>Concord Rd>Rt 117 into Stowe to Harvard Ave.

117 is not the greatest but also not the worst.

Here is my route.

Thanks for the tips! I actually live in Belmont (on the Watertown line) so it's a bit tougher to get to the south side of the Charles.

That said, I think one day I'll have to do Beacon-Comm Ave; I did it as part of the Midnight Marathon Ride and it was a blast.

I'm pretty familiar with Lexington, too. I haven't ridden with Ride Studio Cafe (I want to!) but I know some of their routes.

I ended up heading out of Belmont, through Arlington to the Mystic Lakes, and then up around through Wakefield and Woburn. Surprisingly nice; not too much traffic and only one or two inattentive drivers. Here's the route if you are curious:

https://www.strava.com/routes/5522812

I have taken this route coming from providence many many times, its the best i have found. only a few relatively shitty parts. only taken it from boston to prov once though. you can avoid most of washington on your way out I believe before getting onto enneking parkway, its just not as direct. Washington is much worse going out than it is in. https://www.strava.com/routes/3960760 https://www.strava.com/routes/3960760/edit just follow the cue sheet backwards.

Here's the route we took - https://ridewithgps.com/routes/35609512 and I posted it in my original comment as well. Good point. If you can, take the ferry over to P-town and start from there - much more scenic looping around Cape Cod. I wanted to stop by the Cape Cod potato chip building but their tours and gift shop was closed due to COVID, so we routed through Hyannisport instead

I don't, sorry. I Strava'd it (linked in the YouTube description) and it's on Alltrails. Don't know if either of those help.

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/massachusetts/tri-community-greenway--2

This is how I did it. If it hasn't rained lately I'll take the Reformatory Branch Trail. If not, roads.

As a note, at the rt 2 roundabout I hop onto the sidewalk for a few blocks, regardless. I want nothing to do with that roundabout.

There's a couple different options for Wachusett, but the last few miles of this one are the best I've done, especially compared to other routes that go up mountain road.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/1244566783

Here you go, it is an out and back so you can just turn around whenever you want. There is parking at Salisbury Beach or you can take commuter rail to Newburyport station and ride from there to Salisbury. This is a beautiful ride along the coast, highly recommend it.

The Norwottuck Rail Trail is paved and starts in Belchertown, goes through Amherst and takes you over the Conn. River into Northhampton.

There is the Mass Central rail trail, but it's not improved and does not look suitable for a road bike. You can look for it Rutland, just North of 122A.

Here is a route that I took out there this summer, sticking to paved roads. https://ridewithgps.com/trips/16048613

I mapped this out once, but never actually rode it. It's certainly not perfect, but I think it's reasonable. If you're fast, it might not be quite long enough for you.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/13113365

While I would love to have a velodrome in town, I wouldn't want any of that interest to funnel into interest for Boston Olympics.

The message I saw accompanying the survey:

============================

Hello,

We are part of the group that studying the feasibility of hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics in Boston. As you may know, in June the United States Olympic Committee narrowed the field of U.S. candidate host cities to four: Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. are the U.S. finalists.

A large part of the feasibility work involves detailed consideration of the post-Olympic legacy use of each permanent venue that would be constructed for Olympic purposes. We are currently studying the potential post-Olympic usage of an indoor velodrome facility. As part of this study, we have assembled a consumer survey targeted at cyclists who could be potential users of the velodrome after the Olympics. The link that follows will lead you to a survey that will include questions on how much you might use the facility, your willingness-to-pay, what services you would like to see at the facility, etc. We highly value your opinion as we consider the potential utility for a state-of-the-art indoor velodrome in the Boston area. We hope that you will find time to complete this online survey to help us with our study. We look forward to hearing your responses.

The survey can be found at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/bostonvelodrome

Many thanks,

Boston 2024 Partnership

This looks nice too:

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amazon link to raincoat w/ visor

Really hard to recommend using a cable lock for anything --- In your situation I would still probably invest in a ~$50 ULock -- the kryptonite mini 7 is pretty solid and not that heavy. Best practice is to have an appropriate ratio of quality of lock to quality of bike...so like a fancy lock for a fancy bike. The issue is that a thin cable lock is basically like having a denominator of zero. It should be malpractice to sell those things.

MAXXIS RAMBLER

I keep it on the front year round, and use a more traditional speed roadie rear tire in the summer. Both are tubeless.

Maxxis RAMBLER-700X38C Unisex Adult Tyre, Black, 700X38C https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PGQKR48/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_D3FHH3EFSZWR9C6R4XAE?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I would recommend the CBTT course. It has all right hand turns and requires no stopping unless there is some bad traffic. http://nebc.us/cbtt/ https://www.strava.com/segments/740907 You can probably find more about the route via google

That's a good idea! I just rode over there this weekend to go do some repeats in the Blue Hills (damn that Fire Road).

Those parkways are beautiful to ride on; I didn't realize that the shoulders were so wide.

Here's where I ended up going (I live in Belmont, so it's a bit easier to stick to this side of the Charles):

https://www.strava.com/routes/5522812

What time of day? Are you looking for the shortest or most enjoyable?

I did a similar ride from Newton past Northhampton this summer. I stayed on 62 out of Clinton to Barre: https://www.strava.com/routes/2775421

The roads from Barre down to Ware are beautiful, but lack food stops. Route 9 from Ware out to is mediocre, but hard to avoid.

This was the route I used when I went from my place in Medford to PTown a couple of summers ago: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/30306840?privacy_code=wrhr67Kkl4xH3Qze

I've done a similar 3-day ride from Boston to (basically) NYC. It would be close to 150 miles a day. Long for me, but I know people do that. Despite there being a lot of rural spots there a fair amount of places to eat, rest etc.

Honestly, Ride With GPS' Boston to NYC looks about as good. It has a good portion along the water which would be ideal.

Here you go:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/35710175

17 Miles. Beacon Street has bike lanes for most of this stretch. It gets tight in Newton Centre and on Route 16. Glen Road is nice climb. Then back along Commonwealth Ave, taking on Heartbreak Hill.

Basically looking to do a modified version of this route but just wanted to make sure that one part was doable.

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https://ridewithgps.com/ambassador_routes/909-plymouth-to-boston-coastline-advanced-le

I like to take rt 2A via Mass Ave, or Trapelo Rd. out west, and head in either Minute Man if I want something mellow, or the one Rt. 2a or Trapelo Back to Boston. Here is a 60km loop I did taking 2A out and the minute man back.

Pretty much if you can get to Blue Hills Parkway from JP or Dorchester, you're golden. There's also a few listed on map my ride. Or you can go the roundabout way through Enneking. This is one I recorded on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/264476422

I found some great loops on the MIT Cycling Page, and the Allis Loop from Wheelworks OG John Allis is a great mix. Once you're past 95 there are tons of options for exploring, and Haute Coffee in Concord is a great mid-ride stop.

RideWithGPS suggested a very similar route.

The worst part is probably Washington St through Wellesley Hills. There is a bike lane for short sections on one side, but the other is no shoulder door zone where you go through town. I would probably divert onto Linden St. Central St has a decent shoulder except for near intersections. RWGPS also suggested Washington St though West Newton, but that would be a big nope from me. That's a 4 lane, no shoulder very busy road, definitely better off on Grove St.

To avoid traffic as much as possible I would do a route something like this. Adds about 1 mile, definitely slower but only a couple of points where you have to be on busy roads. Looking at 90 minutes each way, give or take.

I haven't commuted this (but have ridden some of these roads), so take with a pinch of salt.

I've ridden out your way a few times, some nice roads but usually not as much elevation. Here's a sample 35 mile route by a local group ride leader.

We also ride out Concord way a lot and that typically has around 3K of climbing. Concord is a very popular riding area, you see as many bikes as cars on the weekend. We ride from Chelmsford to Concord but you can use this to get some route ideas if you set off from there. This route doesn't have a lot of elevation but you can add in a few more hills fairly easily.

There's another great Charles River Wheelmen route around the south shore, this is the core loop at about 30 miles. There are plenty of detours you could do to make it 40+ miles. Hull, looping around Cohasset's Inner Harbor, or exploring the trails in Wompatuck are good extensions.

Cheaper AirTag holder for bikes

ACRUNU Bicycle Tracking Compatible with Airtag Air Tag (not Included) for Bike Tracking https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09F36GZLM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_6NGCZF3YV86Z1BYC5KH5

But for some reason it doesn't exist.

The only one listed on Amazon looks to be the same as I rememebr from the 70's, 3w with an incandescent bulb.

https://www.amazon.com/Factor-3-Inch-Bicycle-Generator-Light/dp/B003H3Z8CW

Oh found a 2nd one, and it's looks even older!

https://www.amazon.com/JRL-Motorized-Bicycle-Friction-Generator/dp/B00PAEDJQ8

Ok, well they don't really seems to exist that I can see.

I do love the Lumos Helmat - the lights are built into the helmet, and I have a NiteRider headlamp mounted on mine, do nothng left on the bike anyways. And for geek like me with several bike it's a way better solution.

Found one! https://www.amazon.com/Shimano-Dynamo-DH-3N72-Generator-Hub/dp/B0029LD6D6

These fit over my work clothes and keep me perfectly comfortable down into the single digit temperatures. A number of people have asked me about them but I've never seen another biker with them: http://www.dickies.com/outerwear/duck-insulated-coverall/TV239.html

For feet I use these: https://www.amazon.com/Bogs-Classic-Insulated-Waterproof-Winter/dp/B000TH8WDG/ref=pd_sim_309_4?_encoding=UTF8&refRID=6M8KFSZ6NF4MJV3P1EZ3

A pair of gloves and a balaclava (and ski helmet with goggles for those super bad days)

It depends on the u-lock. This one would be trouble for bolt cutters:

https://www.amazon.com/Kryptonite-997986-Fahgettaboudit-U-Lock-Black/dp/B000OZ9VLU

That said, no lock will stop an angle grinder ☹

Here's a great article:

http://thesweethome.com/reviews/best-bike-lock/

I want some MonkeyLights: https://smile.amazon.com/Monkey-Light-M210-Lumen-Visibility/dp/B007FLHW3K/ref=sr_1_5?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1475672198&sr=1-5&keywords=monkey+light

But I have a few of these currenty, the motion is really eye catching. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00152R8Q6/ref=twister_B001SN8IUM?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

I like the idea and have wondered about DIYing it with just some bare white/red emitter strips on the helmet, running a wire to a battery pack in a pocket... I don't like the idea of a purpose made helmet. I want to replace helmets & lights separately when they break, not together.

I think helmet lights are very useful in the city - with all the parked cars right up to corners, often you're quite invisible to cars pulling out of side streets. Helmet lights make a great addition to on-bike lights for being seen.

Currently I use these - cheap and bright, but something lower profile would be nice.