So many of you heard, the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail in Chelmsford is now open, after many (many) years of struggle the first link in what will one day be a very impressive trail is up and running!

The problem of course is if you live in Boston, how do you get out to ride this badboy? Lucky for us Maria Varmazis has done all the leg work for us! Not only has she written up a fantastic tour of the entire trail, but has helpfully included a map for how to get from the end of the Minute Man Trail to the start of the BFRT! Thanks Maria!

Barring any major weather issues, this Sunday June 28th a few of us will be getting together for a group ride down the Minuteman Bikeway.

We’ll meet outside the Davis Square MBTA station at 10:45 AM and take off for the bike path at 11 AM. We plan on pedaling at a real casual pace, but we’ll play it by ear based on the experience level of the riders.

Sign up for the #Bikeup on eventbrite or facebook.

Any questions, feel free to contact Aaron Cohen (@UnlikelyWords), Josh Gans (@SportsFan4), or Adam Pieniazek (@AdamPieniazek). You can also call 617 326 7402.

See you there!

At last. At long last. The training, the preparation, the nervous anticipation; it was all for something.

On May 16th I set out at 9:30AM to ride 100 miles. Six weeks prior to that day I began my training in earnest, building on a physical foundation that the last two+ years of riding my bike around Boston had sculpted.

I followed a plan I found which recommended performing long rides on weekends, increasing the distance each week until two weeks out. Since I did plenty of riding around during the mild winter we had this year I was able to start part of the way into the program.

First was a (roughly) 30-miler. The following weekend I went on a ride of opportunity: in the middle of the night I did a modified 50-mile route the Marathon was set to take several hours later. The next weekend I punched in 57 miles going around the Nagog Pond in Acton. Next up was a Metric Century achieving 68 mile ride that I stitched together from two smaller routes. Having done more than 65% of the total distance I planned the next ride to be a shorter 50 miles to Walden Pond and the DeCordova Sculpture Park, which is a much recommended way to ready oneself for…

a Century Ride:
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This weekend’s ride started on Saturday morning. I began it a bit later in the morning while I waited for some rain to pass and, as designed, the ride was shorter than last week’s. After the rain moved on it became a very nice day, and perhaps a bit too nice as I opted not to put on any sunscreen and now have somewhat reddened shoulders and arms to remind me to apply it in the future.

I chose a Minuteman Bikeway extension ride that went from the Bedford end and hit Walden Pond and the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park. I haven’t been to either location and have been wanting to visit each for the last few years. Added bonus: Hanscom Airforce Base – the first airport I’ve ridden to.
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