| Key: | Yellow = ridden; No wrong turns of any consequence |
| Bike: | 1972 Peugeot PX-10 |
| Direction: | Clockwise |
| Miles: | 55.54 |
| Cities, Towns & Neighborhoods: | Boston (South End, Roxbury, JP, Allston, Brighton, Fenway) , Brookline, Newton, Needham, Dedham, Westwood, Dover, Medfield, Natick, Wellesley |
| Weather: | Another beautiful day; temperature in the mid 70s, very sunny, very little wind. Maybe it's makeup time from the totally sucky spring we had. |
| Sites: | Jamaica Pond, Larz Anderson Park, Cutler Park, Charles River, Noanet Woodlands & Pond, Powissett Farm, Rocky Woods, Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary, Babson College, Boston College |
| Route: | There wasn't much to take pictures of, although it was very picturesque. Lots of trees and woods, horse farms, and smallish rivers. The route followed much of the upper Charles River through some of the über-wealthy southwest suburbs. The roads were in good shape and the drivers, who all seemed in an incredible hurry, didn't cause any problem. The upper Charles is really very pretty and there are many picnic areas along the way. Few of the wealthy towns allow any sort of retail stores, so there's nowhere to eat until you get to Medfield, which is much smaller than I expected. Dover is just beautiful, right out of a postcard. I just can't imagine how expensive it is to live there. There were quite a few other bikes out around Charles River Village, most of them heading for Caryl Park in Noanet. I had set out for the New England Mobile Book Fair, but the road wasn't marked, so I missed the turn. The only road it could have been was marked for some Jewish retirement home and looked like an entrance drive, so I didn't take it. But I stopped there on the way back and picked up the three new James Bond releases: Thunderball, For Your Eyes Only, and Live and Let Die. Not than I'll have any time to read them, of course. Needham street in Newton is terrible for bikes. It's very, very narrow with no shoulder, very high traffic (in both volume and speed) and no sidewalk to speak of. They should really do something about that. Thankfully, it's a short distance to the book store. Of course, the book store doesn't have anywhere to lock your bike up either. I guess you're not supposed to ride a bike in the suburbs. Beacon St. on the way back is also heavily travelled, but there is, generally, enough room to coexist with the cars. Generally. |
| Notes: | I don't know what it is, but this ride really took it out of me. It's a day later and I'm still wobbly. I went a bit faster, but not as far. I didn't get started until later, either, about 10:30 and got home around 4. |
| Computer stats: |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |