Pain and Suffering Massachusetts edition question...

[benb]

Question for Eastern Massachusetts folks.

What are the worst/best roads around for doing a horrible long interval?

I try my best to do these but they are often compromised around here. Too many stop signs/dangerous intersections/village centers for longer intervals, or too many chances of a downhill in the middle of the section of road chosen.

I'd love to find a place I could do an uninterrupted 20min effort.

My PR for Mt. Wachusett is just about 12 minutes, so that's not really good enough unless I could actually add another 10 minutes or so by riding something outside of the park. The 12 minute performance actually wasn't great either as I was cooked from riding out there on a 90 degree day.

I know I can go up to Pack Monadnock in southern NH but that is a ride that is a "special event" given how far away it is. I used to ride that regularly when I lived in NH but it's 135-150 miles depending on chosen route from my house and/or driving up and parking in NH.

It doesn't have to be a climb necessarily.. just need a good long uninterrupted stretch of road without a sharp corner that's going to require braking, or a dangerous intersection/light/whatever that would mean shutting down the effort.

Strava would seem to be helpful but their segment search kind of stinks and it doesn't look like there is much better than Mt. Wachusett.

[MattTuck]

Come up for a visit. :) We can hammer to your heart's content.

[stien]

I'm not close enough to recommend anything but when I was racing and doing intervals, they were either inside on a trainer or in a gated community (not mine, nearby) that had a 2.2 mile loop with little to no traffic. Even that had some big up/down. It's very tough to find anything straight, flat, 20 minutes uninterrupted. Even a closed crit course like Ninigret has turns you can't pedal through.

[Mark McM]

I usually do my 2 x 20 min. intervals on the Northeast Bicycle Club Charlie Baker TT course, which does a loop through Concord and Carlisle:

http://www.nebc.us/rides/cbtt/

The course is 9.75 of gently rolling roads, all wide right turns, with only one stop sign (at the start and finish of the loop). You might have to yield at the rotary in Carlisle, but the course goes straight across the rotary and there is usually no traffic, so you can usually just sail right through.

[benb]

The Charlie Baker TT course is the best thing I've got so far, I do ride there a fair amount.

Where do you think is the best place on the course to start? There are a couple places with pretty decent downhills.

I've been wondering if starting on 225 in Bedford and going towards the center of Carlisle, through the rotary, and then continuing on the TT course on Lowell road might be better.

[Mark McM]

Since I live south of Concord center, I usually start my intervals at the start of the CBTT course. If you are looking for the flattest possible course, then perhaps start in Bedford Center, and at the Carlisle rotary reverse course back to Bedford. There's still the climb/descent to/from the rotary, but the rest is about as flat as you'll find in the area (without needing to slow for intersections). If you're almost back to eastbound descent to the river before the end of your interval, then you can fork right off of Rt. 225 onto River Road (following the CBTT course), which is flattish for an additional mile or so.

[sandyrs]

+1 on cbtt.

[benb]

Thanks I'll have to try out some of the variations.

I usually don't go up river road and instead finish by heading towards Bedford.. my most recent time I hit 20min right at the bridge over the concord river. (Riding my slow bike)

That slower bike doesn't have the gearing to maintain power downhill out of the center of Carlisle. Maybe this weekend it'll be warm enough/dry to bother with the nice bike. The faster bike makes it a lot easier to run out of room though. My "slow bike" is literally 2-2.5mph slower at the same power due to fenders, fat tires, and 25lbs+ weight.

I'm not looking for super flat, more the absence of downhill.

[EDS]

Question for Eastern Massachusetts folks.

What are the worst/best roads around for doing a horrible long interval?

I try my best to do these but they are often compromised around here. Too many stop signs/dangerous intersections/village centers for longer intervals, or too many chances of a downhill in the middle of the section of road chosen.

I'd love to find a place I could do an uninterrupted 20min effort.

My PR for Mt. Wachusett is just about 12 minutes, so that's not really good enough unless I could actually add another 10 minutes or so by riding something outside of the park. The 12 minute performance actually wasn't great either as I was cooked from riding out there on a 90 degree day.

I know I can go up to Pack Monadnock in southern NH but that is a ride that is a "special event" given how far away it is. I used to ride that regularly when I lived in NH but it's 135-150 miles depending on chosen route from my house and/or driving up and parking in NH.

It doesn't have to be a climb necessarily.. just need a good long uninterrupted stretch of road without a sharp corner that's going to require braking, or a dangerous intersection/light/whatever that would mean shutting down the effort.

Strava would seem to be helpful but their segment search kind of stinks and it doesn't look like there is much better than Mt. Wachusett.

I think there are stretches of 133/1A from Gloucester to Newburyport that would work if you go early.

[merlinmurph]

Where do you start your Mt Wachusett climb?
If you start down by rte 140, you get the climb up to the park, which isn't trivial.
If you want even longer, you can back up further and start somewhere south on 140 towards Sterling as far as you wish. That's a long gradual climb for quite awhile.

Enjoy your pain,
Murph

[OldCrank]

Not 20 minutes, but Ipswich-Topsfield Rd between Rte1 and downtown Ipswich is a nice 5.6mi flat stretch.
And most of it has a 'breakdown lane'. Pavement is mostly good.
You just have to watch for folks crossing between Willowdale and Bradley Palmer.

[seanile]

in Lincoln, MA.
link up Old Bedford Rd / Virginia Rd / Old Bedford Rd / Hanscom Dr

lightly traveled by cars, moderately traveled by bikes, gentle slopes with a punchy bump in the middle.

very good visibility throughout, and no stop signs needing stopping that i can recall.
you'll have to u-turn/make it an out and back thing if 2A is too busy to make it a clockwise loop, but quick u-turns are easy enough.

edit: or you can do Concord to Carlisle by way of Lowell Rd/Concord St. that's pretty straight forward without any notable interruption.
edit edit: which i see has been mentioned

[Mark McM]

in Lincoln, MA.
link up Old Bedford Rd / Virginia Rd / Old Bedford Rd / Hanscom Dr

lightly traveled by cars, moderately traveled by bikes, gentle slopes with a punchy bump in the middle.

very good visibility throughout, and no stop signs needing stopping that i can recall.
you'll have to u-turn/make it an out and back thing if 2A is too busy to make it a clockwise loop, but quick u-turns are easy enough.

edit: or you can do Concord to Carlisle by way of Lowell Rd/Concord St. that's pretty straight forward without any notable interruption.
edit edit: which i see has been mentioned

That's a possibility, depending on the time of day. During some periods there can be a lot of traffic on 2A which may cause delays in turning from Hanscom Dr. to 2A. (Plus there's a potentially fast downhill on Lexington street between 2A and Old Bedford Rd.)

The mention of the North Shore has reminded me that my club (Northeast Bicycle Club) used to run a weekly TT on a loop in the towns of Boxford/North Andover. The 12 mile loop began at the corner of Main St. and Middleton Road near the center of Boxford, heading west on Main St. Just under a mille, fork left onto Lawrence Rd., which becames Boxford Rd. in North Andover a couple of miles later. At about the 5 mile point, turn right onto Dale St. Dale St. becomes Ipswich Rd. in Boxford. At about mile 11, turn right onto Georgetown Rd. At mile 13, turn right onto Middletown Rd. The starting point is about 1/2 mile further on Middletown Rd. This loop is gently rolling, and has no major hills. The highest point is about 100 ft. above the lowest point.

[buddybikes]

climb up Wachusett from 140, get your blood pumping, come back down and head over to North Row road in Sterling, nice section that is as steep, end up back in Sterling, then climb back up to princeton.

That area of the state is so nice, (generally) quiet, safe clean roads.

Boogey over to Barre on Route 62 then down through New Braintree will keep things pumping.

...oh times past, now I just want to get out for 45 min of listening to the birds...

[1centaur]

North Shore again, start just past the center of Georgetown on North Street (maybe park at Georgetown high school on the weekends) and follow North Street north as it changes its name, eventually to Scotland Road (big shoulder) to Newburyport - it's a bunch of miles with no stops or turns. Can really fly the last few miles.

[yashcha]

in Lincoln, MA.
link up Old Bedford Rd / Virginia Rd / Old Bedford Rd / Hanscom Dr

lightly traveled by cars, moderately traveled by bikes, gentle slopes with a punchy bump in the middle.

very good visibility throughout, and no stop signs needing stopping that i can recall.
you'll have to u-turn/make it an out and back thing if 2A is too busy to make it a clockwise loop, but quick u-turns are easy enough.

edit: or you can do Concord to Carlisle by way of Lowell Rd/Concord St. that's pretty straight forward without any notable interruption.
edit edit: which i see has been mentioned

This is my go to for longer intervals as well. There is always a nice cross wind by the airport. and it feels good to hammer up that little curvy incline by the office parks.

[sandyrs]

Not 20 minutes, but Ipswich-Topsfield Rd between Rte1 and downtown Ipswich is a nice 5.6mi flat stretch.
And most of it has a 'breakdown lane'. Pavement is mostly good.
You just have to watch for folks crossing between Willowdale and Bradley Palmer.

1A from Wenham into Ipswich could also be a good one, even though this is all a bit far from metro west where I think the OP was mainly talking about. If I remember it correctly, 1A is super fast southbound and a fairly consistent very slight false flat trending downhill, so northbound it would be perfect for a long painful interval.

[Mark McM]

North Shore again, start just past the center of Georgetown on North Street (maybe park at Georgetown high school on the weekends) and follow North Street north as it changes its name, eventually to Scotland Road (big shoulder) to Newburyport - it's a bunch of miles with no stops or turns. Can really fly the last few miles.

Good call! I haven't ridden this stretch in a few years, but it is definitely a good place to get a controlled workout. There's about a 9 mile stretch without any traffic signs or lights to slow you down, and its fairly flat, so no worry about spinning out on a downhill. Plus, there's always a good wind, so you can increase your work load in one direction, and do quasi-motorpacing in the other direction!

[benb]

Thanks guys.

The one by the airport is pretty good for me, that's really really close to home, not necessarily easily available from work.

A lot of these others are possibly doable but not on a regular basis.

I have done intervals near the Bedford VA hospital before, I did a variant of that today that worked a bit better, but that's only really good for about a 10 minute interval. Best way is to head up Pine Hill Rd from the 4 way stop with Springs road. Right on Rt. 4, then Right on North Road, then Right on Springs Road. I hit 10 minutes before I got to the VA Hospital... can't continue the interval through the hospital area safely IMO, maybe I could get 12 minutes if I hammered right up till the 20mph speed limit starts at the hospital grounds. It depends on the bike too though, I was riding my slow bike and I was averaging just under 20mph for the interval, I'd be in the 22-23mph range on my faster bike and maybe I'd run out of room.

It's a lot of riding through towns I'm not crazy about to get up to the North Shore/Ipswich area. I love riding up there but it's kind of too far to happen too often. And the rides would be so long it wouldn't really be a thing for intervals, more just a long ride.

[Climb01742]

My one caveat to using the Baker TT route is be careful about time of day. Rush hour (such as it is here;)) can be funky going out Lowell Road from the stop sign. Lots of drivers treat that stop sign as the beginning of a drag race out Lowell. And the shoulder from that sign out to Middlesex School is very tight. Can’t count the times cars have buzzed my elbow. Other than that stretch, the TT route is a good test and predominantly safe.

My other thought was out by Harvard, but I know those roads by sight, not by name. Roads out there are pretty sparse, traffic-wise. Just a thought.