OT Moving to Boston area... Any tips?

[markie]

So it looks like I am going to leave the midwest and I am excited to head back to the East coast. I have got a new job in Northborough MA. I wonder if anyone had any nearby MTB or road ride recommendations? Even a good bike shop?

Is there anyone who lives nearby who wants to come and ride around with me on my fixie in a months time?

[DRZRM]

I'll be happy to take you out on some rides. I really only ride fixed to commute usually, but we'll figure something out. Send me a PM when you are going to be here.

[Bruce K]

There is a lot of cycling in the area and a fairly large cycling community.

Let us know when you get here.

Check out William's Rhode Island Ramble in the events section for a fun day of cycling and "connecting"

BK

[schwa86]

The Charles River Wheelmen site has most of the mapped/arrowed rides with cue sheets in a searchable database. You can plug in a town and find a ride that goes through it.

They also run regular weekday and weekend rides and 3 centuries a year.

I think the bike shop question may be a bit "where you decide to live/work" dependent. When you know that, write back (the sponsors of CRW site -- you will see the ads scroll) are many (but not all) of the better shops in the area...

As a most of the year bike commuter, if you are riding _in_ Boston proper, check out the "Back to School" riding tips on the Boston Biker blog page -- pretty funny, pretty accurate (and this is a good site generally for keeping up on Boston bike news).

It's a pretty great area once you get used to it...

[clunk]

Plenty of great MTB and road riding. Of course right now it's spitting sleet. . .

But check out Charles River Wheelmen website for road:

http://crw.org/

And check out New England Mountain Bike Association for MTB:

http://www.nemba.org/

Welcome to the Commonwealth.

[BumbleBeeDave]

His driveway has a 38% grade! :D

BBD

[BillG]

You'll be near very good cycling. ANT is in Hopkinton BTW, nearly the next town down. He's very friendly and you should visit his shop. Hudson, South Natick, Cochituate, Dover, Medfield, etc. have some of the most beautiful cycling in the area. There are a lot of horse farms in Dover and it's just lovely. Since you are near Worcester you are near one of the great bike clubs, the Seven Hills Wheelmen (http://www.sevenhillswheelmen.org/index.php?a=home). Clinton and Sterling can be ugly, but once you get past that you are in Princeton and at Mount Wachusett, one of the best climbing destinations in the area.

You've moved to a great place for cyclin!

[benb]

Get a good trainer and set of rollers. It's still snowing here!

Northborough seems like a great choice, lots of great roads out there and not so far to stuff like Mt. Wachusett.

[slowandsteady]

Move 10 hours south of Boston - 4-8" of snow today!!!

[markie]

Thanks for all the information. It has made me even more excited to move.

I am moving from Rockford IL, which is, apparently, one of the 10 worst place in America to live. I commute year round here even though it is at a similar latitude to Boston. So I am not worried about the weather and I have my studded tires for riding in the snow.

When I moved to Rockford it took an age to meet cyclists and I did not get any forum response at all. So thanks for all the responses. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

Hopefully I will get to ride with some of you in May when I have worked my notice...

[topher]

Quad Cycles in Arlington is a fantastic shop, with great group rides on weekends.

[Ti Designs]

Is there anyone who lives nearby who wants to come and ride around with me on my fixie in a months time?

Yes there is. I'm still doing base mileage on my fixed gear. My girlfriend has started to commute to work, starting at 4:30am, so I ride with her for the first hour, then head out on my own ride. Should be in your area at a more reasonable hour when the sun is up.

[JStonebarger]

Rubel bike maps (http://www.bikemaps.com/regmaps.htm). Nice.

[markie]

Yes there is.

Yay!

I am not sure I'll be keeping up with you, but I love a challenge.

I cannot over-state how excited I am to know that there will be some people to go ride with.

Thanks!

[BillG]

Yay!

I am not sure I'll be keeping up with you, but I love a challenge.

I cannot over-state how excited I am to know that there will be some people to go ride with.

Thanks!

Ti rides slow when he rides on his fixed gear, unless you try to drop him.

[Bruce K]

Grace Bicycles in Holliston is kind of near your new location. The have a shop-based cycling club and group rides as well.

Roy Cervantes is a good guy and a Serotta dealer (the last I checked).

BK

PS: Hey TiD - does the new girlfreind have as much awesome ink as the old one?

[Ti Designs]

PS: Hey TiD - does the new girlfreind have as much awesome ink as the old one?

It would be foolish to try to compete with Barb in that arena, and please don't call her the old one. We're still planning on riding the tandem together this season, so you may see her again.

As for the new girlfriend (it's been over a year, I think we can drop the "new" bit), she wasn't a cyclist when I met her. If you asked her she would probably say she still isn't a cyclist. She did take my pedal stroke class over the winter and she leaves home at 4:30am for her 28 mile ride to work a few times a week. For a non-cyclist, she's damn good on a bike...

[Ti Designs]

Rubel bike maps (http://www.bikemaps.com/regmaps.htm). Nice.

The ice cream stops on these maps are outdated and often wrong. If you're looking for a map that shows roads and large bodies of water, I guess they'll do, but if you're looking for ice cream... Maybe we have different priorities.

[tv_vt]

The geographical center of Boston is in Roxbury.
Due north of the center we find the South End. This is not to be confused with South Boston which lies directly east from the South End.

North of the South End is East Boston and southwest of East Boston is the North End.

Things you should know:
There are two State Houses, two City Halls, two courthouses, and two Hancock buildings (one is very old; one is relatively new).
The colored lights on top the old Hancock tell the weatha:
"Solid blue, clear view."
"Flashing blue, clouds due."
"Solid red, rain ahead."
"Flashing red, snow instead." (except in summer, flashing red means the Red Sox game was rained out!


Harvard Bridge

The bridge connecting Boston and Cambridge via Massachusetts Avenue is commonly know as the Harvard Bridge. When it was built, the state offered to name the bridge for the Cambridge school that could present the best claim for the honor. Harvard submitted an essay detailing its contributions to education in America, concluding that it deserved the honor of having a bridge leading into Cambridge named for the institution. MIT did a structural analysis of the bridge and found it so full of defects that they agreed that it should be named for Harvard.

[dave thompson]

Thom, you're too funny!

[endosch2]

Also to fit right in...

When driving go as slow as you want in the far left lane. The fastest cars drive in the breakdown lane on the far right.

When you go skiing in New Hampshire drive up I-93 and if it is snowing and you have four wheel drive you can drive as fast as you want - the four wheel drive negates the fact that the snow is slippery. They teach that in Mass drivers ed.

[1centaur]

You can go as fast as you want on 93 in a snow storm because much of the population is too cheap to use snow tires or winter wipers so they're crawling on the right end of the highway, leaving 3 lanes of width for the 4WD folks to blast down, knowing that if they slide 10 feet in either direction they'll still be a long way from hitting anything.

[merlinmurph]

I live and work in Hopkinton, just down the street from Northborough. I tend to ride every day at noon from work for rides < 30 miles, and after work for longer rides.

Not sure what you're used to, but my guess is that you're going to like the riding around here. You're far enough from Boston so traffic is not an issue, and the rides are quite scenic. The terrain is rolly enough to keep it interesting. I tend to stay outside I-495 because the roads are just that much nicer and much less traffic.
And if you want to get some good climbs in, drive about two hours into NH and start riding.

Shops:
Bicycle Barn, Westboro - my shop, excellent mechanic/manager. Don't let the building scare you. ;-)
Grace Bicycles, Holliston - good, smaller specialty shop, very knowledgeable owner, active shop
Landry's, Westboro, Natick, etc. - big glitzy local chain shop, active shop

Road rides:
Man, where do I start? For flatter rides, I head east towards Concord and Sudbury. Mix in Carlisle/Harvard, and you've got a few hills with gorgeous roads. Or, head west and north. Head towards Purgatory Chasm in Sutton for some nice climbs. Head north around Wachusett Reservoir and onto Mt Wachusett for even better climbing. Again, all nice roads.

Mt. biking:
You are right near Viet Nam, on the Hopkinton/Holliston/Milford line, one of the best rides in the area. Callahan State Park in Framingham has a lot of terrain on the easier side, technically. There's also Gilbert SF (Foxboro), Wrentham SF, Franklin Town Forest, Upton SF, all fairly close. As someone suggested earlier, check out NEMBA.

Whew. If you don't like the riding here, you don't like riding. :)

Feel free to PM me if you'd like more info. Welcome again!

Murph