Work to Car Dealership

Not My First Choice

Yesterday's afternoon ride from my office to the car dealership reaffirmed my opinion that commuting by mountain bike over a significant distance is not the ideal way to go. Maybe that had something to do with the bike weighing ~33 lbs. before I put the Topeak MTX BeamRack Bike Mounted Rack with well packed MTX Trunk Bag DX on it. However, I must say again that the rack/bag combo is a much better option than a backpack, and it is very useful for those Bike Path days with the family. I wish there was a similiar option for my road bike, but between the carbon fiber seat post and the lack of braze-ons (it's a "racer", not a touring bike...) I don't really have many options outside of a backpack.

Picking up the Car

It was kind of cool that both of my "vehicles" were ready on the same day. I biked to the Dealership to pick up the car. Mounted the strap-on rack to the back and put the mountain bike on it. Then drove to Bicycles Plus to pick up my other bike. I just thought that was cool, even though the drive through surbian rush hour traffic sucked a lot more the riding the mountain bike 12+ miles on the road.

Support Your Local Bike Shop!

I like my bike store. I was having a lot done to the bike:

• Fix broken spoke (original reason for taking it in)
• Replace chain (original chain with ~5,000 miles on it)
• Replace rear cassette
• Replace Front Chain Rings
• Brand New Tape for Handle Bars (it needed it)

On top of that, the bike shop mechanic gave my bike a full tune up before he realized it wasn't on the work order. Nice. He even waxed the frame with Meguiar's Car Wax. (Personally, I use Zymöl. ) Nice.

Support your local bike shop :-)

---

Bike in Shop: Day 5 - Bike to Work

Bike in Shop: Day 5 - Bike to Work, originally uploaded by Martinator.

The car had to go to the dealership today and I had planned on biking in to work from there. I didn't want to reschedule, so I took the mountain bike. It was only 12 miles afterall...

Using a Mountain Bike on the Road: the Good and the Bad...

The mountain bike I used is one that my step-father passed on to me after he got his full suspension Cannondale. It is a 1992(?) Specialized StumpJumper.

The Bad

• The bike is heavy and slow.
• The gearing maxes out on some decents.
• Climbing sucks...

The Good

• I don't worry so much about every little pothole, crack, or patch of sand/gravel while riding.
• The bag on the rack is a much nicer option than a backpack.

Device Failure

GPS Signal

On Route 27 in Wayland, I lost the GPS signal for a good 2 miles or so. Oh well, at least I'll get an accurate distance measurement from the [~16(?) year] old Cateye ATC bike computer I'm using as a back up.

Cateye ATC

Ugh. for some reason, a few miles after I regained the GPS signal, the bike computer simply reset and stopped recording speed and distance. Oh well...

Hmmmm... What did I forget?

Underwear. As I arrived at the dealership, an thought crossed my mind "I forgot to pack underwear." Luckily, I was able to pick up a pair at the Maynard Outdoor Store once I got to work.

Note: I lost the GPS Signal on on Rt. 27 in Wayland.

Metacomet Land Trust

Mountain Bike Weather

Yesterday, the weather was nice enough for a bike ride. However the roads are all sandy and gritty and the cold-hot-cold cycles have created some major pot-holes already. Plus, I have just recently given my road bike a thorough cleaning (though I still haven't gotten around to waxing it yet) I decided to take my mountain bike out for a ride. So I rode to explore.

I headed south on Lincoln street towards a trailhead I knew about. First, I checked out the giant, new playground at Dacey Fields. Nice Playground. Now off to the trailhead. The trailhead is just past the entrance to Winterberry Estates just before the Swanp and the climb up to the Keller-Sullivan School. From what I gather, it is part of the Metacomet Land Trust.

Metacomet Land Trust

The Metacomet Land Trust is:

"A non-profit conservation organization dedicated to the protection of open space and natural resources in South Central Massachusetts."

Apparentlly they own and manage roughly 42 acres of land between Lincoln and Maple Streets. It is nice and sceninc. The trails also connect a lot of various neighborhoods as it either crosses roads or bumps up against various cul-de-sacs. I was able to go from the trailhead off of Lincoln Street all the way to the Dean College Athletic Fields via a network of trails. Here's what I saw along the way:

A nice bridge at 42° 6'25.92"N, 71°24'10.36"W

Me looking out at the "Wetland" from where I took the picture of the bridge.

Stone crossing at 42° 6'13.55"N, 71°24'9.57"W

A Bench at 42° 6'2.93"N, 71°24'7.29"W

Getting Lost

How does one get lost is a tiny patch of woods in a densely populated area WITH a GPS device? I don't know, but I managed to do it. In the Motionbased map below, all the dense red squiggly line cluster in the center of the forest is me spending about 15 minutes looking for the trail on my way back. I finally gave up and bailed out into somebody's back yard. The further south and away from the Dean College Fields you go, the thinner and narrower the trails get until eventually they just disappear.