Riding with the Family

Upper Charles Trail, Milford

I had promised my family that we would do a family ride on Sunday. So we did. It was fun. It was the first time Catherine rode on the Bike Path without her training wheels. It was also our first time riding with Elizabeth in a bike seat.

We parked in the center and went out and back both ways, stopping for lunch in between. Overall we did almost 6 miles. Not bad for a 6.5 year old :-)

Catherine is much faster now that she isn't on training wheels. I think next time we may go to a longer Bike Path.

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Routeless Saturday Ride

Headed Out With No Plan

I dropped the family off at the airport early in the morning. I was back at the house by 8:00 AM. I futzed around for a while before I got my act together and headed out sometime around 9:30. I had a vague idea of where I wanted to go and made last minute route decisions along the way. I wound up passing by the Diamond Hill Reservoir on my way to the Blackstone River Bike Path.

Blackstone River Path

The bike path wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be. I was going to get off in Manville and head up towards West Wrentham road, but I passed by the offramp. I decided to continue on the path to see how far it continued. It went all the way to the Woonsocket border, where it abruptly ended.

Woonsocket...

I wasn't planning on riding through Woonsocket, but there I was. I get lost in this city in my car. The roads aren't laid out very logically, there are a lot of one way streets. The major "routes" like 122, 126, 114, and such essentially disappear in a maze of small streets soon into Downtown. Luckily, I had my Blackberry on me with Google Maps installed. I stopped a few times to get my bearings and figure out a way to navigate the city street of Woonsocket.

A Nice Morning Out

Overall it was a good ride. A relatively flat 38 miles for this region, even though I had a low elevation of 90" and a high of almost ~500".

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To Mansfield and Back...

East South-East for a Change

I've been looking at my routes an I for a while I've noticed I haven't ventured very far East/South-east from my home. So I mapped out a route to my frineds house in Mansfield, MA and headed out. I tried to do this route once before, but my spoke broke a mile into the ride [Hottest Day (So Far), Shortest Ride...]. I ran into more elevation changes than I expected. I don't know why, but I thought I would be just going "down" into Mansfield, and then back "up" home. Little did I realize that there was also a lot of up and down in Foxboro.

BNB Markers

BnB Route Marker

When I've biked through Millis I've seen an occasional BnB Route marker. However they are often faded. On this ride, I've seen a good number of BnB route Markers painted on the roads. I think that may be part of the Bikes Not Bombs organization, but I see nothing on their site regarding a ride in the South Western Suburbs. Maybe it is some other group...

Rail Trail in Mansfield?!?

WW II Veterans Trail Sign

WW II Veterans Trail

WW II Veterans Trail Memorial

As I approached downtown Mansfield, I was surprised to come across a Rail Trail (Technically, it is a multi-use path...). It is about 2 miles long and occupies what used to be the the Old Colony Line. From the Google Earth view, it looks to be a straight shot out of town. I wonder if there are any plans to expand it or connect it to any other Rail Trail networks.

Roads and Traffic

Usually when riding on different roads, you run into trade-offs. A "Well Traveled" road will more often than not be better paved and have a wide shoulder. "Back roads" may not be so well paved, have no shoulder, but also have little to no traffic.

Biking back from Mansfield I found a well traveled road that had a crappy surface and no shoulder. Oh, and I also had to cross 3 4 lane roads: 140, A corporate park road near 106, and route 1. I hit the light just right on route 1 (I was thankful there was a light as I wasn't sure if there would be one at that location).

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Milford Bike Path

Biking with Catherine

Catherine and our bikes.

After I had my ride I packed up the van and took the family to the Milford portion of the proposed Upper Charles River Trail. Catherine cranked along on her bike while I followed on my ancient 1990 Rockhopper. I packed a socket wrench in my bag in case she wanted to take off the training wheels. She was doing very well. We rode all the way out to 495. There I took the wrench and raised her training wheels.

If it's nice tomorrow, we may head somewhere and take off the training wheels altogether. I think she is ready :-)

Labor Day with My Daughter...

Catherine

Biking With Catherine

Today I took my daughter Catherine over to the Milford Section of the Upper Charles River Trail. We parked at the Louisa Lake parking area on Dilla St. in Milford and biked east from there all the way to Route 495 (~1.2 miles). There we stopped and had some snacks on some stone benches. We chatted and watched other bikers past going in either direction.

On the way back we had to climb up a big hill (for a 5 year old). I thought I was going to have to push her a bit but she was determined to pedal up it. She was struggling 3/4's of the way up when I hear her chant "Pedal pedal pedal..." as she pushed herself to the top. I was a bit proud of here at that point :-)

On the way back we stopped again and hung out on a big rock. A nice change of pace from my normal rides :-)

My Old 1990 Specialized Rockhopper

I was riding my old 1990 Specialized Rockhopper with the big fat Maxxis Hookworm 26" × 2.5" tires on it. They are big, fat, heavy, and a bit silly. However, they are also fun tires to have on a bike :-). Eventually I will make this bike into more of a commuter bike that I can feel comfortable leaving at the train station. In the meantime, it makes for a great bike for the Rail Trails.

To Blackstone River Path and back via Southwick Zoo

A Half-Century Plus! (or "Almost a Metric")

The wife and kids were out of town for the day so I was free to ride as far and as long as I wanted. I couldn't find any local club rides, and even if I did, it took me a while to get moving this morning. So I got on my computer and mapped out a route for my self combining a couple of well known routes with the Blackstone River Bikeway's Rhode Island Section. I haven't had to pre-map out a route in a while as I am getting to know the area pretty well. However today I was going to bike along the Interim Road Route of the Blackstone River Bikeway and it goes straight through the heart of Woonsocket. I get confused driving through that city.

Blackstone River Bikeway [BRB]

In the past I've biked down to the Chemawa Golf Course in North Attleboro. Looking at the map I had noticed that it wasn't to far to go east from there and pick up the BRB in Valley Falls (just north of Pawtucket). I had not been this far south on the trail before. In the past I was prevented from going further south than Martin St. because of the construction there. I heard that the construction was completed and the trail was open all the way through.

Heading north along the southernmost completed section of the Blackstone River Bikeway.

The still scenic Blackstone River (It gets less scenic as you approach Woonsocket, less water and more muck.)

Manville

In the past the bikeway ended at Manville, RI. Today when I got to Manville, there was more trail. It was semi-open and still under construction. I when quite a way before I was forced to turn around (The trail ended abruptly).

New section semi-opened and, as you can tell from the raised manhole cover, still very much underconstruction.

The unfinished path abruptly ends. Time to backtrack.

Back to Manville...

First stop in Manville for more Gatorade. This store even had a couple of sets of 16" rims and tires for sale.

Blackstone River Path on road Interim Route

Woonsocket in an interesting city. I had less trouble biking through it than I had anticipated. Everybody must have been out of town because there was hardly any traffic during the early part of the Sunday afternoon when I passed through. Lots of triple deckers followed very quickly by a lot of large (old money) homes.

Time to Head for the Hills

As I crossed over the border into Blackstone, MA I found all the traffic that was missing in Woonsocket. Wierd. Anyway, I was approaching familiar territory and I was starting to feel the miles. I pressed on.

I guess Spiderman's and Superman's families get along so well that they can share a home in the Blackstone Valley!

Last Gatorade stop in Mendon. I stopped here on the NBW Club ride I did this past May.

Upper Charles River Trail: Milford Grand Opening

Today I took the family to the brand new "Rail Trail" that opened up in Milford. The first phase of the Milford Trail is the first portion of the Upper Charles River Trail to be completed. When completed this will be a 25 mile loop going through Milford, Hopkinton, Ashland, Sherborn, and Holliston.

It was nice to find a place where I can take my 5 1/2 year old daugher for a bike ride (other than the cul-de-sac in the neighborhood behind us...).

She put in 2.5 miles on her 16" Specialized HotRock. :-) To gain some level of excercise for myself, I made sure to have my MTN bike in the lowest gear and never upshift. Level the field so to speak. It was fun and we turned around at the right point so that Catherine started getting tired just as we got back.

Trail Related Links:

• MilfordTrail.org
• UpperCharlesTrail.org

Photo-MoBlog entries for this ride:

And yes... I had my Garmin eTrex Legend and I did track the ride... I just had to :-)

Trail rules for bikes

Lunch on the trail

A few sandwiches, some water and a few freezer packs to keep everyhting cool all fit nicely in my rack pack.

Trail Sign at Louisa Lake

Milford Rail Trail

My daughter Catherine enjoying the new rail trail.