Minuteman Bikeway

At the beginning of summer, in my spend-money-on-cool-stuff-before-I'm-broke phase, I bought one of those sweet GoPro cameras so I could videotape bike rides and anything else I can think of. Be wary- if you search for gopro, it appears you will get nothing but ads for it in every possible place on the internet for the rest of your life.

I decided to head to Mass to see Joe off (he's moving to Colorado) and do some biking. The goal was to mountain bike on Thursday, but first ride the Minuteman Bikeway and test out this sumbitch in Somerville first.

how to fit 2 bikes in the back of a car

and wheels and everything else in the world in your trunk

In typical Mike fashion, I left pretty late and then took forever to set up everything before the ride, making a hangout with Shaun and Natalie (who go to bed at 9:30!) impossible, and also guaranteeing that the entire ride back would be in the dark.

If you don't know, as crappy of a state as Massachusetts is, someone got it right and created a paved trail which goes 11 miles from Alewife station in Arlington to the middle of nowhere in Bedford. There's more though, as the paved trail continues to Cedar Street in Somerville, and it appears that it may even be going further soon. When I lived on Belmont Street in Somerville, the trail was only about a half mile away, so I decided to do it the way I did it before, and start from the parking lot where I used to park, turning a 22 mile ride into, with the extension trail and distance from Belmont 25 or so.

I first rode the trail with Tara one night as a first introduction to road biking. We rode back in the dark too, and it was a really nice time, especially considering there is a very slight incline almost the whole way to Bedford- a fact we didn't realize until we noticed how much faster we were going on the way back. I then rode parts of it here and there with Jake and by myself. One night, I flipped out and decided to do the whole thing on the L.L. Bean mountain bike I had grown up with (which weighed like 60 pounds). I rode 75% of it in the dark then too (seems to be a theme) and listened to nothing but Kayne West, Lupe Fiasco, and Common on the whole ride, guaranteeing that I would always think of that ride when listening to some of those guys.
I even rode it to work once or twice, as a section of it goes up a street that took me to a main road about 3 miles from the Burlington Mall. My friend Dan (who lives right on it) took it to work for months.

It's a pretty awesome trail: The only downsides are that it is a tiny incline on the way out, it gets confusing as hell through Arlington center and around Davis square (usually only takes a few times to figure it out), and there are sometimes way too many people on it who don't think about how many people are trying to bike very fast while they swing their arms or walk 4 across on a 12 foot wide trail. The upsides are far better- it's pretty the whole way, it's only bumpy in a few places, you cross through town centers and across plenty of roads which make it interesting, while for the most part being in the woods,. It's all paved and accommodating, there's even a bike shop ON the trail, you get to ride over interstate 95 (which is really cool) and it's a fantastic way to get out and get a lot of miles of exercise while in the dead center of city. You also get to ride next to Spy Pond, which, at the right time is really nice.

I left at 7, and felt good.

my sexy road bike all loaded up with video camera technology

The ride went well- I flew through people pretty well and felt solid- my legs burned a little, but this was expected. At Arlington center, I stopped after screwing up and going the wrong way- my second screw up (I also went the wrong way right after Alewife station and ended up on Dan's street) and suddenly realized what was wrong- I wasn't listening to any music. I had spent a while making a playlist like the one I had before and charging up my shuffle I never use. And then I left it in my car! Looks like the next 22 or so miles would remain silent. I wasn't too psyched. 

After going through all the confusing stuff (and having to deal with some construction and crappy sections in the middle of being re-paved), I hit the zone and rode fast through all of the less adventurous stuff. I hit the end at almost exactly 8, meaning it took me about an hour to ride the 12-13 miles. This, to any road biker, is a sad pace, but as this was my first time on the road bike this year, I was pretty happy with it. 

I stopped at the end for a few minutes, and headed back. 

This is the old train station in Bedford that signifies the end of the trail

I rode hard back to 95, where I planned to truly take my break. I took a weird picture with 95 north below me, 

had a delicious snack (Sunbelt chocolate chip granola bar mmm),

and headed back. I slowly started feeling worse and worse. This was a long ride and a lot of miles out of nowhere. On a mountain bike, I sit more upright and take more breaks. There's also a lot more movement which makes certain parts hurt less. My lower back and especially neck were starting to kill. Road biking really puts you in one position and forces you to stay that way to do it right. I couldn't do anything for my neck or back other than just fight through the pain. My butt was destroyed too, but I at last expected that. I stopped in Davis Square to try and see if I could head over to Shaun and Natalie's for a quick hang, and lay on section of concrete for about 10 minutes. 

in the pain cave with the Davis Square concrete people

I felt WAY better after this, and flew the rest of the way home, even peddling hard up the final hill (I never thought I would) and rode around the parking lot for a bit. 

Here is the video I shot, sped up A LOT. Some may find this video to be boring, but I find it hypnotizing. It's sped up at different places between 700-2000%. There's also a section taken out on the way back, because it literally was just black. SO, technically, it's not the ENTIRE trail, but close enough. You can still say you went on the journey with me. If you find the beginning boring, at least fast forward to the last 3 minutes or so- the song I used works absolutely perfectly with flashing lights flying towards you at a million miles an hour. Clearly, I should be making music videos for post rock techno bands. 

"Minuteman Bikeway- 25 miles in 10 minutes" from Mike Alexander on Vimeo

I went to Tobin's, ate a roast beef sandwich, and went to bed hoping I'd be able to move the next day. I felt way better than I should have, but biking that day was up in the air, especially since I needed brake pads and a new helmet. After buying what I needed and failing to get the brake pads in right, it was too late anyway, so I took the day off and headed to good ole Redbones in Davis Square with Shaun, Natalie, Tobin and Joe. 

as always, the highlights were garlic mashed potatoes and mac and cheese

I got a brownie at Diesel Cafe which was a billion times better than I was even hoping for, hugged Joe, and took off back to Mass. 

the frosting was soo strong

Seeing Joe off didn't bother me- he's left for long periods before and I knew he'd come visit or I'd go see him. But I can't lie and say it didn't hit me a little bit when the last thing he said to me was "I'll see you in another life, brotha" in full Desmond mode. ahhh Lost....

enjoy Colorado, Sherpa.

currently listening to: The Dangerous Summer- War Paint