Tour de Somerville propers
Went on the 14th (!) Annual Tour de Somerville this morning, and I'd like to give props to the Somerville Bicycle Committee (and to the Somerville bike cops) for a very well-organized and fun ride, and to remind them's as is interested in making sure that a bike path along the new Green Line route(s) through Somerville (or just interested in the greenway issues regarding the Green Line extension) that there will be a public hearing on the issue at Somerville High this Monday (10/16) at 6 pm. Be theah, or be marginalized.
Could hardly have picked a better day for a meandering ride around Ward 2 -- the weather was clear and just on the warm side of crisp. There was maybe a little under a 100 of us who started, and it looked like about 60 made it back to Davis Square. It was kind of a like a slow-moving mini-Critical Mass (except it wasn't at rush hour on big busy Boston streets, there was a defined route, we stopped a lot at points of interest for brief lectures, and BIKE COPS CORKED THE INTERSECTIONS for us). In spite of it being in Somerville, there was only one up-hill that presented anything like a challenge.
The theme of this year's ride [1] was basically looking at different points of the proposed bikeway through the greenway and corridors of the (all-but-certain?) Green Line extension(s) through Somerville, so we looked at a lot of active and abandoned rail line rights-of-way, including some spots that would probably take a lot of fighting compromise to make things work for the stakeholders (MBTA, freight rail shippers and industry, developers, residents, bike commuters, etc). I'm going to try to go back along the route soon with a camera, because no matter which way this project goes, there's a lot of very photogenic urban decay (and Somerville-stylee Halloween decorations!) that scream to be documented before it disappears into condos [2].
I love going on these little tours (like the Christmas Lights tour, and the Midnight Architecture Tour) because I find out about places that I never knew existed ... or, if I did, I never before had linked them up in my mental bike route map. I have to say again, that I think that the Tour de Somerville organizers did a really good job of combining information delivery and a pretty interesting and fun ride and of managing to keep together riders of all ages (7-75), abilities, and attention spans.
Also, as a semi-regular Mass Crit rider, I still can't get over cops corking the intersections. It just makes me happy. :)
We had a couple of runners who joined us and kept up with the lead pack for the entire tour; and the little kids that I saw made it through as well, even after that one long hill. So, if you have friends who have balked at going on these rides because they thought they would be too arduous, tell them to ... just try it.
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[1] You might could ask the Bicycle Committee to send you the maps they handed out at the start of the ride (email sbc@cit.somerville.ma.us), or to direct you to an online version of them. They handed out a map of the route, and also a pink brochure of all of the actual and proposed bike routes and trails (which included gradients for the big hills) for Somerville. I thought these were really well-done.
[2] Because, in a State that is hemorrhaging population, what we need are more tiny $350k+ housing units piled up on each other. ;p
Could hardly have picked a better day for a meandering ride around Ward 2 -- the weather was clear and just on the warm side of crisp. There was maybe a little under a 100 of us who started, and it looked like about 60 made it back to Davis Square. It was kind of a like a slow-moving mini-Critical Mass (except it wasn't at rush hour on big busy Boston streets, there was a defined route, we stopped a lot at points of interest for brief lectures, and BIKE COPS CORKED THE INTERSECTIONS for us). In spite of it being in Somerville, there was only one up-hill that presented anything like a challenge.
The theme of this year's ride [1] was basically looking at different points of the proposed bikeway through the greenway and corridors of the (all-but-certain?) Green Line extension(s) through Somerville, so we looked at a lot of active and abandoned rail line rights-of-way, including some spots that would probably take a lot of fighting compromise to make things work for the stakeholders (MBTA, freight rail shippers and industry, developers, residents, bike commuters, etc). I'm going to try to go back along the route soon with a camera, because no matter which way this project goes, there's a lot of very photogenic urban decay (and Somerville-stylee Halloween decorations!) that scream to be documented before it disappears into condos [2].
I love going on these little tours (like the Christmas Lights tour, and the Midnight Architecture Tour) because I find out about places that I never knew existed ... or, if I did, I never before had linked them up in my mental bike route map. I have to say again, that I think that the Tour de Somerville organizers did a really good job of combining information delivery and a pretty interesting and fun ride and of managing to keep together riders of all ages (7-75), abilities, and attention spans.
Also, as a semi-regular Mass Crit rider, I still can't get over cops corking the intersections. It just makes me happy. :)
We had a couple of runners who joined us and kept up with the lead pack for the entire tour; and the little kids that I saw made it through as well, even after that one long hill. So, if you have friends who have balked at going on these rides because they thought they would be too arduous, tell them to ... just try it.
___________________________________
[1] You might could ask the Bicycle Committee to send you the maps they handed out at the start of the ride (email sbc@cit.somerville.ma.us), or to direct you to an online version of them. They handed out a map of the route, and also a pink brochure of all of the actual and proposed bike routes and trails (which included gradients for the big hills) for Somerville. I thought these were really well-done.
[2] Because, in a State that is hemorrhaging population, what we need are more tiny $350k+ housing units piled up on each other. ;p