Jamaicaway and the Fenway would actually be kinda anticlimactic after Storrow. I used to ride that way when I lived in Brookline, and didn't like dealing with all of the peds on the sidewalk and paths around Jamaica Pond. Shoulder tends to be rather crappy, but traffic isn't that tough.
now, riding through the Central Artery Tunnel to get to Logan, that'd be fun ... not.
Sounds like you somehow ended up here. (This part of it is actually called Soldiers Field Road.) But I don't know how, since that's quite far from Comm. Ave.
(I know nothing about bike-unfriendly areas of Boston. "Route 2" or "The Mass Pike" are all just Roads I Can't Bike On. "Storrow Drive" is "That road that runs alongside the Charles")
I don't know why I thought I was near Comm Ave either. I guess I thought I was farther east or that it stays closer to the river as it goes out west. Mostly I just wasn't thinking.
I've been known to use the Storrow Drive on- and off-ramps to get to and from the Charles River bike path. Usually I do this when car traffic is either sparse, or congested and crawling at < 10 mph.
Especially when Hatch Shell events are going on, I like to use the westbound Storrow onramp from Charles Circle, then merge across to the bike path. This is much better than fighting pedestrian traffic on that narrow, twisty footbridge.
Heh. I rode no-hands from the Hatch Shell to the Mass. Ave bridge once. Of course, there was a concert going on and Storrow westbound was closed to cars. :-)
I used to use parts of Storrow all the time, both the area behind Beacon Hill, and the area down near Allston. It's quite legal (no signs posted and mostly not limited access), and it's not that scary, as Ron said, when there is either a lot of traffic, or not much at all. As long as you are nice and visible, and you take the lane when you need to, you should be fine.
Oh, and I agree with the other posters, the Jamaicaway is nothing. I used to ride it all the time.
The biggest problem is that very few cyclists ride on these roads and so motorists aren't expecting to see them when they do. The more people who ride on them, the safe it will be, in general.
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now, riding through the Central Artery Tunnel to get to Logan, that'd be fun ... not.
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I've found myself on Storrow by accident on two ocassions, both when I was trying to cut back from Boston Commons and out-snuck myself.
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I got on after coming across one of the little bridges over the Charles out near Mount Auburn Hospital.
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(I know nothing about bike-unfriendly areas of Boston. "Route 2" or "The Mass Pike" are all just Roads I Can't Bike On. "Storrow Drive" is "That road that runs alongside the Charles")
I don't know why I thought I was near Comm Ave either. I guess I thought I was farther east or that it stays closer to the river as it goes out west. Mostly I just wasn't thinking.
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Especially when Hatch Shell events are going on, I like to use the westbound Storrow onramp from Charles Circle, then merge across to the bike path. This is much better than fighting pedestrian traffic on that narrow, twisty footbridge.
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Oh, and I agree with the other posters, the Jamaicaway is nothing. I used to ride it all the time.
The biggest problem is that very few cyclists ride on these roads and so motorists aren't expecting to see them when they do. The more people who ride on them, the safe it will be, in general.
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