Road Bike Rides North of Boston

Posted on May 8, 2012 by bikenewengland

North Shore Cyclists is a recreationmap of road bike rides north of Bostonal cycling club that hosts road bike rides in an area spanning from Wakefield MA into New Hampshire. Less than an hour away from downtown Boston, the maze of old roads on the North Shore offer great cycling through charming quiet communities, along the shore, through the Great Salt Marsh, and weaving through several state forests. Charles River Wheelmen (CRW) , a Boston-based cycling club, also leads rides in the area north of Boston, and the North Shore is home to Bike New England which publishes this blog.

The links below take you to the ride description, cue sheets, maps, and a RideWithGPS interactive map

Rides with start locations:

Minuteman Ride Andover MA
Rockingham County NH Haverhill MA
Ride to the Sea Georgetown MA
North Andover Ride North Andover MA
Newburyport from Hamilton Hamilton MA
State Forests cycling tour North Andover MA
Pigs Ponds and Potholes North Reading MA
Cycling north from Cushing Park Newburyport MA
Mothers Day Ride Beverly MA
Monday Night Ride Topsfield MA
Cycling Coastal New Hampshire Newburyport MA
Danvers Farm and Sea cycling Danvers MA
Nashua River Ramble
The Old Stone Walls Ride Ipswich MA
Cape Ann from Manchester Manchester by the Sea
Ballardvale Ride Andover, MA
Grub Sweat and Gears Topsfield
Ipswich to Boston Ipswich MA
Bagels and a BuffaloBoxford, MA
Blazing Saddles Century Triton School, Byfield, MA
North Shore Cyclists Saturday ride Boxford MA
Applecrest Farm Ride Amesbury MA
North to Great Bay Amesbury MA
Merrimack River Ride Newburyport MA
Cape Ann from Ipswich Ipswich MA
Salt Marsh Tour Ipswich MA
Coast of Hope Ipswich, MA
Salem from Ipswich Ipswich, MA
Riverside Cycles ride Newburyport MA
North Shore Tour de Cure Pingree School, Hamilton MA
Salem MA – Marblehead loop Salem Commuter Rail Station.
Ipswich Heritage Bicycle Tour Ipswich MA
CRW Spring Century Wakefield, MA
Crane Beach -Topsfield loop Ipswich MA
Plum Island Loop Rowley, MA

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Merrimack River Ride Sunday April 15

Posted on April 14, 2012 by bikenewengland

Host : Gordon Harris (978) 979-6598

Start: Cushing Park, Newburyport MA map to start

Directions: From Rte. 95 take exit 57 Rte 113 east. Go for 2 miles and take a left onto Kent St. parking lot is 2 blocks on right. From Rte 1 go onto Merrimac St. 1/4 mile west towards Amesbury. Take a left at the gas station lot 1 block on left.

Time: Sunday April 15, 2012, 10:00 AM for 43, 32 or 21 miles

Description: This new Merrimack River ride heads out on Newburyport’s elegant High Street, Maudslay State Park and crosses the Upper Artichoke Lake before doing several scenic miles right along the river. The short ride turns back on some of our favorite roads, while the medium and long rides follow the river to Groveland, cross there and following the north side of the river, arriving back in Newburyport on the Rt. 1 bridge. The long route continues on Rt. 1A to Rowley, then returns on Central St., a nice stretch of Rt. 1 and other local roads to Cushing Park. Very scenic views, riding right along both sides of the Merrimack River. This year’s ride has been redesigned for a minimum of turns.

Please use extra caution especially at the following places:

  • Groveland Bridge: if the traffic is heavy, we suggest walking the bike on the pedestrian walkway.
  • Rt. 110 at Mudnock Rd.: This is a very dangerous crossing with four lanes, fast traffic and no traffic light.
  • Eastern Marsh Trail: Please ride mindfully near pedestrians and children.
  • Rt. 1 in Rowley: This short stretch has wide shoulders except near the blinking light for the turn to the Governors Academy.

Route arrow: This ride is arrowed with a white circle and line, updated for 2012.

Downloads:

21 mile cue sheet
32 mile cue sheet
43 mile cue sheet
Route map

View and download GPX files:

Short Ride at RideWithGPS
Medium Ride at RideWithGPS
Long Ride at RideWithGPS

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Salt Marsh Ride from Ipswich Sunday March 18

Posted on March 17, 2012 by bikenewengland

Gordon Harris for North Shore CyclistsNorth Shore Cyclists Salt Marsh Ride
Sunday March 18, 2012

Host: Gordon Harris (this blogger)

Start: Ipswich MA downtown central parking lot on Hammatt St. behind Market Street and Central Street map to start

Directions: From I-95, take Rt. 133 east to the center of Ipswich. Turn right one block before downtown center. Hammatt St. parking lot will be on your left.
From Rt. 1, take Ipswich Rd. from Topsfield. Cross tracks and turn left at the Ipswich Cooperative Bank, and bear right. Parking lot will be on your right.

Time Sunday, March 18, 10:00 AM for short (27), medium (40) long (47) or extra-long (54) with other additional rides


What to expect: The Salt Marsh Tour passes through some of the most outstanding scenery in our area and offers the rare opportunity to cycle primarily on wide flat roads with just a few very short climbs. We take Rt. 1A north through Rowley and the Great Salt marsh to Newbury. The shortest version turns back Great Salt marshat Newbury Green, while the medium and long routes continue to Plum Island with an out and back 8-mile ride to the Hellcat Trail parking lot on the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge park road (restroom at the beginning of the trail). Make sure to bring $2 for the entrance fee or a Golden Pass. Also on the bike lane that runs between Newbury and Plum Island is the Joppa flats Audubon Center with modern facilities and the first opportunity to refill water bottles.

After Plum Island, the long version (marked in green on the map) goes through Newburyport to the Artichoke Reservoirs for an extra 7 miles before rejoining the short and medium routes. An extra-long option (not shown on the downloadable map) continues on Middle Rd. then loops back on Bachelor and Moulton Streets past another beautiful reservoir. All routes return along wooded local roads to Rowley on the way back to Ipswich. Note: Be careful of potholes on Linebrook Road and Mile lane at the beginning and end of the ride. The route is marked with a yellow circle and arrow, refreshed recently.

 

North Shore Cyclists Salt Marsh Tour mapPlease download cue sheets and maps below

short cue sheet, 27 miles Short route on RideWithGPS
medium cue sheet, 40 miles Medium route on RideWithGPS
long cue sheet, 47 miles Long route on RideWithGPS
Extra long cue sheet, 54 miles Extra – long route on RideWithGPX
Route map (The route map displays all distance options)

Other rides from the Hammatt St. Parking lot *These rides have not been re-arrowed
10 mile loop on Jeffreys Neck Rd. to Little Neck and Great Neck
11 mile loop to Crane Beach and a loop around Crane Castle
21 mile combined Crane Beach and Jeffreys Neck loops

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Boston My Bike Lane: Display Violators’ License Plates

Posted on February 20, 2012 by bikenewengland

My Bike Lane  is a world-wide site where cyclists can snap photos of vehicles violating bicycle lanes and display their license plates online, along with  personal commentary .   Boston My Bike Lane has almost 20,000 posts, with several new ones being added each month.  One of the most ironic posts a few years back was Mayor dedicates bike lane– Mayor Menino’s SUV parked in the bike lane while he was dedicating it.  (He hasn’t made that mistake again.)

One of the worst violators may be Boston Cab.  Here’s a YouTube video of  a cab letting passengers out in bike lanes, almost “dooring” cyclists. The top offender (captured on camera three times) is a FedEx truck with license plate M96639

Posted in All, Bike trails and lanes | 1 Comment

Massachusetts state bicycle transportation plan

Posted on February 11, 2012 by bikenewengland

Massachusetts developed a State Bicycle Transportation Plan which identifies future and existing cross-state routes.  Some follow US Bicycle Route  (USBR) corridors and others are parts of proposed or existing rail trails.  The Bicycle and Pedestrian Office and Department of Conservation and Recreation identified USBR 1 as their priority route and was scheduled to begin route development in 2011. For more information or to volunteer, email Josh Lehman, Bicycle-Pedestrian Program Coordinator.

This site is a service of Bike New England.

Posted in All, Government, initiatives | Leave a comment

Cycle Kids Breakaway May 20, Lincoln MA

Posted on February 10, 2012 by bikenewengland

Based in Cambridge, CYCLE Kids brings together teachers, students, businesses, well-known cyclists, local officials, and youth groups to help children learn skills that will last a lifetime,  from the thrill of the ride, to staying fit,  bike safety and mechanics.

CYCLE Kids hosts its second annual Breakaway Bike Ride on May 20, 2012 at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum,  51 Sandy Pond Road in Lincoln, MA. The two shorter rides wind through Lincoln, Concord, and Sudbury, and the metric century shown below continues to the town of Harvard. Get more information

Metric Century route map and cue sheet
36 mile route map and cue sheet
19 mile route map and cue sheet

Posted in All, Fundraisers | Leave a comment

Improved search for rides at the Bike New England site

Posted on January 29, 2012 by bikenewengland

The Bike New England site and blog site Cycling New England  share over 3000 cycling routes, cue sheets and route maps I  discovered or created in the past dozen years. It all ties together beautifully with recently improved search options:

Interactive Google Maps of rides in Rhode Island and Connecticut, Massachusetts, northern New England and New York State give you a direct link to descriptions and RideWithGPS interactive maps for fundraising rides, club rides, state and organizational resources  and other vetted routes. Each cyclist icon represents a ride; clicking on a question mark takes you to maps in adjoining states.

The inventory of cycling club cue sheets is up to 3000 and counting, and is arranged alphabetically by town for the following states: bikenewengland.com ridesConnecticut, bikenewengland.com ridesMaine, bikenewengland.com rides Maryland, bikenewengland.com ridesMassachusetts, bikenewengland.com rides New Hampshire, bikenewengland.com ridesNew York, bikenewengland.com ridesPennsylvania, bikenewengland.com rides Rhode Island, bikenewengland.com ridesVermont, bikenewengland.com rides Virginia

Ride descriptions and interactive route maps at Cycling New England are indexed by subject, including Adirondacks Berkshires Boston Cape Cod Catskills Charles River Wheelmen Connecticut Fundraisers Hudson Valley Ipswich MA Long Island Maine Maryland New Hampshire New Jersey New York Nashoba Valley Pedalers Delaware Newburyport North Shore North Shore Cyclists Pennsylvania Pioneer Valley Quebec Rhode Island SE-Massachusetts Seven Hills Wheelmen Narragansett Bay Wheelmen Vermont Virginia Washington

The sites  feature a custom Gooogle search engine    Entering the name of a town or area in which you wish to ride will return results for tours, rides, interactive maps, as well as pdf cue sheets and maps that include that phrase.

Posted in All, Rides | Leave a comment

Southeast Massachusetts Bikeways

Posted on January 20, 2012 by bikenewengland

The Southeastern Massachusetts Bicycle Plan is a component of the 2012 Regional Transportation Plan. View an interactive Google Map of Bikeways in Southeast Massachusetts which displays the bicycling infrastructure component of the plan, including the South Coast Bikeway and the East Coast Greenway portions. These two bikeways are the most important bicycling infrastructure components in this region. For more information contact Adam Recchia at arecchia@srpedd.org

Posted in All, Bicycle paths | Leave a comment

Mass Ave bike lanes completed in Boston

Posted on January 16, 2012 by bikenewengland

Mass Ave. bike lanes in BostonBike lanes have been installed on  the northbound and southbound lanes of Massachusetts Avenue between Huntington Avenue and the Harvard Bridge. The new lanes already connect to existing bike routes, and according to bike czar Nicole Freedman, the next project will be to connect the Mass Ave. section to bike lanes recently created between St. Botolph  and Melnea Cass Boulevard.The Mass. Ave. bike lane proposal was presented to the public in April 2011 and construction of the lanes was finished in January of 2012.   Over 100 bicycle crashes were recorded by emergency services on Mass. Ave in Boston between 2005 and the end of 2010.

Posted in All, Bike trails and lanes | 6 Comments

Alewife Brook Reservation

Posted on January 3, 2012 by bikenewengland

Alewife Brook Reservation is a 120-acre natural area that includes the Little River, wetlands,  wooded upland and meadow area and two ponds. The reservation is adjacent to the MBTA Alewife Station at the northern terminus of the MBTA Red Line in Cambridge.

The linear open space that follows Alewife Brook through the towns of Arlington, Cambridge and Somerville, MA received funding for corridor improvement from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.  A two-mile continuous walkway will connect to other existing bikeway and greenway facilities, including the Minuteman Bikeway and Fitchburg Cutoff Path.  Gill Engineering designed a half-mile  timber boardwalk that spans difficult terrain and wetlands areas and will be constructed of Ipe Brazilian hardwood and pressure treated Southern Yellow Pine.  The natural structural components will blend, aesthetically, with the wooded riverbanks and create a pleasant walking experience for pedestrians. Visit the Friends of Alewife Brook Reservation site.

This site is a service of Bike New England.

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