Routes

A catalog of my ride routes, plus a catalog of local road ("Dan Henry") markings.

Dan Henry markings

Northwest Variation

Start: Eliot Bridge, Boston
End: Eliot Bridge, Boston
Area: Concord River Valley
Distance: 47 mile loop
Hilliness: 2,215 feet of climbing
Comments: Bike friendly route. Restrooms and water along the way. Copley Square to Eliot Bridge ads five miles each way. Basically a figure 8 around Concord.

[Route] 868KB swf

Start: Minuteman Bikeway, Lexington Center
End:Minuteman Bikeway, Bedford
Area: Concord River Valley
Distance: 34 mile loop, 62 miles total
Hilliness: 1,635 feet of climbing
Comments: Bike friendly route. Restrooms and water along the way. Copley Square to Lexington Center adds 11 miles, Bedford to Copley Square adds 17, totalling 62 mi (100km) for the ride. Optional detour to Walden Pond. Some of the best ice cream in the world at the halfway point.

[Route] 660KB swf [Profile] 76KB swf [Cue Sheet] 63 kB pdf

Start/End: Acton-Boxborough High School parking lot, 36 Charter Rd, Acton, MA
Area: North central MA and a bit of NH
Hilliness: 2,950 feet of climbing
Comments: Beautiful ride, would be a good foliage ride. Spectacular scenery of Nashoba River valley. The overlook in Harvard (of Mt. Wachusett in the distance) is awesome. Apple country. The 100 miler is much hillier than the 100k as it heads up to Wilton, NH. This ride has no traffic lights!

2005: [Profile] 1.2 MB swf [Cue Sheet] 70 kB pdf

Start/End: Whitin Community Center at 60 Main St, Whitinsville, MA
Area: South central MA, a bit of RI and a bit of CT
Hilliness: 6,700 feet of climbing
Comments: Traditionally the final ride of the (or at least my) season. Lots of horse farms, rivers, and woods. More busy highways that I would prefer. Very, very well organized, and the kids from 10th Gear are great. Along with the cue sheet, they hand out a list of things to notice at various mile markers (mostly buildings) which I would like other groups to do. I mean, nature is great and all, but it would be good to note other historical structures.

2005: [Profile] 1.2 MB swf [Cue Sheet] 70 kB pdf

Start: Cyclorama, 529 Tremont Street, South End
End: Pilgrim Park, Bradford St, Provincetown, MA
Area: South Shore, Cape Cod
Hilliness: 5,485 feet of climbing
Comments: A long ride always done on the longest Saturday of the year. A fun ride more for the crowd than for the scenery as quite a bit is urban and on some not so good roads. But the bad roads through town are done in the early, early morning, so it's all over and done with until you have to deal with Rte 6A in Barnstable. Sunday brunch at Provinctown Inn the next morning, and a ferry ride home later in the day.

2005: [Profile] 831 kB swf [Cue Sheet] 74 kB pdf

Start/End: Geogetown High School, 11 Winter Street, Georgetown, MA
Area: North shore, MA
Hilliness: 4,827 feet of climbing
Comments: Lots of quaint New England: chuches, horse farms, marshes. A few hills, but nothing dramatic. Parts would make a good foliage tour, along the Merrimac River especially. Keeps out of city centers for the most part, but there's a bit that gets close to Beverly and increasing amounts of traffic. Very well organized, very well marked. Parts of the route are also included in the TdC Gloucester, CRW Spring Century, and Essex Co. Heritage Ride

2005: [Profile] 1 MB swf [Cue Sheet] 77 kB pdf

Start/End: UMass/Dartmouth, 285 Old Westport Road, Dartmouth, MA
Area: Southeast MA, Southeast RI
Hilliness: 3,870 feet of climbing
Comments: 'Tain't flat. Not that it's hilly, but there's at least 1,000 more feet of climbing here than in the GSW Tri-state. Lots of bay-front riding. Very pretty. Huge, huge ride with 1500+ riders. Well organized with cops at busy intersections. Goes counterclockwise for a good part of it, but it doesn't seem to cause any trouble.

2005: [Profile] 0.9 MB swf [Cue Sheet] 70 kB pdf

Start/End: Hampton Beach State Park, Hampton Beach, NH
Area: MA, NH, ME Seacost
Hilliness: 2,640 feet of climbing
Comments: Parts are quite scenic, parts are quite not. An extremely flat ride that's good to go for speed. Parts are quite dull and highway, parts are rolling and woodsy. Clever use of rest stops. Very popular ride run over two days (your choice). The MA parts are a bit dull, but high speed. The ME parts are most interesting, but it's a strange ride, up and back along the same route, so you meet people coming and going. Flat, flat, flat. Hugely popular ride with 1000+ riders each day (same ride run both Saturday and Sunday).

2005: [Profile] 748 kB swf [Cue Sheet] 73 kB pdf

Start/End: South Acton MBTA Station
Area: Concord River Valley
Hilliness: 2,690 feet of climbing
Comments: Scenic route with various length options. Mapped is the 50. Early ride and can be quite cold and wet.

2005: [Route] 1.38MB swf [Profile] 76KB swf [Cue Sheet] 70 kB pdf