Day 5: Sutton MA to Boston MA (51.4 miles)

Day 5 Full Flickr Photo Set

Day 5, here it is- the last leg of our journey from Philly to Boston, and a relatively short one at that (by the way, I love the fact that a 50 mile bike ride has become a "short" ride).

Up and at 'em! Today's the day and we're PSYCHED! We're up and raring to go!
















As per usual, we stopped for our daily diner breakfast after a bit of riding, and that's where we met this character, Roger. Peter was compelled, as if by cosmic forces, to draw Roger over breakfast. I thought it was worth posting.
































With the last stretch of road ahead of us, and being weary of blowing flats in the final push, we had our eyes peeled for bike shops that we might be able to top our tires off at (while we were still in civilization). Sure enough, down the road a clip, we ran into this motley crew (not the band, check the definition) at Trek Stop Cycling. WOW, yet another bunch of amazing and helpful people! They were gearing up for a morning ride with no particular destination in mind. We told them about our trip, and they asked us which way we were heading? Apparently, they knew the path and they had a MUCH more bike freindly route in mind. After topping off our tires, they decided to guide us along their bike friendly route toward Boston. Fantastic!































Mark was the Trek Stop shop owner and ride leader. He was also a fixed gear brother! What are the odds!?




































After an hour of smooth riding with our Trek Stop sherpas, we parted ways back on the road to Boston. From here, GPS says that we should jump onto Route 9 just about all the way into Boston. Hmmm, from here it looks like Route 9 is a highway? Well, I'm sure it will mellow out after a few miles, maybe this just a busy stretch. So we followed Route 9 for a few miles. Jeremy had his trepidations about the looks of this route, but I figured the GPS had been pretty realiable for the past 4 days, so I put my faith in technology. That was a mistake this time...
















In a few miles, we were riding on a full blown 55 mph highway with no shoulder. You win Jeremy- ABORT, ABORT! Don't listen to GPS, Route 9 is NOT bike friendly. Luckily, the GPS software has work-arounds for this type of scenario. I re-planned the route specifying that we can NOT use Route 9, and was able to map a parallel path to Boston.

Sure enough, Boston emerged from the horizon. See it there in the distance?
















How about now? There it IS!?
















Can you feel it Peter? *MWUAH* yeah, I knew you could! GO GO GO!
















Well, here we are. This here manhole cover tells me that we're in Boston now, baby! WOOOO!
















Celebratory team high five on the streets of Boston-town!
















Our first stop in Boston was to meet up with my friend Marianne at her job to get some food and recount the day's events. Marianne would be letting us crash at her new place in East Boston, but she had work for a few more hours. After we ate and conversed for a bit, we decided to shoot over to Marianne's place to rest, shower, soak in the victory, and prep for the celebration dinner that we had been planning for tonight (see Delux post).

















Marianne warned us that East Boston was an island and that it would probably be really difficult to get there by bike, but we couldn't hear her over our inflated egos. I mean, we just biked here from Philadelphia! There's no where our bikes can't take us!

Actually there is such a place... it's in East Boston. Between all the construction going on in the city (which is apparently in a continous state of disarray), and the fact that there actuall IS NO bike route onto the island, our powers of GPS were useless against this city. Boston is basically GPS kryptonite (not the lock). Trying to follow my GPS directions sent us in multiple concentric circles sprialing into frustration. Time to conceed to emasculation and ask a townie how to get to East Boston. The first couple of guys we met were, again, very helpful, despite the fact that they insisted upon spelling P-A-R-K while directing us to the "Blue Line" T Station near a parking garage. Strange, but helpful.

So, we took our first of what would be many T trips, bikes in tow. Several people we spoke to insisted that Boston was a very bike freindly town, but every point of my biking experience in Boston says otherwise. I appreciate the fact that the Boston bikers love their town and love their bikes, and have managed to find their cycling niche in this wonderful city, but seriously guys and gals, I would not classify Boston as "bike friendly." "Bikable" maybe, but NOT "bike friendly." Two major hinderances are that you can NOT bike to East Boston- you're forced onto the Blue Line of the T, and you can NOT bring your bike onto ANY other line of the T. That on top of the incessant construction, which I agree is difficult to BOTH cars and bikers, made our 2 days in Boston less than "bike friendly." Sorry guys. No hard feelings, right?
















After cleaning up a bit and relaxing for a while, we hopped back onto the Blue Line and made our way to Delux to meet our Bang! Boston welcoming commitee. Most of these people got wind of our trip through a Bike Forums thread that Peter posted and some others were personal friends. This was really a fantastic welcome to Boston for us. After sharing some food, drinks, stories, and good times, these fine folks even went so far as to cover the tab for us! THANKS YOU GUYS!!!!! The next day they invited us out again, but we weren't able to make it out. Sorry guys and gals, but thank you so much from the bottom of our single speed hearts!














































Since we were staying on the minimum security prison of East Boston island, we had an effective curfew of 11:30 pm since the Blue Line stops running at midnight. Geh. Given the chance, I'm sure we would have stayed to laugh and play all night... but we had to hop back onto the train to Marianne's before we turned into pumpkins.
















Welp, we've officially Banged! Boston. Despite the unfriendly city structure, the city's population more than make up for the traveling trouble. Yous guys are the best. Thanks again!

Map of Day 5 Route: