turns out that my bike commute involves the highest point in the city of Boston: Bellevue Hill. It’s 330′ at its peak, though the part that Washington St. traverses is closer to 300′. I had been calling it “Mount Washington” until I realized the proper name.

It’s pretty steep, so I have been looking for ways around it. Centre street in West Roxbury is one way (only 200′) but it’s really busy with traffic and has no bike lane, so that’s not great. Another is to come up the hill on Enneking Pkwy through Stony Brook Reservation, which still means going up the whole hill but with a bike lane, not much traffic, and a slightly more merciful ascent.

Another alternative is the paved bike paths in Stony Brook Reservation, but these are fairly torturous for me at present.

Even so, parking at Stony Brook is only a good idea if you are taking the commuter rail home (getting off at Hyde Park). Otherwise it leaves your car in the middle of nowhere, and you have to climb Bellevue from the other side and then ride your brakes down Enneking (probably OK when it’s *not* raining…)