I’ve done the Westwood–>MIT commute about a dozen times now. I won’t say how long it takes me–again, I’m just getting started and quite slow–but there are a few things I still haven’t figured out yet. If you have thoughts on the below, most appreciated!

1. The most direct path for me is up Washington Street in Dedham and over Bellevue Hill. I don’t love this route because 1) Washington St is a bit hair-raising (until the bike path) and Bellevue Hill isn’t fun either up or down (especially in the dark or rain).  I have taken an alternative path that avoids Bellevue Hill though it involves a busy segment of Centre St I don’t love. There’s also a bit of a hill on Centre St. I’d love to avoid if I could, though I think the only way to do that would be Baker St to Spring St (which is as bad as Centre St). So far, so good.
2. From there to downtown Boston is pretty straightforward if I go up the Southwest Corridor / Pierre Lallement Bike Path. But I hate what comes next. Getting off the path at Mass Ave has been a bit difficult. Going until the end of the path at Dartmouth St is equally difficult. The best thing I’ve found is to stay on the path (or on the Columbus St. bike lane until West Newton, and then snake through Back Bay to the Mass Ave bridge. Any improvements over what I’m doing? I’ve seen a possibility of jumping off of the path to take Hemenway – no bike path but it would save a mile or so.
3. But I don’t love the Southwest Corridor because you have to stop so often. I counted about more than a dozen intersections, more than half of which had stoplights. So I have instead tried going up the Jamaicaway path, which is great except for a couple of things. First is getting to the Jamaicaway path in the first place. If I take my usual route up Washington St to Forest Hills, the quickest way I’ve found is to ride on the sidewalk (or through the park) to the Arborway rotary and then up the sidewalk to the pond. Another possibility, which is a bit safer but takes longer is to go up the Pierre Lallement bike path a bit and then head west. Instead continuing on South St to Centre St would be a bit faster, but then again you’re on South St and Centre St.
4. Another possibility for getting to Jamaicaway would be heading west around the Arnold Arboretum — the southern end is way too steep for me to go straight through it, and then I still have the reverse-Arborway problem. One way is to take W Roxbury Pkwy up to Grove/Newton/Pond, though I’ve driven through and those seem like narrow roads with lots of traffic.  Another way I haven’t tried but am thinking about is W Roxbury Pkwy but then snaking through the hospital and some residential and just meeting up with Pond just before the pathway starts.
5. Jamaicaway is great b/c there are few stops. You can pretty much go straight from getting on the path to Route 9 (Perkins St. light is usually green). Of course getting across Route 9 is a bit hairy, as is heading up Brookline Ave to the connector St that gets back on the Riverway but I can’t imagine any alternative to that. Then next bit o’ fun is getting from the end of the Riverway trail to the Fenway trail – I just don’t see a pleasant way to do it though maybe I need to try a few different paths. Thankfully it’s not all that tricky to get from the end of the Fenway path to Boylston and then Mass Ave (it’s close enough to the bridge that I can hack it).

Thanks for any help!

well this is the third spoke I’ve broken (fourth, actually – the first time it was a pair). the first time I think I hit a pothole, and the second time i fell over, but this morning I was just coming up the hill to our house in a low gear when I heard the infamous ‘snap’.

sigh. maybe I need to drop some pounds and try this again later in the season.

Christmas morning brought a bevy of biking accessories.

For commuting:

• Topeak MTX bike rack
• Topeak MTX basket – I had thought about getting the DXP bag with panniers but decided I didn’t want to repack my backpack into another bag on the days I’m biking. this way I can just put my backpack in the basket
• bright orange hunting vest for visibility

For winter:

• Pearl Izumi Barrier Lobster Gloves. my fingers have poor circulation, so these really do the trick to keep me warm.
• same brand booties. I used to think these were overkill and that I’d be okay with toe warmers, but wow they make a difference
• felt insoles to keep the bottom of my shoes warm (i don’t wear bike shoes). these coupled with my balaclava and I’m toasty. just need to put tape over the vents in my helmet.

Went for a 9m ride today in sub-freezing weather and was totally fine. What a difference! Another 10m ride tmw, and then I’ll try the commute on Monday.

that’s “ie” not “y”

christmas shopping took me to Landry’s Bicycles today. finally picked up some lobster mitts  and at first got some toe warmers / coverings. but it seemed like the salespeople were trying to tell me that the toe covers just wouldnt’ be warm enough and that I should go with what they call “booties.” these are things you slip over your shoes, with the hope of blocking the wind and giving you some insulation. we’ll see how well they work.

the only bummer is that the snow really closes off a bunch of shoulders that are otherwise good for riding. oh well.

well it oculd’ve been more dramatic, but no. i was just stopping at a red light on charles st, and i guess I got my foot steuck in the toeclips, and over i went. at least i managed to fall to the right, away from traffic. didn’t hurt me, but some damage to the bike:

* my blackberry holder popped off (no great loss)

* the derailleur got pushed back almost into the spokes of the rear wheel such that it brushes against them when i shift into low gears. gotta get it fixed.

btw charles st is no fun at night due to all the double parking!

on a train home last week, a fellow biker chided me for being scared to bike on the parts of Washington St. that don’t have a bike lane. so this morning I decided to give it a try. I rode from Washington St. in Islington (a.k.a. Westwood) through Dedham and Roslindale (and over Bellevue Hill) to Forest Hills.

scaling Bellevue Hill was easier than I remembered, and heading down the other side was less harrowing than last time. the only scary moment was when a UPS truck came within a foot or so of me on the part w/o a bike lane. other than that I was fine.

this was also my first attempt at taking the Jamaicaway bike path. instead of messing with the awkward transition from the Arnold Arboretum to the pond, I rode up the Pierre Lallement bikeway to Green St and then headed west to Jamaicaway. the bike path is great, with far fewer intersections than the Southwest Corridor so you can really get moving and make some time. the un-fun parts of this were crossing Rt. 9, and heading down Beacon St from the end of the path. next time I may try going to the end of the Emerald Necklace at Boylston, as much as I hate Mass Ave.

so I went to the Boston Bikes update this evening. had to leave early to catch a 7:30 train home (not yet up to riding home in the dark).

it started a half hour late, and instead of getting Nicole we had to sit through a 20-25m advertisement. arrrgh. her stuff looked interesting but I only got to see the first few slides.

at least she and the city are primarily focused on improving the roads. yes, that’s the #1 thing. here’s hoping for more bike lanes. Mass Ave in Boston, anyone? I can dream…

for whatever reason my hands and feet get cold really easily. sometimes i even wear (thin) gloves in the office to keep warm. so, as you can imagine keeping the footsies warm has been a challenge.

I started off wearing tennis shoes that had mesh to let the air in, which was great in the fall but as the weather turned colder it became unbearable. so i got some regular shoes and that helped with the wind but on longer rides i still got cold over time.

so i went to landry’s cycles and they sold me a $17 pair of wool socks, saying those would do the trick. i can’t tell that they’re any better than my tube socks though, and the thick wool socks I got for $2 a pair at walmart are at least as warm. i double up on both types and did pretty well.

i wonder if battery-powered socks are in my future…

I thought it would really slow me down to bike to work, but actually it hasn’t been that bad. about 1:20 from home to campus, and that’s taking an extra mile to avoid some hills. if I went straight over washington st (or up via Jamaicaway) i bet i could hit 1:15.

driving to the train station is about an hour. today i rode my bike to the train station and took it on the train (woke up late, so it was after rush hour) and that took 1:15. not that much faster than biking the whole way