Chris; I respect Sheldon and his opinions, but wish if he had a complaint or opinion on the ride and its route, it should directed to either the Museum of Transportation, myself or Maurice Bresnahan. I'm not aware of any complaints on the ride from the last few years, and have only heard compliments in years past. I'm talking to a few different people to head up the ride this year and it is a possibility to change the route.
Sheldon, if you have any suggestions I'm listening !!
Peter Naiman Glendale, WI
"Barbour, Christopher" <Christopher.Barbour@tufts.edu> wrote: Sheldon Brown wrote:
David Toppin asked:
>
>How long is that ride in miles?
I did this ride last year, and won't be doing it again. Unfortunately a very large amount of the route is on narrow urban bike/pedestrian paths, really not suitable for group riding. One section led us over a narrow, pedestrian-only boardwalk that was half fallen into the water of Jamaica Pond. I found it quite scary.
It's unfortunate, because there is excellent road riding in the vicinity of the Larz Anderson, if you head southwest through Brookline, Dedham, Newton, but this ride chose to head into the urban congestion of Boston and Cambridge.
Sheldon "Roads" Brown Newtonville
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In the past two years that I have led this ride with my friend Jack Demarest, we have received many compliments on the route from participants who enjoyed themselves. Of course an Emerald Necklace ride is by definition an urban ride, but contrary to heading into congestion, most of the ride is off auto roads, and this has facilitated conversation and intermittent riding in pairs. A ride to the suburbs would necessitate cycling in single file amidst a stream of cars and SUVs, making for a much less convivial tour. Many would agree that Olmsted's parks are splendid scenery, and find the shaded, unpaved carriage paths along the Muddy River to be delightful riding. The organizers of the event are to be commended for wishing to show visitors some of the best of Boston's sights.
The trails around Willow and Ward's Ponds are a favorite little diversion of city cyclists who enjoy a bit of off-road work when time does not permit ranging farther afield. The short loop around Ward's Pond (not Jamaica Pond, closed to cyclists) is an easy woodland trail open to bikes and practicable for road bikes with sensible tires; I don't know about it being scary, but it has been common to see cyclists there, even before the repair a year ago of the boardwalk on the south side of the little pond. There is an option of a short, exhilarating drop to a ford across the stream feeding the pond, whereas less experienced off-roaders can exit the area on the high path. My daughter executed this crossing at nine years of age on her Raleigh Spacerider, and the ford elicited many smiles and favorable comments on the Museum show ride in 2004. Several of last year's participants asked to repeat that part of the route, and surely the V-CC members' bikes were the only ones ever to sport mud at the Larz Anderson show. The floods of October 15, 2005 unfortunately eroded the stream bed, and further flooding on May 13 of this year might have rendered the ford unserviceable.
Although it is not in my plans to attend this year, I would wager that the routes followed in the past two years were traversed by the ordinary in the 19th Century, with the exception of Ward's Pond, a three-minute sidetrack that one can take or leave according to his or his machine's abilities. See for instance "A Wheel Around the Hub," Scribner's Monthly, February, 1880. If the ordinary comes to town in a truck, perhaps there is room also for a safety, to cover all possibilities? To go to a cycling event and have no ride would be the waste of a good day.
Christopher Barbour
Boston, Mass.