Slang Editorial :: Never Underestimate The Value Of A Holla'

Sunday, June 21, 2009
The Eyes (And Spokes) of Boston

The little feller above is a groundhog I chased under this barn. We are in the middle of a 5 minute staredown.

I've had an amusing and quaint weekend in Boston. I knew it was set to rain for much of the time but I brought my bike anyway--the forecast on Friday evening in Boston was looking like I would have a window of a few hours with either little or perhaps even no rain and I felt like chancing it. It turned out to be a good move, as there was no rain at all and the weather was in fact quite beautiful.

Of course, it wouldn't have been a Fung Wa adventure without something unexpected happening, which in this case turned out to be that the bus driver decided to drop us all at the Prudential T stop rather than the South Station terminal 1.5 miles away. 1.5 miles isn't necessarily a big deal on a bike, but it's a little more so when you've been dropped off in a city with which you are entirely unfamiliar and your iPhone battery is nearly dead. I had taken the time to print out maps of a specific route i'd chosen to take me from South Station to my grandparent's house in Holbrook, taking care to avoid highways and certain other roads. But I had to sort the first part of the trip out the window since it made no sense to trek all the way east to South Station just to have a map to follow. Instead I just headed off on my own and made my way, missing a few turns and rolling through a sort of less than great hood or two, but overall it turned out ok. The route I took, about 16 miles long, is below:

Map #1 Prudential T Station (Boston) to Gram's (Holbrook)

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The next day we went to my Uncle Tom's house in Rochester, MA. I hadn't planned on biking but the weather turned out to be nice and my mom encouraged me to roll, so I sat down with my phone (no computer internets) and planned out a 34 mile trip taking me from Routes 139 to 18 to 28. The ride was pretty great minus a headwind for the first 10 miles, but for the last 24 I think I was riding about as fast as I've ever ridden, as the whole trip took me about 1 hour 45 minutes (an average of around 19mph). I had emailed my bike bro Mike D right before I left to let him know I'd be biking down in his homeland and texted me minutes after I arrived in Rochester to give me advice on a better course than the one i'd chosen... Haaa, yes, of course. Next time, I guess.

Map #2 Gram's (Holbrook) to Uncle Tom's (Rochester)

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I wanted to bike back to Holbrook too but it was 7 when we left and starting to rain and I figured I was probably more tired than I wanted to believe, so I rode in the car with the fam.

I fell asleep that night around 11:30 (also so the previous night) and woke up this morning at 7:30 to pack my things and say goodbye to the grandparents before heading on my way to my other uncle Rob's house in Easton. I found a route on my phone that looked good, said Adieu, and set off on the 14 mile journey.

Map #3 Gram's (Holbrook) to Uncle Rob's (Easton)

View Gram's to Rob's in a larger map

The ride was pretty nice--there was a very very light rain but the air was warm and part of the trip went through a pretty park loop so I was happy.

When I got to my uncle's, I was invited to drink a cup of coffee while relaxing in his new hot tub and my unfamiliarity with such things made the experience feel rather luxurious. We shot the shit for a few hours and he made me an omelette and then I got ready to leave around 11:15 to ride from there to Back Bay Station in Boston where I planned to catch my 2:30 bus back to New York

Of course, as I was putting my still-damp bike clothes back on, I realized that their new puppy Toby had found my stuff and had his way with one of my socks and one of my flip flops:

This dog was incredibly cute and, on the plus side, the hole was in the top part of the sock and the sandle straps are still attached, so it wasn't the end of the world, but it was still silly.

Unfortunately, right after I left the house it started POURING rain and continued to do so the entire 24 miles to Boston. I had put my computer inside of a garbage bag within my pack, but I was concerned for its safety, and of course the bag--with my camera and clothes and books--was pretty heavy. Worst of all though was the fact that about 7 miles into the ride I blew out the back tire tube on an empty stretch of Rt 138 and had to stop and change it (photodocumented on-the-go here). Thankfully I made sure not to be an unprepared idiot before I left NYC and brought along a spare tube, my pump and tire levers, and was able to make this the first and only time I've ever been able to change a tube on this bike without popping one first or having great assistance from others nearby. After changing the tube I hopped back on my bike and got on my way again, enjoying an otherwise uneventful--albeit very wet--ride into Boston.

Map #4: Uncle Rob's (Easton) to Back Bay T Station (Boston)

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I finally made it to Back Bay Station around 1:40 and I very happy proceeded immediately to the nearby restroom to change out of my wet stuff and wipe the sand and dirt off of me before putting on some (relatively) dry clothes. I then called Cabbie for help on finding the exact location of the bus pickup (thanks Cabbie, you always make winning easier when life confuses me) and went out back to stand in line for the bus... at which point the ticketman approaches me and informs me that there ain't no bikes allowed on the fancy double-decker Megabus.

Thankfully I managed to plead ignorance with the man and convinced him to let me take the bike and now, here I am typing this lengthy post. Challah.

Hi, Jess.

Labels: biking, fucktactics, lolgore, maps, travel

posted by Nihilist Loves Hate, Hates Everything at 6/21/2009 04:19:00 PM 1 comments

1 Comments:

Jess said...: Hey, Ben.; 6/21/2009 06:08:00 PM