I live in Boston and am sorta familiar with some of the areas you're talking about. I've found most of my attempts to do coastal rides near Boston kind of disappointing. The road only hugs the water in a few places. Most of the time you've got scrubby forest between you and the beach, so you're barely aware you're near the coast. Or you're in a heavily developed area with lots of fast-moving cage traffic. I'd suggest starting someplace further north like Salem or Newburyport. (Both are reachable via commuter rail from downtown Boston.)
Atlantic Coast Route goes somewhere near there: http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/atlanticcoast.cfm My experience with the ACA maps and routes has been positive. I'd go out of my way to follow one of their routes rather than make my own.
I ordered a Fargo frame last night. There was gin involved. As well as a realization that other than the frame, fork, and headset, I already had all the parts I'd need for a decent build sitting around, sad and unused. But mainly it's your fault, Javarilla.
Thanks for the advice, but I'd rather make my own route or take others' suggestions than pay $15 for a map that might go where I want it to... hey, I'm from NY. I can't help it... Thanks Lou
Using the route search here has worked for me. Pick "find a ride". ^^^ Excellent resource. I'm a member.
This is how I built my race bike. I woke up to 6 different confirmation emails. It's a hell of a bike, though!
Not something that happens everyday going from full sprint to this in rush hour traffic was quite a ride. P.Diddy wil know what to do.
wow. I once snapped a bottom bracket where the left crank goes on while full tilt mashing up a hill when my bike's lowest gear was a 42:16. seen a few broken pedal axles. NEVER seen a snapped crank arm on a decent bike. I'd want to examine the metal carefully at that break and see if there was any flaws in it, like a bubble in the alloy.
Gin + credit card would have been fine. It's the trifecta of gin + CC + internet access that causes problems. Kidding aside, I'd had this plan brewing since not long after I got a dedicated road bike last year. Once I stopped using my cross bike for unloaded pavement rides, I started thinking about a replacement for the cross bike that would be better on dirt and better at carrying a load. The Fargo is about perfect. Also, on paper, it should fit me much better than the cross bike. (I'd known I had fit problems on the cross bike, but didn't realize how much room there was for improvement until I got the roadie, which fits great.) So really the gin just moved the schedule up a few months. I haven't made up my mind about that. I'm not cannibalizing the Monkey to build the Fargo, but I'm thinking about selling it as a complete bike just to make space. In practice I don't find myself reaching for the Monkey very often; It beats me up too much on trail rides that last over an hour. If I'm not riding it, why keep it? But it's special. In smaller doses it's a hoot, and I've learned a lot on it. And I'm a bit sentimental due to the work I've put into it.
I have a line on a new cannondale T1 touring frame (small) and a set of wheels (mavic A719..700c..32spoke with xt hubs..also new) if anyone is looking. Both will be priced at about 1/2 of new.
I was dropping some too-tight jean wearing hipster slacker on a flashy $300 internet bike going uphill. After, I stopped for a pint, then clipped in one side and got on with it.
You had an extra set of 29" wheels and that many other extra parts just lying around?! You're better stocked than our LBS! If it's looking for a home, lemme know.
Yeah, I've got a bit of a disease. I remember telling a friend several years ago that I needed to find a hobby that involved doing something constructive with my hands. Spending all day in front of a computer writing code was driving me nuts, and some sort of 'mechanical' hobby seemed like the therapy I needed. Once I got into bicycling and got comfortable turning a wrench, I realized I'd stumbled into just such a hobby. So I find myself experimenting with various unusual setups just to have an excuse to tinker, and I end up with spare bits as a byproduct. For example: I originally bought the Monkey as a complete bike on eBay. It came with some pretty nice wheels, but I quickly built another set of wheels for it, with wider rims that'd work well running fat tires and low pressures for snow riding. The wheels I built turned out to be a better fit for the Monkey's personality, any time of year. So now I've got the Monkey's original wheels sitting around, and they're ideal for the Fargo. Will do.
My rides have been limited to 6 miles & quick rides to the gym - only 1/2 mile away. My wife was complaining about the light I was using on the rear so I decided to bike over to a local shop - about 9 miles each way. Actually, there are several shops closer - I *wanted* to go to this one. Anyway, I found myself looking for ...uh... shortcuts... dirt, canals, railroad tracks - I found and used them and the Fargo did great. When I arrived, I walked the bike in and leaned it against the front window and looked for the items that I "needed". In less than two minutes, there were three people looking at it - two sales guys and a customer. I'm not used to that when cycling. My last bike was a Mercian-framed touring bike - a very nice bike but most people didn't know anything about it. I took essentially the same route home - but with more dirt "shortcuts".