This Saturday: Somerville History Bicycle Tour

[ron_newman]

This Saturday, I'm co-leading a bicycle tour of historical sights around Somerville, on behalf of the Somerville Bicycle Committee and the Somerville Historic Preservation Commission. The ride will focus on the many commuter rail stations that Somerville once had, and on the Green Line stations that will soon take their place.

The ride starts at Somerville City Hall, 93 Highland Avenue, at 10 am. We'll take about three hours to ride about seven miles, stopping along the way at railroad-related sites and at such historic landmarks as the Prospect Hill Tower and the Old Powder House. The ride will end at the Somerville Museum, where we'll enjoy refreshments and an exhibit of the Somerville Preservation Awards.

Rain date is Sunday, June 1, same time and starting location. For more information, e-mail rnewman@thecia.net or call 617-628-8895.

We will ask for a voluntary $3 donation to support the activities of the Somerville Historic Preservation Commission.

A map of the route
A turn-by-turn description (cue sheet) of the route, including elevations. (We won't be doing any major hill climbs.)

Comments

[dariusk.livejournal.com]

Damn, that's too bad. I'm helping a friend move that day.

Nice use of Bikely, by the way. I'm really surprised more cyclists don't know about it.

[makoshark.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I've been using Bikely quite a bit recently and I love it.

[makoshark.livejournal.com]

Bah. I won't be able to make it on Saturday (so I am secretly hoping it rains).

[nora-rocket.livejournal.com]

I hope to make it, Ron! Thanks for posting these; and, from my flatlander's heart, thanks for including notes about hill climbs.

[jodi.livejournal.com]

while i can't make the saturday ride, i will certainly make it on the rain date if it rains on saturday!

this is the first time i've heard of bikely.com! thanks for sharing that. i am pretty sure it will change my life.

[somer-villains.livejournal.com]

as of now, the forecast states 80% chance of rain between 9am and 6pm. how will you determine whether to cancel the saturday tour? will it have to be raining at 10:00 at city hall to cancel? or will you post a cancelation here if tomorrow morning if the forecast still looks bleak?

[ron_newman]

We'll decide by 8:30 tomorrow morning, and I'll update this post (and make a separate post) if we decide to postpone.

(Two weeks ago the forecast looked equally uncertain for Cambridge's spring ride, but the rain let up by 8 am and they decided to go ahead, and got 125 riders.)

[somer-villains.livejournal.com]

cool, thanks!

[ron_newman]

Did you join us? If so, did you like the ride?

[somer-villains.livejournal.com]

sadly, i didn't. i'm only 3 minutes from city hall by bike, so i waited until the last minute and wimped out when i heard the thunder... too bad for me, since it ended up staying dry after all! how many people made it? wish i hadn't wimped out! i did manage to get a ride in later in the afternoon with my wife, so the day wasn't a total loss.

[ron_newman]

At least 75 people, probably more. We had a great ride! Please come to our next one in October.

[ron_newman]

Right now it looks like we're going to go ahead as scheduled. (I don't know if you'll get this in time.)