Moving to Boston/Cambridge and seeking cycling suggestions - group rides, routes, what to avoid and when

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After seven years of living and cycling in Switzerland, I’m moving to Boston in less than three weeks. I’ve visited a few times, but I know nothing about cycling there other than it’s supposed to be cycling-friendly. I’ll be in Cambridge, so I’m looking for route suggestions, including where to go, when, and when and where not to go despite heatmaps etc. I’ve been generally a solo rider due to my schedule here, but joining a group there would offer clear advantages.

I ride both road and gravel, though I don’t know how my current definition of gravel – formed here in eastern Switzerland, where I’m accustomed to being thankful for 47mm tires, seek out / can’t avoid 15-28% gravel, dirt, and/or rocky/rooty climbs, sometimes wish for a front shock on some descents, and see only 1000’ per 10mi as flat – will fit with riding in the area and beyond. Though I’ve been riding my gravel bike more often here than my road bike, I expect that to switch in Boston, but that’s an assumption as I prefer to roll out the door and not drive to a start point, whenever possible.

Personality-wise, I am not (or perhaps no longer) an aggressive rider wanting hammer-/sufferfests. IOW, I’m not looking for a group that wants to rip each other’s legs off at every meet-up.

Any suggestion is welcome (other than to stay in Switzerland). Thanks in advance.

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MIT Cycling Club Routes

https://cycling.mit.edu/routes/

Charlie Baker TT route should be good to 10-mile loops.

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There are several local cycling groups here that do weekend Rides. WheelWorks, Quad cycles, and Landry’s I think all do some sort of ride. Many people in the area will head out to the Walden Pond or Concord Center and ride from there. There are a lot of groups that ride out of that area and into Lincoln, Carlisle, Harvard and such. Ohh, another group is the Charles River Wheelmen. I have done the rides with Quad cycles in Arlington a couple of years back. They are a good group often with several options depending on distances and paces.

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I’m in western MA but bought 2 bikes and some wheels at Landry’s. I’ve always had great experiences there.

It’s also a bit of a hike for you (maybe 2 hrs west from Boston), but D2R2 is absolutely worth the drive in August.

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You’ll want to get out of Cambridge as quickly as possible. It may be Bike Friendly, but the drivers here are lunatics and most of the roads suck. Urban riding at it’s finest.

Fortunately, Minuteman Bike Path goes out to Bedford and then plenty of loops from there, so you can get out of town quickly.

No gravel that I’m aware of without driving, but plenty up in NH. With the exception maybe being the Middlesex Fells (near me) in Medford, but I prefer that on a MTB.

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You could be talking about the English Cambridge too :joy:

When it comes to Boston to Cambridge, its doable but a car would be advised if you’re doing it often :wink:

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Im not sure what Google’s definition of a very steep hill is though :joy:

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Although not far off the route you have http://www.pidleymountainrescue.org.uk/
:wink:

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A great list of routes, thanks. Some of the CX and MTB routes look worth exploring on my gravel bike.

I’ll check them out. I’ve visited Landry’s on CommAve to check them out and order a pair of new shoes (now waiting for me… I’m also, obviously, looking for a new LBS) and may join them for their Wednesday(?) night ride on the 26th. I’ll check CRW and others, too.

Frank, I actually signed up for that, but alas, family scheduling issue came up and I can’t do it this year. (I asked the organizers to convert my entry fee into a straight donation). Maybe I can get you to haul me around some trails out that way.

I’m thankful for the good options. Now to explore and find the routines that work. Any times of day to avoid or aim for during the week or weekend?

Oh yes, when speaking with folks like you, I make it clear I am speaking of Boston USA and not the one there. The two are, um, a bit different. Before the 7 years here in Switzerland, we enjoyed nearly 3 years in the UK, west London (W4) to be specific. :smiley:

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Rush hour, and Saturday / Sunday afternoons tend to be the worst from a traffic perspective. But, the honest answer is I think you just have to get used to it.

I started keeping a list of potential events for next year in New England and New York. All 1-day driving distance. This is where I’m at for now. (We probably could start a dedicated thread for this one to get more input too). Combination of Road, Gravel, XC here.

(Edited to add suggestions and details from other posters in this thread, comments not necessarily mine)

  • Tour of the Battenkill (Road/Gravel)

  • Carrabassett Backcountry Cycle Challenge (XC)
    https://cbccrace.com/

  • Wilmington Whiteface 100K (XC, Gravel if you’re a sadist)

  • Mount Washington Hill Climb (Road)

  • Vermont Gran Fondo (Road)

  • Vermont Overland (Gravel) - Tons of fun; this one is fairly hardcore due to the amount of Class IV roads (think 90’s mountain biking, basically). Beautiful area, well-run race, and a really difficult/interesting course. Last year there were just too many people (1500 max entrants), so this year they dropped it down to 1000 max. Registration fills up in like 20 minutes, so don’t dither.

  • VT Monster Gravel Grinder (Gravel) - couldn’t do it this year, but I definitely plan on doing the Titan next year. Really fun rolling hills down there.

  • Kearsage Klassic (Gravel)

  • Raid Rockingham (Gravel)

  • Raid Lamoille (Gravel) - Super casual but very fun event. Rather than a mass start, they do a rolling start so riders can head out on the course any time between 7:45 and 9:00am or something like that. All of this combines to make it very much NOT a race, so people are much more relaxed and chatty than most other events I’ve done. The same group organizes the Raid Rockingham and Kearsage Klassic, too, so I expect they’d be similar.

BikeReg Gravel Grinders:

Additions from others in this thread:

  • D2R2 (Gravel):
    D2R2 - The Deerfield Dirt Road Randonnée - Franklin Land Trust

  • Rasputitsa (VT - Gravel) - difficult but very fun race, and the organizers go out of their way to keep things light and fun. Very well-stocked feed stations (cookies, fruit, maple syrup, whiskey, beer and more). Brutal last couple of miles.

  • Muddy Onion (VT - Gravel) - a smaller, local gravel grinder put on a shop in town. Very well run with an interesting course, and it starts and ends in downtown Montpelier, so you can grab some food and beer in town right after.

  • Tunbridge Ranger (VT - Gravel) - Very fun ride on a great course, super well run.

  • Circus Ride: I’m also running an event called the circus ride, much smaller, REAL hardcore 90’s MTB course. Chunky Chunky, small event limited to 250. Harder than the 40 Miles 6000’ suggest. Circus Ride Online Registration I’m not saying everyone should come to my event, but there’s lots of great small ones out there. Deer Farm has a gravel event and an amazing CX race, its in Maine/NH.

Facebook Groups:

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Do we a need Boston-area Discord/WhatsApp/Strava Group/etc.?? I mostly operate as a lone wolf because of my erratic work schedule. I have hundreds of routes of various distances in Metrowest Boston / Middlesex County that I’m happy to share—just don’t want to post the collection publicly because they all leave from my door.

These are the two main routes I take into/out of the city (pulled together as a loop). If you’re riding in the Metrowest (=Concord area), these are the routes that everyone takes.

In terms of shops, I use Landry’s Charlestown for my day-to-day needs (buying parts, fixing my mtb RD when I eat it in the Fells) because it’s the closest shop to me and they have good hours. The employees are good people and the mechanics are super friendly. I had my road and gravel rockets built by ATA Cycle in Concord, so I take them there when they need work.

Other resources that haven’t been mentioned:
Green Line Velo group ride (Wednesday nights)
Apex Velo group rides

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I’d be up for this…I live on the north shore and got routes up here but am always looking for new stuff

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I’m in western MA and recently joined the MA Gravel Facebook group. People readily share great routes from all over MA. If you’re on FB, I highly recommend popping in there and asking for recs.

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I lived in Malden for about 4 years and just moved to Rhode Island last week. The drivers in Boston aren’t the best, but they are not the worst. I definitely recommend a Varia and preferred taking Mass ave to arlington/lexington (rather than the minuteman) and then exploring Carlisle, concord, and sudbury, which are amazing to bike through. I rode with CRW and the Rippers who have amazing routes and people. Boston has a very large cycling community, which is great!

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Your best bet for close gravel is reformatory branch/minuteman loop. I did that on a weekly basis for years, while living in Arlington. There’s also shorter gravel (and good MTB routes) in the fells. Check out JRA cycles.

I now live in VT, which has closer to the terrain your used to, with general rides being over 1000’ per 10 miles, so expect to find your way north from time to time.

If you have any interest, think about getting involved in cyclocross, the boston area is great for that, and theres even two option for wednesday training races (morning or night)

Honestly, for living in the city, I do beleive he mountainbiking can be quite good. Youcan ride to the Fells, or the western greenway quite easy. Plenty of good driving options inside of 40min.

I would imagine most your rides on the roads will reach towards lexington, concord, carlisle, lincoln, sudbury, etc. Generally some great rides out to Harvard (the town) as well, heading through the forementioned towns and acton.

I never liked riding south, except for group rides, north is tough, theres sort of a gap in “safe” roads. Using the minuteman bike path (or mass ave) to get west, quickly was always my choice.

MA drivers kind of suck, but most areas around populated cities do, so im not sure its worse.

This is the reformatory/minuteman gravel I was talking about, just use the paved minuetman trail to get there from arlington: Concord Gravel | 17.7 mi Cycling Route on Strava

something like this was a ride that I had many variations on: RD_Arl-Con_39 | 38.9 mi Cycling Route on Strava

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Oh, and one ride that is just amusing is to go out to Lincoln to Pony Henge. Just because its amusing,
https://maps.app.goo.gl/49PJH2PujPMV8ZPK6?g_st=ic

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I can add a little detail to a few of these:

  • Vermont Overland - Tons of fun; this one is fairly hardcore due to the amount of Class IV roads (think 90’s mountain biking, basically). Beautiful area, well-run race, and a really difficult/interesting course. Last year there were just too many people (1500 max entrants), so this year they dropped it down to 1000 max. Registration fills up in like 20 minutes, so don’t dither.
  • Raid Lamoille - Super casual but very fun event. Rather than a mass start, they do a rolling start so riders can head out on the course any time between 7:45 and 9:00am or something like that. All of this combines to make it very much NOT a race, so people are much more relaxed and chatty than most other events I’ve done. The same group organizes the Raid Rockingham and Kearsage Klassic, too, so I expect they’d be similar.
  • VT Monster Gravel Grinder - couldn’t do it this year, but I definitely plan on doing the Titan next year. Really fun rolling hills down there.

For Vermont, I’d also add:

  • Rasputitsa - difficult but very fun race, and the organizers go out of their way to keep things light and fun. Very well-stocked feed stations (cookies, fruit, maple syrup, whiskey, beer and more). Brutal last couple of miles.
  • Muddy Onion - a smaller, local gravel grinder put on a shop in town. Very well run with an interesting course, and it starts and ends in downtown Montpelier, so you can grab some food and beer in town right after.
  • Tunbridge Ranger - Very fun ride on a great course, super well run.
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VT and gravel go together like peanut butter and jelly :star_struck::star_struck::star_struck:

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Can confirm, I’ve done almost all of these now. The Ranger and Muddy Onion are my favorites right now.

I’m also running an event called the circus ride, much smaller, REAL hardcore 90’s MTB course. Chunky Chunky, small event limited to 250. Harder than the 40 Miles 6000’ suggest. Circus Ride Online Registration

I’m not saying everyone should come to my event, but there’s lots of great small ones out there. Deer Farm has a gravel event and an amazing CX race, its in Maine/NH.

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All this talk isn’t helping my desire to N+1 my fleet and add a gravel bike this winter :rofl:

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I’d be a fan. I’m in Medford right near the Fells personally.

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Some pics from an early morning ride over the weekend (Calais/Marshfield area). (note: it’s pronounced “CALis” not “calAY”)

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And @scurran - hah! I rode that a bunch back in the 90’s and a got a nice pang of nostalgia when I saw your event on BikeReg. I’m not sure I’ll be around that weekend but I’ll definitely be doing the event if I am.

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