From kilo3.scul at gmail.com Sun Mar 30 11:53:02 2025 From: kilo3.scul at gmail.com (Kilo3) Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2025 11:53:02 -0400 Subject: [*BCM*] 2003 8 Bridges tour Message-ID: Hello, I'm Kilo3, I do a lot of route planning for the current edition of Boston Critical Mass. After coming across the April 2023 8 bridges tour ( http://bostoncriticalmass.org/flyers/maps/8bridge.pdf) I've wanted to run a similar ride, possibly this April I know this ride was quite a while ago, so not necessarily expecting authoritative answers, but there's a few things that surprised or confused me about the route, so I'm hoping that someone on the list might be able to shed some light. 1. Why turn from Portland onto Main to get to Albany St instead of just proceeding straight onto Albany St? From what I can tell from Mass GIS aerial orthos, the street configuration hasn't changed much. 2. Where did this ride end in Allston? The map indicates somewhere on Harvard street, but was wondering if there was a particular landmark or parking lot. 3. What was Frog's Legs (corner of North Harvard St and Cambridge St) - Kilo3 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rnewman at alum.mit.edu Sun Mar 30 12:23:44 2025 From: rnewman at alum.mit.edu (Ron Newman) Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2025 12:23:44 -0400 Subject: [*BCM*] 2003 8 Bridges tour Message-ID: You are asking about a ride that happened 22 years ago. I don't know if anyone now around here even remembers planning it or riding it. I would never today bike over the Gilmore Bridge from Charlestown when we now have our own North Bank bridge for cyclists and pedestrians. That didn't exist in 2003. It is possible that the section of Portland Street between Main and Albany Streets was closed for construction and we had to detour around it. Maybe there was once a restaurant in Allston that serves frog's legs? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rnewman at alum.mit.edu Sun Mar 30 12:52:04 2025 From: rnewman at alum.mit.edu (Ron Newman) Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2025 12:52:04 -0400 Subject: [*BCM*] 2003 8 Bridges tour In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Another difference between 2003 and now: the Weeks Bridge back then had stairs at each end and was therefore inaccessible to bikes. Now we could easily add it to the ride route and make it 9 Bridges. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mharless at unmappedcities.com Sun Mar 30 13:02:44 2025 From: mharless at unmappedcities.com (Matthew (Max) Harless) Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2025 13:02:44 -0400 Subject: [*BCM*] 2003 8 Bridges tour In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I designed the 8-bridges tour. I had recently moved home from Chicago, where CM was a joyous party for everyone involved, while in Boston there seemed to be a lot of aggression. I was trying to counteract that with a "theme," as was always the case in Chicago. Another thing in Chicago was to introduce frequent turns, to avoid unnecessary driver anger. That accounts for the many turns. I don't remember where the ride ended, but rides were small back then, so maybe it ended at my house? I forget. Frogs Legs is the local name for what is now "Boston Liquor" across from what we still call the "Merit Station" at the corner of Cambridge and North Harvard. There used to be a small sign in the window indicating that particular product (along with many other signs) max On 3/30/25 11:53 AM, Kilo3 via Bostoncriticalmass wrote: > Hello, > > I'm Kilo3, I do a lot of route planning for the current edition of > Boston Critical Mass. After coming across the April 2023 8 bridges > tour?(http://bostoncriticalmass.org/flyers/maps/8bridge.pdf) I've > wanted to run a similar ride, possibly this April > > I know this ride was quite a while ago, so not necessarily expecting > authoritative?answers, but there's a few things that surprised?or > confused me about the route, so I'm hoping that someone on the list > might be able to shed some light. > > 1.? Why turn from Portland onto Main to get to Albany St instead of > just proceeding straight onto Albany St? From what I can tell from > Mass GIS aerial orthos, the street configuration hasn't changed much. > 2. Where did this ride end in Allston? The map indicates somewhere on > Harvard street, but was wondering if there was a particular landmark > or parking lot. > 3. What was Frog's Legs (corner of North Harvard St and Cambridge St) > > - Kilo3 > > _______________________________________________ > Boston Critical Mass mailing list > list at bostoncriticalmass.org > http://bostoncriticalmass.org/list > To unsubscribe email list-unsubscribe at bostoncriticalmass.org -- Matthew (Max) Harless 32 Raymond Street Allston, MA 02134-1133 (617) 858-0046 http://unmappedcities.com/ From kilo3.scul at gmail.com Sun Mar 30 17:04:31 2025 From: kilo3.scul at gmail.com (Kilo3) Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2025 17:04:31 -0400 Subject: [*BCM*] 2003 8 Bridges tour In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Oh thank you so much! This was exactly what I was hoping for when mailing the list - Kilo3 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rnewman at alum.mit.edu Sun Mar 30 17:16:54 2025 From: rnewman at alum.mit.edu (Ron Newman) Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2025 17:16:54 -0400 Subject: [*BCM*] 2003 8 Bridges tour Message-ID: Thanks, Max! By the way, the place marked on the route map as ?This place must have a name?, at Warren and Austin streets in Charlestown, is called Thompson Square. It had an elevated MBTA Orange Line station until 1975. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: