You aren’t the only one…

[ornoth_cycling]

If you’ve ever driven in Boston, you know what it’s like to have no idea where you are, no idea how you got there, no idea where you’re going, and no idea how to get there. New arrivals are often amazed that Bostonians can successfully navigate the constantly-shifting maze that is our downtown street network.

Each year, the Charles River Wheelmen run a 20-mile New Years Day bike ride around the city of Boston. It’s a pretty fun ride, and hits some of Boston’s more interesting landmarks, as well as a couple of the city’s hills. These rides attract one or two hundred participants, including people who have lived and ridden in Boston all their lives; people who have been members of the Boston Bicycle Advisory Committee for decades; the city’s bicycling coordinator; members of the MassBike Board of Directors. In other words, people who should know these streets like the back of their hands.

Yet it never fails. Despite the fact that the route is almost entirely the same every year, and despite the fact that every rider is given a cue sheet at the start, every year the entire ride goes off-course. Not just once, but a half dozen times. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a new configuration of surface roads near the Big Dig, or side streets in Charlestown that haven’t changed in centuries. It always feels a bit more like a scavenger hunt than it does a directed tour.

Comments

[greatsword.livejournal.com]

In order to really make it a Boston experience, don't you have to route it the wrong way down a one way street, over several sidewalks, and run at least one red light?