Brompton on the Cape Cod Rail Trail

On Columbus Day, the Brompton and I spent some quality time getting to know each other -- 32 miles of quality time, to be exact.  We hopped in a Zipcar and headed out to the Cape Cod Rail Trail!

Running 22 miles from South Dennis to Wellfleet...

...the CCRT is not what you might expect from a Cape Cod bike path.  There are very few views of the sea.  Rather, it goes deep into the interior of the Cape, through forests, pine groves, cranberry bogs, lakes, and salt marshes.  I've been to the Cape many times, but this was my first visit to this well-known bicycle trail.

I wish I could have rented an extra-tiny Zipcar to get there though, just to prove that the Brompton can fit into just about anything!  But the only vehicle available near my home on this busy Columbus Day Monday was this:

Yikes!  It cost the same as a small car though, so I booked it.  I picked up the minivan at 6:30 a.m. and brought it back home so the Brompton could have a look.

"Fabulous!" said the Brompton with its lovely English accent.  "I'll just hop in the boot."

Ironically, with three rows of seats in the minivan, the "boot" (or trunk, as we like to say on this side of the pond) was remarkably tiny.  Perfect!  The Brompton settled in nicely, and after taking my time packing supplies and stopping for breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts, away we went on the one-and-a-half hour drive to the trailhead in South Dennis.  Cruising through the pines of Plymouth and up-and-over the dramatic Sagamore Bridge, the scenery noticeably changes from an eastern deciduous forest to a sandy near-sea landscape with each passing mile.

Around 9:30 a.m. I turned into the trail's parking lot just off busy Route 134.  It's tucked away between shopping centers and convenient stores, but once in the wooded lot all is peaceful.

This being a cool off-season morning, there were only a few other cyclists in the lot, taking their bikes out of cars and off trunk racks.  But they represented a wide range of riders, from seriously decked-out road cyclists with carbon fiber racing machines, to mountain bikers, to families with small kids.  The CCRT makes room for them all.

Now, as you can see in the above photo, sitting on the front of my bike is the Brompton S-Bag.  Roomy, with a rigid frame on the back panel, it can be worn over the shoulder like a messenger, and then when you're ready to ride it slips into the bike's unique carrier block with a delightfully reassuring click.  Ingenious! Best of all, unlike front-mounted bags on conventional bicycles, the Brompton carrier block is attached to the frame, not the steering column. Steering-column-attached-bags turn with the handlebars, which is very unstable.  But the frame-mounted Brompton bags always face forward.  You barely know it's there.

"OK, that's all well and good," you may be saying, "but what's in the bag?"

Here's my packing list: A spare tire tube, a bottle of orange-flavored Vitamin Water, some paper towels, gloves, a windbreaker, my Kindle, camera, spare phone charger and cord, pad and pen, cell phone, three Clif Bars, comb, sunscreen, sunglasses, and -- most important of all -- a Red Sox baseball cap (to hide the "helmet hair" when I stop riding and take off my helmet.  These things are important).  Tucked away inside the bike's frame was my amazing little Brompton toolkit (more about that later, because it deserves its own post) and the frame pump (watch for upcoming post about that too!).  

I was wearing casual but neat non-cycling-specific clothes (no lycra!) because I think that look fits the Brompton best, and I plan to use the bike for everyday riding.  A bicycle is a beautiful thing, so it's a nice idea to put some thought into what one wears while cycling, especially when riding one as cool and stylish as a Brompton.

So, after unfolding my Brompton and getting it set to ride, I took a quick look at my watch ... 9:50 a.m. ... and then away we went!

It wasn't long before the path ran alongside some cranberry bogs:

During the harvest season, farmers flood these vast bogs with water, causing the cranberries to rise to the top so that they can be easily collected.

I rode through gorgeous forests....

... beside beautiful lakes ...

... and by quaint picket-fenced homes with iconic Cape Cod unpainted shingles.

This was such a different side of the Cape than the sun, sand, and beaches I'm used to.  The Cape Cod Rail Trail is like a magical, hidden passage, calm and peaceful, and only accessible for those who choose a quieter means of travel.

Here the Brompton and I are relaxing in the village center of Orleans:

There were many road crossings, but they were rather quaint, and all cars stopped and patiently waited for cyclists to pass.

The higher up the Cape I rode, the more low pines outnumbered the broad-leaf trees: 

From this point onward there are many side streets one can take to ride to the beach, which I will definitely do someday. But I stayed on the path for this trip.  After riding 16 miles and reaching Eastham, I decided it was a good time to turn back.

Here's the one sea-view I noticed, out beyond the salt marshes of Nickerson State Park:

But it's the magical and mysterious Cape Cod forests that are the real stars of this path.

Not to mention my favorite part -- the bike path rotary!

This is where the Cape Cod Rail Trail and the Old Colony Rail Trail meet.  Of course I rode around the rotary a bunch of times for fun, just like almost every other cyclist on the path.  I must come back and do the Old Colony Trail as well, as it seems to go through some nice towns and villages.

And then at 2 pm I arrived back at my Zipcar.  So doing the math over the 32 miles I rode, that means the Brompton and I averaged a whopping 8 miles per-hour!  And it was wonderful.

I suppose I could have given myself a work-out and ridden faster.  It is fun to zip along on a Brompton.  But really, what would be the point?  I could hear the sounds of the forest above the gently whirring wheels.  I stopped often to have a snack and take in the views.  Other cyclists said hello, and were delighted to meet a Brompton in-person.  With the -12% six-speed gearing and the upright position I chose, this bike is meant to amble along and smell the roses.

A good Lord of the Rings analogy occurred to me while riding.  Some bicycles aspire to be like Shadowfax, Gandalf's majestic white horse that races through Middle Earth at thrilling speeds. For my Brompton though, it's probably better to think of Frodo's little pony, Bill.  Resolute and good-hearted, it slowly but surely makes its way to its destination, even if it seems a bit oblivious to the adventure it's on as it stops to munch on berries every now and then.  After all, it's that steady pacing which is the most beautiful thing about Tolkein's novels.  The tale unfolds slowly, allowing its details to shine though and create the richest and most magnificent worlds, landscapes, and characters.  The Brompton is a writer's bike.

And it rode marvelously over those 32 miles.  I had zero neck or shoulder discomfort.  The shifting is fantastic (more on that in a future post too, because it's so cool), and the bicycle feels solid and secure.  The -12% gearing came in very handy.  I used the lowest gear on all major uphill sections, and I rarely shifted into my highest gear -- which means it was a good personal choice (choosing ease of riding over speed).  I was tired after 32 miles, perhaps more tired than I would have been on my much faster road bike, which is to be expected.  But I was not exhausted.  It was a great ride.

Back into the "boot" my Bromoton happily leaped after the ride, and I set off in search of a well-earned bowl of chowder, which I found a short drive away at The Sailing Cow Cafe across the street from the vast Nantucket Sound.

This was some awesome Clam Chowder.  It was complex and rich, with salt pork and bay leaves rounding out the sea of New England flavors.

A perfect end to a wonderful day.

Brompton in Cobalt Blue

I had three possible colors in mind for my new Brompton bicycle: Black, Racing Green, or Cobalt Blue.

At first I really liked the idea of black.  This being a British bike, black reminded me of those iconic all-black London taxi cabs.  A great connection, right?  Plus, any scratches or chips could be easily touched up with model paint.  No need to worry about matching a specific shade.

But the more I thought about it, the more black felt a bit too utilitarian to my taste, especially after the London cab allusion would fade.

I also was drawn to the idea of Brompton's Racing Green shade.  It would come at an additional cost, not being one of the four "standard colors" for 2014 (Black, White, Cobalt Blue, and Orange).  I love a nice shade of dark green though, so I considered it.  But when I saw Racing Green on a floor model at Harris Cyclery in West Newton -- the shop I ordered my Brompton from -- it didn't quite call out to me.  It was lovely, but not my shade of green.

But then I saw a stock model folded up in Harris Cyclery's window in...

...and I knew Cobalt Blue was the color for me.  It's absolutely beautiful, especially in Brompton's particular variety, which is matte rather than glossy.  As you can see from my last two posts, the color even seems to change very slightly depending on whether it's outside...

...or inside:

While I love Cobalt Blue as a color alone, I also love the things I associate with it.  Like my mother's bottle tree in her garden.  Colbalt is a popular color among bottle tree enthusiasts:

I also love the way Cobalt Blue adds magic to the night sky in art, such as Van Gogh's "Starry Night Over The Rhone":

And if that's not enough, even the name itself has supernatural origins.  Cobalt apparently comes from the German word kobold, which is a goblin that haunts subterranean places.  Silver miners named the substance that produces Cobalt Blue with the belief that these impish little goblins replaced silver with this less valuable material.

So, Cobalt Blue was my choice.  Brompton gives purchasers a two-color option: a color for the frame, and another for the handlebar stem and rear triangle.  But I knew one solid color was for me. Clean, bold, and simple.

The story doesn't end there though.  A short while after ordering my bike, I was looking around some Brompton blogs, and I learned that Brompton is officially discontinuing Cobalt Blue in 2015!  Also on the outs are: Yellow, Sage Green, Claret, Desert Sand, Hot Pink (oh Brompton, how could you?), Apple Green, and Arctic Blue.  Replacing them are three "brights": Lagoon Blue, Lime Green, and Berry Crush; and three "classics": Vanilla, Cherry Blossom, and Tempest Blue.  Old favorites remaining in the line-up are Black, White, Orange, Turkish Green, Racing Green, and Raw Lacquer.

It looks to me like Tempest Blue is the closest to Cobalt, but not quite.  Anyway, while I like what I've seen of the new colors, I also love that I may have gotten one of the last Cobalt Blue Bromptons ever produced ... at least until those subterranean goblins realize what Brompton has done and demand their color back! 

At Starbucks with the Brompton

My Brompton and I are here at Starbucks enjoying a refreshing cup of iced coffee. It's already made some new friends with curious other coffee drinkers.

I'm posting this with my iPhone Blogger app straight from the coffee shop. Trying all sorts of new things these days!

                        

Introducing the Brompton!

Oh my, my new bike is a thing of beauty...

It can also look like this:

Cool, right?  It's a Brompton folding bicycle ... at home on streets and bike paths, as well as folded-up on trains, ferries, and Zipcars!  Perfect for exploring my corner of the world, and a good compliment for my road bike. I took it out on my first ride yesterday, and it's great.  Zippy, but with the comfortable feel of a larger wheeled bicycle.

You can have a look at the current Brompton catalog here.  I especially like the opening pages about their company philosophy. 

For those of you familiar with this storied little British bike, here's the build that I chose:

It's an H6L.  In Bromptonese shorthand that means I chose the H-style handlebars (slightly higher than the standard "M" model), 6 speeds (the maximum offered on a Brompton, and I chose the -12% reduced gearing to match the hills in my area), and the "L" refers to the fenders.  I'm not sure why "L" stands for fenders, but if you know, leave a comment!

The frame is made of steel, and as you can see I chose Cobalt Blue for the color.  Love that color (more on that in a future post).  Oh, and I got the handy cover too.

Here it is in the "parked" mode, with the rear wheel flipped inward:

It's raining today, and while I certainly plan to ride it in the rain in the future (the reason for the fenders) it seems a shame to get it all dirty on only ride #2.  So I'll wait for tomorrow to take the Brompton out again. As we get to know each other, I'll post more details about this unique and lovely little bike!

From the Cafe to the Trail

I had the afternoon off today.  So leaving work, I stopped by Sorelle Cafe near Boston's South Station to relax for a bit with an iced coffee, muffin, and the latest copy of Cyclist magazine.

If there's one thing that's almost as good as cycling, it's sitting in a pleasant coffee shop reading about cycling.

Looking through pictures from the cobbled-classic races like Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, I felt the urge to ride a different terrain myself.  So arriving home a short while later, I hopped on my bike and rode out to the Neponset River Trail.

I passed by the Granite Avenue drawbridge -- a tiny masterpiece from an earlier industrial age...

...and then onto a section of the trail that has been left unpaved.

It's not exactly cobblestones, but zipping over the dirt and gravel I could at least get the sense of flying over a less-than-ideal surface.  Because that's what it feels like: flying.  Keeping a light grip on the handlebars, it's as if the bike finds just the right way through the nooks and crannies of the dirt path.

To the Reservoir

My 40 mile Saturday early-morning ride took me through light rain...

...on Boston's bike lanes all the way to the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, near Boston College.

The sky sure looked beautiful, between short bursts of rain...

...and I passed by the awesome Waterworks Museum, which seemed fitting, considering the wet weather.

The Citgo sign over Kenmore Square greeted me on the way home....

...and I rode by the brownstones of the Back Bay...

...and made a side trip through South Boston.

A very cool adventure for a Saturday morning.

East Bay Bike Path

Around this time of the year, I begin to sense that one amazing ride will come along that will catapult me back into the cycling scene, putting the New England winter behind me once and for all.

Last weekend that ride finally arrived.  I rode the wonderful East Bay Bike Path in Rhode Island:

Running 14 miles along old what are now near-hidden rail lines...

... from Providence ...

... to Bristol, Rhode Island ...

... the East Bay Bike Path is everything a great 21st-century bicycle path should be.  It's beautifully paved with a clear yellow line down the middle, has well marked road crossings (where every car I encountered patiently stopped to let cyclists pass), the scenery is beautiful and fascinating, and it's full of people on a warm spring afternoon.  Plus, the path winds its way through well-populated areas, which I love.  Unlike roads that often shape the landscape around them, bike paths gently meander between backyards, beside parks, along harborfronts, and through forests, making even the simplest sights seem quaint and lovely.

The "Bay" in "East Bay Bike Path" is the magnificent Narragansett Bay.  Running in a craggy southward line from Providence to the Atlantic Ocean, Narragansett Bay is a mix of rocky New England coastal scenery and the gigantic machinery of a busy port.

Driving in a car, you usually can't get too close to large tankers ships.  But on the Providence end of the bike path, huge tankers are just a couple hundred yards away.

 

This one is named "Alpine Mystery" and is registered to Hong Kong.  I'm not sure what the Alps have to do with Hong Kong, or even a seagoing vessel, but maybe that's where the "mystery" part comes in!  Anyway, being so close to a gigantic ship like this is pretty awesome.  You can even here the sound of its engines idling.

Another awesome feature of the East Bay Bicycle Path is the roar of the wind.  The bay's headwinds swooping in from the Atlantic were unbelievably strong, giving this otherwise flat bike path its own unique set of challenges.  But the great thing about battling a headwind on a linear path is that once you reach the end and turn around, that headwind becomes a tailwind, and it's pure cycling bliss the whole way home.

Some of my favorite sights on the ride were the Pomham Rocks Lighthouse...

 ...and little shops along the way, like Dell's Lemonade:

All in all, it was a wonderful afternoon on a perfect bike path, under warm and sunny skies.  If that's not a sure sign that spring has arrived, then I don't know what is!