Ride Around Boston Island
55 Miles for Doug's 55th Birthday
Saturday, September 9, 2006

Doug Mink led this ride to celebrate his 55th birthday, similar to a slightly shorter version he led five years ago to celebrate his 50th birthday. The ride follows the shores of the waterways which totally surround the city of Boston: Mother Brook, the Neponset River, Boston Harbor, and the Charles River. The route was called the "Two Rivers Loop" in Doug's 1994 paper, "A Massachusetts Greenway Network."

For good measure (and to help add the extra five miles, we rode onto the island of west Dedham, which is surrounded by the Charles River and the Great Ditch, which cuts off the meandering marsh section of the river and provides an almost portage-free canoe and kayak loop.

The ride took from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, at which point no one wanted to go home with Doug to eat birthday cake, so he had to do it himself, with a bit of help from his wife and daughter.

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Unless otherwise noted, all photos are by Doug Mink
You may use any of these images with credit to the photographer.


Map of our route around Boston
Altitude profile from start to finish
Click here for PDF map and cue sheet
Click here for ASCII cue sheet

Start of the ride at the Bellevue Hill water tanks in West Roxbury
Fixing our first and only flat

Waiting for the flat to be fixed
Steve Miller at the goose crossing to Mill Pond in Hyde Park

The Old Northern Ave. Bridge into Boston was closed
The Old Northern Ave. Bridge swivelling open for boats

Blue Heron Bridge between Newton and Watertown
Our group of six at the Blue Heron Bridge

Newton Lower Falls
Five of the remaining six at Newton Lower Falls

Footbridge at Newton Lower Falls
Doug led the way over an abandoned bridge in Needham

Charles River from abandoned bridge in Needham
It was sort of a bushwack...

At the start of Mother Brook on the Charles in Dedham

Doug and his 55 candled cake (By Sarah Mink)
Doug blew out all 55 candles (By Sarah Mink)