MassBike Spins to the Harbor Islands
10:00 am, Sunday, July 24, 2011

On this seventh annual ride to Boston's Harbor Islands, we'll bike a total of 30 miles from Charlestown, starting along the waterfront, then through Everett,and Chelsea to East Boston, where we'll stop at the Blue Caboose at the south end of the East Boston Greenway sometime between 10:45 and 11:00 am. We'll check out the East Boston waterfront trail before following the Greenway and streets to Revere. We'll head east to Winthrop and follow the shore to the tip of Deer Island. We'll ride back through East Boston, stopping at Constitution Beach for lunch--there are lots of fast food places over the footbridge on Bennington St.--then cross Chelsea to the Mystic River and back to Charlestown.

You can also start the ride at 9:00 am in Adams Park in Roslindale Square for a 45+ mile ride. We'll start down the Washington St. bike lanes, the Southwest Corridor, Columbus Ave. bike lanes, and the Rose Kennedy Greenway to the Charles River start.

Details Where: Meet at the New Charles River Dam in Paul Revere Park in Charlestown. When: Departing at 10 am. Distance: about 30 miles. Pace: Relaxed, 10 mph plus stops. Terrain: Mostly flat. Route: Mixture of busy streets and shared-use paths. Lunch: The lunch stop is at Constitution Beach in East Boston, where you can swim if it is hot. Photos: [2011 Ride] [2010 Ride] [2009 Ride] [2008 Ride] [2007 Ride] [2006 Ride] [2005 Ride] Leader: Doug Mink Brought to you by the MassBike's MetroBoston chapter.	Cyclists on Deer Island, July 26, 2008
Map and Cue Sheet Map and cue sheet (1.7Mbytes in Adobe Acrobat PDF format Cue sheet in plain ASCII text JPEG map (3.4Mbytes) JPEG altitude profile (152Kbytes)
Getting There Bicycle From Boston's North End, the Boston Harborwalk which passes under the Charlestown bridge to the south end of the dam has been closed recently, so you should enter off Causeway St. east of North Station. You can also follow one leg of our route from Sullivan Square in Charlestown or the Gilmore Bridge from Cambridge if you are coming from north of the Charles River. MBTA You can take your bike on T rapid transit lines and some bus lines for no extra charge. Details are on the MBTA website. From North Station, turn (right from Orange Line, left from Commuter Rail) on Causeway St., then take the first left after North Station to the dam and cross it. Car Parking in Charlestown is very challenging. Please consider biking or taking the T to the ride. You can pay to park at the Sullivan Square MBTA lot a mile from the start or a commercial garage close to the start on Constitution Road.

Bailout points

You can turn around in Winthrop before we head south to Deer Island or leave the group on the way back in East Boston or Chelsea, if you are headed north, or Sullivan Square, if you are headed west.

We'll go by several Blue Line stations in Revere and East Boston and will pass the Sullivan Square Orange Line station twice.