Breaking up the Ride: Orange-Blue-Green Ride (7/12/14)

Atop Great Blue

Trip: Orange-Blue-Green Red Ride
Distance: 27.25 miles
Sights: Blue Hills, Shuttle Buses

The trolley pulled into Mattapan Square.  Marc and I grabbed our bikes to head aboard.  The inspector stopped us: "You're not planning to get on with those are you?"

"yes... he's bike is busted."

"Sorry you have to get on the 24 bus to get to Ashmont."

And thus a mini-odyssey home began.

****

Threes hours earlier, Marc and I had started in Davis Square for my Orange-Blue-Green Ride.  It takes the Orange Line Bike Trail to Franklin Park, then Blue Hill Ave out to Milton and up Great Blue, and finally home through Stony Brook Reservation and the Emerald Necklace.

We successfully made it down t the Orange Like Bike Trail via the Fresh Pond and the River.  It was great to show Marc other parts of the City.

After riding out of Franklin Park, we took the left onto Blue Hill Ave.  "See those bluish looking hills over there," I said...

"They seem like a far way off."

"Probably 4 or five miles," I said.

We made our way across the Milton Hills on Blue Hill Ave - including the tough one up to the Fire House and the slightly easier one you think is the Fire House - but isn't.

To finish off the first half of the ride, is the Category 4 Blue Hill Access Road Climb: 400 feet over 0.9 miles.

Since I had my commuter Baske Ostarije, instead of my faster (and MUCH lighter) road bike I decided to take it easy early.  Eventually as I got near the ski area, I realized i had the energy left to just charge the rest of the way.

I made it to the top next to the Observatory.  BAM!

I waited for Marc to finish up.  And I waited.  And I waited.

Eventually, I thought it was like when I did it in 2012, my companion had to walk up.

I started to head down on foot to see if I could see Marc.  Sure enough he was walking up.

"Well," he said. "At least, I didn't start walking because I was tired."

I looked down and saw his chain hanging off with the derailleur disconnected from the bike.  Marc had shorn the derailleur off his bike:

Broken Derailleur

Marc and I stood at the top of Great Blue without a clue what to do.  "I have a chain wrench... at my Apartment in Cambridge." I said.

Fortunately, a guy with a chain breaker did finish the climb.  He lent it to us.

Unfortunately, Marc and I couldn't figure out how to make his bike into a single gear bike.  We did get the chain off and decided to ride/walk the mostly downhill from Milton back to Mattapan, in an attempt to get on the trolley and Red Line back to Cambridge.

Marc atop Great Blue

We sailed down Great Blue and most of the hills back to Mattapan.  After being denied a trip on the trolley (or Ghost Train), we got on the 24 to Ashmont and then onto the Red Line - but the Red Line was running shuttle buses from JFK to Broadway - stupid Red Line.  So after a Shuttle Bus to Southie, we went for Burgers and Brews at the Cornerstone before hopping back on the Red Line.

Now Emerald Necklace so it's the Orange-Blue-Red trip today.

All photos by Marc MacDonald.

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Congrats to Urvi for finishing the two day 150 mile Tour de Cure over the weekend.