Have searched Forum and got some great advice about Boston but looking for some specifics as I try to figure out which area of Cambridge is best for someone who needs easy access to swim/bike/run. Any advice will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
http://www.cambridgemasters.com/
2/3. I commute to/from Cambridge nearly every day by bike, ending/starting near Harvard Sq. I use the Minuteman bike path from Alewife to Bedford. During the warmer months, it is very crowded until you get to Lexington if it is a nice day, so the first 5-6 miles I just plan on taking it easy. Once you get to Bedford, the nicer riding begins, and pretty much just keeps getting nicer until you get to Worcester…Concord, Acton, Stow, Harvard, etc are the towns you are looking for.
Go to this page, click “information on this database”, and then put Bedford into the search box to find some suggested (many of them with cue markings on the road)
routes:
http://www.crw.org/CueSheets/index.php
Good luck!
Thank you kdw.
I freaking hate riding in cambridge. Here are my recs:
Don’t take this the wrong way, but every time a thread about Boston pops up, you chime in with your uninformed nonsense.
It’s probably 5 miles NW to get away from the traffic (live near H, since you’re farther West than MIT). The problem is all the little towns are chock full of lights/stop signs. You gotta get outside of 128 before things really open up. Heading out toward Lexington is always a good call.
Biking in Cambridge/Boston is a disaster. The drivers are rude/aggressive (I had bruises on my left shoulder from getting wacked now and then by sideview mirrors).
Welcome to the Hub, the place I enjoy living 6 out of 7 days of the week. On the 7th, I want to hang myself.
Ahem, anyway, having moved here from Boulder, CO a few years ago I was scared that I would hate it. But for outdoorsy types it’s not so bad actually. It’s compact and therefore easy to get out of town, it has lots of lakes and waterways, an outstanding running culture, and two conservation areas within city limits (Middlesex Fells and Blue Hills).
Are you moving to Cambridge per se for sure? Because if you want to be a triathlete it might be easier (and cheaper) to live in Arlington, especially if you have or are contemplating a family soon. If not, and you want a good mix of nightlife and affordable living, then the area around Inman Square is great. It’s also within easy biking distance to MIT, which has the area’s nicest pool. And Hampshire/Beacon Streets pass through it, which are your cycling gateway out of town.
As for when the riding gets nice, well, the easiest route to nice riding out of Cambridge is to go west on Beacon St. through Porter Square, up Mass Ave into Arlington Center where you can pick up the Minuteman Bikeway, then ride into Lexington where you pick up Mass Ave. again and then head west toward Concord (cycling paradise around here) on route 2A. From my place in Arlington it’s a 45 min ride so from Cambridge it would be at least 10 to 25 min longer. Invest in a good trainer if you are looking to do 45-60 min interval rides…
Have searched Forum and got some great advice about Boston but looking for some specifics as I try to figure out which area of Cambridge is best for someone who needs easy access to swim/bike/run. Any advice will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
When I lived in Cambridge I only ever rode on weekends because it took too much time to get out of town. When I did go out, I took the Minuteman bike path to Bedford and there is a lot of good riding starting right away. You can also take Mass Ave out the entire way, which is what most real cyclists do, but you have to be willing to run red lights or it will take forever (which is why I preferred the bike path). The ride is around 13 miles from Cambridge to Bedford. It is not a fast ride, so probably 45 minutes.
There is an alternative or two to going all the way out of town though. For example, there is a good climb in Arlington/Belmont (very near Cambridge) that you can do intervals on.
Yes, Eastern Ave. in Arlington features a rather nasty ~0.5 mile climb that is good for intervals. You can also do flat fast ~4-5 min intervals on the stretch of the Mystic Valley Parkway alongside the Upper and Lower Mystic Lakes.
Actually if you go up the access road parallel to route 2 it is over 1 mile straight up near eastern
.
That’s a great workout
.
When I lived in Cambridge I lived in the Watertown/Belmont area, where there is easy access to Cambridge/Harvard Sq on the bus and easy access out to Trapelo Road to Concord and Lexington. Ride to Walden, do your swim there, and ride home. Miss it.
Cambridge is a neat place to live. I didn’t find it such a bad place to ride - the cars don’t go so fast, due to the narrow and horribly maintained roads, so I didn’t find them so dangerous. But I wouldn’t expect to do anything that resembles bike training on the roads of Cambridge. A good trainer would be worthwhile. I obviously agree with others who recommend heading west from Lexington, but I also enjoyed riding by heading north from Arlington and Winchester in the direction of Newburyport.
One of the upsides is that it’s a great place to run. The Charles Basin is one of my favorite places to run. And the Minuteman bike trail that others have mentioned is a much better place for a long run than for a bike workout. I did most of my Boston Marathon training around the Charles or on the Minuteman.
The Deal:
Swimming:
Looking for a great master class then Cambridge Master Class is great; swimming at Harvard University
Open Water Swimming:
Walden Pond in Concord; end of story, buy a yearly pass then get there on off hours (they close down the park if it fills up)
Biking:
Also Walden Pond/Concord/Bedford…
A Trainer
Minuteman bike path…but only 20ish miles…kinda not worth it unless you are training for sprints.
Running:
Best part about Cambridge; run down to the Charles River; there will be waterfountains, water breeze, eye candy, people to “race” by, bathrooms, dirt and pavement.
I once saw that Cambridge was one of the best places for a Triathlete to train…IMHO…nowhere in NEW ENGLAND is a great place to train due to weather. But if i had to pick a place Cambridge would be it…
I know Cambridge has a woman pro that lives there cant remember here name I think it is Dede Griesbauer…I think.
Anyways enjoy
Will echo a lot of what posted above: MIT’s pool is awesome, head out to Walden for OW swims. Best riding is outside of 128 and is easily accesible via the Minuteman Bikeway, but as someone else noted the earlier you are on the bikeway the better as it can get pretty congested with rollerbladers, dogwalkers, families with strollers etc. Plenty of options once you get to Bedford, heading out through Concord, Carlisle and beyond. Another option is the North Shore with some great routes heading up towards Gloucester and also up 133/1A (nice wide shoulders and good scenery) through Ipswich and Rowley up towards Newburyport. For intervals, if you head up to the Middlesex Fells area and park at the Stone Zoo, the loop around Spot Pond is just under 5 miles and has no interruptions, so it’s great for workouts/time trialing. Good rolling terrain to make it interesting too.
kdw gives good advice, x2 on everything he suggested. Also, there’s informal 2.5 or 5 mile races at Fresh Pond every Saturday morning, which is a good loop to run.
From my apartment in North Cambridge I can ride to the Mystic Lake area in Arlington/Winchester in about 10 minutes. For a quick workout, you can ride up and down the east side of the lakes which is a nice road to ride on. There is actually great riding in Winchester, very hilly and some roads have few cars. When I ride out to Lexington and Concord, I usually ride along the Mystic Lakes and then through Winchester instead of doing the bike path which can be congested and very boring.
If you are interested in continuing to ride your bike frequently and need to live in or around Cambridge, I would STRONGLY suggest you live in North Cambridge, Arlington, or anything west. Anything south or east of Porter Square Cambridge takes significant time to get to decent roads.
PM me if you want more info or if you want to go on a ride.
Walden is a swamp right now (July-August) Stagnant and hot and if your not there at 5:30-6am to swim in the swamp,is loaded with way too many bodies and parking is a joke.
Masters group (not class) BU Harvard, MIT all have Masters programs with many options AM/noon/PM
Minuteman is for commuting, period.
Dede does not live in Cambridge. 
Walden is a swamp right now (July-August) Stagnant and hot and if your not there at 5:30-6am to swim in the swamp,is loaded with way too many bodies and parking is a joke.
Have you been there recently? Just saying because if you want a swamp… try Lake Gardner… That is also as bad as the Lincoln Woods cess pool.
I have been at Walden 3 times in the last weeks (Last Thurs morning, Sat morning, and Tuesday afternoon) No parking issues and not overly crowded in the water.
Water is not the best, but hardly what I call toxic or swamp. Visibility even yesterday on a steamy day was 6 - 7 feet (i.e. I can see bottom but it is still too deep to stand) and despite about 6.5 miles worth over 3 days, still no GI issues. If I did that in Lake Gardner, I would have an IV in me now, in Lincoln Woods, I would have strange growths and look like Swamp Thing.
Water is warm, but yesterday when I went out around 4PM, I still through on my sleeveless because I was swimming alone and like the protection of the extra buoyancy when there are not other around. Was a little steamy, but survivable since I was just cruising and working on form, if I was pushing it would have been too hot.
Rather than face the chaos of the Minuteman Bikeway, Massachusetts Avenue from Harvard sq to Lexington Center is a much more training friendly route. I’d rather be aware of the cars and the car doors than deal with the walkers etc… More hills on the road too.
From Lexington it’s not far to Concord which is the gateway to the great back roads of Acton, Stow, Harvard, Bolton etc…