Conference noted::bicycle

    I have mapped out a great ride from Dover Center, thru Medfield,
    Farm Pond (swimming) and back to Dover.  17 miles.
    
    It includes all of my favorite roads in that area.  I can send you
    a direction sheet.  Please send me your address. (hardcopy mail)
    
    Chuck
    

    
    	There are SO MANY !   It would take from now until after the
    4th to type them all in, maybe such an on line RiDes_Base is needed.
    It might be a lot simpler to drop by a local bike shop and pick
    up a bookful, a title something like, "Short bicycle rides in the
    Boston (or Mass) Area", for about $4.95, has distance, terrain,
    traffic density, etc.   A very nice area is Lincoln, it has the
    Cordova museum, Waldon pond, Concord is next town over, etc.   If you
    go to Lincoln you can find that book at Lincoln Guide Service, they
    also have some freebie route sheets for that area, not a bad bike
    shop too.
    
    	Reg
    

    Care to elaborate on Lincoln a bit?   Where would I park a car?
    Mention some roads, or routes that are good?  I know nothing about 
    the area.  I also doubt that I'll have time to go by a bike shop
    before the friend comes in.  I'll have to try that after he leaves.
    
    Could I get just a FEW more suggestions?  I don't want to start
    a new notes file, but I have at least one coworker who's also interested
    in what you folks would suggest!                              
    
    Charlie
    

    I mailed directions to the Dover ride to you by U.S. mail.

    
    In Lincoln, you can park at the Mall across the street from Lincoln
    Guide Service bike shop.  The Nashoba Valley Pedalers has "Orientation"
    rides of about 10 miles ment for new riders.  These start with
    instruction on riding in a group (much more dangerous/difficult
    than riding alone), sharing the road with cars, and general bikemanship
    (shifting, helmets, equipment, etc).  They are typically on Sunday
    mornings, once or twice a month.  Contact NVP for info. - Chris

    re .3	Sorry I didn't get back to this earlier, I have been
    vac'ing in Vermont for 3 weeks.  Yes, the Mall opposite LGS is an
    excellent starting point.
    
    	Reg
    

    
    	Plotted a new route last night, using a piece of dental floss, a
    	map and a ruler.  More accurately, I plotted a "different" route
    	since this route combines the 2 separate legs of my previous
    	route.  I used to go up a street, backtrack, go up another street
    	and backtrack again and go home.  Now, I go across the border to
    	Douglas MA and combine the 2 legs into a loop to minimize the
    	backtracking.
    
    	Apparently the dental floss we use needs calibration, though,
    	since my calculation was about 1.3 miles off [11.95 calculated,
    	10.66 actual].  And due to me not being smart enough to drive
    	around the proposed route before going up with the bike, I ended
    	up riding up a .5-mile roughly-paved hilly street on the way
    	back ... so when I got home I took the map out again and found
    	that an extra .5 miles beyond this street took me to a connecting
    	street that would avoid it altogether.  So it appears that the
    	route is 11.2 miles long [including an 89% fudge factor based on
    	the previous route calculations] which is pretty close to what I
    	want to do each day, for now.  My daily average [since getting the
    	bike] is 11.6 miles, so I want to do at least that every day ...
    	and I can make up the other .4 miles with a short detour to the 2nd
    	driveway after my street and back.  Takes me an hour, give or take
    	a minute or 2.
    
    	In case anyone knows the area, here's my route:
    
    	Chestnut St. - Chockalog Rd. - West St. - Payne St. - * Martin St. -
    	Yew St. - Locust St. - SE Main St. - Perry St. - Linden St. * -
    	Chockalog Rd. - Chestnut St.
    
    	[The streets between the *'s are at least partially in Douglas, the
    	 rest is in Uxbridge.]
    

    re:.7
    I urge you to look at the "beginner" rides organized by the Seven Hill
    Wheelmen.  They are well run. 
    
    Steve

RE: <<< Note 89.7 by BUSY::SLABOUNTY "Trouble with a capital 'T'" >>>
    
>    	Apparently the dental floss we use needs calibration, though,
>    	since my calculation was about 1.3 miles off....

It might be that your map needs calibration. I have a map book for eastern MA
(aimed at general road usage) which is composed of 100 or so pages of
individual, overlapping maps -- one or two towns per page. I find many cases
where a given area that is shown multiple times on such overlapping map pages
is represented strikingly differently on the different pages. A lake in
Westford, for example, will be round on the "Westford" page yet the same lake
will be long and thin and bent in the middle on the "Littleton" (neighboring
town) page. Ditto for some of the roads -- a given road is shaped differently
across its multiple representations. This suggests to me that the accuracy of
these maps is quite low.

I bet that your bike computer is more accurate than the maps (assuming that you
measure and set the wheel circumference within a cm or so).
						-- Tom

    
    	I set the circumference according to the table in the book, but
    	maybe I'll double-check it to make sure.
    
    	And that's exactly what I used was 1 of those "Central MA cities
    	and towns" books ... and I do believe that the error is in there,
    	like you said.