Charles River Ride

Spring starts somehow slowly this season. Snow is gone, it's getting warmer, but I still can't spot a single new green leaf or flower on trees. Despite cold nights and mornings, weather this last weekend has been very cooperative so yesterday I decided to drag my sleeping body out of the cozy bed at 6 a.m. and go for a bike ride.

 

Instead of exploring the usual rural suburbs of the city, I rode straight south to Waltham and then picked up the greenway along Charles River.

 Prospect St Bridge in Waltham

It was pretty chilly at this time of the day (about 27F or -3C) but fortunately the air was still with not much wind. I quickly reached Watertown.

 A rare unpaved section of the Charles River Greenway

This is where Charles River gets a bit wider and where I joined the bike path along Soldiers Field Rd. Next, I passed Harvard and got to the BU Bridge. I was moving pretty quickly forward even though the bike path along Storrow Dr is very narrow in places.

 BU Bridge - one of those rare places where 4 means of transportation could (theoretically) meet in one place at the same time: a plane, a train, a car and a boat

The sun was up higher in the sky and heating me nicely, which was very welcomed as I finally reached North End and I could feel the cold wind coming from the ocean. I didn't spend much time there and crossed Washington St bridge to get to Charlestown.

 USS Constitution in Charlestown Navy Yard - in active service since 1797

 USS Cassin Young, across from the "Old Ironsides"

I circled around Charlestown visiting "Old Ironsides", the Navy Yard, Bunker Hill Monument and finally moved towards Museum of Science.

 Tobin Bridge

 Riding downhill from the Bunker Hill in Charlestown

From there, it was just a simple ride back home along Memorial Drive in Cambridge. The views of Boston are obviously great but the bike path itself is not so much fun to ride as you can easily encounter here swarms of joggers and very bumpy surfaces.

Zakim Bridge and I-93

I was back home after 60km (37mi) at 10 a.m. - right on time for a late Sunday breakfast.