Riding in Boston area

[wintershade]

I'm trying to figure out where to live in Boston metro area. My wife and I will both be working in downtown Boston. Living in Pittsfield or Northamton is not an option. Some of the neighborhoods my wife is considering are "West Subburbs" such as Newton and Weston (which are probably about as far west as we'd want to go), and Northwest subburbs such as Belmont, Lexington, and Wincheter (which is probably the outer NW limits for a reasonable work commute), or maybe something closer in such as Brookline.

Any guidance there? Like -- how far west or north do you need to get before the roads get emptier for nice long road rides?

I think all of these places are fine.
Netwon definitely is a little more developed...Not quite a classic city, but effectively a collection of 13 villages. So theres sorta like several town centers. Ultimately its closest to Boston. That also means you get more traffic...but once you get outside it, and head SW in particular, it does open up towards the Dover/Sheborn area.

Lexington/Winchester/Belmont are IMO better launching pads for rides - Lexington in particular. A ton of rides (individual and group) head primarily out west.

Really to answer your question, once you get outside of the Route 128/I-95 crescent, which is 20-25mi from true Boston downtown, it opens up a lot w/ alot of land that was historically farmland 1700's, farmstands, apple orchards, etc.

Thanks Sped540! We're starting to narrow our options to Newton and Wellesley (Wellesley Farms, Hills, or Center). Do you think there is any appreciable different in the quality of long rides starting from either? My wife usually lets me ride for ~3 hours most weekends. My preference would be for as much of that to be quality riding (open roads, minimal lights/stop-and-go) where I can just settle into a nice 80-85% FTP effort with a few threshold efforts here and there with maybe a short 10 min warm up getting in/out of town.

How does the riding leaving from Wellesley area (down to Dover you mentioned?) compare to heading west from places like Lexingon (in terms of terrain, road quality, traffic, etc)?

Thanks a ton man!

[jrobart]

Lived in Stow Mass and road with the Monsters in the Basement club out of Concord for 20 years.Great riding in the Concord, Harvard, Groton area and easy access to routes out to Wachusett. Only rarely got down to the Wellesley/Dover area, but I don't think you can really go wrong in the Metro West area.

[Fideliojbc]

Hey, what about Lexington. Is there any interesting and long road route to ride?


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[thedanplasse]

I've heard good things about blue hills area, don't have any first hand experience though.

Being on the south coast of MA it's a little ways from where youre riding, but I've noticed there are usually nice back roads just a few miles from any big city.