Dear AdventuRiders,
Next week is school vacation week, so we have no regularly scheduled rides. However, we are planning the third annual AdventuRides Boston Marathon Ride. The idea is to ride the Boston Marathon route before the official event. The wheelchair racers leave first, and they are wicked fast, so we need to leave well before they leave at 9:00 AM.
Last year we got kicked out of Hopkinton at exactly 7:30 AM. Fortunately they kicked us out of town toward Boston, so everything worked out.
On Monday, April 15th - Boston Marathon Ride.
OK, here's my plan. We park at the Southboro MBTA train station, it's about 32 miles and 41 minutes from Groton Center. We leave there at 7:00 AM and ride the 3 miles UP to Hopkinton Center where the Boston Marathon starts. We leave Hopkinton at 7:30 AM just as they are closing the road behind us and cruise - mostly downhill - to Boston. We should get to Boston by 10:30, how hard can 26 miles, 385 yards be? The top runners will shame us by running to Boston in just a little over 2 hours.
I think if we leave Hopkinton by 7:30 AM we should be all right, at least until we get to downtown Boston. Boyleston Street will be a madhouse, but we can always walk the last 4 blocks. We can get lunch in Boston, watch the Marathon finishers and grab the train from Back Bay station back to Southboro. Here is the MBTA schedule.
People coming from Boston to join us can take Train P503 or P505 and meet us in Framingham.
Here's the schedule:
- At 7:00 AM - Meet at the Southboro Commuter Rail Station. It's $4.00 (cash in 1 dollar bills) to park all day. Here is a map.
- Ride the 3 miles UP to the starting line in Hopkinton.
- At 7:30 AM - Leave Hopkinton (hopefully voluntarily) for Boston.
- At 8:45 AM - We should easily get to Framingham before they close the road.
- At 10:30 AM - We should be in Boston.
- At 10:36 AM, 12:28, 1:21, or 2:51PM - Take the train from Back Bay Station to Southboro. Bicycles are allowed, and it costs $8.75 (buy your ticket before boarding the train)
- About an hour later - Arrive in Southboro.
- Nap!
Let me know if you are interested,
Bill and Carole