Bike Ride to Bubbling Brook

Saturday was a great summer day and an opportunity to put bike, trailer, and child seat to good use. Westwood roads are not the ideal bikepaths for such a setup, but I found a way without too many scary moments. The most difficult part of the trip was walking through the sea of SUVs and minivans in the Bubbling Brook parking lot and standing in line with an impatient toddler behind a couple of soccer teams!

I have a Burley Solo bike trailer and a child seat on the back of my mountain bike. The solo trailer holds one child; the other rides in the seat behind me. I find this more comfortable because it takes up less room on the road than a double trailer--and the kids did not "play well" sharing the trailer.

My biggest concern is, of course, the cars on the road. Gay Street has a number of blind spots and nobody knows what the speed limit is (in fact, it changes 3 or 4 times) but generally, the road is wide enough that I did not feel anyone was running me off the road. Pond and Oak are much better, but Brook, although it has very little traffic, has a few blind curves. I came back on High Street which is scary at the Bubbling Brook end of town, but the shoulder becomes so wide that it leaves plenty of room for a bike and trailer...when people are not parked on the shoulder.

I know there are probably people who think such an activity is dangerous. I'm a very experienced cyclist--I commute to Boston whenever I can and I've thought a lot about how to keep the kids safe. But I think we should enjoy what our town has to offer. It is definitely easier to load the kids into the minivan and drive ten minutes for ice cream--and we will do that more often than the bike caravan. But on a beautiful summer day, a 10-mile or so ride through the town is great exercise and great fun for the whole family!