Bike Paths of Massachusetts: A Guide to Rail-Trails & Other Car-Free Places

By Stuart Johnstone and Johnstone Stuart

Bicycle guidebook to rail-trails and other bike paths, both paved and unpaved, throughout Massachusetts. 50 locations include trail descriptions, maps, photos, rules and safety tips, historical... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0962799076
• ISBN13: 9780962799075
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Active Pubns
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

No Cars Allowed!

One of the great charms of Massachusetts is the abundance of bike paths that were put in during the 1970s and 1980s. Whether you like to bike, use in-line skates, walk, or run, these paths will provide you with much healthy pleasure that you could not easily get otherwise. This guide is remarkably complete and accurate in describing your choices for a fun afternoon in the sun.I first became interested in bike paths from riding on the famous path in Provincetown as a young man of 20. Having rented a bike there one day, the lady who helped me said that it was one of the things she was proudest of that she could ride the whole cicuit without stopping when she turned 50. I vowed to remember that and be sure to try the path again when I turned 50. I was fascinated to learn that this route is still considered the state's "most spectacular bike path." Knowing that course well, I was hooked by the book when I realized that it contained good, if brief, descriptions of that wonderful and famous route.The book opens with a statewide map that locates the 34 paths that are described in the book, so you can see where each one is. Five are on Cape Cod, four in central Massachusetts, one each in Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, and the bulk are in the greater Boston area. The Berkshires are bereft. A lot of these paths follow old railroad lines, and extend for quite a distance. Others circulate within a state park. Some local bike paths are included. The MDC reservations in Boston provide many wonderful routes. My older son favors the long-distance routes on the reservations, and he frequently takes the routes along the Charles River on his in-line skates. One of the joys of these paths throughout the state are the views that are unavailable from other sites. The book describes the laws about bike riding and the rules of the road on the paths. Children under 12 must wear a helmet, and those under 1 are not permitted on bikes. On a bike path, you need to remember to stay on the right except to pass. When you pass on the left, you need to make an audible sound to alert the person ahead. Also, these are not places for fast bike riding or in-line skating. You need to go to closed courses for those purposes. These paths are for recreation by large numbers of people. Each path contains information about its length, the difficulty of the slopes, neighborhood you pass through, condition, background of its founding, rules and regulations, orientation of how to find the starting point, a detailed map, well detailed descriptioons of the trail segments, driving and parking directions, the names and relevant information about bike and skate shops that are local (including whether they rent bikes or not), sources of additional information, and a photo of the path. Considering that some of these paths can be ridden in only a few minutes for one circuit, the material is quite extensive. This is the revised and expanded second edition of this work. When t