I ride from Newton MA to downtown Boston daily using a combination of quiet side streets to the Charles River Bike Path and then a short section of downtown urban riding. I then commute to one location in the South End and also to Boston University. I usually do about 22- 25 miles of commuting per day but occasionally as much as 40 commuting miles per day.
I am an artist in residence at Emerson College and an actor. I have more than 35 years of serious cycling experience including 2 trips across the US and one across Canada. I have toured extensively, raced, done triathlons, managed bike shops and worked as a bike mechanic, salesperson and worked as a bike messenger. I road bike as well as commute and do some mountain biking most of it in Western MA in the Berkshires. I ride a Novarra Buzz for commuting, a Gary Fisher Super Caliber Mountain Bike in the woods, and an old custom Reynolds 531 steel framed road bike updated with an all new Campy gruppo.
I've had a wide variety of odd experiences commuting along the Charles for all these years from finding bodies in the river (twice) to pulling out an unsuccessful suicide. I've found an unconcious cyclist- a 65 year old woman whose brand new bicycle's left pedal came loose sending her hurling to the pavement (she recovered from her injuries.) I've chased a coyote along the path at night, had a man in camouflage leap out at me and dodge random Canadian geese almost daily. I've been pulled over by two MDC employees on an empty bike path for "speeding" while battling a fierce 45 mph headwind- I was clocking a roaring 14mph on a section I normally do at around 21mph when it is sans pedestrians.