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Small
Wheels Meet Big Dig in Boston
By Lynette Chiang
 In
November I happened to mention in the YAK
that I was going over to Long Island on personal business and received an e-mail
from Bill Redford and Anna Kleinfeldt cajoling me to join the inaugural Boston
Chapter Ride. The ride would be a tour of the Big
Dig project, "the largest and most complex urban infrastructure project
ever undertaken in America", says the blurb. Bill just happens to be a BigWig
on the Big Dig, hence knows the secret handshake. The generous offer of an Amtrak®
train and ferry ticket, more tempting than scarfing an entire fillet of finely
sliced sashimi salmon with Kikkoman sukiyaki dipping sauce in front of the telly,
was enough to get my editor to give me a day off from my Cuba book.
I took the beloved midnight blue Crusoe,
the little 20 lbs. bike that captured so much attention on the Bike Friday® California
Road trip. All I needed to do was add a simple Planet Bike light set ($18) in
case I got stuck in the dark, which was inevitable, and throw it in the suitcase,
which took all of ten minutes.
At Eugene airport I dumbly asked if anyone was going to open the case and mess
with the contents. The lady at check-in placed her hands over her ears. "If
you tell me it's a bike in there I will have to charge you $50 even though it
looks like a suitcase". Lesson: Don't let the cat, or the bike, out of the
bag. The women with the magic wand was more interested in scrutinizing my Harley
boots when the internal steel shank caused all kinds of bells and whistles to
blare. Once I touched down in Long Island I was whisked to Montauk by my editor
Barney where I unpacked the bike and immediately took it out for a spin. The Crusoe
is so light and easy I could carry it on my shoulder down to the beach. The 11-25
cassette was ample for the hilly terrain, though if I had one of my own I'd probably
put on an 11-32.
When I was ready to go meet the Boston folk I popped the Crusoe in the soft bag
and my  editor
drove me to the ferry at Orient Point. I'm only 5' tall, yet I could carry it
on my shoulder without having the forks scrape my ankles. I also discovered that
the smaller Crusoes fit into the compact Travel
Bag without taking off the front wheel. A very tranquil 30 minute ferry ride
later we arrived at New London, CT, a tad late, and I discovered the train station
was just across the road yet due to a fence, an infuriatingly long walk, if you
know what I mean. So: unfold, shove TravelBag in my daypack, and ride like a NY
courier. "You better get that bike in the bag!" said the Amtrak waving
my ticket. Another 30 seconds and the bike was back in the bag, and I even had
time to slide a sock over the stem and turn the crank to the right position so
as to make the package as small as possible. I slotted the bag beside me and settled
in for the 2-hour trip.
On arriving in Boston, I got bemused station officials
to shoot me unfolding the bike for the pictures you see
here. Darn, I didn't get a shot of them ogling the BF
catalog.
 Anna
Kleinfeldt (Llama owner), the leader, and Bill Redford (Project Q and PL owner)
met me with the equivalent a Hawaiian lei, that is, signs saying Bike Friday®
CLUB OF AMERICA WELCOMES LYNETTE CHIANG. We rode to Bill's office where we met
around 17 Club members on Bike Friday® tandems, Pocket Rockets, New World
Tourists and even some big-wheel bikes (BFCA is open to all cyclists) and were
whisked up to the pearly gates of the project headquarters. A large chart on the
wall showed Boston with roads going in all directions. Bill, consulting engineer,
explained the part of the project he leads in layman's terms which I will now
translate to laygalfromunda's terms: What would normally be an enormous concrete
and steel four-leaf-clover has been collapsed into a multilevel 1-leaf clover.
How's that Bill? Do I get my honorary BE (Civil) now?
We gazed out the ninth floor windows at the massive quarry looking like that underground
scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey, where they scooped out the menacing monolith.
The ride took us to different points where we could gaze
upon this gargantuan monument to human ingenuity, well,
as long as you consider the car to be an icon of human
ingenuity. For the most part, people were as interested
in the new Crusoe I was riding, and the single incarnation
of Bill's Project
Q, the tandem that converts to a single bike.
That evening I spent a long time soaking in Anna's hot
tub and inspecting her museum-grade collection of frog
memorabilia.
The next day she dropped me off at a Dunkin Donuts where
I met Bill, and together we rode the light rail into town,
the Crusoe an unobtrusive package between my knees. I
took off to see Harvard University, whipping along the
Charles River with its endless paths on both sides. The
University is a whole district unto itself, like a slice
of London with quirky cafes and ethnic eateries sandwiched
between gracious old buildings overrun with ivy and moss.
I sat in one of the hallowed quadrangles watching denim
and sneakered students walk from Chemistry to Philosophy
to Medieval Studies 101, was comforted to note that they
carried the same textbooks I use to carry and looked no
more brainy than I.
I met Bill later for a hard hat and goggle eyed view of the Big Dig Tunnel, a
place that would soon be roaring with cars. Where is the provision for bicycles,
I hear you ask. Well, there's that wonderful path around Harvard...
Lynette Chiang, Bike Friday® World Traveler www.bikefriday.com/lynette
The Big Dig project: www.bigdig.com
The BFCA Boston Chapter Anna Kleinfeldt and/ or Bill Redford |
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