Biking

Bikers of all ages and abilities will find a trail perfect for them in parks, near beaches, through forests and marshland and in Quincy’s neighborhoods. You can’t ask for more varied terrain than that found in the Blue Hills Reservation, a 7,000-acre urban park with 125 miles of hiking and biking trails through forests and pine woodlands, by ponds and bogs. You’ll see right away why it’s such a popular park for bikers and hikers. Mountain bikers are welcome and will find the trek up to the weather observatory particularly satisfying, especially with that Boston skyline view as a reward. With 27 miles of shoreline, Quincy boasts great beach and water views, too, for bikers, especially in the Quincy Shores Reservation.

This 14-mile loop follows both banks of the Charles River from the Museum of Science in Boston to Watertown Square in Watertown. The quality varies from 12 feet wide with center stripes to 4 feet wide with 6-inch drops at the edges. In some places it is barely wide enough for one bicycle to pass another; in others, there are separate bicycle and pedestrian paths. The path can be entered at any point on the Cambridge and Watertown sides, from all but the Longfellow and Boston University bridges on the Boston side, and from footbridges over Storrow Drive. The Urban Parks Division of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) manages and maintains this path.

Riverbend is not a park, but rather the informal name for a one-mile stretch of Memorial Drive in Cambridge from the Eliot Bridge to Western Avenue that is closed to vehicle traffic on Saturdays and Sundays from 8am - 7pm from late April to late November.

The Southwest Corridor Park is a 4.7 mile, 52-acre, linear park stretching from the Back Bay to Forest Hills. It links the neighborhoods of South End, Back Bay, Roxbury and Jamaica Plain with a street-level, green open space for parkland and recreation. Approximately a quarter of the parkland is decked over the railroad tracks. Adjacent Streets, starting from the Boston Back Bay T station, include Carleton Street, Columbus Avenue, Tremont Street, Centre Street, Lamartine Street, Amory Street. Adjacent to Arnold Arboretum at the southern end.

This is a series of links between parks from the Public Garden to Franklin Park, also passing through Back Bay Fens, Riverway, Olmsted Park, Riverway, and Arnold Arboretum. - Trail Map

Wompatuck State Park is named for a 17th century Indian Chief whom the colonists knew as Josiah Wompatuck, and was later used by the U.S. military during World War II as an ammunition depot. Bicyclists who venture to Wompatuck State Park will find 12 miles of paved bike trails flanked by a peaceful wooded campground. One of the park’s main attractions is Mt. Blue Spring, a natural source of fresh drinking water to which visitors can help themselves at no cost. - Trail Map (PDF)

The Mystic River Reservation is a string of parks and greenways along the Mystic River. It includes lots of trails for biking and walking. Accessible from Boston and Cambridge by MBTA commuter trails.

The Minuteman Bikeway passes through the historic area where the American Revolution began in April 1775. Built by Massachusetts on an inactive railroad, the trail is used by local residents as a convenient, eco-friendly way for commuters to reach train stations. The path is 12 feet wide, plowed in the winter time, and includes lots of stops for refreshments and restrooms at Depot Park in Bedford, the Lexington Visitor’s Center, Alewife Station, and business districts along the bikeway. Trail access in Bedford is available at the intersection of South Road and Loomis Street (exit 31B from I-95); at Lexington Center and Arlington Center, and at the Alewife T-Station. - Trail Map

This 125-year-old Boston city park and Harvard research center was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and has a wonderful set of paved roads that are mostly closed to motorized traffic. Peters Hill, on which you now have to walk the last 200 feet to the summit, provides the best grounded view of Boston from within its boundaries. Trail Map (PDF)