The Boston Krazy Bike Loop

October 2, 2013


It was going to be maybe the last hot day for Boston (was 80F all day). Three of us decided to bike Boston (again after a shorter ride last week). Starting at the boat launch site (on Morrissey Blvd) into Boston, while following the marked (as much as possible) bike paths and bike street routes. As we were feeling our way down the Fens, we realized that we could make a loop and avoid going through downtown Boston again. The loop went up the Harbor Walk, into Boston, through the financial section, along Charles, down to Olmstead Park, the Arboretum, Franklin Park, Mattapan, Dorchester, and back to Neponset for a 31 mile loop.

Yikes, and at rush hour at the end. Not for the faint of heart if traffic bothers you. And there are hills in the Boston suburbs. Bike routes and paths seem to start and stop without much continuity. An interesting introduction to biking around Boston and route finding.

The gps track is not consistent in the downtown Boston because of multipath signal reception. In part of that area it is even in the wrong road. In other open areas it is excellent to adequate.

When in Google Earth, use the "street views" to get an idea of the route. The blue line in the street view is the gps track.


If you wish to examine the GPS tracks, follow this manual method. Install Google Earth on your computer (if you don't have it already installed). Click on this KMZ track file and if there are options, click Open, if a choice to Open with is shown, make sure it is Google Earth. If Google is not an option, follow an alternate method. Google Earth will shortly open and import the the GPS tracks. If the terrain shows without the track, check "Temporary Places" in left column, and click on the one that says gps track or similar. Alternative options...

Google Chrome (and the new Opera) are different. Click Save As (do not concern where, default for Windows is Downloads), click Save and you will see an transparent arrow lower left go to a box with the kmz file in it. Click once on the file and Google Earth will open with the tracks. An option is available to have Chrome automatically open this type of file.