I'm just back from a very pleasant bicycle ride, mostly through Belmont. Revelations:

1. Belmont has hills. Hills rock! Being much closer to the ocean, the Boston area is much flatter than my previous haunts. Bad news: I can't climb like I used to when I rode up Petersburg pass every week, and I wasn't that good even then.
2. Steep hills require lots of braking on the way down. Who knew?!
3. Left turns across busy intersections are a pain in the ass.
4. Even more on a bike.
5. Even even more at the bottom of a very steep hill.
6. Even even even more when your chain pops off the ring.
7. And then, you suffer. Suffer the indignity of dismounting, fiddling with your chain for a few seconds, then crossing the street like a total sissy, walking your shiny blue bike while wearing a spandex outfit so outrageous that you'd never even conceive of the possibility that normal people might see you wearing it except when you're zooming by at 19.7mph. Click, clack go your wacky shoes; shoes that someone, somewhere (in Italy) has probably put through a freakin' wind tunnel to improve their aerodynamics.

The good news is all is well in the end, and I've gotten a nice full-body massage thanks to the copious potholes on "Pleasant" street.

Note: A prospective longer ride is to continue down Pleasant St into Waltham, turn left on Main St, continue to Watertown, and try to find my way back home via Allston and Cambridge. There might be lots of traffic but the geographical experience would rock.