MA Day 4: the flat route

Well today started off with better planning. I hit up a local bike shop to chat them up for maps and rides. Got a nice map of all the MA roads that indicated hill direction, traffic flow, and paved vs dirt. The last part was definitely key after my beartown state forest experience. Chatted up some family for ride suggestions also. Put them all together and came up with this route:

Was looking for a little easier ride today, so I opted for the route with 'less climbing'. Once I got home and processed my data the reality was I had actually gone harder today....oops. Tomorrow will be a chill ride with my cousin who's not exactly a serious biker. Should be a chill few hours for me....for him maybe not soo much.

Today I was climbing the first major mountain and saw this fun little sign. Sure enough there was a euro style 180 in the road:

Didn't click till I saw this sign at the top that I had picked the wrong side to ascend. In retrospect I would have preferred the longer grinder with the nutty ride down. Alas I was stuck with a short steep grinder then a REALLY mellow ride down. bah. Gravity needs to do more work:

The hair pin turn did afford me a panoramic shot, but it doesn't do the view justice with all the humidity in the air:

Let us not forget to eat our rice crispy treats....GC's orders:

Finally after going down the longer side of the mountain i saw my "fun starts here" sign: Had to take a shot of me rep'n the trails-edge gear:

I will give MA a lot of credit here. If you stick to some of the "major" roads they are very well marked and easy to follow. Deviate at your own risk.:

I guess the circus had come to town this week, but they forgot to remind me I had to perform:

Did I bring my mountain bike? oh ya....oops. I'll be hitting up a local group shop ride Thursday. See what these guys are rocking. Apparently most of the trails around here are hidden / boot legged so that ATV's don't mess them up. I guess surrounding states protect state land / forests so they come to MA and shred the trails. They weren't too keen on giving up their hot spots to an outsider, so I'll have to just ride with them Thursday....

:::ride stats:::
ride time: 3:47:53
distance: 72.40 miles
lost dist: 0 miles (down 100%)
time reading directions and scratching head: 5min (down 83%)
time riding on restricted access roads: 0min (to my knowledge down 100%)