Today, though, we did a family bike ride, all four of us. And what a ride! The day was gorgeous, if a little chilly. We left the house right on time at 9am and rode up the Minuteman trail to the end. It was pretty crowded between Arlington and Lexington - sometimes uncomfortably so. We were all masked up and still warming up a bit, and I wasn't sure how the day would go. But once the crowds thinned out, we picked up the pace, everyone was having fun, and it was clear that we were in for a nice day.
From the end of the bike path in Bedford, we rode up Railroad Ave towards Concord, which eventually merged onto Rt 62 into Concord Center, and then another short shot to the Old North Bridge Visitors' Center. We had a short diversion to the Great Meadow Lookout tower and admired the lovely views there. There seems to be an easy, direct route to our destination from there, but no bikes allowed unfortunately.
We found a great shady spot under a tree and set up our picnic. There were a good number of people there, but not crowded by any means, and everyone kept their distance and pretty much behaved as far as I could see. I'd filled one entire pannier with goodies, including pretzels, sandwiches, Wegman's Picnic Chicken, Fig Newmans, carrots, grapes, and apples.
We stayed there eating and relaxing for about 90 mins before finally heading home. The ride out was about 15 miles, and everyone did really great! It was another 13 home, and some of us struggled a bit - but no substantial complaining, and everyone was very pleased with themselves at the end.
All the bikes also behaved well - and Kim was on her 18-year-old Fahrrad Manufaktur, which I dusted off just the other day! She'll have her new Rivendell soon - then we can avoid lots of the roads we were stuck on today by using the Narrow Gauge Trail and the Reformatory Branch Trail.
What threatened to be the biggest challenge of the day was all the public bathrooms being closed. I was super worried about that, but we managed fine. I unreservedly made use of hidden spots off the side of the road, and the girls held out until finally succumbing at the Lexington Cumberland Farms.
Awesome day all round!
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