Took our granddaughter on a 14.6 mile rt ride on the rail trail. This time, we drove to the terminus (so we wouldn't have to ride 5 miles uphill in spots to where we usually catch the trail). I rode my Ariel, with DH pulling the Burley on his Guru. It was a lovely day, partly cloudy and about 79. We have a terrible heat wave coming next Monday through Thursday, so I really enjoyed this. The first mile and a half was a new part of the trail for us. It now ends near where it will take a path to a new bridge that will be built over the highway and come out about 1.75 miles from my house, in 2021. We rode to a pond in South Chelmsford, where there's a little beach and a swings, picnic tables, and near a Mobil mini Mart. It's really a beautiful spot, that doesn't require a resident parking sticker to park or use the beach.
This was the first time we had annoying cyclists on the trail, but nothing like I've experienced, say like on the Cape Cod Rail Trail. I have a bell on my Ariel, but apparently no one around here knows what it means when you ring it! We were going a long a good clip for a person with a trailer and me on a heavier bike. We sat and had a snack and let her go on the swings, but she didn't want to go in the water. On the way back, we called out to an older couple going really slowly, and the woman weaving all over. She told me I scared her, so I did retort that she was weaving all over the road. When you don't respond to the bell, you get me calling out in my "teacher voice."
It was really fun, I feel like I actually worked, and she is now calling it "my trailer" and my "birdie helmet."