We did the 46 mile ride from Littleton MA to Hollis, NH, with a lunch stop at Kimball's Fruit Farm. It's high up on a hill (which you have to climb to get there) where they have picnic tables set up. Gorgeous views of Mt.Monadanock. This is a very shady ride with mostly rolling and some very steep climbs. The ride ends with doing the hills around Lost Lake in Groton, which are steep, but rolling. Then it's on into Littleton where you come down a hill, by the Very Fine juice company. Every year, they sponsor a bike race and that is the finish; I always picture myself winning the race (of course that is just a fantasy to get me through the last half a mile).
I haven't been doing a lot of longer rides this year, so no speed expectations today, just trying to prepare myself for the hills of the Berkshires next week. It was 88 and humid, but thankfully, the sun went in after lunch. As we were eating, we noticed a lot of riders coming by. It was the Memory Ride. One route turned off of our route, but another one paralleled ours. First, the support car tried to take our picture and at one point, a whole crowd was cheering for us as we rode by. That was weird.
And, I learned that it's not a good idea to drink half a bottle of wine and have soft serve ice cream with chocolate dip the night before a hot, hilly ride.