It Was The Best Of Times It was Worst Of Times

50 miles through 6 towns of country riding.

It was an early morning start for this solo ride.  My first inkling was the Tour de Creme ice cream ride route.  But I also wanted to ride over the Padanaram (paid-nair-im) Bridge,  in Dartmouth, MA. that just opened after two years while under repair.   It didn’t take long to decide to do both.   Most of the ride was a pleasure but then some of it wasn’t.

When I turned into the UMass Dartmouth campus at around the 35 mile mark, my respect for the local weather man was bittersweet. Many complain that they seldom get thing right, this sonofabitch was spot on.  During his 7 A.M. report, he predicted a sunny, warm morning. He also said to beware of the wind sometime around noon.  When I made the turn onto “Ring Road”, it was like I rode into a net. The kind that used to catch the greyhounds at the end of the race. The one that gives when the dogs run into it. Yeah, like that.

One of the highlights of the ride was when I spotted a water pump in a cemetery.  While there I took a short stroll around the ground and found a grave stone marked  “Born 1600. died 1647”.  There were quite a few 1600’s birth dates on the stones.

I struggled here and there on this ride and my legs began to tighten when I had around eight miles left.  However, once I crossed the bridge from the city into my home town, I was like a cow smelling the barn.  All my woes melted away as I pedaled at a good clip the final three miles.

p.s.  I did stop at the marked for some flank steak to make a crock pot Mongolian beef dish.  It game out phenomenal.

50 Miles, 6 Towns of Country Riding from John Sullivan on Vimeo.