Bike to Billerica and back

[dmaze]

My goal for yesterday was to go about 40 miles without too much in the way of hilliness. I also didn't feel like planning a whole lot; looking at past attempts, I figured a good thing to try would be the plot of "get to Washington Street in Winchester, then go north forever, then go via North Billerica and Carlisle home". This went fine until I remembered an hour in that I had an evening commitment and maybe I should try to get home faster. Plan B was "okay, punt Carlisle, but take the route back via the Bedford VA Hospital"; plan C was "oof, still feels out of the way, go straight back via Middlesex Turnpike". Didn't die by the Burlington Mall, and in fact still came in just over 40 miles. Route map

I feel like I'm pushing myself a little this year, mostly because I'd kind of like to do the Climb to the Clouds century in July. That's good, really, even if I don't quite have my bike legs back yet. I was clearly slowing down as I crossed back inside 128, and biking on autopilot through Lexington was a little weird. I also need to figure out how to carry more than two water bottles' worth of liquid (not hard, now that I have panniers and not the backpack of three liters of water).

Those paying special attention to the map will note that I very carefully avoided the MBTA/B&M shops in Billerica. This wasn't intentional, honest! I had a route in mind, and I think next time I go that way I'll go around North Billerica rather than through it. The parts of the route that weren't 3A, the military-industrial complex, or the Burlington Mall were in fact quite nice...the challenge, as always, is getting outside 128.