Good ride today. My plan was to see how 30+ miles would feel on the new i30 rims and the larger 29x2.2 (700x55) teravail sparwood tires. To spare any suspense, no issues with the new wheelset other than the 2nd largest gear in the back felt ever so slightly crunchy when I used it. It worked, but it was just annoying enough to make me want to shift into a different gear ASAP. It did seem to be getting better and not worse as the ride progressed, so maybe there was just a small defect on the new rear cassette and the chain will slowly grind it off.
Definitely a ride I'll do again. It's more enjoyable than riding around the reservoir, way less car traffic, and food options were good in Rutland. Nothing high end, but good enough for sure.
Parked at the big lot in WestBoylston, north of the Stone Church on the north side of Wachusett Reservoir. This would be an out and back ride. I rode to Rutland MA to meet Jacqui for lunch at the Maple Diner. Timing worked well. Jacqui only waited 5 minutes maybe.
I did forget to pack one of my biking button down shirts before leaving the house this morning. So i did the ride out in my sleeveless tank top. Luckily most of the ride was shaded so i didn't get burned. I did put plenty of SPF sunscreen on before starting the ride.
Jacqui brought me a couple shirts and a couple towels. Useful for wiping the sweat off before going into the diner, and I brought one to sit on so the people using the table next didn't have a sweaty seat.
I did miss one small section of rail trail on the ride out and I tried a thru trail on the way back, but that turned into No Trespassing at the very end, I just snuck the last 100 ft rather than double back 2 miles.
I've already tweaked my route on Ride w GPS for next time to fix those mistakes.
Here's a brief summary of the ride,
When you start at West Boylston the first 3 miles are on a wide gravel path that's well maintained and heavily used by walkers and joggers. Occasional nice views of the river on the left and swamp/brook on the right. I usually see more ebikes than bicyclists. People don't like the steady climb I guess. It's not bad, I was able to go 5-8mph all the way up.
You come out on River St, which has almost no vehicle traffic. Tons of beer cans along the road sadly. then for a half mile you're on a busy road until you get to the next section of Central Massachusetts Rail Trail. Basically an old railroad bed converted to gravel path. That 2-3 mile section is barely used, probably because it's not scenic. Gets you away from the cars though.
You end up coming back out along a lightly used paved road by this beautiful pond
Then it switches back to barely used paved road that's for the state waterworks workers.
Very cool barn by the road
hell of a climb though, but it's short.
and it turns into a cool shaded path
after that there's a bit of road sections. Rt 68 has super wide shoulders but it's heavily trafficked. Then I turned left on Wachusett and that road was the worst. Steep climb, barely any shoulder, and enough traffic to be annoying. Between rt 68 and Wachusset St, there's almost 3 miles of steady climbing, until you get to the next 2 mile section of rail trail.
Should have taken photos of that section of rail trail. Some nice wetland, woods, and pond views. Only lasts 2 miles. Nearing the end, it's about 1 mile of road to climb to the center of town and you're in the center of Rutland near the diner.
After lunch, just doubled back. Doubling back is downhill to West Boylston most of the way. So don't worry if the ride to Rutland was tiring, definitely easier doubling back.