Originally Posted by jimmuller

Wow, lots of nice pics!

We did 71.2 miles on the tandem today (now yesterday), some on the Nashua River Rail Trail, some on the roads in Nashua, Dunstble, Pepperell. That's our longest day yet.

We were out to log some mileage. I'd proposed the NRRT because it was different. Plus, the Rubel bikemap showed a few roads in Dusntable and our GPS (a DeLorme PN-60 with maps and color display) let me see where we were and where the roads went. I wanted to follow a road over to Hollis but we got sidetracked onto 111, which was actually nice until the rt3 intersection came in view. So we turned back, cut over to the trailhead on 111A, stopping at Zacharias Pizzeria first. Then we did a loop in Dusntable starting from the MA trailhead. That loop was so nice we did it twice, then rode rt113 into Pepperell before turning around. Sharon wanted to do the whole NRRT again so when we got back to Ayer we ate a bit then headed north again. It was a long day, about as tiring as the ride we did with you but most of it was flatter. However Dusntable has a few hills too.

The pavement was pretty nice, a few root heaves here and there, most of them marked. Not many road crossings and generally with very good sight lines. Be advised that the MA DCR website is slightly inaccurate. IIRC it says the NRRT is 11 miles. It felt longer and measured about 12.3 from Ayer to the MA trailhead. The end at rt111 in NH is about 12.75 miles, and it actually goes another half mile or so through some housing areas before fizzling out. All in all it was a nice experience.

We should have taken a few more pics from the Dusntable roads, especially the cornfield where the stalks seemed 12ft tall. But we zoomed by that spot after a fast downhill so stopping was out of the question!


Finally, taking a break on the long, final return.