Did about 100 miles on the Masi today. It doesn't have a computer so I had to trace it out on a map. (I'd mount a Cat-eye on it but I'd hate to cover up those nice Cinelli logos on the bar, and I've found I use all the taped sections.) Rode a circuitous route from home over to Harold Parker State Forest in Andover, and a more circuitous route home. It's my personal longest.
A few events from today's ride:
About 25 miles in I got stung by something under my watch strap. Never saw what it was.
There are a few significantly STEEP hills in Andover, just long enough to be a real pain.
Investigated alternate routes on the return but found nothing better than the original plan worked out from Rubel's bike map.
At one point I had to double back and do some exploring because a bridge was out.
At one intersection on the return where I stopped to check the map I had a nice conversation with a fellow cyclist, a woman who came up on a bent and asked if I needed help. It turns out she rides distances regularly, has ridden the Pan-Mass Challenge which amounts to back to back centuries. She told me about that bridge, said it would take a while to be fixed because the towns were fighting over who was responsible.
I stopped in Concord on the return for a bite to eat and some water from the public fountain, and as I was putting the bike off the curb to ride away I heard another cyclist behind me tell someone "That's the bike from
Breaking Away." We spoke briefly, and he said "That's a real classic." Ah, it's nice to be noticed!
The post-ride beer tasted mighty good. It was a good day!