Yesterday was one of my rare week-end rides. It was really incredible to see so many cyclists. Most days commuting I see 2, once I saw 6; yesterday I lost count after 32. Admittedly, this was a longer ride than my usual commute, but about the same as my weekly total milage, so I saw at least 3 times as many cyclists as normal. I was on a 3 hours to turnaround ride on my newest bike, and the first ride that I felt I actually would need my Christmas gift hydration pak. I rode from Norwood thru Concord to Carlisle, returning by way of Walden Pond and the DeCordova Museum. Most of the way I was on totally unfamiliar roads chosen from a Rubel bike map. It was a great ride. I saw an Eastern Bluebird along the Sudbury river, a car that had been converted into a fish sculpture parked in amongst all of the cars around a canoe put-in, got chased by some goose parents worried about their not so small goslings, and ate my lunch watching Phoebe's feeding their recent fledges. I did the 70 mile round trip in 5 hrs 25 minutes. I had to take a couple of breaks to eat on the return, and noticed that I was drinking a lot more on the return than outbound, and I struggled a lot more than I should have with some of the hills on the return, but it was an awesome, satisfying ride. A change of pace is good!