. . . that was really 18 miles.  We were given a map, which was really small, and kind of confusing, and there were also arrows that we were suppose to follow.  We followed the arrows, which I guess was the “wrong” way… and if we had followed the map, it would have been 20.  I don’t know why the two didn’t match up.  Whoever did the arrows didn’t know what they were doing.

Everyone doing the bike ride didn’t start at the same time, which was weird.  There was no starting line… and people just took off in groups.  Jessica (the other waitress riding), and Chris (one of the owners) took off together, and my dad and I, and his two friends, Larry and John, took off about a minute later.  We caught up to Jess and Chris, and the 6 of us rode together for the first few miles.  Once we got onto Ashby State Road, (around mile 3), Chris took off by himself, and left Jess with us.  She wasn’t too confident about riding, and I could tell that she was in the wrong gear, she was peddling WAY too fast.  I rode next of her, and told her, and she said “Well, the other ones are too hard.”  John and Larry took off in front of everyone else, leaving me, Jess, and my dad.  I started going a bit faster than them, so I road awhile by myself.  Then I looked back, and couldn’t see them anymore.  I was alone, and didn’t have my headphones, so I was super bored.  It sucked.  Then, all of a sudden, when I got to mile 5 or so, my dad showed up.  Turned out that Jess had stopped at the first pit stop (she was doing the poker run, and had to stop to get her card), and stopped there.  She was not continuing on.  She stopped at Kinsman road, right after mile 3.  When she stopped, my dad did not stop, and left her there.  Hahahaha… I guess he felt pretty bad when he noticed that she wasn’t behind him anymore.   At mile 6, we caught up with John and Larry.  They had turned around cause they weren’t sure where we were suppose to go.  My dad sent them back to look for Jess, cause we were worried about her, and Larry and John were the super bike riders.

They didn’t see her, and caught up to us around mile 11.

Once we got into Ashby and turned onto 119, it was downhill the entire way!   Mile 7,8 and 9 were downhill through the forest.  It was pretty amazing, but I was scared to be going so fast!  There were also two cars that went by us, and I would say they were within 3 feet of us, going about 40 miles an hour.  That was scary.

Mile 11 and on was pretty flat, with the occassional hill.  It was really nice just riding along, and the four of us were together again.  We were chatting while we were riding which was a lot better than when I was riding alone.

At mile 13, we passed by Lahti Tree Farm, where my family buys our Christmas trees every year.  I had never been there when there wasn’t snow on the ground, and not in December.  It really made me excited for Christmas this year!!!  Last Christmas, I was recovering from surgery, so I barely even remember the holiday.  I had my first surgery on December 17th, it was exactly one week before Christmas.  When Megan came home, she kept brining me shopping with her, and I would get so tired that I had to sit down.  So this year’s Christmas should be a lot better.

Once we got into Fitchburg, we went up Pearl St (which was our mistake, and was wrong according to the map.  We should have turned right onto John Fitch, and then left onto North).  Pearl St is one HELL of a hill, but I made it up the entire way.  I was so very, very proud of myself.  I was on a mountain bike, not a road bike, so it was a lot heavier than the other bike people were on.  John and Larry kept telling me that I should get extra props because I was on a mountain bike.

We got back to Destare, where there was a cookout.  Unfortunately for Larry, there was nothing vegetarian.  There were hotdogs, hamburgers, and grilled chicken.  I chose the chicken cause it was the healthiest of the three.  Then, I went home and made myself another spinach salad.

It was a fabulous bike ride, and dad said that he would do it again.  I am super sore, and it even hurts to sit down.  I’m afraid what I will feel like tomorrow, but it was nice to do both a 5k run and a 18 mile bike ride in one weekend.