Beavers, deer, and some minutemen

I did my second consecutive early Saturday morning ride, getting home a few hours before a GI bug caught me and dragged me to the ground (I've since recovered completely).  I took a familiar route, riding out to the Maple Street Bridge and then south to Sherman Bridge Road.  It was a great day to be out.  I wasn't fast and I stopped a lot, and I stopped for a cup of coffee in Lexington.  When my wife saw the pictures of the beaver and deer and the video (mostly sound) of the wetland, she commented that it was more of a spiritual journey than a bike ride.  I'd agree with her. I set no land speed records and still enjoyed myself immensely.  While I love my family and my job, it is nice to get out on my own with no agenda.

My only complaint of the weekend was that I missed riding with friends on the midnight marathon ride.  They had a great time.  I hope to do it with them, and many others, next year.

I was in Bedford by 6:30 and spotted the folks training for Monday's battle.  They were happy to pose for me.

I spotted a beaver while I was admiring the view from the Maple Street bridge.  It went under and slapped its tail on the way down.  Another one soon surface a decent distance from where the first went under.  This one patrolled the perimeter for a while and was not shy.  Despite a lot of time spent in beaver habitat, I've only seen a few prior to seeing this one. Another cyclists, John from Sudbury, stopped to check out the beaver.  We started out together and parted way soon after but he caught up with me later and road for a couple of miles together.

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A few minutes later a couple of deer ran across the road in front of me (not alarmingly close but close enough to remind me to keep an eye out to the sides - I wouldn't want to hit a deer, or be hit by one).

There were less than scenic parts of the trip, passing MCI Concord included.  It's a pretty forbidding place.

Scenic Water Row.  I couldn't resist and took a quick spin down Water Row to the first wetland before heading back to Sherman Bridge.

Wetland sounds on Water Row.

A video posted by NEBicyclist (@svillecyclist) on Apr 18, 2015 at 11:22am PDT

Another scenic spot on the ride, Sherman Bridge.  It's a great bridge and you get a sense of the breadth of the river near flood stage from here.

I finally spotted pony henge.  I thought this was in a field far from a paved road.  When I stopped here I was certain that this wasn't the pony henge but I have been corrected.

I did the ride on my IF road bike.

The ride wasn't all perfect.  On Concord Road, a quarter mile from the Lincoln, Sudbury School, I saw a deer, clearly struck by a car not so long before.  I called Sudbury Police, who promised to contact the people who would take it away.  It's always unsettling to see death, especially a large mammal.  There wasn't much for me to do, aside from a short prayer.

Miles for the year: about 390.