Old Rifle Range ride

Not sure about you, but I think I have enough rain for a while. Not counting several half-a-day breaks, it's been raining for the last two weeks or so. And the rest of this week looks roughly equally exciting. Well, at least in the weather like this my pollen allergies are more tame and I don't need to water my lawn.

 

Anyway, yesterday morning we had one of those rain-free moments, which gave me a rare opportunity to go for a dry bike ride. I couldn't venture out too far though, unless I wanted to get soaked on the way back home. I figured that the Old Rifle Range in Concord is a place I haven't somehow visited before, so I decided to fix this mistake.

I took off west, following Minuteman Bikeway to the Battle Road trail. I know this place well-enough that I could likely navigate there blindfolded. It's a very useful trail to reach other places further west of Concord and also one of the few unpaved roads around. Because of the weather, trails were wet and muddy. In places, it was a real mess, but seriously, if I wanted to wait until it's all nicely dry, I wouldn't probably be riding for another several weeks.

After passing through Concord center, I followed Sudbury Rd south. From there, I wanted to find a tiny singletrack that would provide a good shortcut across Mattison Field (at least that's what that place is called on Google Maps) to Williams Rd. As it turned out, this path is tricky to find. It's located near a private driveway and best is to look for several small, wooden steps off the main road.

Once you find the entrance, just follow the blue and then yellow-marked Concord Trails to guide you through. Using a GPS on your phone may be a good idea. It's like a small maze to navigate.

Next, Williams Rd led me to the beginning of the Old Rifle Range trail network, where I could finally unleash the power of my bike. Well, at least that's what the signs were telling me.

The path was easy to follow, although with some very narrow sections full of roots. Interestingly though - no mud. I think there are too many roots there and not enough soil to get muddy. Soon, I found some rusty mechanisms of the old target system.

The trail ended at Old Mill Rd. I wanted to get to the edge of Musketaquid Pond but a few large guys told me it's a private outdoor club and I may not enter. That however, was a minor problem.

The one that really bugged me was my dying phone battery. When I left, I decided to record my ride with Ride With GPS. I guess this feature must be sucking battery juice like crazy, since it dropped to less than 10% after only 15 miles or so.

I had to cancel recording, put my phone into airplane mode and hope that with all communications disables, the battery will last long enough that I'd be able to at least read the map once a while to find my route back home.

Lesson learned - even if your bike has a dynamo hub and you always carry a power bank, check if you packed the appropriate iPhone cable.

Fortunately, I found my way out without problems. I took Rt 117 back east, towards Mt Misery trails in Lincoln. I decided to stay on the main trail and try not to be too adventurous. First of all, I didn't have a working GPS anymore. Then, while crossing Sudbury River I realized how much water is still there around after this winter. Lots of trails next to the river were completely flooded leaving me no choice but to play safe.

On the way back, I stopped briefly at deCordova Museum. They change the art sculptures in the open, in front of the museum every few months, so you can sometimes find something unexpected. This time, a tall, yellow dude with a blue snot dripping from his nose (?) was starring at me. This thing is called "Ugly Mess", made by Aaron Curry. I decided to leave Mr. Ugly alone and go back home.

I got back shortly before the next rain. Now I wish for the next weekend to bring some sun. Hopefully soon.