It may not look like much, but that right there is 32.5 miles of suffering on a mtn bike. By far the longest non-road ride of my life. This was supposed to be a 20 mile event but when Ms. Sara showed up wanting to do 5 hours I felt the need to help her out, even though most of the first half of the ride was junk (see below). She's directionally challenged and afraid of getting lost so I wanted to help her out. The ride was so long I was recalling earlier parts of it towards the end that seemed like they happened the week before.
If I don't see that bike again for a month I wouldn't be upset.
Why the "quality over quantity" title? This ride was long because we spent a good 90 minutes riding crappy go-nowhere, do-nothing jeep trails for no apparent reason than just to rack up the miles. Adding cr@ptastic logging roads on to some good quality trails doesn't enhance the ride: it detracts from it. I'd have rather done 15 miles of quality singletrack than wander around half lost in West Douglas just to get the ride to go longer. If you want to go out for 20+ miles without repeating trails in Central Mass you're going to have to invest in a road bike.
I'm cranky because my bum is sore.
