biking through the Blue Hills

Yesterday seemed like it would be a perfect day for biking. Warm, but cloudy with a 8 - 10 mph wind.  Butch and I had plans to meet family at Corinne's house in Waltham. Why not bike to Waltham and ride home with Butch. Mapped it all out staying clear of 3A. As it turned out it brought me within a block of an old friend who lives in Braintree that I hadn't seen for years. She was home and we spent an hour catching up. I was at my 15 mile mark - 25 miles to go. Had two huge glasses of water, but no food. Didn't even think about eating. It only took me a couple miles later to realize I was biking on empty and stopped and ate the apple I had brought. Two more miles brought me to the beginning of the Blue Hills. The first mile was mostly uphill and my calf muscles where crying out to stop. Also that 8 - 10 mph wind was from the west so I was riding into it the whole ride. I saw some big boulders in the shade on the other side of the road - time to stop again. Have some nuts. At this point I wasn't sure I was going to make it. I was only at mile 20 and had 20 more to go.  Luckily most of the rest of the way through the Blue Hills was downhill and I knew there was a Dunkin Donuts at the end. Not sure if the iced coffee and chocolate glazed donut did it or the next 20 miles where just much flatter, but I had no trouble making it to Waltham.  Only one wrong turn. In full disclosure I only biked to the Newton Whole Foods where I met Butch and helped him decide on what to buy for dinner for 10 of us, which was a good thing. We may have eaten much later if I had not stopped.