Gravel/Mixed Terrain Ride 4:32:00 [3] 38.3 mi (7:06 / mi)
Adventure ride on the Cutthroat at Myles Standish State Forest. Tried to link up every bit of gravel and singletrack riding I could into a 45 mile loop. It turns out I brought a gravel bike to a dirt bike fight. The first 20 miles or so were a great match for the Cutthroat - twisty tight sandy trails with short punchy climbs, make-your-own-trail-bashing through logged-over pine barrens, incredibly scenic cranberry bogs and kettle ponds. After that, the trails turned into a network of dirt bike pump tracks, bermed turns, deep sandy wallows, and abandoned, overgrown tracks through the scratchy vegetation.
In 38 miles of riding, over close to 6 hours, I didn't pass a single other biker, except on a few short stretches of paved bike path. Saw several horses, a couple packs of ATVers and dirt bikers having a blast, and one very-out-of-place Camaro scraping its undercarriage as it bombed down a rutted-out jeep track, and then backing its way down a hill in several inches of unrideable sand. A true case of "drive it like you stole it", so I avoided eye contact and quickly moved on (after pushing through all the loose sand he churned up).
This really seemed like perfect adventure racing riding - moving through ever-changing conditions, hiking the bike through the brush to a new trail system when things got too overgrown, never knowing exactly where you were or what was coming next. The warm temps, sandy, scrubby trails, and the super-sized power lines coming from the old nuclear plant led me to dub it the "Sea to Seabrook AR".