A great cycling day in three states.

What I seem to notice most about Massachusetts are the cemeteries and the lawn care people. Perhaps it is because Massachusetts has been around for a while, but I notice more cemeteries in middle of towns than I recall in Maryland or New Jersey.

The lawn care people often have a truck towing a large wide trailer with riding mower and other implements. I notice them because they park that trailer on the side of the road and place a few cones for traffic including cyclists to go around.

Yesterday I had a great breakfast for dinner at a place named Robert’s. The food was so-so but the banter between the elderly cook and elderly waitress was fun. I was the only one there but it gave me a sense of a small Massachusetts breakfast diner.

This morning I was on the road early. A short patch of bike trail, but most of the first third of the ride was through small towns of Lynn, Peabody and Danvers.

When a road has the name of “Hill St.” you know something is up. Fortunately not much climbing today.

After Hill St a number of miles of US 1 followed by a delightful small road heading into Newburyport.

To the beach! After Newburyport I crossed over to New Hampshire but the roads were small and didn’t have a sign. This ice cream and pizza/calzone place was the first sign of a resort area.

Crossing the causeway to Seabrook

Hampton Beach had several miles of these beach boardwalk places.

The beach looked rough and a bit rocky but a few brave souls were out.

The town of Rye was settled in 1623 so there were a bunch of Rye 400 signs. Also this impressive church.

Some short sharp hills in Newburyport and I reached this large drawbridge over the Piscataqua. This is also the border with Maine so I made it, barely, to Maine.

Strava tells me: 55.65 miles in 5:58:21 or 9.3 miles/hour. 2011 feet climbed and 4310 calories burned.

The last two weeks have taken me across multiple large metro areas. I am looking for a little more “boring” riding as I’ll be in less populated areas and take longer to go from capitol to capitol.