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Last week I rode a bit with my friend nuns, who woke up one day and realized that he has little more than a week to train for his upcoming 150-mile MS ride. I certainly won’t be caught that unprepared! I’ve put in a lot of miles this year, and in just the past four days, I’ve logged 160 miles in the saddle. Given that I only rode three of those days, that’s nearly a metric century a day!

In the past couple weeks, I’ve learned about four quiet, scenic alternative routes that run essentially parallel to the roads used on the weekend rides that run out of QuadCycles in Arlington. They won’t mean much to you unless you know the Concord/Carlisle area, but I’ll describe them here briefly for posterity.

Instead of taking Lowell Road from Concord to Carlisle, another option is to fork off at Barrett’s Mill, take Strawberry Hill to South Street and back onto Lowell Road. It’s a bit more scenic, less busy, and more hilly, so it’s a better workout.

Once you’re onto South Street, you have a second option of taking Cross Street to Curve Street, which dumps you out on Lowell Road at Great Brook Farm, which is just north of Carlisle center.

Whether you got there via Lowell Road or Curve Street, you can avoid busy Route 4 and "the Dinosaur" by leaving Great Brook Farm on North Road, then going via Maple to 225, which is another pretty ride.

Finally, a good way from Bedford to Lexington that avoids the Minuteman bike path is taking Pine Hill to Page Road/Grove Street to Hancock. That brings you back to the bike path in Lexington near Mass Ave. This, too, is hilly, and thus better training than the bike path.

The magic of the American road system is that all these work just as well in reverse, too!

It’s always cool to find new, good routes between places. Stand by for a few more planned explorations, plus what might end up being a marathon ride this weekend.