I have ridden the Ayer Rail Trail twice. Once in the summer at a leisurely pace on my mountain bike and the other this past Sunday November 13th on my road bike. I really wanted to push it this past ride, but the number of limbs down narrowed the trail in many spots where only one bike could get through at a time. The limbs also made it difficult to see ahead in several spots, which was a speed limiter. Overall, I managed the trail end-to-end, up and back a distance of about 24.5 miles. I did this in about 90 minutes, which comes out to almost 16 mph, per my gps. I plan on doing this trail again as it is very scenic, and hopefully next time the limbs will be clear and I can keep my speed up. However, if I want to do a fast ride with no cars I guess I will negotiate the baby strollers, dog walkers, joggers and roller bladders on the Minuteman Bike-way.
I have added two pictures taken from my low quality cell phone camera and posted them in my photo gallery on bike rides. A.J.