Last wednesday we had the pleasure of hosting a guy that was biking from St. Augustine Florida up the Atlantic Coast and turning left towards Washingto n State. Jeff left St. Augustine about a month ago and I found his journal on www.crazyguyonabike.com. I was interested in his journal because he was following our same route and he had some of the same pictures posted that we have. So I began reading about his adventures. We extended our invitation as with other touring bikers to stay overnight, get free meal, shower and whatever else they may need. So Jeff contacted us from York Maine, a days bike ride from here. He arrived about 6pm, we had supper and talked about our different adventures on the road. He left the next morning and headed for Fryeburg, Maine. He has since crossed into Vermont. You can follow his journey by clicking here.
Look over on the left navigation bar under "My Links" there is a new link "Maine2Florida Bike Trip" that will take you right to the first pages of our bike trip journal. Once there, scroll to the bottom, the days start at the bottom and go up from there. To get to the next page, click on "newer" at the bottom of each page. When you go to each page, start reading from bottom to top.
We have been doing alot of riding, however, I have not been posting them on here like I used to. We have ridden to work a few times, but the time involved has not made it worth it, so I have been going out in the mornings before work and Joe has taken his bike for after work. But on the weekends, we have been cranking out the miles and done some of our favorite rides along with some new ones. We are gearing up for a short bike trip at the end of this month - Bar Harbor to home. We have a wedding to go to on the 28th and will leave from there and drive to Bar Harbor. The next morning we will leave my car at the motel we are staying at and start our bike trip back. We are taking 4 days and have already made reservations for each night. The exciting part too is that Sue is joining us on her 1st bike trip - ever! We are traveling light with out any camping gear and as we learned on Maine to Florida, you really don't need much to survive on the road. So.......I am just taking my small panniers, Joe is taking the B.O.B. Trailer, but it won't be nearly as loaded as last time. We have given Sue a set of panniers we have from our trip in '99. So we are looking forward to getting back on the road and spending our days, pedalling, taking in the sights and having a good time. I am going to keep a journal for this trip on www.crazyguyonabike.com. I will post the address to my page once we get started.
This weekend we took a couple of good rides, on saturday we parked my car in Freeport and started out from there to Brunswick, we did a 42 mile loop up through Harpswell and back to Brunswick and on to Freeport. The weather was okay, but not what was predicted. There was a coolness to the air all day and fog as we got closer to Harpswell. We stopped for lunch in Brunswick at Applebees. On Sunday, we drove down to Biddeford and parked on Route 9 at the Boat Launch, we rode out Route 9 towards Cape Porpoise and on towards Kennebunkport. We rode past The Bush Estate and were amazed at how many people actually were stopped there to gawk towards his house. It is not like he was coming out to greet them or wave from his porch, there was nothing to see - except the house.(?) I guess that is exciting to some people. We continued on the road along the ocean into Kennebunkport, stopped and had lunch then continued on our way. The ride back was great - back roads and little to no traffic. Round Trip was 35 miles. The best part was the weather was perfect - about 90 degrees! with a bit of humidity. Great biking weather.
Well it has been a while since I last updated our riding. We have biked to work a couple times a week in the last few. Typical rides leaving from Yarmouth. Although it is nice to get to work by bike, it has become a mundane ride and we always end up at work! The weather has been great for riding and we have managed to get a couple of our favorite rides under our belts for the season. May 10th, Joe, Sue and I drove up to bike the Bear Notch Road Loop we like. The temps were in the 60's as we started from the Ranger Station at the Conway end of the Kanc. We stopped at the covered bridge and did a 3 part cache and then continued on our way. By the time we reach the top of Bear Notch we were starved and finished all the snacks we had with us. The downhill was an awesome 4 miles. We decided not to stop at the store at the bottom thinking that there would be restaurant down the road. Unfortunately, the restaurants were all closed until we got to Glen. They were about to close but let us order anyhow. The total loop is about 42 miles.
Today, May 18th, we drove down to Ogunquit and biked a loop down through Cape Neddick to York and back to Ogunquit. It was only a 27 mile loop but we had a great time. The roads were great for riding down there, going through all the little towns and along the ocean. Alot of the roads were rolling hills. We ate breakfast at a restaurant in Ogunquit before we headed off on our bikes. We had not eaten before we left home and did not get down there until around 11. We each had an omelet which held us all day. We got back to where we had parked my car and found I had a flat tire on the back. Apparantly I had picked up a nail somewhere on the drive down. So we had to take the bike rack off the car to get the jack and stuff out. My spare tire is attached to the back and luckily it was brand new. Joe got all but one lugnut off the flat tire and since the tool that comes with the car was cheap and wimpy he could not get the last one off. However, luckily for us, Sue has AAA. So she called and they sent a guy right over. The guy got out of his truck and the first thing he said was "What did you do wrong?" to which Joe replied, "you must be the guy from AAA?" trying to be friendly. However, as it turns out the guy was not. His reply was "if I wasn't, I wouldn't be here". We all just kind of looked at each other without saying a word as the guy proceeded to get the lugnut off and replace the tire. He finished with a grunt and after we thanked him he drove off. We all commented on how rude he was and started to load the bikes back onto my car. A guy approached us that works in the Antique shop that we were parked at asked about our ride. Sue told him how we had arrived back to find we had a flat tire and told him how we called AAA and that the guy who came out had the personality of a rock. The young guy replied, "oh, that's my uncle"! Of course Sue apologized all over the place and the guy laughed and said how grumpy the guy always is. He knew right away who we were talking about, it was pretty funny.
This past week the weather was great for riding. It actually allowed us to commute to work two days this week, Tuesday and Thursday. Although it makes for a long day, time wise, it is worth it to get out of work and then not have to deal with the traffic as you drive off.
This weekend was taken up on Saturday with yardwork. The weather was great, but we needed to get some things taken care of. So we planned a ride for Sunday. Sue decided to join us for her first ride of the season. We parked in Portland and rode out to Baileys Seafood for lunch in Scarborough. The bike path was completely clear of snow all the way out, unlike two weeks ago when Joe and I tried to do the same ride. Unfortunately, the weather was not as bright and warm as yesterday as we rode in the rain all the way out to Baileys. It was a light drizzly rain, but unexpected. By the time we were done eating it had stopped and as we rode our last 1/2 mile the sky was actually getting brighter. Oh well, it was still a good ride and since the weather was a little wet there were not that many people using the path so we had it pretty much to ourselves.
Round trip was only 28.5 miles.
There is a great paved bike path - The Kennebec River Rail Trail it runs from Gardner to Augusta. We noticed it this winter when we happened to be up that way. However, like most trails in Maine it is not plowed in the winter. So since alot of snow has melted down this way, we decided to take a drive up there to ride the trail. It is a very nice maintained trail that runs along the Kennebec River in most places and along working railroad tracks. There is just a short distance to ride on the road through the town of Hallowell. The whole trail is only 7 1/2 miles, but if you know the area you can continue further on either end. We happened to park in Augusta, after eating lunch at Red Robin. Then we pedaled our way to Gardner and just rode a little through town. Since we do not know that area and did not have a map with us, we decided to just turn back. During the ride to Gardner we were faced with a strong headwind, but once we turned around for the ride back to where we parked we were able to effortlessly cruise along.
Joe took our bikes to work yesterday (on the 17th) and went to the bike shop first to get a new rim for my bike and 4 new tires. During the day he changed them over. The tires are bit different from what we had, actually better. We might not have as many flats with these. When he got home we did a loop down Route 100 to Mayall and over to Old 26 then back up Bennett. It was getting dark by the time we got back as we had gotten a late start. But it was enough to just get out and try out the new tires.
Commuting to work has officially started! I had the day off today, but Joe did not. He left this morning around 7am and rode a very chilly ride down to Yarmouth. He was out at 3, so I headed from home at the same time and we met about 1/2 way down in North Yarmouth. We actually saw 3 other couples out riding. The temps were in the 70's today and my first ride of the year in shorts and a short sleeve shirt. Joe had a total of about 32 miles and I had 17. Unfortunately, I have to work tomorrow - but we are going to drive to Yarmouth and bike in from there. I will be riding with my saddlebags for the first time since our trip south. I packed my smaller ones and I will put them on the back so hopefully I won't feel the weight too much. I guess we will see.......
The weekend forecast was supposed to be a rainy one. However, by noon on saturday we were looking at sunshine. So we loaded up our bikes and drove up to Brunswick and rode a loop including the bike path, up through Cooks Corner and out Thomas Point Beach. It was only about 15 miles, but we ran out of time because we had to be back in Freeport to drop off a bike we were selling. It was an unexpected ride because of the impending weather forecast so we were happy.
Sunday's forecast was much better so we planned on driving down to Portsmouth to ride from there to Hampton Beach. However, on the way down we decided to instead drive to Nashua, NH and ride the Nashua Rail Trail to Ayer Massachusetts. The last time we rode that route was during our bike trip to Florida - passing through. The only disappointing part of the ride though was that at the end of the trail there is a store that has always sold Krispy Kreme donuts - we got there and the rack was replaced with packaged pastries. Fig newtons were better for me anyhow than a Krispy Kreme. We rode in a combination of sprinkles, heavier rain and sunshine. The route down and back is about 26 miles. We wanted to keep riding beyond the end of the trail, instead of turning around, like we did on day 3 of our bike trip south, but we were not quite geared up to continue on. So turn around we did and headed back to Nashua.
A lunch stop at Cracker Barrel in Londonderry New Hampshire and a stop at Yummies in Kittery finished off the day.
My bike went to the bike shop yesterday because the front tire was warped. They did a quick fix but let us know that we need new tires and I need a new front rim. Since the rims are my original ones with alot of miles on them, it is not surprising. My tires are also the same ones I had before leaving in the fall for Florida, so it is also not a surprise that there is not much tread left on them. So this weekend we will take the time to get those replaced.
Since my road bike was in the shop yesterday, when I got home from work I took my new "old lady" bike out for a ride. I just did a short loop to get out after working all day. Boy, that bike is some different from riding my road bike. It is certainly not made for any hills, but it is a very comfortable ride. It is actually a good workout because it is slower ride and you have to work harder to move along.
Today, April 16th, I got my road bike out and did a bigger loop than yesterday. What a difference. The roads though are still so bad. So many frost heaves and potholes. Route 231 is really bad. I made sure I took my phone with me though in case I got a flat tire, so I could call Jake. But luckily I did not, I knew it was a possibility since my tires are pretty worn, but it was a chance I did not mind taking.
