The belated post: Recapping the past few days

Captain's log. Stardate: Sept 28. Today’s weather: showers likely. Tomorrow’s weather: showers. The day after that: showers. Showers. Rain. Precipitation. Yes, we have experienced and will continue to experience all of these meteorological delights!

Yesterday was great, though. We screamed down the road for a bit more than 50 miles in 70 degree weather, and ended up in a nice cheap motel in Wiscasset, Maine. It was the first day that we rode free from the oppressive hills that defined the first few days of the ride. The terrain in the middle of Maine is still hilly, but it is tolerable with the trailers. And, every uphill has a downhill, which gives us great chances to approach terminal velocity (top speed: 37.8 mph)

But all of that is boring chatter. The real fun came when it was raining buckets a few days ago. We camped on Mount Desert Island for a few days, and set out to begin the Adventure Cycling map route. We planned to ride 60+ miles, but within 20 miles of the ride, I got a flat. These things happen. But, Murphy and his pesky law reared their ugly heads. I fixed the flat, hopped on my bike to test the tire, and……boom. Another flat. Rinse, wash, repeat. I changed the tire again, hopped on my bike to test the tire again, and…..boom. Again. I may or may not have lost my temper at that point. An hour and a half after the original flat tire, we were southbound once again.

EDUARDO’S BIKE EDUCATIONtm Lesson 1: Learn to properly fix a flat before doing any kind of riding. It will save time, money, and frustration.

Then, some 20 miles later, Vanessa got two flats after running over a bed of broken glass, nails, barbed wire, thumb tacks, and broken glass (it was all on fire, too). The rain had been coming down consistently for most of the day, and it was approaching dusk, so we pulled into a gas station for a chance to decompress and drink some warm coffee. We began changing the tires, and a couple of good Samaritans pulled up and asked us if we were “okay.” We replied that we were “okay,” explained that the day had been a bit rough. The good Samaritans turned out to be Nick and Amanda from Vermont and Connecticut, and both had ridden their bikes across the country last summer. They said that a number of people took them in when they rode across the country, and they wanted to bestow similar good karma upon Vanessa and myself.

We then packed Amanda’s Subaru Outback full of our bike stuff, and headed to their house, where we got a warm shower, cleaned our laundry, and killed aliens on a video game. Amanda and Nick had a number of cool animals at the house, one of which was a ferret that tried to get into my shoes. Crafty little things, those ferrets are. Unfortunately, we had just missed the baby goat, a pet they had for a while but who had to go back to its original owner a few weeks before we got there.

CLIFF’S NOTES VERSION: We had some awful luck and similarly awful weather. Then, our luck changed from bad to good. Thanks Amanda and Nick!

Our bicentennial! We've surpassed 200 miles.

Today: going from wiscasset to north windham. Tomorrow: day off! Yesterday was sunny, but they're predicting more rain in the northeast. pray for sun!

Camping tonight near lincolnville, Maine. Long and rainy few days. Last night we had some awesome cyclist hosts in Orland, Maine. Cheers to Amanda and Nick!!

Making a school zone look like zee autobahn!

Oh. My. Lord.

Maine is full of hills. Not your garden variety hill. These hills are the gnarly spawn of plate tectonics and Satan. Yesterday, we rode through 31.66 miles of the most treacherous hills we've ever ridden. This came as something of a surprise, because we are both in pretty good shape. Vanessa just rode RAGBRAI with no problem, and I am an Olympic caliber athlete (still a free agent). We did some training rides with a full load on the trailers, and had no problem. But, when you combine the forces of 50 degree weather, a constant demoralizing "mist" (read: it rained the whole way), complete lack of sun, and the occasional lack of pavement, the hills were nearly unbearable.

Be that as it may, we kept riding all day. It took from noon (ish) to dusk to ride into Ellsworth, ME, where we happened upon the best hotel in the northeast. To Sunset Motel on highway ME-3: THANK YOU!!!!! Just as our nerves were reaching their ends, we saw the glowing light of your comfortable beds and warm showers. You took us in with hospitality, and offered the sweet warmth of hot cocoa, which we enjoyed while watching a Married With Children episode.

After the first day of discomfort, our respite at the Sunset Motel had us ready for another hilly but short day. We had a quiet ride into Trenton, ME, where we had our first whole steamed Maine lobster (pictures forthcoming). We rode some wide shoulders into Bar Harbor, where our first stop was.......a winery!!! We tasted some wines and bought a bottle of Bar Harbor Winery Bo Jo, which is a delicious Beaujolais blend. We got to our campsite and paired it with pasta drenched in pizza sauce and Cracker Barrel fromage. C'est magnifique!

To top off a relaxing day, we managed to build a campfire from scratch. As a treat, I offer our readership the following step-by-step instructions: 1) get a campsite where the previous campers left some firewood behind 2) collect grass, paper, etc 3) use sticks and small twigs to make a teepee over the grass, paper, etc. 4) try to light the fire in vain for 45 minutes ("the natural way") 5) spray entire structure with bug spray 6) enjoy your raging campfire with a glass of Bar Harbor Bo Jo!

Cheers from Maine!

Bangor, ME: The launch pad

So, we survived the drive up from Florida. We're currently in Bangor, ME, where we dropped off the rental car this morning (it was cheaper). We took a day off today to recover from the 33-hour drive (uh, yeah) and to try to do a bit more planning.  Tomorrow we'll start biking and will head to Bar Harbor, ME and Acadia National Park. It's about 60 miles.

Today was great - we took it easy and slept in, then got some fried clams and a lobster roll. Yum! Really looking forward to the cuisine for the next few hundred miles.  We also stopped by the Sea Dog Brewpub, which is just a few miles from where we're staying.   We had a few beers and some dinner -
Ed had some kind of salad with bleu cheese and apples and chicken, and I got some cham chowder (chowda). You might know Sea Dog for their blueberry-flavored Blue Paw Wheat Ale, although I'm not sure whether or not they distribute west of the Mississippi.

The weather up here is ridiculously gorgeous - during the day today it was about 65 or 70 and sunny, and the evenings are around 50. Perfect! (although the forecast for tomorrow is rainy... boo) Here's hoping for great weather for the rest of the trip. Stay tuned!

After a disappointing stop at the (closed) new Hampshire liquor outlet, we made it to Maine! Couple more hours to Bangor.