Hi gang-
No better way to stimulate some activity on a thread than for me to start writing something with, "There's been very little activity on this thread of late," or some other such. How can I live vicariously through all you serious riders if nobody posts? Of course, posts begin to appear.
Anyway, here I go... it's not one of Bare and Jack's "epic" rides, but it's unusual for me, which is a shame because I live in a beautiful area! Come on up any time (well, maybe not in January
)
We had a weather forecast which promised a couple of the nicest days we may have seen all summer, so I took an overnight ride from my home in Camden to Lubec, the eastern-most town in the US. I bypassed the Acadia National Park lands because of the summer crowds and the park entrance fees, but those are great visits off-season. I followed coastal route 1 up through Belfast, Bucksport, and Ellsworth, then quit the coastal road for an inland "shortcut" which, while indeed shorter (which isn't the point), has less traffic and has a stretch of nice smooth twisties through some beautiful hills and lakes. It's so nice, when I got to the end of that section, I simply turned around, rode back to the beginning, and did it again! Anyway, from there, it's another hour's ride through the pretty rough Downeast scenery on the coastal roads to Lubec - about 140 miles in all.
Link to a Google map (I tried to embed an image of the map, but I couldn't figure it out):
http://goo.gl/maps/DI8MkI spent the night with a friend, and returned the next day, pausing for some photos along the way. I used my ipod touch camera; it takes pretty lousy pics, but they're all I have, so here's a small taste of what I saw, in no particular order:
A sweet tree-lined pond:
be careful around gravel boat launch ramps! I didn't have a problem, I'm just saying...
A stately wide flowing river:
There follows along this river a railroad siding converted to a rustic gravel trail for foot traffic, but also for bicycles and horses, and motor vehicles which are registered as ATV's, i.e. no street bikes. Too bad, it looks like fun!
A quiet tidal inlet:
the tide is
IN.
An open bay:
The tide is
OUT.
A grassy field with hand pump:
Threw this in because I kinda like it - I took it for the photo tag thread!
A blueberry barren:
We're famous for our blueberries! Not the big high-bush varieties, but low bush small berries (usually no bigger than 1cm in diameter) which have oodles of sweet flavor compared to the other types. We have friends who grow them, so we pick for free and eat some, but freeze most to eat all winter - 30 quarts so far! Interestingly, in the local grocery store, Florida blueberries (the big bland watery ones; sorry Florida!) can be found on sale... for
$3.99 a pint! Surrounded by all we can eat, and we still import the hybridized-for-travel ones from a thousand miles away - what's wrong with us?
A mountain:
well, sort of...
A fancy new humongous bridge:
The further tower has an elevator-accessible observation deck, presumably the highest bridge-mounted one in the country. You may notice that I'm parked in the middle of the road - this is the old section of route 1 that led to the old suspension bridge, which, in 1931, won many accolades for its modern construction methods. Now all that's left is the bronze plaques (the first one is new, but check out the original art-deco second one!):
Sad. But I guess these things don't last forever. Interestingly, it cost more in today's dollars to remove the bridge than it cost in 1930's dollars to build it...
An old quaint bridge:
You can't see this one from the road (you drive over it, of course!), but if you know where to turn off, you are rewarded with this lovely view of the Ducktrap river and its bridge, which the state has, for some strange reason, gone way out of its way to preserve. Quite near my home, this is the tidal outlet of the river; I'm parked on a little spit of land with Penobscot bay right behind where I stand to take this photo. My wife and I come here to collect seaweed for our garden.
A long straight boring rough road:
Lots of summer tourist traffic, not much fun, and hard on the back! But if you're patient, you are rewarded with...
A curvy, scenic, smooth-as-a-baby's-bottom road:
Loads of fun! I wish they weren't lined with such nice scenery, cause you can't have a fun quick ride and also enjoy the view! Oh well, them's the breaks!
And, even a little off-road excitement!
This was a little access road to a hiking trail I stumbled across - it looked so inviting, I had to check it out! The first pic doesn't show it, but that's a pretty steep hill - the rainwater washouts were a few inches deep up the slope. Now I'll be the first to admit: I'm no Scottie - there was no "air time" for me on this trail, but it was fun to zip along with the bike sort of floating along and wandering around in the sand beneath me. The K70's gave me confidence (although I never rode the Skidmasters off the pavement).
So many shots of the same bike gets old after awhile, doesn't it? Those of you with sharp eyes may notice that my luggage looks different in some shots - I bought an old framed print at an antique shop along the way home, and had to figure out how to carry it! I taped the glass, bagged it and wrapped the works in my sleeping bag before strapping it onto the rest of my stuff on my rack - made it home safe and sound!
No issues or problems on the trip - not a single one. It never even crossed my mind to wonder whether everything was ok, or to worry what might go wrong. I do have a performance question, though, which I'll post in another thread.
Bye!