August 12 Ride in York County

A mid week day off with no plans in the morning had me itching to ride. As I got ready to go I realized I was lacking motivation to go to any particular place. I was amped to go but without destination. I started down 103 to Haley Road, piecing my route together as I went. The result: 40 miles by way of Chases Pond, Ogunquit Rd, South Berwick, Oldfields to 101 and back. A great ride, averaging over 19 mph despite a constant southwestern breeze and a decent amount of elevation gain. Here's the ROUTE via G Maps Pedometer.

A year older and still pedaling.

Trying to recover some of the horsepower that I've lost over the 9 months I barely rode a bike following my faceplant on the Memorial Bridge, I peeled nearly 48 miles off today. NOT, I should ad, on the fixed gear bike. Today I took out the Daccordi. It felt pretty good to revisit some familiar roads around Mt. Agamenticus. But the roads are trashed over in that part of the county. I do not exaggerate that the roads would be smoother were there no asphalt at all. At a decent clip it's a bit treacherous when plowing through a pile of destroyed road under the shade of trees. There are some deep pits to avoid. Makes it sort of hard to advocate cycling when the best riding is over destroyed roads the county can't afford to repair. Beautiful perfect day for a ride. Click HERE for a link to the route.

Canadians Smuggle Illicit Smoke Into U.S., Boarder Authority Powerless To Stop It

   An eerie feeling I haven't had in years, since living in the Pac NW, on a beautiful, warm day, low humidity, yet the air is thick, smokey.  This morning I thought a neighbor was burning stuff, a perfectly normal way to spend Memorial Day here in Northern New England.  Perhaps a lot of brush, or a lot of neighbors, like a neighborhood burn day, all burning big piles of brush and broken furniture.  Turns out all the smoke is from Canada, which is apparently on fire in a serious way.
   My good intentions to leave by 9am on this first day in weeks I've had time to ride, were thwarted by my efforts to install a newer generation VDO  wireless cadence computer on the Langster.  The computer was given to (the shop I was working at) in an effort to convince we at the front lines of bicycle retail, that they had taken care of all the bugs they had been known for in the past.  At least that is my excuse.  Without the manual, the confusing VDO set up proved to be a momentum destroyer.  I started looking for support instruction PDFs or whatever online for the computer.  Not finding that, I somehow ended up on Craigslist looking for all the answers to other questions.   Add talking to Tom about his trip to Missouri, making a sandwich, making another sandwich and eating it, I rolled out at quarter to noon.
   Remembering a ride I had to abandon just outside South Berwick this last winter, I decided today was the perfect day to hit it.  Out past Spring Hill, to Blackberry Hill, Berwick, Long Swamp Road, etc.  After that I was lost and can only attempt to reassemble my route looking at the maps.  I got a little too lost, running out of water lost, wondering where the hell civilization was lost.  I made a few good guesses and found myself back on School Road Rte 9 headed back towards Berwick.  A few more guesses got me to North and finally South Berwick where I knew the Nature's Way market would most likely be open.  I limped into town and sure enough the OPEN flag was flying.  I ordered a sandwich, grabbed a banana and an orange juice.  Out on the sidewalk at a table, I took my shoes and socks off and ate.  It felt so good to eat.
   With the bottles full, I headed back out towards Emerys Bridge Rd.  I was pretty beat.  Ogunquit Rd would have been easier on the legs and head.  But Belle Marsh would cut miles off the final leg.  Belle Marsh it was, climbing, dirt road, Belle Marsh.  I did not allow the bike to scream down the descents.  Instead, I held back, resisting the momentum of the pedals turning to keep things manageable.
   Turns out I just got off a 74.25 mile jaunt through the countryside.  According to the VDO, I averaged 24.5 mph with a max speed of 38mph. I know better though.  At least the cadence was accurate:  Average 75rpm cadence with a max of 158rpm. 
   Check out the route, click here!

68 Miles Into The Darkness...

I was slackin' this morning, not sure if I was going to ride or not. But it is beautiful East Coast fall outside right now and too soon it will be followed with slush covered ice. So around noon I suited up, filled the water bottles and rolled out for North Berwick. There are three Berwicks and North Berwick is the furthest north of the three. It seemed like an exotic destination because nobody ever has an excuse to go to North Berwick. I haven't been there in the two years I've lived here. I've actually only been there once, on a bike ride about 8 years ago. Prior to departure I had looked up espresso joints in North Berwick. They have a Dunken Donuts. But there is also Carpe Diem coffee roasters on Rte. 9 just north of North B. So I headed there to see if they actually served coffee, or just roasted. There is a reception room where there is coffee, hot water for tea, and other stuff you can buy. The people there were really nice. But the coffee was 'eh. A blend of two S. American coffees, and French roasted Sumatra. Its' a strange choice of beans to blend. But I couldn't really tell the result as the brew was too weak and tasted as if it were made that morning. They do roast some good coffee. My guess is the coffee station in the reception room is sort of an after thought.
Coffee down, and onward. I had passed the ET Eastern Trail bike route on Tuesday's ride. So this time around, I headed out on it, further north. My instincts were telling me to turn around and start back south. But the road kept calling and I was powerless to ignore it. I was within 10 miles of Sanford before I started making my round about way back south bound.
This whole time I had a map I copied out of the Maine Gazetteer that I referenced frequently. In fact I lost this map out of my jersey pocket. But I thought I'd heard it fly out of the pocket. So I back tracked a mile searching the side of the road until I spotted it. Good thing I did! I was in uncharted territory. I would have had to try to head left from the sun's trajectory to make it home.
The Gazetteer marked Cranberry Rd as continuing as dirt south of Rte. 9. So for some unexplainable reason, I decided that was my route. I'd already done about 3 miles of dirt and gravel roads form Bell Marsh and Emery's Bride (road construction). Looking across 9, I saw what looked like a drive way behind a trailer, that ended in a pile of tree trunks. I took a left, and a quick right. And there, by the entrance to a school, was what looked like a wide single track through the woods, Cranberry Road. I got in about 1/2 mile before the first pond taking up the width of the "road" for 5 meters. The rest of the way until the final 1/4 mile was swamped with deep puddles. I was forced to portage most of that way. Turns out this section of Cranberry Rd. doesn't show as connecting on Google Maps. Pretty wild.
Finally back on pavement, another New England road without a name. I guessed and went right which actually worked out. Now I was finally getting close to South Berwick.
By that point the sun was sitting pretty low. I got a little panic. No lights, 30 miles to go. I put the hammer down and started cruising south bound. By the time I was leaving Eliot, it was just about dark. The moon lit up the dark sections of road. It was pretty sketchy.
I counted 24 grave yards on this ride, not counting repeats. I counted 6 fake or plastic graveyards in Halloween decorating fashion. I think it's odd in an area where every house that's a hundred years or older, has a small very real graveyard on the property, the styrofoam graves in the front yard are still a popular way to show one's holiday spirit. The mockery of death, an odd means to try and quell the fear people have about the part of the life cycle which is death. This one here was in North Berwick. It was actually painted plywood, obviously the work of a crafty holiday decorator, replete with names of the imaginary deceased and birth/death dates. Perhaps the real 150+ year old graveyard across the street made for a good model.
Check out this video, you'll get a brief sense of the ride.

Mission Complete: First FIxie Group Ride

How could somebody be late to their own event? It was strategic. I figured if I was 15 minutes late, not only would that give some time for other straggling riders to show up, but when they arrived a little late, they would be spared the humiliation of being late because I hadn't arrived yet! The only thing is, nobody else beside Josh Pierce showed up. Never mind that, though. We had a blast. Josh showed me the sneaky way to get from Papa Wheelies over to Pease, including some nice wide abandoned roads perfect for sprint workouts. We headed over the abandoned bridge and out to Dover. We tagged Dover and bounced over to Rollinsford. A stop in Black Bean Cafe for good coffee and some food, bathroom, more water. Then a fast descent followed by the inevitable climb up to Rte. 4. S. Berwick tag and then down Underhill Rd to Eliot, Kittery, over the Memorial Bridge and back to Papa Wheelies. A sweet, quick ride. All you sad suckers missed out. There's always next time. Write in preferred days/times to join in the next ride...

60 Miles on the Squeaky Cleat Trail

I tried greasing the bolts and bolt plate of my SPD cleats before I left. They still creaked like a mo'fo for all 60 miles. I didn't lose my map this time. But I did discover that some road names used by Google Maps are incorrect. In fact, there is one road in Kittery on Google Maps that no longer exists! I know because I bushwacked it with my fixie last spring. It's overgrown poison ivy patch boardering a swamp. Scenic, yes. A road, definitely not. And near by that chicken path is a distribution warehouse Google Maps labels as a shopping plaza. But it's not just Google Maps. I also had problems with incorrect road names on my Maine Gazetteer atlas. Thus, I needed to stop repeatedly to get my bearings. Apparently, Maine is so primitive as to not been mapped accurately or not recently.
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Another Long Haul

49 Miles today. I had a map and a plan. I lost the map along the way. I found out the first time I needed it. I pieced this ride together anyhow. The mile-long gravel/dirt/granite decent on Mountain Rd. on Mt. Agamenticus wasn't by choice. But it wasn't that bad either. I can't recommend Specialized Armadillo Elite tires enough. They are well worth the price of $60/each.HERE'S A LINK TO THE COMPLETE MAP AND DIRECTIONS...
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60 Miles and 6 Hours in the Saddle

View Larger MapI was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday and today. But with the autumn weather so sweet right now, I had to go. This loop described from my place in Kittery Point is about 45 miles. I took 4 hours to do it. Long, slow miles. That's what the doc ordered. I timed it just right to get home for a few bites, change riding clothes, and head to Portsmouth Critical Mass. With the addition of those miles/hours, I was 6 hours in the saddle for about 60 miles with 4 stops in there to eat. I feel pretty good still. Think I might add on 30 more tomorrow... If you want to check out this ride, CLICK HERE to see the larger map plus directions. You can print those and get rolling...