Lodging Is Dictating This Trip!

I am very positive on the Adventure Cycling routes, but there is a downside to pretty little back roads. Pretty little back roads do not have motels or inns. Little towns usually don't even have a gas station or a market, much less a motel or inn. The nearest hotel to Exeter, almost on my route, was a metric century away from Exeter (62 miles) and 4 miles off of my route. Tonight I am staying in Uxbridge, MA, which is 10 miles off of the route. Tomorrow I pedal to East Windsor, which means I will be pedaling 65 miles, my longest day so far. And Connecticut is supposed to be very hilly, so it might be the most climbing, also. I plan on leaving early and going slow.

     Bill and Mary Hunt, Stow, MA. My marvelous hosts.

 

Last night I had the pleasure of staying with Bill and Mary Hunt in Stow, MA. Mary saw me assembling my bike on the porch of the inn where I was staying and came over and talked to me. Then she called Bill over and we all talked some. They were both finished with a one week canoe trip in Maine and they were both cyclists. They were very interested in my trip and they took my card with my blog address and said when I got down near Boston, I should stay with them. I was honored and pleased at the invitation, but these things usually don't work out. And I being on a bike, I am not that mobile. But, they kept their end of the deal and followed my blog. And when they saw I was getting close, they once again invited me and gave me a back road biking route to their house. And it really was not that far off route. So last night I stayed with Bill and Mary at their home. And we had a great time visiting. And because I preferred to visit, I did not blog yesterday. My FaceBook followers saw my pictures and my day's ride, but no blog.

Technology is wonderful. I have my routes on my Garmin 810. It communicates by Bluetooth to my phone which is transmitting my route nearly real time to nine people that are following me. My brother in Philadelphia is very diligent and attentive to my progress. And if he sees I have been delayed for a long time in one spot, he texts me to make sure everything is alright. Bill and Mary had a Massachusetts bike map with bike friendly roads highlighted. So I took a picture of some of the areas I would be in, and recalled the picture and enlarged the area where I might be looking for a road. Also, now that many times my lodging is off the route, sometimes ten miles off route in a place I am not familiar with, I need a way to find the place. So when I make my reservations, I email myself the address, so I can find it quickly. Then the next day, when I get within 10-15 miles of my destination, I bring up the email. Then I click on the address and Google Map comes up showing where it is, which by itself is not all that helpful. But my Android Google Phone has a Navigation app, with voice navigation and options for bus, car, bike or walking routing. So I choose the bike route option and my phone is soon telling me, "Turn left on Bolton Road in 400 feet." A huge time saver and frustration reducer.

I hope my 65 miler goes well tomorrow.

No Worry! Be Happy!

Last night I lodged in Exeter and the closest lodging I could find on the route was more than 60 miles away. Oh no! That meant I was going to have to pedal a Metric Century. My plan was to get up early and go slow, but then I remembered, I only was carrying two tubes. Yesterday I said I had a blowout. Well, I was not entirely forthcoming about that event. I ran over road debris, flatted and replaced that tube and proceeded on my way. BAM!! About 200 yards down the road, the same tire had a blowout. That has never happened to me before. Someone more experienced than me can tell me what I might have done or was it just a faulty tube? Anyway, that was half my inventory in tubes, and I did not want to be carrying just two tubes. So I had to wait until Exeter Cycles opened up (a very, very nice bike shop, by the way) so I could double my tube inventory and commence my Metric Century. So I got out later than I planned. I also was going to focus on my ride, so I was not going to take any pictures today. That probably lasted about three miles when I stopped and took my first picture. It turns out, even though it was the most climbing I had done in a day and it was the furthest I cycled in a day on this trip, physically it was not as difficult as I expected. After the ride was over, I felt pretty good, not exhausted. I am either getting more fit, or I am leaving stuff in the room and getting lighter.

Physically the ride was great. Mentally was a different deal. On the downside, I was on a lot of roads that were narrow and busy. Today was my most uncomfortable traffic day. I was often passed close and passed fast. In Maine, on a narrow road, traffic would usually wait if there was oncoming traffic and then cross over the middle line and give me wide berth when they passed. Today there was very little waiting in NH and MA, they passed me close and fast when there was oncoming traffic, on narrow roads without shoulders. And some drivers would pass me close and fast even when there was not oncoming traffic. Why!? At Groton, I was routed onto a bike path and I found it to be a calming way to end a days ride. I needed it.

Some of the ride was back roads, with very little traffic. I am on those roads, by myself, with no one to talk to and my mind wanders. I mean it really wanders. For instance, I see a 'For Sale' sign on a very nice property, kind of like a well kept ranch, and right above the sign it says 'Horse Property'. And I wonder, could horses own this property?

"Hay! Wanna be our 'neigh'bors? Whinny gonna come by and visit us? Well, it's been nice, but we hoove to go now."

Or there was another property being sold by a realtor named Mary Toothaker. And I thought Mary was probably an up and coming dentist with a growing list of clientele, until she got married to Mark Toothaker and changed her last name to his. And not too much later, she had to get into real estate.

That's how my crazy head works when I am out on the road by my self. 

Tomorrow evening will be special, though. I met a couple in Bar Harbor who are involved in biking and were very interested in my ride. They said they lived near Boston and I should visit when I come through. People say these things and we smile, shake hands and say good bye, and nothing comes of it. But Mary and Bill have been reading my blog, and when they saw I am nearing Boston, they emailed me to see if it would be possible if I could visit, how cool. It turns out they are just six miles off route, and they said they had a dinner, a bed and a washing machine waiting for me. So tomorrow I plan on staying with Mary and Bill in Stow, MA. I am honored and humbled to be invited to share their home.

       Every day, more and more fall colors.

       Typical trafficked road today, no shoulder.

        Typical untrafficked road today. Green and peaceful.

       My favorite water picture today.

       My last five miles today were on a bike trail. Calming, I needed it.

       This is what my dashboard looks like. You can see I am heading south.

Done with Maine and now in New Hampshire

This is probably going to be a short blog because I have to do Metric Century tomorrow through hills. For the non bike riders, a Metric Century is 62 miles. So I am going to start early, which means I will retire early tonight. I love the roads that Adventure Cycling routes me on. But the downside of riding on back roads is sometimes lodging can be very difficult to find. Last night I spent two hours trying to find lodging for the next two nights. I ended up staying at an expensive Hampton Inn in Exeter. Breakfast is provided, so I plan on eating enough for all my meals tomorrow. But even more problematic, the closest lodging I could find after Exeter was a distant 62 miles away. This reminds me; I have 8 people following me on Garmin Live Activity. They are following my route as I am riding it. My brother and Dennie are very attentive and if they see me stopped too long, they start texting me to see if I am OK. So, if you would like real time progress, send me an email to Marvinlgibson@gmail.com and you will get real time stats.

I decided yesterday was going to be a tourist day for me. My hotel was so inexpensive that I could afford to spend two nights. Sebago Lake was a rest day, different than a tourist day. Yesterday I rode 45 miles on my bike doing sightseeing in the southern coast of Maine, not a rest day. But I was not able to blog about it because it took me two stinking hours to make my reservations for the next two nights, but that is minor. In the bigger picture, I have been blessed with health and time that has permitted me to experience and enjoy this trip. And I should not say this, it is like talking about a no-hitter during the game, I have been blessed with some pretty fantastic weather. Yesterday was a bit overcast, but I still had a great time touring York, Ogunquit and Wells Beach.

Today I did forty miles from Wells, ME to Exeter, NH. I went through one of the most populated areas I have been through so far, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. And I managed to hit some road debris and had a blowout. It turns out that I was fixing my flat in front of another cyclists house and he came out, talked to me and let me use his floor pump so I would not have to pump my tire up with my little frame pump. That saved me a lot of time. He was very envious of my adventure. I also ran into a very genuine touring couple and we did a few miles together. They had started in Fort Myers, FL and biked to Nova Scotia, and were on their way back home to Boston. They camped and he was carrying 80 pounds of gear on his 30 pound Surly, and she was hauling 60 pounds. Of course they were younger than I am. He was 64 and she was 62. I am only carrying about 35 pounds, because I am not hauling camping equipment. Other than the flat, today was a great day. Beautiful weather, scenery, and a tailwind to boot.

Now time to go to bed and rest up for my Metric Century tomorrow.

       Very old Baptist church, 1747

      He is hauling 80 pounds of gear

     Trouble in Portsmouth, NH

        One of today's many water pictures

       Exeter Town Hall

       End of the day photo

Another Plan B!

Everyday I am seeing more and more fall colors. My initial plan was to start this bike trip early enough before the fall colors were out so I would not be competing for accommodations and I would not have to worry about traffic and drivers focused on foliage and not focused on the bike they are about to overtake. But, like I said, every day I see more color. You can see it in my photo journal. So, I think I need to go to Plan B. I need to start embracing the colors. Oh boy! This is going to be trip through New England during fall foliage, how lucky can I be? I feel better already. Plan B is working.

Also, in the spirit of flexibility and new plans, I might just take rest days when I find cheap lodging, lodging that's not sketchy with horizontal mirrors on the wall. My lodging tonight is $47/night with tax. I called a friend of mine from high school, Shari, who has family in this area, and she told me all the places I should see. So tomorrow I am going to be a tourist in the Kennebunk area. Actually the Wells, Ogunquit, York area, and I will start riding again on Thursday. Tomorrow's pictures will be tourist pictures, stand by.

People were wondering if I was going to have any more mechanical problems. Well, I did have one I did not report. I have a nice, classic touring leather Brooks saddle. I was wondering if it would give me problems riding it every day. Well after 4 days of riding, I was getting a couple of saddle sores. I could tell you where one of them was, but I can only tell my wife, Dennie, where the other one was. I thought this might be a problem, so I actually packed another saddle. So, before day 5 of riding, I changed saddles, and everything is better. My buddy Jim said, "You packed two saddles!?!" I said, "Yes, and after a week, if everything was good with the Brooks, I would ship the Selle home. But if the Brooks was a problem, I would ship the Brooks home. And yesterday I shipped the Brooks home." He agreed that was a good plan. So I lose a few aesthetic points for the trip, so be it.

Today was a great ride. I was thinking that I have shot enough green and water pictures, so I would just ride today ... but I found myself applying the brakes, pulling out the camera and shooting all day. Today I rode a half century and it felt good. Tomorrow I play tourist in this area.

      You know I don't have much company if I am being nice to cats.

       Here is how you top off the tank in the morning before the ride.

       Every day that passes, I see more fall colors.

       This is how the road looked most of the day today 

      And a lot of water pictures, of course

       Pumpkins in Kennebunk

       Wells, ME, Chamber of Commerce ... j/k

Day Five: Rain Insurance Works!

Sometimes when I am writing my blog, I have more to write than I am willing to record, because I don't want to go on and on. There was a funny story that happened in Bar Harbor that I will include in this blog at the end. How is that for a teaser?

Last night I went to bed tired, not looking forward to this morning which was forecast to be wet and rainy. Sure enough, during the night, I could hear the rain pounding on the roof, and pouring off the eaves. It was forecast to rain until one PM. I would have liked to just have stayed in my room all day, but accommodations are not cheap in Freeport, so I was going to have to ride. I was not in a hurry getting ready. I put everything in zip lock baggies and then I used a trash bag to line my panniers to keep everything dry. I put a motel shower cap over my helmet, a trick I leaned from Jim McGurk, to keep my head dry, and I had a rain jacket and riding gloves for the rain. However, I just had leg warmers and riding shorts, so I was worried that my legs might become wet and chilled. So I decided that I would ride back into Freeport, go to LL Bean and buy some rain pants. In fact I became convinced, that if I bought rain pants for the rain, then the rain would stop. I would actually be buying rain insurance. So I started pedaling towards Freeport in a light rain. On the way I stopped at a very, very crowded diner for breakfast. I always consider restaurants with a lot of cars in the parking lot to be a good bet. All the tables but one had people eating, when I walked in. So I saw a guy sitting by himself getting ready to order and asked, "Do you mind if I share your table?"  I must have looked harmless enough in my Corn Pops riding jersey, because he said, "Sure." He was wearing a fly fishing T-shirt, so during breakfast I entertained him with fly fishing stories and cycling stories. I think I was interesting. After breakfast, I was putting on my rain gear and getting my bike ready to roll, and a couple walked across the parking lot to talk to me. This was very different from the general east shore cycling indifference I had been experiencing for the past few days. They said, "Hi. Where you coming from? Where are you cycling to? We really like cycling? Wow, you have disc brakes, how do you like them? Tell me about your bike." And then they asked, "What's it like cycling out here?" And I replied, "Interesting and a bit different. Where are you from?" "Oh, we're from Sacramento, California." It figures, it just seems the west is a bit more inclined to open up, to show curiosity than our eastern brethren.

So, I started rolling in the light drizzle, heading to LL Bean, convinced I was going to be buying rain insurance. I rolled up to one of the many LL Bean front doors, and locked my bike to a light pole and asked the LL Bean employee that was outside pitching skeet shooting and fly fishing tours that if they saw anyone that did not look like me messing with my bike, would they ask that person why they were doing that? He replied, "You don't need to lock your bike, this is Maine." Well yeah. LL Bean might be located in Maine, but I am sure 95% of the people going through the front doors of that LL Bean outlet were not from Maine. Anyway, I went inside and bought my rain insurance that looked an awful lot like a pair of rain pants to anyone else. And sure enough, when I went outside, the rain had stopped. And by the time I was ten miles down the road, the sun was shining and I was shedding rain gear before I turned into a puddle oaf sweat. Now I am at Sebago Lake Lodge, and I plan on staying here two nights and taking a rest day.

And now for the funny Bar Harbor story. I think it will be worth the wait. On my last full day in Bar Harbor, after I assembled the bike, I was walking around, buying a few last minute things, shipping a box of stuff I was not going to need or carry to my brother in Philadelphia, and taking some pictures of Bar Harbor. One of the pictures I took was of the harbor from the top of a small hill with a park between me and the harbor. In the bottom left of this picture are two very large, very old cannons. Well right before I took my picture, I was waiting for the crowd to clear a bit and in particular, I was waiting for two men taking pictures to get out of my picture. Then I noticed they were taking pictures of their wives, one each straddling one of the cannons. And I thought the picture would be so much better if the men were also straddling the cannons and I would kind enough to take their cameras and take pictures for them. So I quickly went down there and made that suggestion. And of course, the ladies are saying, "Yes, yes!", probably because they are already straddling cannons and everyone is looking at them. And the men are being naturally reticent. I also, after I heard their accents, found out they were from Australia. As I was telling this to Dennie, I told her, "and they were kind of old. Well, not really old, probably about my age." To which Dennie says, "Then they were old." That's what I get for marrying a child bride thirty three years ago. Anyway, back to the real story. One of the men, probably the one with more common sense, stands beside his wife, next to the cannon. But the other man, perhaps the more adventuresome one, proceeds to mount the cannon. And he is behind his wife, on the wider part of the cannon, that has probably been polished smooth by the rear ends of thousands of kids, and he starts to rotate off the cannon, like the second hand on a clock. And he is straddled on the cannon with nothing to grab onto ... except his wife. So he grabs on to her ... and now they are both rotating off the side of the cannon and they hit the ground. And I am running to try to catch them, unsuccessfully. And Mister Common Sense is looking at me with a look that at best could be called disdainful. And the wife on the ground, in a pitiful voice, while rubbing her wrist, is saying, "Why did you grab me? Why did you pull me off?" And he is saying, "I didn't want to be alone." And I am saying, "I am so sorry, I am so sorry", and wishing I was invisible. I know all four of them probably said later, "I wish the bloody Yank would have just kept his nose out of our business." So much for international relations.

So tomorrow is a rest day and wash day and then Tuesday I will continue heading to my brother's place in Philadelphia. Maybe tomorrow, based on my current progress, I will be able to come up with a Philadelphia ETA. 

          View from my motel window in the morning. Rain!

       Sky ten miles after I bought my rain insurance. It worked!

       I could have taken this same picture a hundred times today.

       This family has a very nice view.

       This will be where I will stay for the next two nights, at $62 a night. Nice!

        My room, twice as big as my room in Bar Harbor and half as expensive.

       Good night. Sunset on Sebago Lake.

One Misty, Meisty (or is it Micety?) Morning

Five days of Mainely sun finally came to an end today. Today was supposed to be a rest day, but Sunday looks like rain, and I felt good, so I rode; Wiscasset to Freeport. I couldn't get a cheap room, even a sketchy cheap room in Freeport, so tomorrow won't be a rest day either. But tomorrow night I stay in a $62 cabin on Lake Sebago, so maybe I will stay there two nights and take a rest day. 

As I said, today was a gray day, plus I had a chill headwind most of the day, about 10 mph. I just put it in low gear and slogged along. I need to keep the energy up and my immune system strong. I often have a tendency to push it, but I really don't have a lifeboat on this trip, so I have been erring on the side of slow versus pushing it.  When Jim, Bill and I rode the Pacific CanMex coast ride, we saw lots of other touring riders. Most of them were not going border to border, but all of them were touring significant distances, and we had a camaraderie. I made the choice to do this trip alone, but I was expecting to find other riders and the same camaraderie. This is not the case at all. I have been out four days and I have seen ONE other touring cyclist. And he was heading north while I am heading south. I stopped and yelled out to him, "Hi! Where are you coming from?", and he did not slow down. He just kept on going. All in all, I see very few cyclists compared to what I see back home. Today I was routed onto a very nice bike trail, going into Brunswick, for about three and a half miles. In that three and a half miles I saw one kid on a cruiser bike, six joggers, five walkers and zero adults on any kind of a bike. I find that very surprising. On the Pacific coast, there was lots of signage indicating you were riding the coast trail. In Oregon, they did not call it the Pacific coast trail, it was the Oregon coast trail. And that was understandable, the Oregon coast is awesome. But there was lots of signage. Nothing at all, so far, on the east coast.

As I said, it was overcast and chill today. But I still could not fail to appreciate the beauty. The colors are starting to change. I was hoping to not contend with everyone that heads to New England to see the fall colors. I did not want to compete for accommodations, and I do not want to be run over by someone looking at fall foliage to their left and hitting me off their right front fender. And tomorrow it is supposed to rain. I am planning on a short day; about 35 miles to my room on Lake Sebago.

Maine Continues To Be Such A Lovely State

I need to be a little more particular about my lodging. I knew the motel I stayed at last night was sketchy, but it even got worse. As I was laying down, ready to turn the light off, I noticed, for the first time, that the mirror on the wall was hung horizontally ... just about at bed level. Earlier I had noticed it was not tall enough when I was going to comb my hair, but I didn't figure it out until I was lying down. I must be in the rec room. I immediately got up and used the chain to lock the door, which I never do. When I am making my reservations for the next day, I always do a sort on price, from lowest to highest. I might need a new strategy.

This morning I left sketchy hotel early without incident. My first stop was a bike shop to replace my repaired chain with a new chain. It turns out my chain was stretched. I thought a chain should last longer than 1800 miles, but maybe I can expect more wear with a heavier bike. After the bike shop, I found a diner and fueled up the engine with a couple of eggs and a huge blueberry pancake, with more blueberries than I thought could possibly fit in a pancake.  And then it was off to Wiscasset.

Today was a good day, no mechanical mishaps. The route I have been following through Maine generally follows US 1, a main thoroughfare. But Adventure Cycling Association routes me off of US 1 whenever it can, and still keep a generally southerly direction. When I get routed off of US 1, the route is always much more scenic and rural, but usually without bike lanes and the rural roads do not have grade restrictions like federal roads must comply with. So I can cruise 'boring' US 1, with gradual declines and inclines. Or I can enjoy the rural beauty while going up and down through hill and dale, valley and vale (are those real words?). The rural roads are a lot more strenuous.

There are a lot of pretty coastal villages in Maine. My favorites today were Waldoboro, Damariscotta and Wiscasset. Wiscasset seemed to be everyone's favorite coastal village today. All the sidewalks were crowded and so were the roads. I got to my motel (nice and clean, not sketchy at all) at around 3:30pm, did a wash, posted pictures, had dinner across the street (not two miles away) and got the blog out. My original plan was to ride three days and rest one, but I plan on riding tomorrow, my fourth day, because the weather is so good. But it will be a shorter ride, only to Freeport, home of LL Bean.