It was a Dark and Dreary Day

Day 83, June 23, 2011, It was a Dark and Dreary Day

67.5 miles, averaging 12.3 mph

Route from Kennebunkport to Thomas Point Beach Campground, Brunswick, ME

Best Moment – Ya gotta love Tim Horton’s coffee!  There was a Tim Horton’s in Portland, ME.  No, sadly, they didn’t have my other favorite Canadian treat - Nanaimo Bars. 

Worst Moment – Not finding the route and the time spent looking for it is very frustrating.

After listening to steady and sometimes heavy rain on Ruby’s roof, I decided to brave the outside.  Most of the noise was coming from rain falling from the trees and not from the sky.  It was very overcast and foggy.  The weather never really cleared up all day.  And though I never really had to deal with rain, the skies threatened all day.  The temperature struggled to get to 62 degrees – at noon.  Quite unusual from most of the riding weather that I’ve had.  (I think that I have maybe only had 2 or 3 days with rain for a couple of hours and then it cleared up.)

Looking at where we had been in Kennebunkport and where we were staying tonight in Brunswick and comparing that with where the Adventure Cycling maps had routed me, it looked like it would be a 80 to 90 mile day.  I decided to attempt following Google Maps for bicycles again.  I took detailed specific notes on the route nearly 3 pages worth and headed out. (Both sides of one sheet and 2/3 of the other) 

Google routed me on bicycle paths.  Maine is constructing a bicycle path up the coast for nearly 80 miles.  They are wonderful, scenic, traffic free and hard packed dirt.  I didn’t have trouble finding any of the route until I was in Portland.  Here I don’t know if the route wasn’t well marked or I just missed the route, but entrances to bicycle paths can be a bit tricky to find and I missed one over part of the water.  After careful consultation with the GPS, I found the route later and didn’t end up with many more miles than anticipated.

Getting close to Thomas Point I came upon this unique sculpture.  It is made of bicycle wheels and held together with bicycle tubes.  There are bike reflectors strategically hanging from different points of the art.  There was a sign from a tree that read, “This is a free country, ride your bike.”

Close to the tire sculpture was a farm stand where I picked up a couple of tomatoes and a carton of the most delicious, juicy, sweet strawberries.  We’re having shortcake tonight!

Just as I was cleaning the chain I saw that the rear tire had worn through in places.  So I put on my 4^th rear tire.  After tomorrow’s ride, I will have ridden over 6000 miles!

If you would like to donate to my ride, my link for the Lance Armstrong Foundation is http://grassroots2011.livestrong.org/billsbigride197.  I really appreciate your support.