[bike] The Mad Maine Trip
Jul. 2nd, 2006 10:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
We did in fact succeed in biking to just across the Maine state line yesterday. We started at Maudslay State Park in western Newburyport, then rode east across Salisbury, up MA-1A and NH-1A along the New Hampshire coast, and then crossed on US-1 into Maine. Coming back was the same route except that we detoured along NH-1B into New Castle. Bike computer said 59.26 miles at the end. Route map
It looks like there's a rail-trail project to connect Kittery to Portland. One amusing aspect of this is "ET bike" signs that appear once you show up in Kittery. Didn't explore much from there. (Web-surfing indicates that the "cabbage" cars on the Downeaster have bike racks that can hold eightish unpacked bikes, though, reservations required, $5-10 extra.)
As far as the route goes...it was totally flat, which was nice, but we faced a pretty harsh headwind coming back, which wasn't nice. Salisbury is a dump, Seabrook is slightly less of a dump with a nuclear power plant, Hampton Beach is overrun with people (and so as a bike you'll be the fastest thing on the road), North Hampton and north is pretty nice. Several steel-grid deck bridges, which people with smaller tires found troublesome. There was often a sea wall between you and the ocean. In all it was probably a nicer ride than most of the other coastal rides I've done, but I'm not sure I'd recommend doing it again.
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Date: 2006-07-02 09:54 pm (UTC)I went for a hilly ride yesterday and started wondering about whether I'd find a flat route of the same distance to be easier or harder. 'Cause there's the climbing, but there's also the coasting...
And speaking of coastal rides, a friend out here just told me about the ride she might do tomorrow -- drive to Half Moon Bay, then bike down to Santa Cruz and back. I am now unspeakably envious of people with cars and/or touring bikes...
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Date: 2006-07-03 12:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-03 01:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-03 01:32 am (UTC)(Even so, if I hadn't bought a house this year, I would have bought a road bike. Next year. The CWR trailers on last year's Climb to the Clouds claimed that doing these rides on a mountain bike added 20% to the effective mileage.)
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Date: 2006-07-03 11:43 pm (UTC)if I hadn't bought a house this year, I would have bought a road bike
This makes perfect sense, yet the sentence still amuses me.
It's obligatory at this point...
Date: 2006-07-02 10:25 pm (UTC)Re: It's obligatory at this point...
Date: 2006-07-03 12:53 am (UTC)