What a difference pavement makes!

[Veronica]

We rented mountain bikes while we were in Maine this past week. Weather and family commitments made it so I rode only once and Thom not at all. I rode from sister's to my mom's house - 21 miles, 1680 feet of climb. They have really good pavement in Maine - it's smooth! Okay, so it's kind of chewed up on the edges from the frost, but I averaged 14.5 mph on big, knobby tires! I was amazed! There wasn't much of a breeze the day I rode and what I had was a headwind, so I figure the pavement must have made a tremendous difference. When I ride my mountain bike on the road at home, I average right around 13. The pavement looks different too. It's not as dark, I think maybe they put granite bits in it.


The ride was really pleasant, fairly shaded, gave me a good chance to look at how things have changed at home.


V.

[aka_kim]

You mean that Maine does not slurry and chip seal its streets? I'm moving!

Where to next, Ms. Zip?

[jobob]

I found that on Vancouver Island, too. They have great road surfaces there. Smooth pavment makes a *huge* difference.

So do tires. I don't notice yucky chipseal pavement as much when I ride my Saluki with the 35 mm tires inflated to about 55 psi. When Lee and I went up Calaveras Road near Fremont a few weeks ago, I was thinking to myself "wow, they repaved it nicey", but then I looked down at it and realized, no, notsomuch. It just felt that much smoother on the Saluki's tires.

[Veronica]

You mean that Maine does not slurry and chip seal its streets? I'm moving!

Where to next, Ms. Zip?

How do you feel about snowy winters and summer days that are 90 degrees with 80% humidity? Of course the day I rode was gorgeous. We'd had a thunderstorm the day before which got rid of the humidity.

Next is mountain biking from Bryce to Zion.

We're thinking about riding Diablo both tomorrow and Friday - today's errand and laundry day.

V.

[massbikebabe]

V;

I think it's the calcium they mix into the tar/cement around here to prevent frost heaves that makes the roads so smooth...just my guess

karen

[Surlygirl]

Hey, I'm going back to Maine, out on the island it was beautiful, and warm, but not like this nasty heat and humidity. YUCK. We did some dirt roads on our mtbs on the island and then headed to Acadia and did the Around the Mountain trail. What a gorgeous ride. Had to work off the Lob-stahhhh bisque and popovers at the Jordan Pond House for lunch. The boys had popovers with ice cream and hot fudge sauce to help them get up the mountain.

[jobob]

popovers! yuuuuuummmm

- jo "raised in New England" bob

[SpinSis]

The pavement looks different too. It's not as dark, I think maybe they put granite bits in it.

I did 25 miles with my dad this weekend in Southern Maine. He's a native. He chuckled when I told him how much you liked the road surfaces, V. He wanted to know where you'd gone as we dodged road cracks and sighed when we reached the only new pavement spot on the ride (3 miles). I asked him why the road surface had sparkly bits in it, though. His response was typical Maine efficiency: "Mica."

Looking forward to my September week in Schoodic,
S