Maine?

[mimitabby]

I have a friend who will be living for a year near Augusta Maine. are there
any cool rides there or bike trails or.. just nice places to ride?

[Veronica]

Try here.

http://www.exploremaine.org/bike/bike_tours.html

Southern Maine, where I grew up, is lovely biking.

Are you thinking of a trip for you or places for her to ride?

V.

[mimitabby]

a trip for DH and I if we go to visit her... to combine two things...thanks for the link!

[tygab]

I love Maine, and while I have only ridden around Bar Harbor due to just getting the bike this year, there are a million places that I think would be great to ride. Augusta should be no exception, and it has access to both the hinterlands in the interior, and the Downeast coast regions. Augusta is not a big city though, heck even Portland feels compact/small.

A good link is http://outdoors.mainetoday.com, they have a very good outdoors section which includes many cycling links.

Did I mention Maine is really big and parts of Maine are really hilly? And it has has 3500 miles of coast (if you go around all the points that jut out)?

I might suggest finding a route where you can ride under the gaze of Katahdin, that'd be pretty cool and not too hard to do from a good chunk of the state where it rises up prominently from anything else nearby. It's also not far from Augusta. Another suggestion is what my husband and I call "Moose loop" around the Carabassett Valley/Rangeley/Flagstaff lakes area.

One thing to keep in mind is if you ride in the hinterlands you will likely encounter logging trucks and/or farm equipment on roads. And a lot of roads are dirt, so you need to plan your routes appropriately. If you go along the coast, you will encounter tourists (potentially NJ/NY/MA bad drivers) in SUVs or RVs. Just meant to help you think things thru. The farther north and east you go, the fewer tourists you'll encounter. They spread out pretty well past a certain point.

Here's a bunch of stuff from the MT site

These are a few of the many organizations that lead bicycle tours in Maine:
# Can Am Wheelers are based in Norway, Maine and lead tours in Maine and Canada.
# Maine Wheels Bicycle Club organizes the Moose Tour, from August 4 - 9, 2002; and the Coastal Tour, July 14 - 19, 2002.
# Bike Riders Tours lead at least two Maine tours.
# Summer Feet, Maine Coast Cycling Adventures, is based in Portland and leads tours throughout the state.

Guides to cycle touring in Maine:
# Bicycle Coalition of Maine
# The state Department of Transportation has a list of 25 bike tours, including trail routes and detailed descriptions, that provides information on where you can find bike shops, accommodations, points of interest, places to eat and more all along the route. The routes vary in length from 20 to 100 miles long.
We've got a sample tour, the Portland-Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse tour, plus you can get all the details of the other Bike Tours in Maine on the Office of Passenger Transportation, Bike and Pedestrian Section Web page.
# Adventure Cycling Association has useful information, route guides and maps.
# The DeLorme Maine Atlas and Gazetteer is a great map resource for cycling in Maine. You can purchase it at most book shops and online at DeLorme.
# "25 Bicycle Tours in Maine," by Howard Stone, is published by Countryman Press.
# The East Coast Greenway explains its plans for a bike trail from Maine to Florida.

If you want a cool trip, you might consider Bar Harbor + The Cat + your bikes to nova scotia, and then ride around there. I know, not Maine, but you could very easily do a coastal route from inn to inn or something, and the towns in NS are just gorgeous. You could do a few days or a week. Unfortunately you'd need passports now....

[DeniseGoldberg]

I've done some biking around the edges of the Maine coast, and V and tygab are right - it's beautiful. My rides have been both touring and day trips. Maybe some of my journals can give you some ideas for rides or trips of your own:

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/denise2006downeast - June 2006, day trips, Acadia, Machias, Freeport (+ a visit to the puffins sans bike)

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/denise2005downeast - June 2005, same area as June 2006 trip, mixture of touring and day trips

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/Denise2002Maine - day trips in south coastal Maine, photos & descriptions, ride from the explore Maine web site that V mentioned above.

I don't think you can go wrong riding in Maine! Hope that your friend likes it and that you get a chance to visit her - with your bike, of course.

--- Denise

[mimitabby]

I love Maine, and while I have only ridden around Bar Harbor due to just getting the bike this year, there are a million places that I think would be great to ride. Augusta should be no exception, and it has access to both the hinterlands in the interior, and the Downeast coast regions. Augusta is not a big city though, heck even Portland feels compact/small.

A good link is http://outdoors.mainetoday.com, they have a very good outdoors section which includes many cycling links.

Did I mention Maine is really big and parts of Maine are really hilly? And it has has 3500 miles of coast (if you go around all the points that jut out)?

I might suggest finding a route where you can ride under the gaze of Katahdin, that'd be pretty cool and not too hard to do from a good chunk of the state where it rises up prominently from anything else nearby. It's also not far from Augusta. Another suggestion is what my husband and I call "Moose loop" around the Carabassett Valley/Rangeley/Flagstaff lakes area.

One thing to keep in mind is if you ride in the hinterlands you will likely encounter logging trucks and/or farm equipment on roads. And a lot of roads are dirt, so you need to plan your routes appropriately. If you go along the coast, you will encounter tourists (potentially NJ/NY/MA bad drivers) in SUVs or RVs. Just meant to help you think things thru. The farther north and east you go, the fewer tourists you'll encounter. They spread out pretty well past a certain point.

Here's a bunch of stuff from the MT site


If you want a cool trip, you might consider Bar Harbor + The Cat + your bikes to nova scotia, and then ride around there. I know, not Maine, but you could very easily do a coastal route from inn to inn or something, and the towns in NS are just gorgeous. You could do a few days or a week. Unfortunately you'd need passports now....

thank you! what's "the cat?"
passports are not a problem for us; in fact, I have two, i have double citizenship.
I would love to see Nova Scotia too.
but what MONTHS would you recommend going to NS?

and Thanks Denise, I'll revisit your travelogues

[DeniseGoldberg]

thank you! what's "the cat?"

The Cat is the ferry that runs from both Bar Harbor & Portland to Nova Scotia - http://www.catferry.com/. It runs from late May through mid-October.

I'm actually headed to Nova Scotia for a tour next week. I'll probably post a link to my journal within the next couple of days.

[mimitabby]

Oh, a catamaran!
I look forward to your next story; thanks~!

[tygab]

While the weather will be favorable May thru late Sept, and the scenery full of life, Maine has lots of black flies thru May and June, which go away in July-ish. But then there are mosquitos . Neither of these biting insects like being out in the sun, but are pretty prevalent in woodsy shaded areas or at dusk. Still, mosquitos tend to be more bearable than the flies. Along the coast the mosquitos aren't that bad, also.

It is very cool most nights, even in the high summer. I don't know if you'd camp, but if that is of interest, going more toward July or August might be more pleasant. In late July and August you can probably catch lots of blueberry and raspberries along the roads too.

And of course, fall is well, amazing in New England or NS, and usually quite dry. Much cooler temps and possibly fewer people.

HTH, a little. For a summer trip, I guess I'd pick late July. For a fall trip, I'd pick mid Sept - or basically when Denise is going!

[Veronica]

Nova Scotia was lovely in early July when CindySue and I were there. I had the BEST strawberry shortcake ever. You can see pictures of our trip on the tandemhearts website.

V.

[tygab]

BTW, nice journals Denise! It sounds like you had a great time, and I didn't know you could actually go onto the puffin island. I will have to look into that for the future!

[DeniseGoldberg]

...I didn't know you could actually go onto the puffin island. I will have to look into that for the future!

You know, I don't know how I managed to stumble on that tour; somehow it jumped off the web at me when I was looking into where I wanted to ride last year. I knew I wanted to go to Acadia, and I knew I also wanted to explore some areas of Maine that were totally new to me. I'm really glad it did though - seeing the puffins up close is just awesome. I have a feeling that I could very easily be pulled into going again next year. Maybe I can blame it on my camera!

--- Denise