Mainly Maine

I have done about 10 multi-day bike tours over 25 years. We all have our unique desires, and I guess riding hundreds of miles on my bike through a variety of our great land is one of mine. This time I am stepping it up a bit... I am going to make the extra effort to share my experiences through this Blog (a new venture for me) I will join the 100 of millions of people who think that everyone else wants to hear what they have to say...Okay, if I can get three people to follow me on my journey, I will be satisfied.

I invite you to click on the SUBSCRIBE button somewhere over there on the right column. This will send you an email every time I add an entry to my blog. And it will bolster my ego if I can get past 3 subscribers! You can also secretly follow me by just visiting this site and reading along. Comments are welcome too (I think I have opened comments to all.)

JOIN ME!

It is bad enough that I still want to hop on my bike and ride across the countryside for weeks on end, but now I am taking up the additional effort of sharing my adventures with you with this blog.

As a teacher, I am very aware that there is a decent period of time that my work place asks me not to come back to work for awhile. I try to take advantage of the situation by giving myself a reasonable physical challenge to help keep me young(er) and healthi(er). This often manifests itself as a long bike tour. This year, as ideas about different locations floated around my head, places I haven't been to before, people I haven't seen in awhile, I found myself thinking about Maine. My previous 3 or 4 trips to Maine have always been very enjoyable and have left me with a very favorable impression of Maine. At the same time, I have looked at maps of Maine and realize that there is a huge portion of state that I haven't been to before. A little research leads one to realize that northern Maine is one of the most remote parts of the United States...enough said for me. What is up there? How remote is remote?... If someone told you, "I wish to see what's at the end of highway US 1, so I am going to Key West!" People would say, "Great! I would love to go there, too." What I am saying is, "I wish to see what's at the end of highway US 1, so I am going to Fort Kent!" I expect people to say, "What is wrong with you?"

I am in planning stages now and plan on leaving in early August. Join me through my travel blog...Oh and as for the the subtitle, my current final destination will be to see my old friends Jane and David Kurko. It might be 10 years since I have seen them.

More to come.

Here is a shot from my 2011 Erie Canal Trip that I took with my son. Corley. As with that trip, I know that not all roads and paths I encounter will be paved, so I am taking my mountain bike as opposed to my road bike. I will put slick tires (with inverted trends) to help reduce friction for the many miles that will be paved. My old reliable carrier is now about 20 years old, as is my son. We bought it as a baby carrier for him, and since, it has been a perfect tour carrier for my trips. It has been across Pennsylvania (with Corley in it), to Cape Cod, Cape May NJ, Catskills, Adirondacks, Blue Ridge Parkway, Erie Canal, and Niagara Falls...and now onto Maine.

Why do I do this?

Because I am a middle aged man who can't afford a small convertible sports car to satisfy my mid-life crisis, so I ride to think I am still young...Okay, that's not true. I have no desire for a car, and I wouldn't say "crisis". I do find that as I get older, and still enjoy biking, that I am often thankful that I'm still physically fit enough that I still can ride many miles. I will concede that the speed is not the same, but I'm okay with that. I biked a lot when I was younger, and I did my first tour back in 1989 when I went about 550 mile to Toronto to visit my college roommate. I was hooked.

I like the fact that every place I have gone has something to offer. I like the fact that when I am going 10-15 mph and exposed to the outdoors, I pass all the same stuff you would in a car, but I SEE more of it. I am in awe of the exquisite natural beauty of surrounding mountain ridges. I stop and learn the history of our land laid out on numerous roadside markers everywhere, the very ones we have all seen from cars travelling at 40 mph and have rarely read. I wonder at the untold stories of once prosperous towns now empty buildings with boarded up windows. And I am constantly fascinated at the complete randomness of the people I meet...It is just a magic that happens while riding that doesn't happen nearly as much when doing a regular routine. I suspect that it is the fact that a grown man wearing brightly colored clothes and toting 50-60 pounds behind him on a bicycle is enough of a curiosity for people to start up conversation. How often in our normal daily lives does this happen? If you are on line at the grocery store, do you normally start talking to the stranger in front of you. Not me...at least not that often... "Hey, I see you are purchasing grocery items, too! How about the crazy sale on those bing cherries?"

For me, these rides offer a very different, and full experience...A vacation. You all have ideas what makes a good vacation. It usually, involves someplace different to see, lots of food to eat, hopefully nice weather, and new and exotic people to meet. This has all that, plus the fact that I can counter the guilt of excessive food with enough calorie burning hours to call it a draw..The weather is always a gamble on vacation...I just have to work harder at getting out of the rain. ( I am sure rain will be in some of the stories I tell.)