My day started with a conversation about cycling at breakfast. I was asked if I was doing road or mountain biking - based solely on my attire. Of course it was another cyclist who asked after recognizing my bike shorts. He (sorry, didn't get his name) lives in Bangor, and rides a fixed gear bike. He told me he is having a frame custom made by a builder in Montana, and that he is also going to spend a week with his bike frame master learning how to build frames himself. What an interesting approach to learning how to build frames - pick a builder for your own custom bike and learn from a master.
While I did consider riding the Park Loop Road one more time, new territory and terrain won out. I left Bar Harbor, heading across the island on route 233. It was a good route decision, but it definitely came with a price. It felt like I was heading uphill from the beginning, and after I passed the entrance to Acadia the big hill became bigger. I pulled a brain-dead move and didn't shift down fast enough. The grade of the hill was steep enough that I knew I wouldn't be able to get those pedals turning before the bike fell over, so oops, time for a little walking. (And no, the bike didn't fall over - I stopped to rest and couldn't get started again - haven't you done that too?) As I was walking, another cyclst rode by. As she saw me she said "This is a killer hill - the worst one on the island". I assume that she wasn't considering the road up Cadillac Mountain, which I believe is steeper - but I'd have to agree that of all of the hills I've been on yesterday and today, this one was definitely the worst.
And the wind? I thought I was slower than usual as I was heading south from Somesville. I initially thought it was due to the hills, or that for some unknown reason I didn't have good touring energy levels today. As it turns out, it was very windy all day, and for that section it was blowing directly in my face. Uphill into the wind.... It was definitely much easier retracing my route as I headed back to Ellsworth in the afternoon - at least for the portion of the ride that was on Mt. Desert Island. As I crossed back to the mainland, the wind became a side wind, luckily blowing in the direction that would blow me off of the road rather than into traffic.
I stopped at the Southwest Harbor Chamber of Commerce to ask for information on the road up ahead, and I ended up having an interesting conversation with the woman who was manning that little office. She told me of her friend who is a cyclist and who is very comfortable with the hills on Mt. Desert Island. It turns out that this friend went to Swan Island with her bike and got a rather unpleasant surprise. Apparently she swore she would never go to Swan Island again with her bike, and went on to describe some very steep hills. It sounds like Swan Island shouldn't be on my list of biking destinations either! I was surprised today that as I rounded Somes Sound that the road was not next to the water. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, and I suppose it was wishful thinking. I think the New England states were populated well before anyone pushed to keep the land next to the sea public, or at least accessible. It makes me realize how special the Oregon Coast is. So as I headed south down 102 from Someville, the road was decent, but there were no water views. And as I look at the Hiking, Biking, and Cross Country Skiing Trail Map that I was given at the Chamber of Commerce office, I can see that for the most part the road wasn't near the water... Luckily my stop there confirmed that there was water access ahead a few miles in a town called Seawall, so I kept on riding in the same direction, It wasn't quite time to turn around yet.
Do you think this sign means that walkers need to travel at 40 miles per hour? I didn't think so!
I stopped at Seawall, time for pictures and food. As I started back, I saw a group of cyclists just pulling in. I left before they did, but they were traveling unencumbered and were moving much faster than me. As they caught up with me, I had a short conversation with one of the men, who told me that the group is from Montreal and then told me he didn't speak much English. And I told him that I unfortunately don't speak French. Even if we hadn't been moving at different speeds I suspect it would have been a short conversation.
As I rode back through the main street area of Southwest Harbor I saw a bank temperature sign advertising a current temperature of 93 Fahrenheit or 34 Celcius. No matter which temperature system you use, that is definitely a hot temperature for cycling.
I stopped in Somesville again on my way through. It felt like it was time for more sunscreen - I figured there was a chance that some of the sunscreen had been thinned by sweat, especially seeing the salt sweat marks on my shorts and my gloves. It was another good photo op too. Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought it was a good place for photos because right after I stopped a couple got out of there car wielding a camera. I started talking with them because he was wearing a T-shirt that said Lockport, NY. I rode through there on my cross-country trip, so out of curiosity I asked if they were from there. Nope, they were from Casper, Wyoming and are spending the summer in this area. We had a nice conversation before we all moved on. As always, it's fun to meet people on the road.
I had to stop - on an uphill again, of course - for another deer photo. This deer seemed to be a little closer to me and a bit more in the open. Instead of eating, the two of us were having a bit of a staring contest, me with a camera, and who knows, maybe the deer had one too! (OK, I know that's not possible - it's more likely the deer was trying to make sure that I wasn't moving any closer, and of course I wasn't.)
As I got closer to the bridge off of Mt. Desert Island, I passed a sign that said I was entering the village of Town Hill. And wouldn't you know I had to climb a decent-sized hill to get to the village?
As rides go, today wasn't bad, but I don't think it measured up to yesterday's ride. I spent a lot of time away from the coast yesterday, but for the most part I liked the road better. It's probably not fair to compare the two rides thought, since yesterday's was in a national park. And now I understand why the ranger I was talking with yesterday told me that people usually drive to Southwest Harbor and just do the loop at the tip of the island.
They weren't kidding! I fought a headwind all morning, had the joy of a tailwind on my way back from Seawall - and once I crossed back to the mainland, the wind changed to what I would call a sidewind. It was very strong, but luckily for me it was pushing me away from traffic!
Just as I was crossing the bridge back to the mainland, these two gals in kayaks popped out from under the bridge. It looked like they were having a great time - and it was still pretty warm out, so it looked like a good day for playing on (or in) the water.
I was very glad to see my air-conditioned home for the night this afternoon. My first task after checking in was to run to the grocery store to pick up Gatorade and some fruit for tomorrow. Then, ahh... a shower to get rid of all of that sweat definitely felt good.
Next it was time to figure out where to go to dinner. I was using my usual criteria of trying to find somewhere within walking distance, but then I realized that my car is here, so I wasn't limited by walking distance and I didn't have to get all sweaty walking in the heat. As it turns out, I went to the downtown area of Ellsworth to find a restaurant. It really was within walking distance, but it would have been a nasty walk since the section of 1A where my hotel lives does not have anything resembling a sidewalk, and it's a very busy road. Dinner tonight was at a place called The Mex, awesome crab enchiladas surrounded by the usual beans and rice. Since I didn't have my ice cream fix for the day, I stopped on the way back for ice cream. It was a good eating day,
