Maine Coastal Tour -- Seeking Advice

[jartzt]

My wife and I are headed to Portland a week from Saturday for a multi-day self supported tour on our tandem. I was wondering if any of you had experience riding the coast of Maine and could make recommendations on routes or items to see along the way.

We're going to have some big days Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday but the rest should be pretty reasonable (we're both pretty fit).

The rough itinerary is below:

Day Date Place
Sat 6/10/2006 Portland
Sun 6/11/2006 Rockland
Mon 6/12/2006 Bar Harbor
Tue 6/13/2006 Bar Harbor
Wed 6/14/2006 Rockland
Thu 6/15/2006 Boothbay Harbor
Fri 6/16/2006 Portland
Sat 6/17/2006 Portland

Thanks in advance for any advice your can share.

[stevep]

avoid rt 1. too much traffic.
go down some of the peninsulas. worth the effort.
like go to 5 islands which us a small town landing just above bath.
lobster on the dock for maybe $4 per...

note that these roads can be pretty hilly w/ steep short and frequent climbs.
nice area.

[Bradford]

I did an unsupported tour from Camden (near Rockland) to Campobello Island and back. We went up the coast and back inland.

Camden is a great town with a beautiful harbor. If you are there over the weekend, the tall ships that use it as a base will be in harbor and you can do a 2 hour evening cruise. Before I moved out west, I used to spend time in Camden each summer.

I loved the ride down through Penobscot to Brooklin and highly advise it. If that hadn’t already been an 80 mile day, I would have loved to go around Deer Island. I highly recommend you take your time and ride the whole peninsula and cross the bridge to Deer Island.

(By the way, that day was September 11, 2001. Spending the whole day on the bike without access to TV or radio, I remember it as one of the best days of my life; everyone else I know remembers it as one of the worst days of theirs. That has always made me feel guilty).

As you can imagine, the riding around Arcadia is also fantastic, although the approach over the spit is less then ideal.

It sounds like that is as far north as you are riding, but the rest of the run up the coast is great. It very sparsely populated with a few cool New England fishing villages along the way. The end of road is Lebec, the eastern most point of the U.S. The light house there is nice. Campobello Island is cool for several reasons. First, it is an international park, shared by both Canada and the U.S., because it the location of FRD’s summer home. The tour of the home is worth taking. It is also a nice island with another great light house, but you can only get to the lighthouse if the tide is out and you have to be back over before it starts to come back in or you will be spending the night on the rocks.

I’ve never ridden south of Camden, so I can’t help you there. I’ve driven it many times, but never ridden it.

In case you don’t know this, there is not a flat spot in the state of Maine. It is up hill then down hill ever single minute on the bike. I’ve toured a lot in the Rockies (Missoula to Steamboat, Jasper to Banff), not to mention down the Pacific coast and Cape Breton Island on the tandem, and Maine is the hardest riding of all. In other places, there are big hills and then flats to rest. Maine is all rollers, but they never end and are relentless.

Now for tangents. During that ride, I met a guy doing some credit card touring coming the other way. I crossed the street and talked to him for 10 minutes or so until his wife caught up. Real nice guy. Two years later, I was at an alumni breakfast for my college and was sitting with a nice couple. The conversation came around to touring and we figured out he was the guy. We had a great time talking about it. Just on of the many reasons I love to tour.

On another tangent, if you are looking for another ride in that area, Cape Breton is the place. 15 years ago Peter Mooney told me it was the best ride in North American. It took me 12 years to do it, but he was right. Wow, what a ride, it blows away anything else on the east coast and rivals anything in the Rockies. Legit mountain passes and incredible ocean views. I did a supported organized tour with camping and it ran us about $350 U.S. each. Not bad for 9 days of heaven.

Have fun and enjoy the steamers and chowda.