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Originally Posted by David in Maine
I live in Brunswick, Maine about 30 miles Northwest of Portland. I enjoy many great local rides in the Midcoast area. Pretty easy to find some nice back roads, but any coastal rides tend to get traffic in the summer. I wouldn't consider it a "destination" for epic, beautiful rides but it is a great area to live in as a cyclist. The roads right around Portland are pretty congested, but Portland is a great town. If you do end up in Maine, here is a link to my cycling club's website that has maps of the best local loops. https://mwbc.wildapricot.org/
David |
I'm a bit north of Dave in the midcoast Maine area and ride some of the same routes his club does. The midcoast area is best defined as a series of peninsulas with limited main roads on and off. It also stretches inland to roughly the I-95 corridor.
My riding tends to stay off the primary access roads of the peninsulas whenever possible. That said, I've ridden routes from 10 miles to 100 miles around the peninsulas that are a mix of shorter stretches of the primary access roads and gravel and paved roads that criss-cross the center and edges of the peninsulas. That's where the really good riding lies. As far as traffic on the peninsulas, it's only July through September that might be an issue and only on the main access roads.
The thing about riding coastal Maine is that you don't often see the coast. Most of the time long gravel driveways and firelanes wind their way towards the water and groupings of waterfront homes. The only way you get to truly experience that waterfront view is by boat.
In the summer and fall, there are thousands of riders on organized and unorganized bike tours that use Rt 1 as their conduit and without a doubt, they are missing the best parts of Maine riding.
On the land side of Rt 1 is where I think the treasured midcoast riding lies. This area is a mix of lakes and farms (and remote woods) with miles and miles of short punchy climbs and fast descents on less traveled roads. I'm talking maybe seeing a car or truck once every mile or so.
This past summer as a bored COVID exercise we drove up Rt 1 past Ellsworth to the newly minted downeast Bold Coast route and all the way to Calais. I did some riding and found the route up there, umm, "remote", but ranging from "no way" to "this is perfect". Once things get back to normal after Covid, we plan on heading to some of the nicer towns and coastal villages for a week and staying at bed and breakfasts while doing day rides on the best parts of the route.
My experience riding Maine roads outside of the midcoast area is limited but whether it's the mountainous area in the west or the farm and lake areas from Sebago up towards Moosehead, there are plenty of nice roads and scenic routes to find and explore.
As far as midcoast towns go, pick Brunswick, Bath, Wiscasset, Damariscotta, Rockland, Camden, and all the way to Belfast as your starting point and you'll find plenty of great riding.