spinnie

Hi all,
My husband and I (65, more like 10 miles/hr on hilly PA terrain, have done lots of road biking on hybrids), are planning a 4 day bike trip for the end of August, starting somewhere around Bucksport and ending in the Portland area. I'm waiting for my Adventure Cycling maps to come in and will compare them with Greenways. My question is, how difficult is the first part of the ride (meaning grades)? On the ?Greenway site I'm accessing, their is a chart of distance/height, and it the first 46 miles look a bit intimidating. Can anyone tell me how intense this area is - I can't figure out how to enlarge the chart to determine the feet/mile challenge...

Thank you

indyfabz

When the map comes, plot the route on Ride With GPS. It will create a profile with grades in percentages.

Steve B.

This

There's a lot of different options for a route, we cannot decide for you which one's to take, thus I'd use RWGPS to map out the varieties of routes, it'll show elevation profiles.

late

I am going to try and reframe the question: What's a good 4 day ride in Maine?

How are you dealing with transportation? Does it have to be a loop? Are you camping?

One of the tricky parts of planning a ride is the stretch between Belfast to Camden. I've done that a few times, and have yet to come up with a way I like. Rte 1 is less than ideal. But you can head inland at Lincolnville to get to Camden via back roads. Rte 52 is worse than Rte 1, I would advise you avoid it. You could head out of Belfast on Rte 3, then 131,173,235 and 105. I have done most of that, but not Rte 3. If I were going to do it again, that's what I'd do. Just don't do what I did once, and wind up in Brooks (whooops!)

One trip option is Camden, Augusta, Brunswick and Portland. If you're not camping, I can suggest a couple places to stay.

Here are some things we did. At Brunswick you can head down to Bailey Island and stay at the Driftwood Inn. In the morning you can take the ferry to Portland, if you want to try that. We've done it both ways (with bikes) and liked it. Moodys Diner may be the most famous place to eat in Maine, it's like stepping into the past, try the walnut cream pie. Round Top in Wiscasset has some of the best ice cream in Maine, ask what's fresh. If you like seafood, try J's Oyster Bar in Portland. If you wind up in Acadia, try the Jordan Pond Teahouse and try their popovers and lobster chowder, they are great.

indyfabz

I think we did 52 from Camden to Belfast during our ACA Northern Tier tour way back in ‘99. Definitely sucked. Probably worse today.

late

A ride report would have been nice..

indyfabz

Maybe they are on the road. OP did say end of August.