51 Days. 3,047 Miles.

May 29, 2021 25.14mi

I was able to drop my bike off at PTown Bikes for a final tune up. Super nice crew there and they even fixed my front pannier that broke! I didn’t tell them it was broken because they were kind enough to slip me in during a busy day, but the mechanic said he couldn’t stand the sight of it and they had a screw extractor on hand. At least I got to test out my quick fix job with several 35mph downhills and rough New England roads. That zip-tie and e-tape/duct tape fix would have lasted for the rest of the tour AND the next one, no doubt. I was at a brew pub having dinner and went to book my ferry, you know… doing the smart thing and planning in advance for a critical part of the tour. I knew there was a storm coming, but I didn’t realize it would shut down all ferries for the entire weekend, and also on Monday. I’m usually pretty solitary when I’m eating, even if it’s at a bar, but I had been talking with the bartender and a local guy named John. I instantly asked them if there was any other way off the Cape. Only way off was a 7:30am bus that took me all the back along my route I took to get out to the Cape and dropped me off at the South Station in Boston. The wind and rain definitely arrived in a very violent fashion. Even in Boston it was quite unpleasant. I made it a few miles out of the city and made the tough decision to cut a small section of my ride off, skipping Salem. I only lost about 7 miles but couldn’t feel my feet or hands. It was about 45 degrees with 30mph headwinds. It’s alright through, it gives me an excuse to go visit Salem at a different time. Safety first, kids. Looking at the weather doesn’t make me feel too good about tomorrows ride. Should I ride or take an unplanned 0 day to let the weather pass. I’m out here to enjoy myself, not punish myself.

May 31, 2021 65.14Mi

Well, as the date reads, I had to take the day off yesterday. The weather was gnarly. No good. A lady I met in the lobby on the way out told me I looked young for being 30. I shrugged and said it must be all these miles I’ve done. My body was not terribly excited to get back on the bike. Where I stayed didn’t have much going on so I spent a large majority of the day stuck in my tiny hotel room. Of course the hills were nasty leaving Massachusetts. What a perfect departing gift! Entered New Hampshire by early afternoon. Got real pretty looking along the coast real fast. Well, I had to pass through Hampton, which was like every other resort town I’ve biked through on this tour but with more roast beef and funnel cake. What’s up with all the roast beef? Everyone was in the typical mid weight jacket, shorts and flip flops. Lots of surfers out, taking advantage of the back end of the long weekend of storms. Passed through Portsmouth pretty quickly. I would have liked to stop but it was getting later in the day and I didn’t want to keep my Warmshowers host waiting for me. Also, he texted me and asked if I liked lobster so that gave me a but of incentive to bike faster. I believe I was in NH for a brisk 3 hours, must faster than my other quick states. So here it is… Maine. The final state. State 15.

June 1, 2021 69.71Mi

Not much to say about today. Rode my bike. Made it to Portland. Just a rough day on the road. You’ll have those from time to time though.

June 2, 2021 49.91Mi

Last night I stayed with someone I met in North Carolina. He was one of the crew that did the Southern Tier and decided to just follow the Adventure Cycling Association route up to Bar Harbor. It was cool to catch up with him and hear about how the end of his tour went. The morning was going quite well leaving Portland. Then when I was in the hills a road cyclist passed me and commented on how nice the day was because there was no wind. What a jerk. The wind arrived in under and hour after he muttered those words. I met my second Instagram follower today! I never know who actually looks at my social media stuff, or reads these updates. He lives right on the ECG and found me while I was riding down his road. This guy was riding a moped and we spoke briefly on the side of the road. He’s getting ready to do the ECG 1 week at a time. It’s looking like it will take him 9 years to finish he said. Good luck, Jeremy! I made it to Chewonki Campground for the evening. I don’t usually talk too much at length about where I am staying but this place is too cool not to. They are celebrating 60 years as a 100% female owned and operated family campground! It’s two sisters and two of their daughters. It’s pretty early for camping season in Maine, I guess. There were 3 other RVs spread out around the grounds, leaving the rest open, quiet, and beautiful.

June 3, 2021 64.64Mi

Today was rough, both mentally and physically. The body is quite tired and it seems like the riding won’t get much easier. I guess there is a reason why most people do this North to South, and it’s because you finish the hills on the first half of the tour. In my mind, I always pictured this part of the trip as some easy wonderland full of beautiful views and roads. But that is just not the case. I’m still enjoying myself but man, this part is tough. I’m sure my brain is also starting to realize that this whole thing is coming to an end. I spoke with a few folks in Rockland and that raised my spirits a bit. Even some quick conversations with strangers helps the morale quite a bit.

June 4, 2021 69.70Mi

The last 20 miles took it out of me. How come no one mentions how terrible the shoulder conditions can be on sections of Rt. 1 up here? Three inch cracks line the shoulder every 12 feet. It’s rough. The bike doesn’t like it and neither does my body. At the end of the day, it was a much better day of riding. I can’t let the poor shoulders ruin the entire day. Just, sometimes it sticks out because it’s such a drastic change. I’ve always had a thing for bridges. They are pretty cool feats of engineering. Maybe it’s because I grew up using a large bridge almost every day. Rode over the Penobscot Narrows Bridge with a nice wide shoulder. Beautiful. The constant smell of pine trees and salt water is intoxicating. It makes me want to bike off in to the woods and the ocean at the same time.

June 5, 2021 76.36Mi

Before I forget again, I saw my first tandem touring couple a few days ago! I’ve heard so much about them on this tour but hadn’t crossed any, almost like a mythical creature. Sadly, they were heading south so we didn’t get the chance to talk, a quick wave was all we had time for.
You know, it gets pretty lonely out here riding up and down hills all day. I believe that’s why the last few days were so rough on me, but today was much better. Before taking off for the day I stopped in town for some food and ran in to an older couple with folding bikes and trailers. They were on their way to Bar Harbor to start the Adventure Cycling Association route down to Key West. This is their final major route to complete in the US. They’ve done all of the other cross country and coastal routes in this country. I shared some fresh wisdom about portions of the route, and we split ways. The riding between Ellsworth and Machias was a blast, maybe even one of the better days on the entire tour. The traffic died down pretty fast as I meandered through the country roads. It’s so hard to explain the feeling of biking through the countryside, not knowing what is around the corner. I climbed a small hill, and the top revealed a landscape I haven’t experienced on the road yet. To the west, I could see mountains, followed by the field I was in, and to the east, the mountains slowly rolled out in to hills as they drooped down to the ocean. All I could hear was the faint wind, and the occasional group of bees as head took advantage of the endless wildflowers that the fields provided. Speaking of the bees, there were many bee boxes scattered throughout this area. All of them were surrounded by solar powered electric fences, presumably to keep and interested bears away. Maybe these fields hit me so hard because up until this point, Maine was mostly thick forest, even when I was a few hundred feet from the ocean. Tomorrow, I conclude this wild adventure.

June 6, 2021 45.08Mi

Well, that’s it. Woke up at 4:30am to the birds and an absolutely beautiful morning. My Warmshowers host made me a fantastic breakfast which included some of their homemade kimchi that they needed some input on. It was good, just a little less salt, which they already knew. It was a scorcher today so she pulled out her old maps and showed me the lakes I would be passing today so I could get some swimming in. Worth it. The sun was brutal and the water was frigid, and refreshing. Pretty funny how I saw only a couple of cars in the first 20 miles of my ride but when I stopped to swim, 3 cars pulled up to also enjoy the benefits of a cold northern lake on a 90 degree day. Water draws people, no doubt about that. This is Eastern Maine, so I was in the hills all day again and as I was slugging up one a woman slowed down to warn me there are some bears up ahead. Funny how that happens because I was just thinking about how I was cheated on this tour because I didn’t see a single shark or a bear. Low and behold there was what looked like a mama bear and a cub running off in to the woods, so all I saw was some bear butts, which is the preferred part of the bear I would like to see going 4mph on an 85lb bike. As I was about a mile from Calais the 3rd Bald Eagle of the tour passed over my head. I made it to Calais and on to the short path that lead me to the Canadian border, and my lovely girlfriend met me on the path about a quarter mile from the end. She had driven two days to come meet me, I guess this place is pretty far away from home. I rolled up to the small bridge that takes you in to Canada and of course the Border Agents came out to say hello. They said I could try to get in to Canada but I probably wouldn’t have much luck (which I knew). I told them it as alright because I had planned on stopping at this bridge.

So, that’s it. A year of planning, boiled down in to 51 days of riding. Incredible.

In Conclusion

It’s been a week since I completed my tour up the east coast via the East Coast Greenway. At first, I wanted to write up this final entry so I wouldn’t forget anything. I think it was a good idea to wait a week before coming back to finish this conclusion. I could go on forever about my thoughts on the past two months, but I will try to maintain something that is enjoyable to read… no one likes a drawn out conclusion.

This entire thing came from a general curiosity that sparked in February 2020. As I watched the world change, and my industry completely shut its doors (as of today, 6/13/21, live events are slowly coming back) I realized I had an opportunity to use this tour as a center piece to raise money for a local theatre company, Stage Notes. Right now, community might be more important than ever. It feels like the arts were pushed to the side as the world scrambled to cope with the pandemic. It made me feel like I was helping in some small way, raising money for them so they could continue to give students the exposure to theatre, and to ensure that this small community can continue to harbor an exciting environment to create art.

I was out there for two months, riding alone every day except for that week I followed Adam to the Outer Banks. Day in and day out I continued to meet some of the most generous and gracious people, many from all over the world although they reside somewhere along the East Coast. On the flip side, I ran in to many angry, and confused people out there. Be kind to each other.

I spent a lot of time thinking about how the roadways are laid out. It feels like the roads weren’t built with anything else in mind other than for motor vehicles. That leads to a general confusion, and sometimes anger towards cyclists and other non-conventional modes of transportation that use these roads. I’m grateful that the East Coast Greenway Association is working tirelessly to create a safer, more enjoyable pathway system for non-motor vehicles to enjoy. I grew up on the East Coast but never imagined experiencing it from my bike, and it opened my eyes to so much I never would have seen from any other mode of transportation. I picked up on the small, weird things such as the type of trash I would see roughly 5 miles out of a town. It would tell me what gas station or general store I would find at the one stop light. It also told me what alcohol people were drinking as they drove in to town. It’s frustrating to see the amount of garbage humans create, then toss on the side of the road. It was scary to see how much alcohol is consumed along those back roads. Be safe out there.

If I could, I would go back and hug every single host I stayed with. I had countless conversations with people that have been travelling like this for longer than I’ve been alive. Seeing friends and family along the route was such a morale booster. I would find myself talking aimlessly for many minutes, presumably a side effect of spending so much time alone. That couldn’t be any different than how I was before I started this tour. It was nice being able to sit back comfortably at a Warmshowers host and listen to their stories from the road. Maybe it hit even harder after such a long year in isolation. I’m not sure.

In the weeks leading up the the start of the tour I wasn’t sure if the day would actually ever arrive. I was ready much earlier than anticipated, I can still feel that feeling. Now, the feelings of anticipation have molded in to a sort of confusion. I’m unsure what to do exactly with my touring experience that I gained along the East Coast Greenway.

Here are some fun tally’s I kept track of:

State Lines: 15
Ferries: 4
Flat Tires: 9
Sets of tires: 3
Broken pannier rack: 1

Yeah, the amount of flats and tires I went through is uncharacteristic for the Schwalbe tires I rode at the start and the second half of the tour. Everyone always has something trying to slow them down, I guess.

Don’t be afraid to go explore on your bike. You don’t need to set off on a 3,000 mile trek up the East Coast. Bike 20 miles to a campground, set up a tent, and enjoy. It’s incredible what you can experience and find in yourself when you can only travel at 12mph.

The biggest question I have for myself right now is: What’s next?