Follow Up—Stats and Anecdotes from our “Portland” to Portland ride:

We had 12 rest days, not including 2 at the end of the ride waiting on Vicky’s plane. We had at least one rest day per week. I recommend more at the start of the ride to build up your strength—especially if you are older like me. I need more than one day to get my muscles and butt healed. 

We had 67 riding days and averaged 51 miles per day with our longest at 86 miles.

We had Gloria supporting us for 48 days of riding and no support for 35 days where we carried our bags. 

We both stayed the same weight—ice cream and beer have lots of calories.  We enjoyed root beer floats at the end of several rides. 

It rained on us for 10 of the 67 days of riding.

Ford’s chain broke after about 4,000 miles of use. I had 7 flats and Ford had 2. Schwalbe Marathon Supreme Evolution tires work well—not one flat while using them. Fords Continental Contact tires also worked well with only 2 flats. Get as wide a tire as will fit your bike.

Going West to East worked well for us and we only had headwinds for a few days. The winds normally run east to west in western Washington State, but were going at 15-20 mph from the west when we came through.  

40 lbs is plenty of stuff to carry (I started with 65 lbs.) Change bike shorts every 2 days—one day is even better. Don't need a water purifier for the northern route. Fuel for stove—propane fuel for Ford’s Jetboil was much more available than the white gas for my WhisperLite. (The newer WhisperLites will take more types including unleaded gas and kerosene.)

Warm Showers is great, but you need to plan out your route and schedule at least a week ahead to give hosts time to respond. You will also want to sign up and become a member prior to your trip. WARMSHOWERS.org 

SPD petals and sandals work great. A generator hub is not needed unless you plan to do a lot of night riding. An extra battery to recharge your cell phone is a very good idea—fairly large to get at least 2 charges. Don't trust Google bike routes—also both Google and Adventure Cycling maps use some gravel roads. Be very careful on gravel even with wider tires—the bags on the bike make it unstable and even without bags some sand that I didn't see on a dirt road caused me to fall. Get both the app and paper maps if you use Adventure Cycling directions. In some areas you need the app to tell which way to go. Adventure Cycling routes were good, but don't go very straight —they take the scenic route. We did a lot of riding using state maps and it worked fairly well, but more detailed paper maps showing county roads and differentiating between paved and gravel would be much better.  

We stayed at Warm Showers hosts for 8 nights. Thanks!

We stayed at friends or family homes 3 nights. Thanks!

We camped for 41 nights.

We stayed at a hostel for 1 night.

We had Bed and Breakfast stays for 2 nights.

We stayed in inns and hotels 28 nights.

For my next big biking adventure, I hope to ride some in Europe with my wife, Gloria. 

Thanks again for following along on our adventure.

Day 83 Finished at the Atlantic in Portland Maine 9/4/2018 - 3585 total miles!!!

Dipped our wheels in the Ocean after riding 8 miles from the hotel. Had a lobster roll & a whoopie pie at Becky's on the waterfront after Vicky’s plane arrived and later this evening celebrated at Scales restaurant at the waterfront in Portland. 

Plan to do a summary of our trip sometime soon. I appreciate your following me on this blog and hope you enjoyed the pictures. It is a beautiful country and the people are nice wherever you go. 

Day 82 RIde to Portland 9/3/18

We are staying in a hotel tonight and tomorrow in Portland. Did 41 miles, With 10 to go tomorrow. 😜

Maine has a 3' rule for cars passing bikes so most of the drivers were very good except for two today. One was in an older pickup the other was an ambulance. Will get to the ocean tomorrow!!!

👍

Days 80 and 81 Rest days at a Campground in Maine.

Day 80- Had breakfast in the campground then went to downtown Norway and saw the shops and had a great lunch at Cafe Nomad then went to a brewery and Ice cream shop and to a small waterfall at snow falls gorge which is in Paris Maine. Campground had a band play old rock & roll in the evening which was good. Had steaks over the campfire for supper. Bugs haven't been a problem here. 

Day 81- Had oatmeal in our campsite then drove to Portland to check out our bike route for Monday. Goggle maps directed us to the Hampton Inn correctly for bicycles but we couldn't get the car across one of the roads. We also checked out where to dip the front tire in the ocean and decided on the Eastern promenade at Portland. We had lunch at a local fish house and went by one brewery on our way back to the campground.  

Day 79 Broken Chain & Into Maine

Ford's chain broke and then my chain tool broke but there were 3 bike shops in town so we were able to fix the chain. 

Had our 1st very steep hill with a grade of 25% today. Rode thru towns of Sweden & Norway. Left NH and entered Maine and 51 miles to a campsite where we will spend Labor Day weekend (3 days) Campsites here are a little pricy as this one is $50 per night for 2 tents.  Plan to see some of the area around Oxford and Norway during our two rest days. 3,543 miles so far with about 50 to go. 

Day 78 Rest Day in North Conway NH

Rode in the car to the top of Mt Washington at 6288' feet above sea level a 4500' climb over 7.5 miles. They allow bicycles on the road once per year but don't think I want to try the climb as most of the climb is 14% with spots at a 20% grade. Bikes are not allowed to go down the hill as it is too steep.  They recorded the highest wind speed in the word there back in 1934 of 231 mph. 

Day 77 Kancamagus

Nice state roads. Had Lunch at the top of the mountain   Did only 41 miles. Hill averaged about 6% with one area at an 8% grade. Taking another rest day tomorrow and will explore the area around North Conway, New Hampshire.  Six more days to go will finish on Tuesday 9/4/18.

Day 76 8/28/2018

24 miles with a couple of hills. The big hill is tomorrow as shown on the attached picture. We have decided to end in Portland Maine instead of Bar Harbor because of traffic and Labor Day.  Crossed the Appalachian Trail and met 6 hikers heading north. Gloria gave 2 of them a ride into town to pick up groceries.