Maine Overnight Bike Tour - Day 2

I awoke to a cool morning after a somewhat restless night. The first order of business was to fire up the camp stove so I could boil water for coffee and instant oatmeal. Pro tip: Instead of pouring oatmeal into your cookpot, pour boiling water directly into the instant oatmeal packet and eliminate the need to clean your pot. After breakfast, I packed up and got on the road by 8am. I was glad I had an extra layer as it was needed on this 50 degree morning.

Day 2

Distance - 66.1 kilometers (41.1 miles) 

Elevation Gain - 578 meters (1896 feet)

Max Grade - 12%

Kennebunk, ME to Portsmouth, NH via the East Coast Greenway

I headed north a short distance on ME 35 before turning left onto the East Coast Greenway (ECG). The next 25 miles would be in a south-westerly direction before turning south-east and south into Portsmouth, New Hampshire. From Kennebunk to Kittery the ECG, US1 Route and Maine's Eastern Trail (ET) use the same roads. All turns were clearly marked along the route with signage for all three routes. As was the case during my trail running days, I still managed to miss one to the turns!

US1, ET and ECG signage

Around three miles into the ride I reached the first of many climbs on the route. It was two miles in length but thankfully the grade was slight. Later in the ride I climbed two hills with 12% grades. These were very difficult hills but I was rewarded with 30 mph descents on the backside. I tried not to think what would happen if I had a mechanical issue or flat tire at that speed. Even though this climb was not steep, it felt like I was working hard on the bike. This feeling would continue for the remainder of the ride. I'm not sure if it was the lack of sleep or insufficient calories the day before, but the effort on day two was noticeably more difficult than on day one.

The miles through North and South Berwick were not memorable. I passed by a farm and a golf course but other than that it was mostly views of trees and more tress. Not that I dislike trees. It just gets a bit boring when you're in the green tunnel for extended periods. Oh, I do remember one unusual sight. While passing one of the few houses that dot the roads of North Berwick, I saw a four to five foot tall black bear standing on the front lawn. That in itself is not unusual, but this bear was playing a saxophone! You may have guessed this was not a real black bear but a fun lawn statue. I was past it so quickly I didn't stop to take a picture. One mile later I wish I had, thinking "When will I ever see something like that again?"  

I think this is one disadvantage to being on a bike. When I was trail running I would stop often to take pictures, perhaps too often. Maybe I can blame my slow race times on this? On a bike you have to stop, get the camera from your bag, get back on the bike, all the time thinking you'd be a quarter mile down the road by now. I have to remind myself a bike tour is not a race and I should take time to stop and smell the roses. 

Some miles later in South Berwick, there was a pumpkin patch on someone's front lawn. The yard was five feet or so above street level but I could still see two fairly large pumpkins. They were not 2,000 pound award winners but the larger of the two must have weighted a few hundred pounds or more. Not as exciting as a saxophone playing bear but this time I stopped to take a photo. 

Large, but not quite ready for the county fair.

As I approached a busy intersection in downtown South Berwick I saw a few restaurants on Route 236. I was out of water at this point so I decided to stop to purchase water and get something to eat. I thought getting some much needed calories would give me an energy boost for the remaining 15 miles to go. The owner of the Early Bird Café was super nice and offered to fill my water bottles for free, ice included! I devoured a delicious, giant breakfast burrito and was again on my way. If you're ever in the area you should give the Early Bird Café a try. There's also some interesting art work hanging on the walls.

Up to this point traffic had been fairly light but once I made my way into Eliot the six miles on Route103 were much busier, and noisy. Crossing the Piscataqua River for the second time in two days, I knew I was nearing the end of my journey. Now the air was much warmer than when I started the day and I was feeling tired. I saw a large shady area on the waterfront in Prescott Park and took a break here to cool down. I spent a few minutes admiring the beautiful plants before making one final push to my parked car about four miles away.

Beautiful grounds. Come visit!

I really enjoyed this mini tour. Although I struggled somewhat on day two, day one felt easy with with similar distance and elevation gain. I think my endurance will improve with more saddle time on a loaded bike. I gained confidence in knowing I could reduce the weight carried by 15 pounds compared to my 2017 tour, and still have everything I needed.  I'll definitely be taking another short tour to improve my skills before tackling a multi-day tour in 2023.

Be safe out there!