View Full Version : Any Mainers Out There??
powerhouse
01-22-07, 05:27 PM
Powerhouse here. Winter is now showing itself. Since it is, I'm sitting here in my apartment in Portland planning for riding when the weather is warmer and going indoors for exercise at a nearby health club. Otherwise, I ride thousands of miles per year.
Of all the 61,000 BikeForums members and guests, I've seen only a few who live and bike here in Maine.
How many of you Mainers are out there? Don't be afraid to say hello.
might be your neighbor... I'm a portlander too. Winter is finally here.
might be your neighbor... I'm a portlander too. Winter is finally here.
finnegan
01-24-07, 09:10 AM
kennebunker here -- but planning on getting up to gorham & portland for some group rides this summer - maybe see you there...
shankwheat
01-28-07, 02:30 PM
I live in Portland too. I just bought my first road bike last month and I'm anxious to get out there.
I live in Portland too. I just bought my first road bike last month and I'm anxious to get out there.
This Cold snap has made it rather difficult. I'm newb to on road riding as well. just started riding in December. As you might imagine, I haven't logged a lot of miles on it yet.
In process of moving south to Westbrook.
Rode mostly rail trails in County , New Brunswick and PEI but have a few miles on black roads and city streets .
I hear the Portland area is pretty bike-friendly. Looking forward to a thaw.
Ritehsedad
02-16-07, 05:44 PM
I'm in York. I commute to the Shipyard year 'round.
Karpems
02-22-07, 02:39 PM
I live in South Portland right over the bridge.
Ritehsedad
02-23-07, 04:26 AM
Has anyone done the ET?
Karpems
02-23-07, 05:45 AM
What is ET?
Ritehsedad
02-23-07, 01:05 PM
The Eastern Trail (http://www.easterntrail.org/) is a mostly on-road 80 mile-ish trail that runs from Kittery to South Portland.
I thought you guys were called Maine-iacs.
FWIW, I lived five years in Kittery (aka Portsmouth Naval Shipyard). Ritehsdad - I love the salt water taffy from The Goldenrod!. Molasses Mint, mmmmmmm!
knightscape
03-03-07, 06:17 AM
Whitefield (east of Augusta) here. I got rides in on Wednesday and Thursday this week, but with that storm yesterday looks like we're shut down again for a few weeks unless you're rockin' the Nokians.
Falmouth here. We have more guys here than you would think.
But most don't post a lot.
I got plenty of exercise yesterday, shoveling all that Maine Spring out
of my driveway.
C-daleRAG
03-07-07, 10:06 AM
Castine here. Most of the time I'm in the woods trying to find good single/double track. But to mix things up, I did get a road bike last spring. Embarrassed to say that all my bikes have been sitting quietly in the basement most of the winter. At least my skii's havn't!!!!
powerhouse
03-07-07, 05:24 PM
Any of you ever try the Kennebec River Rail Trail located between Augusta and Gardiner?
How about the Whistle-Stop Trail between Farmington and Jay?
If you have, what do you think?
Since I used to live in both areas, I've biked and cross-country skied on both.
I just can't wait until spring. How about you?
Ritehsedad
03-07-07, 05:31 PM
I thought you guys were called Maine-iacs.
FWIW, I lived five years in Kittery (aka Portsmouth Naval Shipyard). Ritehsdad - I love the salt water taffy from The Goldenrod!. Molasses Mint, mmmmmmm!
I work at the Shipyard...SUBMEPP.
Yeah, the Goldenrod is pretty cool!
it's been several years since I mtn biked, but I used to really like the rail trail
across the street from Sugarloaf. One warning tho... you have to stay faster than the bugs... or else!
I work at the Shipyard...SUBMEPP.
Yeah, the Goldenrod is pretty cool!My Dad was Chief of Medicine at the Naval Hospital on the base. We lived there from 1956-61. We still order saltwater taffy from the Goldenrod during the season and have it shipped out to the West Coast.
knightscape
03-08-07, 08:38 AM
Any of you ever try the Kennebec River Rail Trail located between Augusta and Gardiner?
How about the Whistle-Stop Trail between Farmington and Jay?
If you have, what do you think?
Since I used to live in both areas, I've biked and cross-country skied on both.
I just can't wait until spring. How about you?
I regularly ride the rail trail out of Gardiner in the morning with a cup of joe, it's not ridable right now because it wasn't cleared after the last storm all the way through and now the snow is quite solid and deep on parts of it. To clarify, the trail doesn't connect Gardiner and Augusta yet. The Gardiner end is only a mile and a half long and it dumps out on Rte 27 on the crappiest stretch of it by the Hi-Hat diner. There is no shoulder and the pavement is HORRIBLE, not to mention that that is one of the busiest stretches of road around here so riding between the trail sections is not very pleasant. The Augusta end is much longer and is quite nice. That goes from Capitol Park in Augusta down to the northern end of Hallowell by the railroad overpass. They are working on the connecting leg presently, I believe they aim to have it open this summer. Then it will be great and will make for a much longer ride.
powerhouse
03-09-07, 12:52 PM
True, Knightscape, the Kennebec River Rail Trail currently does still leave things to be desired. However, there is a bill being worked through the Maine State legislature which involves work on trails and MUPs which may lead to completing the trail between Augusta and Gardiner along the abandoned rail line in the Kennebec Valley. Let's hope for the best
Ritehsedad
03-09-07, 01:30 PM
True, Knightscape, the Kennebec River Rail Trail currently does still leave things to be desired. However, there is a bill being worked through the Maine State legislature which involves work on trails and MUPs which may lead to completing the trail between Augusta and Gardiner along the abandoned rail line in the Kennebec Valley. Let's hope for the best
What does it do for the Eastern Trail?
cityraincityst
03-09-07, 05:13 PM
Hey everyone,
I'm moving back up to Maine (Damariscotta area) from Boston in a week or so... so if any rides are happening definitely keep it posted.
knightscape
03-09-07, 08:35 PM
True, Knightscape, the Kennebec River Rail Trail currently does still leave things to be desired. However, there is a bill being worked through the Maine State legislature which involves work on trails and MUPs which may lead to completing the trail between Augusta and Gardiner along the abandoned rail line in the Kennebec Valley. Let's hope for the best
Yes, I heard about that bill and it sounds great. I guess the original plan was to have the whole thing complete by 2006 but money got in the way. There were some tricky pieces of infrastructure in the way in the middle section. They had to reposition a high tension wire tower and the hill going down into Hallowell needed some excavation to make it trail friendly. They had workers out there well into the Winter, I was glad to see that work was still actually going ahead rather than just stagnating. They have a web page for the trail, but it hasn't been updated in forever so there's not really a good status report: http://www.krrt.org/ There's a map there too showing how much is complete, the red part is what they are working on now.
On a side note, the tracks themselves are still technically live, there just aren't any normally scheduled trains. That's why they aren't just pulling up the tracks and paving There's been talk of having that rail line up and running again in 5 years, they had an exploratory train ride with a bunch of bigwigs last august. I did a doubletake when I came out of the office to see a train parked out at the depot.
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