77midget

I have some vacation time that I need to take by the end of March. Even though it still will be chilly in New England, I was thinking of possibly doing a tour from Bar Harbor back to Boston. it is around 260 miles along the coast, which is where I would want to ride. This would be my first tour, so that is why I am trying to get something that would require no more than 50 miles/day. I am just starting the planning on this one, so I have a lot of unanswered 'what ifs', but basically, was wondering if any of you have done this, and how it was if so.

grinningfool

March is still winter in Maine. You could be riding in a blizzard.
In Maine the saying goes, we have 4 seasons. Almost winter, winter, still winter, and mud season.

CCrew

For real. We took our RV there at the end of March. Zero degrees baby! Acadia was beautiful even with snow though. Y'all grow some big potholes tho!

77midget

That has been my concern (the weather-lifelong NE'er)-I am trying to work on getting a deferment on the mandatory vaca time, but if it needs to be by end of March, I am biking somewhere. I love the area up there, just never done it in the winter. We'll see.

Agentbolt

Bar Harbor is where the Atlantic Coast ACA route ends up, right? You could just follow that from Bar Harbor to Boston.

As for the cold, it's doubtful you'd run into much snow, you'd just have to bundle up as much as possible on the bike. I'd still recommend against it though. Biking is going to work up a sweat, so then you're going to get too hot, then as soon as you stop biking the sweat's going to chill you to the BONE. In survival situations in cold climates the #1 rule is don't exert yourself to a sweat, for that precise reason.

Peaks

Gee, I always thought that Northern New England, including Maine, had only 2 seasons: Winter and July.

late

I have ridden from Bar Harbor to Portland. South of Portland it can get dicey finding safe routes in the summer. I'd go more West and then cut across NH.

There are a lot of different ways to do it. For example, you can follow the coast
around, go though Blue Hill, that sort of thing.

You can shoot down Rte One. There are places that works, and places I wouldn't dream of doing it.

And you can spend some time on the coast, and shoot inland for variety.
I suggest spending a day in Camden. It's a nice place. From there the Augusta area is almost due West and the best B&B is just south of Augusta.
Also a couple of the better restaurants in the state.

Or you can shoot down Rte 1.

Or you can stay close to the coast. But the stretch is quite hilly.

Btw, Rte 1 from Camden to Lincolnville is quite dangerous. At Lincolnville take a right. You can avoid it easily, and it will only add 4 miles to the day.

Brunswick has an amazing gelato place. It's a must stop.

J's Oyster Bar is a local favorite in Portland.

Oh, Moody's Diner in Waldoboro is great, try the walnut cream pie. You may want to take a little break after, though.

Btw, we're going to do it again in August.

rogerstg

If you must go in March, maybe consider going south and east - to Cape Cod. It's pretty relaxed in the off season. Same for Martha's Vineyard.

Camel

For route info give a look at: https://www.greenway.org/

I did a little bit of this route as my first tour a while ago. I went the other direction. I drove up from the boston area and parked at the LL Bean store in Freeport. I asked them if it was allrite to park my truck, and they had me fill out a form with there customer service.

I did multimodal transportation for the return trip to my truck. I called for a taxi to the campground in Acadia for a morning pick-up. The taxi dropped me off at the bus station in ?Ellsworth? (not sure-but pretty resonable taxi fare to the bus station given the distance, and carrying a bike). I had to change buses at a larger station. The bus dropped me along rt1, and I biked it ~10-15miles back to my truck.

The bus I used was Vermont Trailways, I think part of the greyhound system.

Some really nice scenery along that route. Some horrible too (sections of RT1). Plan to stay at Camden, and Acadia (Obviously).

JimDDD

I live in Lexington MA, and I've developed a pretty good costal route from Portsmouth NH to Portland ME. My route partly mostly follows the ACA route for the southern section, but I stay along the coast on the northern section. The Maine state website has some nice suggested rides which I pieced together. I found the Greenway route less useful, since it avoids the coastal areas in favor of directness, such as spending more time than needed on route 1. In the summer, the route does have a lot of traffic but also many other bikes. It seems plenty safe for my family, but that's of course a personal decision.

I have followed portions of the ACA inland, but I didn't like them much. They seemed more intended to get from A to B then to visit interesting places.

As to the weather, staying close to the coast in ME it should be relatively moderate at that time of year. The coastal effect is quite strong, in my experience. A blizzard is certainly possible, but cold rain would also be unpleasant and is much more likely. This trip would only be fun at this time of the year during relatively clear weather. There is a good chance of icy spots on the roads in the mornings due to overnight lows. When I commute I use studded tires to handle the frequent icy spots. This would be impractical on a tour.

I would second the suggestion of Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard. Cape Cod and the Islands are much warmer than the rest of MA and all of ME. You should also consider a day trip or overnight to Nantucket, which is quite nice to explore on bike. Their seem to be some nice routes in RI and south eastern MA as well. You could also take the ferry out to Block island, although I haven't done that myself. I'm not sure whether the ferries to eastern Long Island run at that time of the year, but they are another possibility to add time and distance to a Cap Cod, MA Islands, RI tour.

grinningfool

I wasn't really joking about march being a winter month in Maine, but realistically, I think wind will be your biggest problem. March is a windy month, and you'll be cycling along the coast, so you will more than likely encounter some severe headwinds.
Traffic on rt. 1 can be pretty heavy, but not as bad in march as it would be in the summer. Still rt. 1 can be a dangerous place to bike in places.

wrk101

+1 In March, head south, not north.

mkauffman

I found Boston to be a rough end of a tour, as it turns out I'm a big fan of ending somewhere that isn't a stressful ride like a metropolis.

77midget

Boston is a logical destination for me since I love the city, used to live there, have friends and family there, and can also catch a direct commuter rail back out to my town.

Reading all of the advice has been great. I am not afraid of the weather, but I also want this to be enjoyable, and I am thinking that if I go up that way, I would want to take the opportunity to kayak as well. So, I think that I might make this a summer trip, and do something different with the vacation time, possibly snowboarding or something, or possibly a mini tour around my area.