Season 2 Episode 1 (9/8): Drive 459 miles to Trenton, Maine; Bike 11.6 miles to Bar Harbor hotel –

Season 2 Episode 1 (9/8): Drive 459 miles to Trenton, Maine; Bike 11.6 miles to  Bar Harbor hotel –

Getting only 4.5 hours sleep last night, before today’s 459 mile drive from NY to Bar Harbor was a poor way to start. Especially since we were driving a rented pickup truck that Heather didn’t seem comfortable with sharing the driving so I’d likely have most of the responsibility.

Our rental truck

We picked up the truck the day before from Enterprise at JFK from the most outstanding customer service rep (Zhanice) who let us try fitting in our bike before we took the vehicle. We planned a one way rental to return it to Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport in Trenton, Maine. We fit both bikes (with front tires removed) in the back seat with our panniers. The beauty of traveling light. It’s actually very liberating to pack so little. Makes the daily pack up and load out much easier.

Loaded and ready to roll

Part of the problem sleeping last night was my mind was racing with thoughts of what lay ahead for the next 7 weeks. (And the other part of the problem was I’d just come home from a friend’s birthday dinner and ate 3 pieces of cake so was on a sugar high.) Last year I was concerned beforehand about the heat, and sure enough it almost did me in early. This year I’ve got hurricane season on my mind. Will we need to hunker down or even get evacuated from the Carolina Coast? (there’s a reason the hockey team is called the Carolina Canes). And then there’s all the rain the east coast gets. We literally had fewer than 3 hours of rain last year in 46 days! I hate riding in the rain. Heather will go riding on days I stay home because there’s 30% chance of rain. I’m guessing we’ll have more than 3 hours rain by the end of our first week.

I was also wondering if we trained enough. I knew we were riding less this spring and summer than we did in preparation last year. I didn’t know exactly how much less until totaling all rides yesterday. 

Last year from March 30th until September departure, we recorded 69 rides, 221 hours, 2,664 miles, and climbed 151,686’. That doesn’t include a number of rides before March 30th when I started using Strava so the decline this year is actually even more than the following shows. This year’s training stats are 48 rides (30% fewer), 141 hrs (-36%), 1719 miles (-35%), and 92,809’ elevation climbed (-39%).

We trained less having the confidence from last year’s success, and with a new philosophy this year that all we need to train is to get to the starting line, not to the finish line. We’ve learned from others and our own experience that you build up strength once on the ride. With that said, the differences in stats struck me as alarming. I shared it with Heather and her reply was classic Heather: “I’m not even remotely worried. We’ll be fine!!”  I guess we shall see! 

I wondered which trip is harder? The ACA lists the Southern Tier (ST) as 100,005’ elevation climb and lists the Atlantic Coast (AC) as 73,985’. The AC covers far more densely populated areas meaning more bike shops offering support on route, more places to eat and sleep at closer distances, more people we know to visit and stay with and get support from. (My sister Marla in Boston even said she feels like she can drive to come help us in an emergency in the first two weeks. Good to know.) The downside of this population is more vehicle traffic! That can be quite treacherous.

A challenge this year is in the north it gets darker earlier so we have less riding daylight hours. What may be the biggest challenge this year is that we have already been to many of the places. There are no new states for us. No new major cities like Austin and New Orleans last year to get excited about visiting. We’ve been to Bar Harbor and driven down to south Florida twice, so will we have less anticipation of discovering the unknown which is a large part of what helps propel us? A journey like this is more mental than physical. Will we have that element?

Well, the good news is we made it to Maine safe and sound. Heather even drove a few hours giving me a 15 minute nap to recharge. I didn’t even have to play my trick where when I’m driving I tilt my head forward and close my right eye as if asleep (and keep my left eye open); she sees that from the passenger seat and freaks out yelling at me to stay awake and takes over the driving. 😉

When I asked if she was ok to drive such a large truck, she replied “we’ll find out soon”; hardly reassuring!

Heather even drove the truck

After cycling a short 11 miles from the airport to our hotel, we enjoyed dinner in Bar Harbor. We managed to resist the many ice cream (my thing) and fudge (Heather’s) shops. We decided we had not earned it yet! We looked forward to the big start in the morning.

And so it begins!

© Copyright Mark Segal 2022