Of all the reasons to come to Maine this is by far my favorite; biking the carriage trails of Acadia. The hills are deceiving and I’m in awe of people who just fly by me. Today we did a 9 mile loop with a stop at Jordan Pond House for some pop overs.

Route: We parked at Bubble Pond, headed up to the Jordan Pond loop, went by Jordan Pond House, then around the mountain, down the backside of Eagle Lake and then back up to the Bubbles parking area.

Observations along the way:

• I bike up hills at 3-4 mph
• Stopping for longer than a minute after mile 5 garnered much longer start ups
• 65 degree weather and cloudy is perfect for me for biking
• Pack a small point and shoot camera
• Get an extra battery pack for the iPhone
• Listening to the Crystal Method for most of the trip seriously kept me moving?

Accomplishments:

• First ride of the season, 9 miles
• Did not have to stop on the hills, just went slow and steady
• Did not stress about hills, but accepted them and chose to conquer them

We managed to time our ride perfectly again to bump into the horse and carriage teams leaving the stables with their passengers. Each group waved to us and said Hi.

As always I loved the ride, had a great time and wish I could do it every weekend. A slightly easier version would be nice everyday to get to work.

We had fun later in the trip where we seemed to be the only ones on the trail and we shot some video. Craig is going to be compiling it into something fun to watch and I’ll post when he does.

While on vacation we had planned to get some biking in. I’ve been pretty out of it this past year. Also it’s not advised for Craig while he has his neck issue.

We finally got a break in weather on Wednesday and we headed into the National Forest to the Lincoln Woods trail. We talked to these wonderful park rangers who gave us our options. They said the trail that leads up to the falls has “some” railroad ties left in place. Ok… not a problem, because it’s a rail trail, so guaranteed nothing more than a 3% grade and a few railroad ties is not a big deal.

Turns out it was lots of railroad ties. The trail turned out to be a lot of fun. The way out to the falls and trail terminus (for bicyclists) was 2.8 miles, it was also the 3% up. Imagine having to bike over roots and rocks, but throw in speed bumps every 3-4 feet, you’ve got the Lincoln Woods trail. About 3/4 way out I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to keep going. It was really kicking my butt and I was burning out. Craig stopped with me while I caught my breath and we decided to give it a little more.

One positive of the trail is on either side of the ties there is a small path to ride that is just dirt and roots. I was wondering how I was going to do on the way back but was glad to be able to rest when we got to the bridge.

The ride back turned out to be a lot of fun. It was 3% grade down. It pushed me to use my biking skills to pick a good line, avoid the nails that were still in some of the ties, ride out of the saddle to avoid destroying my butt and back. I also realized after a good mile that I would need to float my hands on my handlebars because my wrists were getting very sore. As usual my extra weight gave me quite a bit of momentum going down hill, I even hopped my bike up on to a bridge and kept going. I felt great after the ride, I loved the technicalities of the trail and was ready to go do it again the next day.

If your in that area, have a mountain bike, go do this trail. For those experienced and in shape riders this probably won’t be much of a challenge, but for the novice group it’s a good and safe technical challenge.

(Via bikepornftw.)