Had help from several friends getting a ride to Bar Harbor. Stayed at Black River campground last night and was awakened in the pre-dawn hours by rain that filtered into the tent and got our sleeping bags wet. Left in the early morning on the trip after cooking up some oatmeal on the new alcohol stove.
Biked 52 miles and arrived in Bucksport about 10 minutes before an impressive storm descended over the water and shot the sky black. Due to our wet equipment and the storm, we rented a quaint little room at the Fort Knox Inn, with a room that oversees both Fort Knox and the Penobscot Narrows bridge. Washed my clothes in the sink then went across the street for dinner.
Got a flat tire today and I am completely exhausted. I need to clear about 40 pounds of weight from the bike. Right now it is a beast and difficult to control. I have some ideas on what can be cut. Quite simply, this is really hard.
Going to sleep around 6:30. Expecting a few muscle cramps during the night.
Flat on the first day! Jeez, hope that does not indicate what is to come. Post a pic of the bike too, interested in seeing the gear you are bringing, or lay out your stuff and maybe folks can make some suggestions to alternate your load…..40lbs is a lot to chuck.
Great first day out! 52 miles. Sweet. I hope you guys get some better weather today and start getting into the groove. The first few days seem to be the roughest for me. On my last trip I sent two different piles of gear home to lighten the load. I started to look at everything very critically and ditched anything that I didn’t use often or would be a “trip finisher” if I didn’t have it with me.
It will get easier, and then harder, and then different. Good luck dude.
Hey Marc, I’ll post a photo in the next week and run a list of junk I’ll be leaving behind. Thanks for checking in.