10/27 Saturday Ride

The ride will start an hour late this week -- 9:00 am -- to give the temps a chance to climb into the 50s. The route will be decided at the start, so bring your suggestions. 

Ride Moved to Sunday 10/21

Nobody responded and I don't want to ride in the rain, so we are going to move the ride to Sunday. We will leave from the shop at 8:00. Bring your suggestion for a route.

10/20 Saturday Ride

Should we move the ride to Sunday this week to take advantage of what will be a much nicer day? My vote is that we move to Sunday, but I'm open to suggestions.

Please leave a comment or drop me an email with your input. I will update this post by 7:00 this evening with the plan.

10/13 Saturday Ride

We will leave at 9:00am this week.

It looks like it will be bright and sunny tomorrow morning, but the temps should be a bit on the chilly side. So, we will plan to leave the shop late to give the sun some time to warm things up a little.

We will pick a route in the morning based on the temperature and the wind.

10/6 Saturday Ride

It looks like we are going to have a dry and a touch chilly window for our ride tomorrow morning. I will be leading the shorter route, which will head out Middle and over to Sligo (MapMyRide route). For those doing the Dempsey Challenge and anyone else who wants to get a few more miles a trip up toward Pineland is an easy extension.

9/29 Saturday Ride

We're going to leave things pretty open this week since the weather looks wet and windy for Saturday and a fair number of people have plans to head to Acadia for the Cadillac Challenge. I am planning to lead the short ride on a nice easy 25-20 mile jaunt (route TBD). If you are interested in leading a longer ride, please drop me an email.

9/22 Saturday Ride

This past weekend was a great riding weekend with lots of cycling options. The few who showed up for the Saturday ride enjoyed a nice doughnut break:

Others opted for beer and chose the Gritty's ride on Sunday:

This week we will continue to put together a long ride for those planning to do the Cadillac Challenge and the Dempsey Challenge. For those of you looking for lodging up near the start of the Cadillac Challenge, the Colony Inn is a good option that is very close to the ride start and has some discounts available to club members on their duplex cottage units. If you call, ask for Kyle, tell him your are heading up for the Cadillac Challenge and that you are with the CCCP in Portland.

The longer ride this week will be an extended variation of the Old Orchard loop we did a few weeks ago (MapMyRide route). There is some construction on the route and there may still be 2 or three sections of unpaved road to contend with on the way to Buxton, but these sections are short and could be paved by now. The shorter loop will be the standard Prout's Neck ride and will split at the end of Highland (MapMyRide route).

We are going to do our best to keep people together, but the ride has been a bit faster as of late and the longer distances can put some breaks in the group. Please review the maps above and do everything you can to make sure you are going to know where you are in the event that you lose contact with the group.

Finally, for these longer rides, please think about your nutrition. You will NEED some calories and some electrolytes during a 70-mile ride so plan accordingly. We will have a planned stop just before we hit Saco so people can refuel and we may stop when we hit Route 1 before heading out to Prout's Neck.

9/15 Saturday Ride

This week is the Loon Echo Trek. I have had a few inquiries into who is planning on doing this ride, so if you are and you are looking for company, drop me an email.

This weekend, there is apparently another ride associated with Gritty's here in the Portland area. The ride is on Sunday, visits three Gritty's locations and was detailed in a Press Herald article. The article links to the doodle signup.

Coming up we also have the Cadillac Challenge, and the Dempsey Challenge.

I'm completely undecided about a route since we aren't sure how many people will be focusing on the Loon Echo and how many would prefer to do the 75-mile Gritty's ride on Sunday. So, we'll pick a route at the shop in the morning.

9/8 Saturday Ride

Summer is now officially behind us and we are on to what is usually the best few weeks of cycling here  in Maine. Now if only we could get the rain out of the forecast for this weekend, we'd be all set.

There are numerous fall rides, but the ones people seem to focus on each year are the Loon Echo Trek, the Cadillac Challenge, and the Dempsey Challenge. To help stretch people out a bit for these rides, the longer route this week will head over to Old Orchard Beach and over to Gorham (MapMyRide route). While I am willing to ride this route rain or shine, we will leave open the possibility to modify the route is the weather is really poor. For those doing the Loon Echo ride, there is also an easy way to bump this route up to a bit over 70 miles if you are looking to get a few more miles in before the ride next weekend.

The shorter loop will do the standard Prout's Neck loop (MapMyRide route). However, I believe we need a volunteer to lead folks on the shorter loop again this week.

9/1 Ride Update

It turns out that there will be some minor festivities at the start of tomorrow's ride. Sorry for the late notice, but if you have a club kit, please wear it tomorrow morning. Thanks.

9/1 Saturday Ride

It's a long weekend this week and the weather looks to be great for biking, so we'll plan to head out toward Pineland (MapMyRide route). There will almost certainly be a shorter loop that breaks off at the top of Mountain Rd., but we need a volunteer to play leader on the shorter loop (MapMyRide route). We'll leave at the usual time - just after 8:00 from Back Bay Bikes.

We are moving toward fall century season here in Maine, with the Loon Echo Trek on September 15, the Cadillac Challenge on September 30, and the Dempsey Challenge on October 14. In the coming weeks, we'll be stretching out the ride a bit, but we would be happy to incorporate suggestions on what routes you would like us to follow. Just drop an email or a comment with suggestions.

As always, bring your emergency contact info, some fluids and a smile.

8/23 Saturday Ride

Well, whaddya say: three's a charm? Let's see if we can finally get that Mitchell Hill route in!

The long route will include a jaunt around Cape (MapMyRide route). For those of you looking for a shorter ride, there is a shorter loop that will head back to town via Highland Ave (MapMyRide route).

As always, bring a helmet, fluids and your emergency contact info.

8/18 Saturday Ride

After a forced route change a few weeks back due to the Beach to Beacon, I'm thinking we should take another shot at heading over to do the Mitchell Hill route.

The long route will include a jaunt around Cape (MapMyRide route). For those of you looking for a shorter ride, I am planning to lead a shorter loop that will head back to town via Highland Ave (MapMyRide route).

As always, bring a helmet, fluids and your emergency contact info.

8/11 Saturday Ride

Well, Bron and I are both out of town again this week and I am sick of trying to post a route using my cell phone and a sub-par wireless connection. The route will be up to the group and hopefully someone will step up to lead everyone around.

Revised 8/4 Saturday Ride

The Beach to Beacon is going to make the planned route pretty much impossible tomorrow.

Instead, we will plan to head out Washington Ave. to Mountain Rd. Where we go from there will be up to the group.