Portland, ME – The Bicycle Coalition of Maine’s inaugural BikeMaine event is just weeks away. For 7 days BikeMaine cyclists will pedal 60-70 miles a day along primarily rural roads featuring scenic views throughout the 400-mile route. The ride will run from September 7th through the 14th, beginning and ending in Orono with a loop that includes overnight stays in Dover-Foxcroft, Belfast, Castine, Bar Harbor, and at Bangor YMCA’s Camp Jordan, located on Branch Lake in Ellsworth.
This adventure experience was organized with the purpose of promoting and celebrating cycling, while also exploring a selection of Maine’s inland and coastal communities. Over the duration of their fully supported ride, cyclists will discover Maine’s richly diverse environment, history, culture, and heritage, and experience the warm hospitality and encouragement of the host communities. The ride will provide an economic boost to the host communities and service organizations supporting the event.
Maine culture and local food is highlighted in each of the planned stops along the route – everything from art, music, history and folk lore to local and in season foods such as blueberry muffins, vegetables, seafood, local meats, cheeses and Whoopee Pies, will be all be a part of the BikeMaine experience. Planned stops include a visit to the sculptures dotting the landscape at the Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium, Nature Conservancy to learn about the Penobscot River Restoration Project, exploring Fort Knox and the Belfast Art Walk, and a dinner with the Maine Maritime Academy Midshipmen. During the layover day in Bar Harbor, participants can shop, bike, hike, and kayak around the waterfront, go on a whale watch and take a tour of the renowned Jackson Labs, before a lobster bake dinner at a waterfront mansion.
This year’s inaugural ride is limited to just 350 participants, with plans to grow to a thousand in the coming years. The registration deadline is August 1st.
The fee to participate is $875 which includes 18 meals, beverages and snacks along the route, baggage transport, mechanical and medical support, plus camp sites with hot showers, restrooms, daily entertainment, and multiple food vendors.
For more information or to register, please visit www.bikemaine.org or call (207) 623-4511.
BikeMaine is one of several annual cycling events produced by the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, a Maine nonprofit organization founded in 1992 and dedicated to “making Maine a better place to bicycle.”