Ride Day 147

Today I rode from Woodstock NH over the White Mountains at Kancamagus Pass and on to the Atlantic Ocean at Portland Maine which was about a hundred miles in perfect weather after a bit of early morning rain. The climb up the mountain was about 8 miles of 7-9% grade. I was easily able to spin right up and only needed granny gear in a couple of the steeper parts. The views were great but difficult to catch in pics with my little pocket camera. I met a woman, Donna, riding up to the top of the pass for her morning workout. We talked for a while as we climbed up the mountain together. She works for the state at a campground so I complained to her about the high prices they charge and told her about all the hiker biker camping for $5 along the west coast. The high cost of camping here on the east coast has been the main factor in me having to end my ride earlier than I wanted to. I have booked a ticket back to California already. I am still going to ride around Maine and taste some lobster rolls for the next week but I won't be riding down the East coast to Florida like I would have wanted to do. I am very sad about stopping the ride early but I just ran out of money. Having to fix my bike for $250 did not help my budget out. I will go up to Bar Harbor and do the coast road then drop my bike at a bike shop to be shipped back to CA for me and then fly home. I have ridden about 13,500 miles around the country so far and without a doubt, as soon as I can come up with some cash, I will be back on the road again. I really love the riding and all the wonderful people I meet. Last night for instance I was riding into Portland Maine when another bike rider caught up to me and started talking to me about where I was riding etc. He offered to take me home to his place for dinner and a bed for the night. I took him up on the offer and him and his wife and daughter cooked up a great meal while we talked about bike riding and lots of other stuff. He is a professor at the University of Southern Maine. I really love when people just come up and offer things like this out of the goodness of their hearts. It restores some of my lost faith in humanity. Later today I will be heading north along the coast. Some pics...

Maine