A few recent events have been lagging the blog updates. This weekend, the Fourth of July was celebrated a bike/hike combo at Acadia National Park’s Cadillac Mountain. Starting at sea level about 25 miles away, the ride was past tourist serving roadside lobster pounds and onto Mount Desert Island following the typical automotive route onto park roads. While there were some hills on the approach, the road touched sea level again approximately five miles before the peak. Ascending 1500 feet to the Cadillac parking lot was accomplished via a fairly regular grade such that no particularly steep road feature was encountered. It isn’t the most challenging climb of the season, but a satisfying effort with prime season.
After a hike up and down the Cadillac west face, the reward for the day’s efforts was the descent. Limited slopes and generous traffic constrained peak speeds to 36mph, but that didn’t reduce the roller coaster like fun of cruising down several miles of world famous roadway without pedaling. Dad, who met up with Isaac and I at the summit for the hike, came prepared to ride back with me, but suffered a fantastic flat about halfway back at the hands of an industrial sized staple that made two solid holes. Thus, I finished the day rolling into camp alone.
To catch up on other recent events, my bike turned 5000 two weeks ago. It’s looking like 6000 will be about 2 in bike years. Also, I had the longest tri practice run that I will probably get before the upcoming Timberman. An hour of open water swim, 52 miles of bike, and 8.5 miles of runnning. Oddly, it was more fun than it sounds, you’ll just have to trust me on that!