Trek Across Maine (Part II)

After three days of riding 180 miles across Maine, here I am about to cross the finish line in Belfast, Maine--right on the ocean! Behind me is my teammate Eric Pendleton.
Crossing this finish line was one of the most euphoric feelings I've had in a long time, and, somewhere along Route 1, about 5 miles or so from the finish, I started to get a little bit "veclempt" thinking about what we've all accomplished. To "trek" across any state would be an arduous task, but Maine presents a whole other slew of obstacles: Weather more finnicky than a Jewish mother-in-law at the Olive Garden, roads in more disrepair than Dick Cheney's soul, shoulders more uneven than Oprah's monthly weigh-in, and terrain more up and down than "Jon and Kate's" Google hits. Should I do any more comparisons? Or are we good? At any rate, Maine's bicycling terrain is very difficult, and at the risk of sounding big-headed, I am very proud of myself for what I accomplished this past weekend. And I am very proud of my team and my brother in law, because this was his 3rd time doing this!

Bicycling is an interesting and beautiful sport for the way in which it exhausts the body, yet frees the mind to think, ponder, and philosophize as one rides. Its kind of an interesting paradox; when I am running, I am totally focused on "finishing the run" and nothing else. But bicycling, for all its stresses on the body, somehow clears the mind. I can't even tell you how many world problems I solved while riding for 3 or 4 hours per day..haha. But I saw so many beautiful images on this trip: Misty fog rising and dancing between western Maine hills, turtles laying eggs in a soaking wet road shoulder, people sitting outside their houses in country villages cheering us on, the image of seeing NO images, as you were pelted constantly in the face with a seething rain, a father (bigger than me) on a "triple" bike, towing his two kids in back of him for the whole trip, and the scene of hundreds and hundreds of bicycle riders, as far as the eye could see, slowly climbing up Route 3, heading toward midcoast Maine, striving to finish the Trek.....

Here we are: The "Maiden" Trekkers at the finish line. Massey, Regan, and yours truly were first time riders. My helmet is still on, because my hair just wouldnt look right if I took it off.....


The "Team Breezemare." From left to right: Michael, Christina, Jared, Evan, Eric, Gary, Regan, and Steve. Gary (number 25) is a THIRTEEN year veteran rider of the Trek Across Maine. He is the assistant superintendent of Winslow schools. "Breezemare" means "Breezy Meadow" in Swedish. Gary's first wife passed away from cancer many years ago, and "Breezemare" was the name of their first home....as their big front yard was made up of a....well....breezy meadow. Michael will be a senior this year at WHS, and the rest of the "kids" in the pictures are not only Gary's, but also graduates of Winslow. A fantastic bunch of people. We all crossed the finish line together.
Jon and his team started and finished earlier than our team, but he still hung out with everyone at the finish line so we could get our picture taken after. We then all went out for a good father's day lunch at Rollie's bar and grille.

Amanda is going to ride next year!!

All in all a very emotional, mind blowing, and exhausting weekend. And it was second father's day!! Callum got me a gift certificate to Mathieu's cycle....so I can go and "play" there a little bit and buy some new stuff for my bike! So now that I have the triathlon and the Trek behind me.....I can start splitting all this wood!!