The carriage road loop is about 30 miles if I'm not mistaken, plenty of cyclists throughout the day on them. Any plans to ride up Cadillac Mt.?

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

i am about 40 miles west of bar harbor right now on vacation and riding on local ross like 137, 173, 220, 3, etc west of Belfast. the cartridge roads are gravel so not for your tri bike fyi.

i am finding that no matter where i ride, the roads are pretty good and the wind somehow is always a head wind. i would suggest going inland to do loops. the roads by the coast are crowded and not actually all that scenic. the inland roads are lightly traveled, surprisingly well paved, pretty and any car thst had passed me is respectful.

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2018 Races: IM Santa Rosa, Vineman Monte Rio, Lake Tahoe 70.3

From what I've read, the roads on the island arent optimal for riding. Seems like a lot of tourists not paying attention....?

Inland from Trenton sounds like a good idea!

Get up stupid early and ride then, before all the tourists are awake. You'll thank me.

The Park Loop is pretty sublime when you're about the only one on it.
Cadillac Mtn is a must do, it's fun in both directions.

Sargeant Drive along Somes Sound is pretty awesome too.

You can also get away with a road bike on the majority of the carriage roads in the park.
CX bike would be better, but they're reasonably smooth in general.
Ride from Jordan Pond up and around Eagle Lake, then end up back at the Jordan Pond House for tea and popovers.

Enjoy!

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float , hammer , and jog

I changed the title of this. No interest in getting up stupid early while on vacation to avoid tourists attempting to run me over.

I'm staying in Trenton, will leave from the front door of our airbnb, and ride anywhere but Mt Desert Island.

Open to routes to enjoy, and roads to avoid!

Well, you're now basically saying you don't want to know what the best roads to ride on are - just the least crowded.

Good luck with that.

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float , hammer , and jog

Scenic ride, next to rubbernecking tourists who don't see me and Wil run me over without noticing.... Not my ideal vacation ride a couple weeks before race day.

Open to any and all suggestions in the area. B I'm positive that there are other gorgeous areas to ride in this general area.

Should note that I am open to a 50 mile one way ride, I have someone to meet me with a car wherever I end up.

Thanks!

Well, like I said - you could get up early, and avoid 99% of the tourons.

That's what I did, and I had several sublime rides in and around the park.
They were some of the high points of my visit.
Clearly, YMMV.

I met up with (not quite Dr. yet) TC to ride with when I was there, as she was a local back then.

I think it's silly, bordering on insane, to bypass riding in one of the most beautiful areas in the country, and one of the best climbs on the east coast, simply because you don't want to get up early to do so.
Again - YMMV.

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float , hammer , and jog

I'll sleep fine. Who knows? Maybe I will roll the dice and ride up the mountain here for a short spin from the house. I ride in Boston weekly, traffic and tourists in Maine can't be much worse!!

Give me options Murphys Law, options! :) You're bringing me problems, not solutions.

I'm not getting up before the sun on the couple days off I have, just to beat some tourists. I love your tenacity though! Now, if I'm guaranteed an Aurora sighting.... I'll be up any time of the night/morning!!!

What's plan B? What's the 2nd most beautiful ride in one of the most beautiful areas of the country?

As a local, here is my take.

The park loop is our best ride here and is best early but OK at any daylight hour. Cadillac mtn climb before and around dawn (sunriser's) and after ~9 am (RV's and Tour busses) is dangerous. If you go, 6 to 9 AM, or come back offseason!

From Trenton, for a good longer ride:

From the Bar Harbor road, turn east onto 204 at the the Harley shop.
You could continue on 204 and ride around Lamione, which has several spots with bayviews over to MDI'

Or you could turn north on the Mud Creek road , ending up on route 1.

Turning east(R) on 1 goes downeast of course, with good options like
~10 mile out back/loop to Hancock point
-shorter out back to Sorrento

OR/best for last, A bit more than fifty mi, You could keep on Route 1 10-12 mi to 186 , and ride towards WinterHarbor and then Schoodic Point, a lesser known and much less crowded part of Acadia National Park.

All those routes will be (except Route 1) uncrowded and for Maine have fair riding surfaces.
Route 1 is busy, but is beautiful in many spots and has a hugely wide breakdown lane.

it's worth your while to drive to the Park Loop Road. dddave knows what he's talking about.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Trenton to Winter Harbor looks gorgeous from what I can see online. I will also absolutely consider the climb up and ride down the mountain too, but I feel like the Schoodic area is my long ride.

Any espresso and/or vegetarian food options that we should consider?

Were going to drive up and hike the Bold Coast as well, any rec's in that area?

THANK YOU!!

I was just up there (SW Harbor) and did a ride this morning including the park loop road and Cadillac. I was on the road a bit before 5 am - it was a bit foggy, but otherwise very nice. The top of Cadillac was in the fog, but there was very little traffic out at that time. Here's my ride as a reference point: https://www.strava.com/activities/1118258423

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
Coaching: https://bybtricoaching.com/ - accepting athletes for 2023

No suggestions but just wanted to say good luck and be careful. Just finished a tour of New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia with my wife on a tandem. The Maine stretch was from NH to the coast (Old Orchard Beach) then four days up to Lubec. We found the riding from Bath to Lubec to be a horror show. Granted we were on Route 1 alot (I would avoid Route 1 as much as possible, especially in the area where you are) but the drivers were unbelievable - VERY unyielding for cyclists, especially the truck drivers. On our stretch between Belfast and Cherryfield, someone threw a freaking firecracker at us - a pretty good sized one at that! I would definitely try to avoid any roads up there during peak traffic hours - route 1 does have a good sized shoulder (but not always - and sometimes it is terribly broken up) but it seemed like the secondary roads had no shoulder whatsoever and often times a good sized drop off the traffic lane so it was very difficult to bail if you are toward the crest of a hill and you hear a big truck coming up from behind.

If we could have gotten a dollar for every empty Fireball nip bottle we saw along the side of the roads we were on we would have had a much cheaper trip - over the course of the four days we saw hundreds - maybe more. What is it with rural northern Mainers and Fireball nips enjoyed while driving? Sorry to all you local folks, but we found nothing charming about that part of the world, although Lubec was very picturesque.

What time does it start to get light there? I'm heading up in a week and plan to head out early mornings, but wondering what I'll want in terms of lighting.

I was on the road around 4:50 on Saturday morning in Acadia. I used a 200 lumen front flashing light and a rear flashing light and it was adaquete for visibility. It was pretty foggy and that was more of a visibility issue than light.

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
Coaching: https://bybtricoaching.com/ - accepting athletes for 2023

Great, the sun is up early there. Being seen is key, particularly with fog. Thanks!

Nice time up Cadillac, btw.

I'm a Mainer. I'm so sorry people were so awful.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

The park loop road is a great ride and virtually traffic free before 8 or 9. I drive out there and do it a few times a year.

Maine is the Appalachia (or at least the South) of the Northeast.