Starting Point: Sunday River Ski Area, ME
Ending Point: Farmington, ME
Via: Newry, Hanover, Rumford Point, Rumford Center, Rumford, Dixfield, Carthage, Berry Mills, Weld, Wilton and East Wilton.
Mileage: 64.2
Time: 4:40
Mph: 13.7
Terrain: rolling hills with one tough one starting at mile 40
Temperature High: 72
Temperature Low: 64
Lunch: Trek Across Maine famous baked potato and salsa with beans
Dinner: pasta, spicy chicken, cottage cheese, beans, bread and ice cream
Weather: sunny, dry
Lodging: University of Maine at Farmington dormitory
Cumulative Mileage: 1,568
Miles to Go: about 189
Projected Distance: 1,757
Percent Completed: 89%
It was in the evening of the end of the first rest day on Wednesday that the successful completion of the ride began to strike me. I went out for a brief walk before dinner; there were still no ALAME staff around and virtually no one around at all. The evening was crisp, clear and quiet. The realization that I was at Sunday River after 31 days of bicycling filled me. It felt like a job well done athletically, socially and financially. I was pleased with the effort and extremely grateful to all those that made riding all those lonely miles possible. After Monday I will acknowledge all of them; for now let it be enough that I express a heartfelt thank you. Emotion filled my heart and tears filled my eyes. It’s difficult to describe the thought or feeling process that lead up to that, but I know that I’m saddened by all those whose lives have been affected or ended by tobacco. I’m saddened, too, by how tobacco has affected my family in so many ways. I feel happy that I’m able to pay tribute to all of them by doing these rides in their memory. It is clear, too, that I remember those who have passed away from bicycling especially Phil from the 2006 transcontinental ride. That remembrance brings sadness that they have passed, happiness that I can still continue, a muted fear that my time could come tomorrow or any time sooner than I’d like, and possibly I feel some weighty responsibility to continue to carry the message about tobacco in this manner I have chosen.
The “rest” part of the rest day ended when the crowds began arriving for the beginning of the 3-day Trek Across Maine ride for the American Lung Association of Maine. With each arriving van or bus, the mass of people continued to grow. The excited energy clearly kept growing. It was a marvelous thing, as it always has been, to see people I have known for all these years at the Trek. Every year it does indeed seem like the family reunion I’d love to have; some describe this event as the largest family reunion in Maine. Everyone has to go through a check-in process whereby they hand in any last minute pledges they may have collected and a few other pieces of required forms (bike inspection form and rule checklist approval sheet.) For those who raised $1,000 or more there was the “Winner’s Circle” special check-in. In the room where we were supposed to go we each were given a beautiful Trek bicycling jersey and a rousing greeting of cowbells and whooping by the staff. We had our pictures taken with Kathryn in front of the 2008 Trek Route Map. All over the walls were sheets of paper with one name each on them to list out who raised the required amount. There were over 230 people who had.
There was a time when my Friends’ team (The Wheezers and Geezers) got together to meet; several of the members I had never met before.
There is a great deal of nervous excitement about the actual starting of the ride which began this morning at 7am. Ed Miller, CEO, would allow 50 riders at a time leave the starting line with the caveat to go slowly down the hill from Sunday River because “it is embarrassing to fall in the first 20 feet!”
It was such a stark relief to NOT be pulling the trailer for these 3 days; all hills felt easier and exhaustion was never an issue. We’ll see how it feels on Sunday when I will have 1 ½ days still to return home.
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