Maine: Take 1

I suspect I'm going to have a lot of  rides that just don't go well for one reason or another. Bad weather, equipment failure, bike issues, confusing trails, poor planning, et cetera. But every ride still starts with the big red button being pressed so there will be footage. I'm trying to remember to save these remnants so they can be combined to create a ride called "The Cutting Room Floor" ride. I got a nice contribution to that ride today.

Late last week I was up in the woods of east Manchester, NH where I noticed large piles of snow still present. Not sure why I thought Kennebunk, Maine would be much different.

The thought process prior to going to work this morning was "I'll shoot a ride in southern Maine and then go do a comedy show in Newburyport on the way back." Didn't bother to research the trails much. Just assumed that there would be one just over the border for some reason. I have a coworker who commutes from that area so right before the end of shift I asked her what was up there. She told me that the East Coast Greenway has a finished section that goes from Kittery to Biddeford and she was under the impression that it was paved. This was not an accurate impression.

The trail was incredibly easy to find. Even if I hadn't been looking for it I would have found it accidentally. Just throw "Kittery" into your GPS and it'll take you to exit 25. Before you're even completely off the exit there are signs for the trail. A series of maybe five or six signs guide you right to the parking lot of an elementary school at the trail head. The only issue I had with the trail was all the mud and slush, which most people realize is a perfectly natural thing for the woods of Maine in April.

I shot two miles of it before quitting and heading over to Kennebunkport Beach to shoot a mile of road footage just to make it not feel like a wasted trip. The mile will make it into another compilation ride. It came out nice, but I'm not into the idea of shooting road footage. I kind of like the idea of only riding places where scooters fear to tread... or aren't allowed.

So yeah, save that stretch for a drier time.

One real cool thing that happened today though was that I got a comment on one of my videos from somebody who shoots the same type of thing in Germany. Kind of weird to think that somebody in a scenic area like that is doing virtual rides of Lowell. Here's one of theirs.