I spent the Labor Day weekend up in Maine with Carrie’s parents at their A-Frame on Small Point. The riding there is pretty much idyllic and the terrain, while not containing much in the way of big hills, is relentlessly rolling and makes for a great work-out. It requires constant shifting between big rings. Possibly a place where the compact crank isn’t such a good choice. With a 42 or 39 instead of the 34, you might be able to stay in the little ring most of the time. Anyway, as much as I love riding there, I’ve gotten a little tired of my usual route. To mix things up, I decided to start trying some of the dirt roads that are almost as plentiful as the paved roads. The first day, I did my normal loop of riding out to Fort Popham, up Parker Head Road. But instead of going all the way to Phippsburg, I took a left on Sam Day Hill, a road I knew would connect me back to the main road. Not much of a hill, but the dirt makes it a little more difficult. Nice road, anyway.

That night, I perused a topo map and noticed Morse Mountain Road. It was only about 3-4 miles from the A-Frame, so I asked my father-in-law. He said the road was dirt and in pretty good condition, with even some paved sections. I went there on Sunday, only to be turned back by a guy at the gate. They apparently don’t really let people take cars up during the summer, and wouldn’t let me take my bike. The initial section is a nice easy gradient on nice smooth packed dirt, with a few rocks. Since we were staying until today (the day after labor day), I figured I could come back this morning after the entire state of Maine had packed up and left for the winter. I was right. I rode up the initial section, which was mostly the hard packed dirt, with a few sections of broken up pavement. That part only lasts maybe 1/4 mile, and then you dive back down and cross the tidal marsh. Stinky. The “pavement” here is nasty. It’s all egg-sized rocks, that seem to be neatly arranged like cobblestones. It felt like riding on cobblestones, too, except that the “cobblestones” had a nasty habit of kicking up and hitting my shins and my frame. Needless to say, I rode that section nice and slowly. Once you cross the tidal marsh, the real hill starts. The surface constantly changes the rest of the way up between dirt, rocks and extremely broken pavement. The pavement sections were actually the hardest to navigate. The hill is too short to be too difficult, but there are some really steep sections, and dealing with the transitions between the different surfaces were challenging.

Then there was the descent. 1/2 way down, I flatted. It was at this point that I realized the whole area was completely infested with mosquitoes. I didn’t really want to change my flat under those conditions, so I walked back to the road (~3/4 mile). Back at the road, I had to change the flat, even though there were still mosquitoes everywhere. It was at this point that I also realized that lycra does nothing to stop mosquitoes. Or that’s not quite true. It does stop you from noticing that a mosquito has landed and lets them suck with impunity. I changed the flat as quickly as possible, and went back home. I counted 21 bites, some of which were probably clusters of 4-5 bites, since they were about 1 inch in diameter.