Bike Ride to Maine - Wrap Up

It's been a week since my ride to Maine and it's time to reflect on what went well and what didn't.

The Route
I used the Garmin MapSource software with the City Navigator maps to plan my route. You can instruct the software to calculate a route for a bicycle and it tries to choose appropriate roads. Even still, I had difficulty knowing whether the chosen roads were good ones for cycling. As it turns out, New Hampshire publishes some bicycle maps, which show roads suitable for bikes. These maps helped keep me off some busier roads. Apparently, Maine has similar maps, but they are not available online.

Navigation
I decided that I would use my Garmin 60 CSx GPS for navigation. With the City Navigator maps loaded, the GPS was able to calculate the route. This worked great. At times, I would stray from the chosen route and a new one would be quickly recalculated.

Mounted on the handlebar, I could see exactly where I was going and where I needed to go. If there was any criticism, the advance warning for turns was inadequate when traveling in the city. More than once I needed to make a left turn and it was too late to move over to make the turn.

Attire
Just before I departed, I decided to wear mountain bike shorts. I figured that having pockets when I stopped would be useful for carrying money, my GPS and other items I didn't want to leave with the bike. The shorts are very comfortable, but the chamois just wasn't up to the task. By about mile 50, I was wishing that I had worn other shorts. For the second day, I wore road shorts under the mountain shorts and that was just right.

Tools
I had some problems with my crankset or bottom bracket. In trying to diagnose the problem I tried tightening the chainring bolts. In order to do this, I needed two hex wrenches. With a single multi-tool, this was impossible. In the end, I lived with the squeaking bottom bracket and fixed it at home. For a long tour, I would probably take more tools.

Food
With the exception of lunch on the first day, I didn't eat too much during the ride - mostly Sharkies and Kind bars. In order to keep my food and cell phone handy, I purchased a Bento Box, which mounts on the top tube. This I liked a lot.

Bike
I used my commuter bike, a Soma Juice 29er mountain bike, for the trip. A number of people asked why I decided to ride the bike I did. All I can say is I love this bike. It has a nice ride and it handles well.