Unfortunately, I did not have Portland Maine’s best burger yesterday. Yesterday was one of those awful January thaw days, where everything is gray, damp, and cold, and you end up pouting at your office window watching all the snow disappear. I needed to get out of the house and away from the grayness of the day.

I found myself at The Grill Room – one of the many great Portland restaurants. The Grill Room features local sustainable meats and a killer  wedge salad. It is also the only place I know where I can get Anchor Steam on tap. I will always have a soft spot for Anchor as it was the 1st craft beer I ever tasted. Lured by the wafting scent of french fries from  the gentleman sitting next to me at the bar, I opted for the $17.00 burger.

Damn, was I disappointed. The beef was nice but it did not wow me. In addition, the burger was served on focaccia, really guys? Can we finally acknowledge that most focaccia is way overrated? And in the hierarchy of breads it is way down on the list, “The Cleveland Browns of bread” would be an apt description. The sins kept coming. My focaccia was generously slathered on both pieces with mayo.  Ok, since it was on a $17.00 burger I am sure it should be called aioli. Call it whatever you want, I hate the stuff. Had the restaurant listed mayoli or whatever you want to call it on their menu, I would have asked that it be held.

What is it about mayo that people feel they can add it to sandwiches without disclosure?  You order a pizza and nobody puts a layer of mayo under the cheese without telling you. Most diners would be shocked to order a meal and find the chef added an ingredient without telling you. I am sorry sir, we always make our Coq au Vin with Cheetos and orange soda but do need feel the need to disclose it on our menu.  The all mighty mayonnaise lobby always get a pass.

My vote for best high end burger in Portland goes to: The .5 Bar at 555, the beef is incredibly flavorful, they make  a roll special for it, and it is to die for. Honorary mention has to go the mini burger on the bar menu at Grace and the burger at the The Salt Exchange.

Check out our new Maine Multi-sport tour. Multi-sport tours are not new to Maine but we feel have put an exciting and a little more hard-core edge to them.

Our new Boats, Bikes, and Boots is an entirely non-motorized traverse of the Maine Coast. Starting in Port Clyde participants will bike to Camden, Sail across Penobscot Bay, Kayak across Blue Hill bay to Mount Desert island, and hike through Acadia National Park to Bar Harbor. Although the days are hardcore, the evenings will still feature Maine’s premier inns and fantastic food. Here is the itinerary.

Pick Up / Drop Off

Portland, Maine (PWM)

Day 1 – Arrival and Orientation

Leaders will collect you in Portland, Maine and transfer you to Clark Island. Once settled into our inn, we will fit bikes, enjoy a warm up ride and get an overview of the week’s adventures that await us.

• Day’s Activity: Warm Up Ride of 15 miles
• Lodging: The Craignair Inn

Day 2 – The Adventure Begins

We begin our ride exploring the quiet peninsula of Spruce Point before cycling to Birch Point State Park and the spectacular Owls Head Light as it stands guard over Penobscot Bay.  Our ride then takes us to the eclectic village of Rockland, home to the Farnsworth Museum of Art, which features an extensive collection of the art of the Wyeth Family, The Island Institute dedicated to preserving Maine’s Island communities, and a number of charming shops and galleries.  We finish our day in the picturesque town of Camden on the shores of the Penobscot Bay.

• Day’s Activity: Cycling 30 or 54 miles
• Lodging: the Inns at Blackberry Common

Day 3 – Set Sail for Castine

Today you will race with the wind as we sail across Penobscot Bay, one of the great cruising grounds in the world. Your day-long adventure will allow you to discover the joys of sailing, and discover the rock bound coast from a new perspective. In the evening we will offer a refresher course for any one who wants to improve their paddling skills before tomorrow’s kayak excursion.

• Day’s Activity: Day Sail of the Penobscot Bay
• Lodging: The Castine Inn

Day 4 – Across the Peninsula and Across the Bay

An early start has you pedaling across the Blue Hill Peninsula to the town of Blue Hill. From here it is time to trade your bikes for a kayak. Next stop Acadia. We will spend the day paddling across Blue Hill Bay and land on Mt Desert Island, home to Acadia National Park.

• Day’s Activity: Sea Kayak 12 miles
• Lodging: tonight’s lodging is yet to be determined

Day 5 – Traversing Acadia National Park

Grab your boots and your day pack as today we will hike from inn to inn through the splendor of Acadia National Park. Our hike will take us through old forests, along burbling streams, and to the summits of several mountains before we descend into the town of Bar Harbor and our hotel featuring several ocean front hot tubs.

• Day’s Activity: Hike 11-13 miles
• Lodging: The Harborside

Day 6 – To The Summit

Choose your poison. Today’s goal is the summit of Cadillac Mountain, the highest peak on the Eastern Seaboard. You can hike, you can bike, or you can do both. In the evening we enjoy a farewell dinner at a local favorite.

• Day’s Activity: Your Choice!  Hike or Bike or Both
• Lodging: The Harborside

Day 7 – Relax and Savor the Accomplishment

Enjoy a leisurely morning before it’s time to shuttle back to Portland.  The plan is to leave Bar Harbor around 10:00am, stop in Belfast, Maine for lunch and some exploration, and then continue on to Portland.  You can expect to be back in the Portland area by 3:00pm.

Nothing to do with bicycles, just and interesting observation about how social media has altered my brain. Sleepily at 6 this morning, I engaged in my daily ritual of making coffee. Alas, I forgot to take the top off my coffee grinder and dumped beans all over the counter.  Beyond the normal Homeric, Doh! my first  thought was, hey this would make a good Facebook post. So I grabbed my phone and took a picture which I immediately posted.  Now fully caffeinated, I am both bemused and horrified that I have started to view the events in my life through the prism of Facebook and their potential to be status updates.  I am also thinking it is time for an adventure. If the most minor domestic snafu’s are the best  things I have to offer the world of social media it is definitely time to mix things up. What do you think? has social media altered your brain?

The United States offers a myriad of opportunities for bicycle tours. This is the first of a multi-part series discussing the various cycling regions in the US. Today’s post will focus on New England Bicycle Tours.

The six states in the Northeast corner of the United States offer some of the best cycling in the country. I feel uniquely qualified to discuss New England Cycling since it is the home of Summer Feet Cycling.

Maine:

Maine has more coastline than California and offers some wonderful cycling. We offer guided Maine Bike Tours and well as Self-Guided Bike Tours. In Maine Acadia National Park is a premier cycling destination. The over 50 miles of carriage roads offer car free cycling through the interior of the park, and the park loop road offers great coastal cycling as well as the opportunity to cycle up Cadillac Mountain the highest point on the eastern seaboard and the 1st place to see the sunrise in North America.

We also offer half day Portland bicycle tours featuring 5 lighthouses

Massachusettes:

Cape Cod and the Islands. The two Famous islands off the coast offer a very different cycling story. Martha’s Vineyard offers great cycling with bike paths around much of the island while Nantucket is too small for much cycling.  On Cape Cod, there is a wonderful rail trail that runs Wellfleet to South Dennis. There is also ferry service from Boston to Provincetown making the ride of Cape easily accessible from Boston.

Western Mass know as the Berkshires offers some great cycling and can easily be combined with cycling in Southern Vermont.

Vermont

Vermont has a great reputation for cycling, although Maine is a much more bicycle friendly state. The Northeast Kingdom offers wonderful mountain biking and the rest of the state offers wonderful cycling if you do not mind climbing. It is best to avoid Route 100 as it is the main North- South road in the state. There are various bike companies offering tours in Vermont, our favorite is POMG Bike Tours of Vermont.

New Hampshire:

New Hampshire offers some stunning and challenging cycling, including the the annual Race up Mt Washington.  the best cycling in New Hampshire is in the White Mountains near Conway and along the Connecticut River Valley in the Western part of the state. Bike the Whites is a group of inns who have put together a nice little self-guided tour.

Rhode Island:

Given it’s small stature Rhode Island is not a hot bed for organized bike touring  but does offer good cycling, particularly in the Narragansett  area. The State has a good bike bike map highlighting bike paths and better roads for ridding.

Connecticut:

From a cyclists perspective Connecticut can be divided into 3 zones. The Metro New York area in Southern Connecticut includes the NYC suburbs like Greenwich, and Darien all the way up to New Haven, The Northern Costal Region including Mystic and Lyme and the Northwestern Corner.  The best ridding is probably in the Northwest near Litchfield and into Southern Massachusettes.

After watching a whole bunch of cruise commercials and being enticed by all the images of active people, I found myself scanning the Royal Caribbean website to check out what type of adventures that cruise line offers. On the Caribbean cruise I viewed Royal Caribbean listed the following highlights;

• Hike Jamaica’s Dunn’s River Falls or mountain bike in Costa Rica’s rain forest
• Snorkel with stingrays or go horseback riding on the beach
• Dive 800 feet below sea level in a research submarine
• Discover the inhabitants of a coral reef on a glass-bottomed boat
• Visit Labadee®, one of Royal Caribbean’s exclusive and private destinations
• Commune with ancient civilizations by climbing mysterious Mayan pyramids

Outside of the rather strange offer to bend the time space continuum to allow their guests to commune with ancient civilizations,  many of the highlights are similar to the highlights that might be featured on an adventure travel itinerary. Which raises the question, is the adventuring of cruises good or bad for the Adventure Travel Industry?

I  can see arguments for both sides of this question. I believe that anything gets people outside being active is good for the person . I hope that if people have a  positive experience cycling, hiking, climbing, kayaking it will inspire them to do it again and maybe incorporate more active elements into their next vacation or even make adventure the centerpiece of their next vacation. Heck, 13 million people took cruises in 2010, we get all of them on a bicycle for even half a day and we have the beginning of a movement.

After staring at the computer screen for 20 minutes, not counting the obligatory check of FB, I realized that was all I had on the the subject and that my mind, freshly back from communing with ancient civilizations to get their take on the issue, (the were not much help as all they wanted to do was play Angry Birds on my iphone), I had a lot to say about why big cruise lines are bad for the Adventure Travel industry.

It has absolutely nothing to do with competition. I don’t stay awake at night because worrying about the Love Boat crushing my business like ice at the frozen Daiquiri bar. 26 million people can take cruises and it will not affect my business.

The biggest threat the major cruise lines make to the adventure travel industry is success. The better their Costa Rica and Belize itineraries sell the larger the threat becomes. Spend an afternoon in Bar Harbor, Maine when there are 3 cruise ships in town and cruisers outnumber locals 3 to 1 and you quickly see how cruise ships totally dominate the landscape.  Once cruise lines start dropping 2500 passengers a day in rain forrests and at coral reefs their footprint will be forever altered. The more their guests enjoy adventure and activity the more areas the cruise lines are going to push into that business.

Of course the cruise industry will argue that they are having a positive impact in the millions of dollars for every port they visit and that they creating prosperity. Once businesses get hooked on the crack that is the easy money that is selling t-shirts to cruise passengers all the sustainable methadone in the world will not save them.

Cruise lines,and by cruise lines I mean the big boys Carnival, Royal Caribbean et al, not the smaller responsible adventure based companies,have no soul.If Hunter Thompson were alive he would probably being getting ready to write fear and loathing on the Enchantment of the Seas. It is the soul and the passion of the participants and the tour operators that make for the best adventure trips.  Can Royal Caribbean save adventure travel, no but they certainly can destroy an area’s ability to be a draw to true adventure travelers.

I am guessing that average success rate for New Years resolutions is pretty low, I know I do my part to keep it low, here are 5 easy resolutions for cyclists.

1. Learn to change a tire. It is not hard, it just takes a little practice so grab your wheel of your bike and give it a try. here is a helpful poster.

how to change a tire

2. Do an errand by bicycle. Go to the bank or the grocery store just once to give it a try. If you like do it again

3. Watch one stage of the Tour de France. Lance is gone but it is still one of the great sporting events in the world. Phil Liggett does the commentary and he is amazing. Enjoy the scenery as the riders pass through French towns, Engage in the heart break and victories of the riders and marvel how 150 men ridding bikes together can be captivating.

4. Clean and lube your chain. Cyclists fall into 2 categories those who are obsessive about maintaining their bikes and people like me who never do anything. A clean well lubed chain will improve your bikes performance  and make it feel loved.

5. Give $5. Make a contribution to a cycling related organzation. We worked with the Community Bike Center out of Biddeford, Maine this season, a wonderful organization that provides the opportunity for children to build their own bike and experience the joys of cycling. Is there an organization like this in your area? I am sure they would appreciate a donation of any amount.

Maine is almost overrun with bed and breakfasts. running a bike tour company that uses B and B’s I have stayed at a lot and visited almost all the inns between Portland and Bar Harbor.

One of my favorites is still the 5 Gables Inn in East Boothbay. Perfectly situated at the end of a dead end road, and sitting up on a hill. The big front porch overlooks the ocean. The hammock on the porch wins my vote for the best hammock in Maine.

Classy but casual the 5 Gables also features one of the best breakfasts anywhere. Mike is Culinary Institute of  America trained chef. A recent breakfast featured Italian eggs with peppers ( I do not normally eat eggs but I had 2 servings, a peach croustade, fresh fruit salad with wild Maine blueberries and mint from the garden, cinnamon muffins and house made granola.

As the year comes to end and we all start lining up our resolutions for 2012, here are 5 reasons to take your first bicycle tour.

1. They are fun. If your vacation checklist includes beautiful scenery, good food, meeting locals, basking in the sunshine, feeling a cool breeze,

2. They are not a race most bicycle tour companies focus on their bread and butter clientele, for us our normal guest is a couple somewhere between 40 and 60 who like to active. They may of may not bicycle regularly but they have a sense of adventure, they are well travelled and open to new experiences.

3. You’ll travel with experts we spend hundreds of hours exploring the areas where we run trips. Guides from a reputable company are experts in the areas where the work. Our Gold Coast Tour is the result of my 40 years living in Maine. it is what I would do with friends if I was showing them the Maine Coast. You will see things guidebooks won’t show you and learn about the area from the people who live and work there.

4. A sense of freedom. Do you remember how excited you were when you learned to ride a bike? How the world got bigger and the thrill of riding downhill. A well run trip frees to enjoy your vacation, no agonizing over should we do this or that , or where to eat The tour operator has thought through all these things freeing you to focus on the fun.  Yes, you will have to be on time for the ferry but good guides are all about enhancing your experience so you will have as much freedom or attention you want during your days

5. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all. Helen Keller famously said that and she was right. Stepping outside your comfort zone is exilhaurting why not try something new in 2012. Odds are you’ll love it, most of guests do. Odds are you now someone who has taken an adventure vacations, more than half of American adults have, If you want to be active, experience different cultures, and enjoy luxury you will love a well run bike tour.  But If you don’t love the trip the worst that can happen is a sore butt and good story.

So Giant the bicycle manufacturer is following TREK’s model and getting into the bicycle tour business. I have never thought of cycling Taiwan. It will be interesting to see if they market to the US market or focus on Asian clients.

We are exited that our new Family Bicycle Tour is now live on our website.  Redesigned for 2012 the trip highlights the best of the Maine Coast and Acadia National Park. Here is the Itinerary.

Day 1 -

Leaders will collect you from your hotel in Portland, Maine for the transfer to Bar Harbor and the start of your trip. We stop along the way to visit the Penobscot Narrows Bridge Observatory and to explore Ft Knox a well preserved civil war era fort. After lunch we continue on to Bar Harbor where we join Captain John on his lobster boat  to pull traps and learn all about lobsters.

Cycling Options: we won’t be on our bikes today

Lodging: First of 5 Nights at The Harborside Hotel

Day 2 -

Today is all about pedal power. We spend our day cycling the carriage roads of Acadia National Park. These wonderful car free roads wind through the interior of Acadia National Park past ponds and lakes and through pristine forests. We pause at the Jordan Pond House for lunch and to enjoy their homemade ice cream. After lunch enjoy a swim or some family time before we head to Mount Desert Oceanarium and we enjoy a lobster feast over looking the ocean.

Cycling Options: up to 34 miles

Lodging: Second of 5 Nights at The Harborside Hotel

Day 3 -

Our morning begins with a kayak excursion. We join our local guides and paddle quiet waters and coastal inlets in search of seals, seastars, and bald eagles. In the afternoon we offer an optional kids only hike and leave you a free evening for family exploration.

Cycling Options: we kayak today!

Lodging: Third of 5 Nights at The Harborside Hotel

Day 4 -

Today we enjoy an hour-long scenic ferry ride across Frenchman Bay to the Schoodic Peninsula, an off the beaten track section of Acadia National Park. We hop on our bikes and pedal the rock bound coast stopping for lunch and time to explore the rocky coast.

Cycling Options: up to 36 miles

Lodging: Fourth of 5 Nights at The Harborside Hotel

Day 5 -

Grab your hiking boots.  It is time to summit. Today we will climb to the top of Cadillac Mountain, the first place to the see sun in the United States. From the summit we enjoy panoramic views of the Maine Coast. From the summit choose an extended hike or a shuttle back to town to relax.

Cycling Options: we’ll be hiking today!

Lodging: Final Night at The Harborside Hotel

Day 6 -

After breakfast we start working our way south to Portland. We stop in the charming town of Camden to hop on a classic schooner. Help raise the sails and then relax and as we experience Penobscot Bay the same way the explorers did 400 years ago. We return to Portland by 4:00 pm and say sad goodbyes as we drop you off at either the airport or a local hotel.

Cycling Options: there will be no cycling on our final day