Somewhere between the music of Sibelius
and satirical sketch comedy
lies -
Portland, Maine - PORTLANDIA
Numbers, Beer Camp and a Flying Tomato - 8/1/14
Ride: North Station, Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Mujoy Hill, Thompsons Point
Distance: 22.2 miles
Urvi and I rode out of Cambridge and over the
North Bank Bridge to catch the
Downeaster up to Portland. We grabbed lunch on the train. For me it was a steak sandwich and a
Shipyard Export.
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| Casco Bay Bridge |
Once in Portland we had to ride out to Cape Elizabeth to pick up our numbers and Tee-Shirts for the Beach to Beacon 10K. The goal was to go over the
Casco Bay Bridge into South Portland. Approaching the bridge on the onramp was unnerving to say the least. However once we actually were on the bridge, there was a wide shoulder and you felt perfectly safe.
Riding through South Portland and Cape Elizabeth was nothing special (except the tomato). Just felt like the suburbs. At Cape Elizabeth High School, we picked up numbers for us, Matt & Eva, and Scott & Julie.
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| Urvi and a Tomato |
We had a lovely ride back to Portland, along the harbor road and the Eastern Promenade Trail to our airbnb in Munjoy Hill. I had another snack of whatever I could eat and a tallboy
Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA to prep for
Sierra Nevada Beer Camp.
After getting settled and a shower, we headed back out on the bikes and back to the Amtrak station where the Thompson's Point venue was for Beer Camp. As we rode in, there were signs for: Valet Bike Parking. I started following these. The Maine Bike Coalition had set up the valet parking and greeted us with cowbells blaring.
Beer Camp was a classic beer fest. 80 or so breweries (I probably only got to about 20). Food trucks and brass band completed the hipster vibe to the event. While I had tastings of quite a few good beers (and some bad ones including an IPA that tasted like feet), four stood out:
Oxbow Grizacca - a well balanced saison,
Black Hog Ginga Ninja - a ginger beer IPA,mmmm,
603 White Peaks White IPA - a great mashable of witte and IPA, and
Peak Organic King Crimson - an imperial red ale. Urvi and I topped off the night with Italian sausage and pizza before heading back to Munjoy Hill.
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| Brewing up Urvi |
Beach to Beacon - 8/2/14
Race: Beach to Beacon 10K
Goal Time: 40:18
Actual Time: 40:36
After the tough 6th mile, there was one last steep uphill before the finish line as we entered Fort William Park and approached the beacon. I took the hill and charged the inside steepest part (a little lesson from Contador, if you want to crush it take the steep part). Then around the turn I was coming into the finish, but there was no finish line. I looked at my watch: 5.87 miles...oops I still have a 600 yards to go...
The Year of the 10K continues. I've done both the
James Joyce Ramble and the
BAA 10K; and,
Lone Gull lurks on the near horizon. As one of the
Big 20, Beach to Beacon was a race I had always wanted to do. It's a world renown 10k with some of the top runners racing through suburban Portland. Urvi and I rode our bikes to the finish line to catch the shuttle to the start line. (The same guys with the same cowbells were there to valet park them for us!) It was convenient and well organized. (
apparently, if you drove and parked that was not the case). The shuttle drove us across town to the start line at Crescent Beach. I caught up with Eva and Matt in the start corral.
On the start, Matt and I ran an easy first mile. As we ran through the first water stop, I decided it was time to try to hammer it. For the next two miles I hovered near 6:20 and my goal of near 40 minutes.
As a 8,000 person race, it was a blast to run with that many people and so many fans. While the race continued it got a little harder. But the fans got deeper and the cowbells more numerous. I had two more reasonably good miles with numbers 4 and 5. Then came the sixth mile.
The sixth mile is by far the hardest in the race. There are two longish hills. I kept trying to tell myself to just turn myself inside out for only 8 more minutes... now 7. But the second hill just left me running slowly. Once I crested that I felt okay. After a little down hill, you make the right into Fort William Park. I was able to recover from my blast up the park entrance hill (maybe I could have done the same with the long hill?). I was able to coast in and even put in a good finish into the park.
It was a good race for me personally and I thought a great event. Unlike
Falmouth - which I may never do a again - I'd love to make this a tradition.
On the ride back to Portland took us to the Bug Light in South Portland and back over the Casco Bay Bridge. Between the race and dinner, I had a
Green Flash Hop Head Red and Matt, Scott and I split a
Schlitz High Gravity Very Smooth Lager (don't say beer; say Bull!)
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| Julie and Scott |
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| The whole B2B crew |
For dinner, the six of us headed to Novare Res, where I had Lobster Roll and Bahn Mi Sandwich. Also had
Slaapmutske Triple Nightcap,
DeDolle Boskeun and my favorite beer from Maine -
Oxbow FPA.
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| Slaapmutske |
La Fleche de Casco - 8/3/14
Trip: Bike Ride
Distance: 28.92 miles
Sights: Casco Bay, Back Cove, Freeport, Brunswick
Sunday morning, Urvi and I planned to ride up to Brunswick to take the train back to Boston. After a quick run for me and a attempted swim for Urvi (where she saw Meb running with a group), we headed out on the road to Brunswick. Some of it was along the coast and through pretty
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| Casco Bay and Rail bridge |
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| Casco Bay from Congress Street |
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| Urvi on the bike path in Falmouth |
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| Eartha: World's Largest Globe |
We stopped at
Eartha: the world's largest globe in Yarmouth; the Big Indian in South Freeport and tried to get lunch on the Freeport Town Pier but it was going to be an hour wait... an hour!
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| You know what this road needs? A really large oversized Indian statue |
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| Freeport Town Wharf |
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| Urvi at the Wharf |
We stopped for lunch at the Gritty's in Freeport Center where I had another lobster roll and Gritty's incorrectly named
Maine's Best IPA. We rolled into Brunswick with enough time to stop at
Ebenezer's new brew pub. Ebenezer's own brewery - Lively Brewery were on tap. First I had the delicious tripel -
Holy Candy; and then the flagship
Saison LaCharite.
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| Ebenezers's Brew Pub |
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| Taps in blown glass |
We then caught the train back to Boston. Aboard I hand a lunch of an Italian sub and finished the Maine beer tour with
Baxter Stowaway IPA.
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En Route from North Station to home:
Zachim and North Bank Bridge from the Charles River Dam locks |
