Biking Acadia National Park Carriage Roads

Acadia National Park Carriage Roads make for a beautiful bike ride. At least on the level and downhill sections. Had there been any.

I don’t know what made me think that the carriage roads would be an easy ride on fairly level ground.

Maybe it was the description in the park guide that explained that Rockefeller used gentle  grading for the 45 miles of roads so they wouldn’t be too steep for horse drawn carriages. Well, I’m feeling really sorry for those horses.

We started biking, uphill, on the west side of Eagle Lake, continuing, uphill, to the end of Jordan Pond. OK, maybe there were a few short downhill sections. But we were pretty beat by the time we got to the Jordan Pond House even though it had only been about 4 miles. So much for the 11 mile "short" loop we had planned. 

At which point we hopped on one of the park shuttle busses (supported by LL Bean), which fortunately have bike racks. 

The driver told us amusing stories about the terrible driving he had seen while on the job. While we waited at least 5 minutes for the guy who was blocking both lanes of traffic with a SUV and trailer who was trying to back into a parking spot. Or maybe, he was trying to pull out. It wasn't clear which.

The driver dropped us off at the Bubble Pond stop and told us the 2 mile ride back to where we started was all downhill. Which was an exaggeration. But the uphill sections were much shorter. 

It didn’t help that we are out of shape and that I need a new bike. Also new knees.

We felt like those NYC Marathon runners who start off strong and then take the subway in the middle and finish off the run at the end.

The entire time biking we were left in the dust by athletes training for the Tour de France, and by people cruising uphill on e-bikes. 

We wore Loud Bicycle tee shirts to promote Loud Bicycle. No one asked about them.

The scenic bridges are a big thing in Arcadia.

A shameless plug for Loud Bicycle.