Greg & Camille Go Bike

We got up before the sun and hit the road just as its rays were peeking out over the horizon. Greg was cold, Greg wanted coffee, and Greg wanted to sleep, but the sunrise was beautiful over the Eastern Trail.  We were completely surrounded by marshlands and the view was breathtaking.

On the way into Portland, we played leapfrog with other bikers indignant that they could NOT be passed by bikes with so much gear in tow. Greg caught Red Shirt Guy in the end. We got to Portland around 8 and enjoyed coffee, cookies, pastries, and breakfast sandwiches at Coffee ME Up (a play on Maine/ME). We got Greg a new phone and made a TJs run for groceries. On the way out of Portland, we took Joe’s recommendation for delicious treats at The Holy Donut, followed by some delicious views of the city, marshes, and cove on the Back Cove Trail.

We took a detour to Freeport, surrounded by hills, briefly stopping at LL Bean before continuing on.  Shortly afterwards, a pin fell out of Greg’s new derailleur, and it was getting sucked into the spokes.  We were stuck and completely unable to move.  We tried to get a Lyft without success.

Just when we were starting to panic (or prepare to walk the bike seven miles to Brunswick), our hero Fred swooped in with a black pick-up truck sporting cyclist bumper stickers and a Trek Across Maine t-shirt.  He took a look at the bike, told us to hop in the truck, and started driving towards Brunswick.  En route, he connected us with one of the local bike shops, Gorham Ski and Bike, confirmed they had the part needed and dropped us off. We felt so lucky to have crossed paths with Fred! They had the bike fixed up and on the road in less than an hour.  We celebrated with some shrimp shumai and had a relaxing night after the long day.