Today I bicycled to Augusta and the state capitol of Maine. This is the end of the line, so I rode without luggage. In particular, tomorrow I will take Amtrak further south before going across to Concord. Hence, I stayed two nights in Brunswick and could make today a day ride.

The route was straightforward, follow US 201. This highway had OK shoulders and not too much traffic. Here someone had put up a vegetable stand and also had a sign for maple syrup.

A good example of the road. Here the pavement was smooth including the shoulder. There was a section of six miles with rough pavement. Also a section of six miles with road construction starting today. The section being repaved was in much better shape than the rough section. I asked one of the surveyors and he said they decided these things based on when they came up in the rotation.

I’ve been keeping track of counties as I’ve cycled. Maine is the first state so far to list them on signs. I think many of these Eastern states are so populated that everything is part of some town and so you don’t have as much of land only in a county.

Downtown Gardiner. There was a steep hill I walked up on the way back.

From Gardiner to Augusta was this trail.

Made it to the Maine State House.

It was cold enough to wear a jacket. The wind picked up on the way back. I got a slow leak in my front tire. Every 10 miles I could stop and pump it again. Easier that way so I can use the sink in the hotel to find and fix things.

Trail on the way back. Otherwise a reasonable ride back to Brunswick.

Strava tells me: 63.17 miles, 6:52:37 elapsed, 9.2 average, 2986 feet climbed and 5208 calories. Surprised it is as slow, but suspect climbing and the leak kept it slower.