Portland, Maine - September 21, 2011

This morning I retrieved my bike after a three-week absence.  I shipped it to Maine early because concern about transportation disruption from hurricane Irene.  It felt good to do a 30 mile warm-up today on my road bike after about 500 on my heavy mountain bike the past three weeks.  It was a beautiful day and we rode out to the Portland Head lighthouse.  On the way back, we passed a brewpub where I spotted two of our buddies from the 2010 cross-country trip on the deck having a beer.  They had just driven in from their homes in the Boston area.  Fortunately, it was only a couple of hundred yards from the hotel because it wouldn't have been polite to let them drink alone.  After a couple of beers, we returned to the hotel for introductions of the 25 riders .  An interesting mix of people from past cross-country rides ranging in age from 76 to 41.  The average age is 63, making me feel better than my last ride, when the average was 58.  At 65, I'm still above average, but just barely.   We are all excited to get started tomorrow when we head south along the coast to Portmouth, New Hampshire.