2 Wheels 4 Meals, Thursday, October 12, 2023

I could actually walk and function Friday AM after the ride...I’ll do it again next year!    So good that we had some new riders join us Thursday --  we couldn’t have asked for nicer weather and company -- great turnout to benefit an important organization, Footprints/Mainspring.  

The day started with losing my car keys at the Irving Station, with bike/credit card/phone/wallet/everything inside…I hunted high and low – then decided to walk the mile or so to the new location of Mainspring – Lisa D’Angelo, the new owner of Kittery Hardware, was wonderfully accommodating and whisked me to my house where I had a spare key and I made the start on time…whew!

I’m grateful for the Kittery Public Works road crew who turned Rt. 103 into a magic carpet ride for bicyclists and motorists – we headed out from the Mainspring parking lot on a beautiful fall day. 103 from Kittery to York, Long and Short Sands, Shore Road, Rt. 1 to Rt. 9, Kennebunkport to Cape Porpoise and a catered lunch brought to us by Megan and Clara from Footprints/Mainspring. About half of our merry gathering left us at the Cape Porpoise Kitchen and headed back -- which left six for the second half: Genevieve Aichele, Jim White, Doug Bennett, Steve Adler, Tim Yeaton and me.

I went to the Google to try and figure out why the leg fromCape Porpoise to Biddeford is a bit of a slog -- it’s really not that long at 12 miles but it is uphill – Cape Porpoise is elevation 7 feet, Biddeford is elevation 69.  The rail trail was in good shape and our big reward, as always, was crossing the Scarborough marsh and then the final winding road/trail to Bug Light.  The Alden schooners Bagheera (made in East Boothbay, ME, 1924) and Wendameen (made in East Boothbay, 1912) were out with customers and then… what comes ghosting in? --perhaps one of the most beautiful schooners ever designed - the 125-foot Columbia. I went sailing with Harold Burnham in Gloucester Harbor this summer and saw her tied up at a wharf. Originally built in Essex in 1923 and designed by W. Starling Burgess, she was built to fish and to race the Canadian Bluenose. She fished until 1927 when she met her end near Sable Island with 22 hands. In 2014 a steel replica was built in Florida and there she was –originally built to venture out onto the Grand Banks and gather food – our bicycle group in a small way has a similar mission – we are very grateful that donors are supporting us in our quest to help pay for more food, shelter and core support for families.

My thanks go to my sister, Lynn, living in Gray, ME was there to cheer us on at the finish and give me and my bike a ride back home, as she has done for the past three years.Thanks also to Agnes Charlesworth, providing transportation home for a rider and bike, and to Genevieve’s brother Carl Aichele with his pickup truck for bike and rider transport. All around a great day – we welcome our new bike friends who had their first time out with 2 Wheels 4 Meals – and hope they will return in 2024 for the 5th anniversary! Many thanks, once again, to everyone who made our adventure possible.

Kent Allyn, Kittery Point ME