Today was Day 7 of this bike trip, and it stood in sharp contrast to yesterday, with its various challenges–bad roads, narrow shoulders, hot weather, etc. Today, after Trudi headed for the airport this a.m., I did some laundry at our hotel in Bath and then had a very easy 10-mile ride to Brunswick, Maine–a third of which was on a paved bike path along the Androscoggin River, the first bike path that’s been on my Adventure Cycling route so far.

My first stop in Brunswick was the Center Street Bike Shop, where Josh helped me deal with some slackened front derailleur cables, too-tight pedal clips, and a loose mirror. He also helped me figure out how to use my new (and so far unused) compact bike pump and digital gauge and get my tire pressure up to 90 lbs. psi. I was at only 65-70 lbs. in each tire! I’m going to need all the help I can get in the coming days as I head into some pretty dramatic elevation changes heading into New Hampshire, and proper tire pressure is essential.

Last night at dinner at the Kennebec Tavern on the Kennebec River in Bath, Trudi and I met a couple at the next table, Scott and Linda, who turned out to be professional musicians/educators–like Trudi. I am not a musician, of course, but hope I deserved at least a little credit for wearing a Minnesota Orchestra bike jersey on my bike ride that day. Scott and Linda have had a variety of impressive orchestral and teaching appointments over the years. Among many other performance and teaching roles, Scott was principal trumpet and Linda was principal 2nd violin with the Akron Symphony, and Scott currently teaches trumpet at Bowdoin. He had recently been in Minneapolis for the 2023 International Trumpet Guild Conference, and of course knows all of our Minnesota Orchestra trumpet players. Small world! Scott and Linda have developed a programmable multi-meter metronome app for iPhone, iPad, and Android called FlexBeat by InnerPulse. If you’re into that sort of thing, you can see a short demo video at http://www.innerpulsemusic.com. Warning: if you’re not a professional musician, some of this may be over your head, as it was for me.

Here are Scott and Linda on a recent trip to Hawaii, and also a photo they took of Trudi and me last night.

Yes, I enjoyed some easy livin’ today, but now it’s time to get some rest for harder days ahead.