The bike weighs less than the water bottle! (Acadia Day 2)

You may remember a post on here by Anna H '15 about extreme bike riding and bears. This one has no bears, but has extreme bike riding, for sure. ;) 

When Ian '15 mentioned that we are going biking, I imagined you know, biking on a nice bike lane trough some scenic nature views. My imagination was only correct about the latter part. At the bike rental place in Bar Harbor, I realized we are actually getting really sweet and pro-looking road bikes. In fact, Ian and I got high performance ones which really did weigh as much as my water bottle, probably. I am not kidding.

Place: Bar Harbor, ME 

Itinerary: Park Loop Road  (27 miles) 

It took me the first hour to get used to the gear switching. It wasn't very trivial in the beginning - there were four different levers and no indications - and they had to be adjusted constantly with the road incline. Once I figured it out, the ride became quite literally a breeze. Going up the road at certain points was a chore, but quite worth it for the downhill zoom...

Somewhere at the midpoint of our 27 miles, we stopped at the famous Jordan Pond, which seems to be a hit with the tourists. Not for the pond itself, but for the popovers that are served in the only establishment next to it. I didn't know what the whole hype was with these popovers at first. They just seemed like a cross between a croissant and bread - that is, until I tried them with caramel syrup and cinnamon ice cream. That was quite good. LMF, I challenge you to bake it! We'd be a big hit with the tourists, too! 

Actual food was quite good , as well:

Maine-made scallions with quinoa and kale

Along the way there were some pretty sweet views :) : 

Utterly exhausted and with full stomachs, we biked back to Bar Harbor, and right away met up with a group of other MITOC-ers to hike the famous Cadillac Mountain. Apparently it is always full of hikers, but the trail we went up (North Ridge) was actually rather empty save for a few rangers. It was nearing sunset, and we got to see some nice landscapes...

On the way to the top!

Our awesome hiking group! Sorry, Jenny, I chopped off your head :( 

Completely exhausted and completely satisfied, we packed up the tents and the food, and headed back to MIT!