A ride to Farmtown

I have a conundrum. Is it better to post when you feel you are over due and not say much, or to hold off until you really have something to talk about. I think I’ll compromise. I’ll post, but keep it short.

On Saturday Burgie and I went west. We have some friends in Farmington, Maine, the weather was spectacular, so we decide to pay them a visit, a pop in. Bright sun, temperatures in the middle 70’s, trees trying hard to pop out their leaves, and just a little breeze. It’s a simple straight shot on US 2, approximately 180 miles round trip. This was our farthest ride by about 50 miles. We are working up to a weekend ride to Quebec City and I’m beginning to believe we will be able to pull it off.

I’ve reported on road conditions on US 2 out as far as Skowhegan. From there to Farmington the road is in great condition and as long as you don’t wind up behind a logging truck it’s easy going. We had a tasty lunch at Java Joe’s on Main Street in Farmington before the pop in. After a pleasant visit we headed home. As I entered Norridgewock and looked in the mirror, Burgie was nowhere to be seen. Yikes! That isn’t what I really said, I was a bit more explicit. I pulled a U-turn as quickly as I could and went looking for her. She was about a half mile back at an ice cream store fastening the strap on her helmet. Turns out she forgot about the strap as we left Farmtown. I think this finally pushed me over the edge. She might get a set of Cardo Scala Rider 4 bluetooth headsets for Mother’s Day. I definitely see the benefit of better communication during long rides, as long as conversation isn’t taken to an extreme. If she gets them, I’ll report on their effectiveness in a later post.

The remainder of the trip was uneventful. We had a coffee at the Tim Horton’s in Newport where we met Jim from Dexter, a rider of about 40 years and a member of the United Bikers of Maine. He admired my Shadow and expounded on the benefits of UBM. Although there are some good things that come out of that group, it’s going to take a better sales pitch before I join. The only other thing of note was that fact that I was tired as we approached the end of the ride and I was getting a little absent minded. That isn’t much fun, and I’ll try to be better rested before the next long ride.