Climate Ride: Princeton to Robbinston Maine
When I offered to ride for a few days with my friend Dennis on his “Climate Ride,” it hadn’t occurred to me that we were about to combine two black cloud people on one outdoor event. It always seems that for my hiking and backpacking trips it’s either raining, snowing, storming, or a combination of them. Dennis seems to have the same fortunes for his Climate Rides. That combination could result in an apolcalytic event or wonderful cancelation of both black clouds.
Today it was neither, it wasn’t a beautiful day, but it could have been so much worse. The temperature hovered in the high 50s and low 60s while drizzle and fog came and went, so we shifted from being damp and chilly, to warmish, and back.
We started out in dryish weather in the town of Princeton, ME. Okay I started in Princeton after meeting up with Dennis … he had already ridden 110 miles before lunch! I said goodbye to my wife Jan and we headed down the road. I’m not talented enough with my bike to take pictures while I ride and not fall off, so I only have pics when we started and when we stopped.
Dennis and I talked about many things while we rode, like catching up on what we’re doing professionally since we last worked together, but we spoke most about why addressing climate change is so important to us both and why we feel such a sense of urgency. Dennis is determined not to leave this planet in the shape it’s in now for his daughters and their generation. I’m even more determined to make sure the current federal administration doesn’t sell out our society’s future and our planet’s future in order to enrich people who have already accumulated far too much wealth at the expense of those of us in the middle class and below and our futures. The rich feel they can buy their way out of the effects of climate change while the poorest among us suffer the most brutally from it.
Dennis is riding to change that, and this is his 15th year doing a Climate Ride. Wow! As a result, everything about this year’s event he created has 15 in it… He’s raising $15,000, he’s riding 1,500 miles, and averaging 150 miles per day. I’m proud to be a small part of his event this year and I couldn’t have done it without my amazing wife Jan coming along.
Today I rode 45 miles and we passed the St Croix Island National Park and Visitors Center. Jan and I had stopped in earlier to check it out, and the ranger invited Dennis and I back later so he could take a picture of him and post it on their social media page, but unfortunately we got there at 4:05 and they had closed at 4pm. The park itself is dedicated to the Champlain expedition from France back in the early 1600s which intended to colonize the region for the purpose of trading with Native American tribes. They were unprepared for the harsh winter and half of them died.
We were happy to arrive at our lodge for the evening, but the road had one last surprise for us … a 2 1/2 mile dirt road to the lodge filled with hills, mud, rocks and pot holes! Jan was so wonderful to have picked up a buffet of Chinese food from a local restaurant and Dennis, Jan and I ate together this evening before settling in and recovering.
Tomorrow morning we’ll be crossing the 45th parallel, which is the imaginary latitude line where we are equidistant from both the equator and the north pole on the surface of the earth. It’s also the last day of June, which is Pride Month and I’ve been wearing my Smartwool “Pride Love” socks on this ride, and every other day on my Appalachian Trail trek during June. I want to let people know I’m an ally, and that despite the federal government attempting to discriminate against, dehumanize, and attack members of the LGBTQ+ community, I’m here to support my many friends (as well as people I don’t know) in that community. Life is not black and white, and love is LOVE.
That’s all for tonight, TTFN!