Minnesota Mike's Ride Across America

Day 31, Monday, Oct.6th, Naples, Maine to Bath, Maine. 66 miles. Total miles 1,891

Said goodbye to John again this morning before I departed, but he will probably catch me again. He seems to always show up in the middle of the afternoon and surprise me with, ‘on your left’

Man! Maine has a lot of steep albeit shorter hills, but it still takes it out of you climbing these steep hills. I got my second train conductor to blow his horn. The kid in me comes out when I am pumping my arm up and down and he blows his train horn! It’s about 20 degrees warmer than usual for this time of year temps up in the 80’s again.

Hoping to finish my ride tomorrow afternoon by dipping my front tire in the Atlantic Ocean by Rockland, Maine. I have mixed emotions, I have gotten use to jumping on my bike every morning and conditioning myself for 7-8 hours of pedaling. But, I miss my normal life, family and loved ones! It’s time to get back to real life. Denise is flying in tomorrow morning to Portland, Maine and will drive up to meet me for an ending ceremony. Funny, John did catch up to me about 2pm and we enjoyed a chocolate malt together before I departed again to go further than he was planning for the day.

Day 33, Tuesday, Oct. 7th, Bath, Maine, to Rockland, Maine. 46 miles, Total miles 1,937

Wow! It is hard to believe this is my last day of riding! It sure was an adventure and I do feel so fortunate that I was able to fulfill my childhood dream and goal to bike across America.

I disregarded my Adventure Cycling biking map and decided to just stay on Highway 1 all the way into Rockland, Maine. Too many turns and directions on the biking route and there is a nice shoulder along the highway so let’s just get this done. I call these ‘grunt miles’ just put your head down and grind out the miles. Luckily for me most of the ride I had a tailwind and felt like my guardian angels were with me helping me up the rolling hills. Thanks, Nancy, Mom, Dad, Lynn, Ed, Bev and AA for the assistance😇

So blessed that my body felt great and was able to complete my ride after having the Widowmaker heart attack last summer. It made me delay finishing my ride by a year, but so fortunate that I made it through that scare and no worse off. Count my blessings everyday that I am still here and can enjoy my wonderful life! I am a lucky man and my heart is full!! Life is good!!!

A huge thanks to everyone that supported me along the way. My ride was dedicated to Baskets from JoJo www.basketsfromjojo.com. My families non profit 501 C-3 charity we established 7 years ago to honor my wife, Nancy’s loving, giving spirit of gifting comfort care baskets. I hope you can join us next month as we prepare 300+ care baskets to give to cancer patients during their chemo treatment at Minneapolis area hospitals. Please refer to our website for upcoming details on how to help assemble the baskets and if you are able to donate to helping us purchase items to include in the baskets. 100% of your tax deductible donation goes to providing comfort items to include in the baskets. BasketsFromJoJo.com

Thanks again everyone!! Minnesota Mike 😀🚵‍♀️