To every bike tour there is a reason. Wasn't that in the Bible? Didn't Pete Seeger ride a bike?

I've had Bar Harbor in my sights for about six years, ever since I rode my bike down Adventure Cycling's Atlantic Coast Route from DC to Key West. It's high time I finished the job and rode the rest of the ACR north. 

A ride to Bar Harbor checks a few more boxes off my bicycle bucket list as well. I lived in New England for over ten years but I never rode in New Hampshire or Maine. Riding in both on this tour will bring me to 38 states ridden. Go team. 

The logistics are pretty simple. Just roll out my front door. Ride a mile and a half, turn left, and Bob's your uncle, I'll be on the route.  Just 1,000+ miles of pain to go!

It occurred to me that once I get to Bar Harbor, I'll have ridden myself into a corner.  Hmmm.

Then I got the idea to head back via the Adventure Cycling Northern Tier Route. As a newly minted lifetime member of the Adventure Cycling Association, I feel that it is fitting that I give it's Routes and Torture Department a good vetting.

Riding the Northern Tier will also give me bragging rights to more than one half the perimeter of the lower 48 states. 

So I'll ride back down the Maine coast and bang a right at Brunswick. Then it's across New Hampshire via the fabled (never been on it) Kancamangus (native for "damn, it's hilly") Highway. I'll follow that up by riding over Kinsmans Notch in New Hampshire before tackling the steep Middlebury Gap in Vermont. After riding down to Lake Champlain, I'll head right back up as I cross the Adirondacks. (Special note to the Adventure Cycling cartography department: there NO HILLS on the Erie Canal 100 miles to the south!) I'll keep going until I hit Lake Ontario. It's kind of creepy to be honest. An inland sea. 

I'll head south because while the Adventure Cycling cartography is obsessed with mountains, it wisely doesn't do water crossings by bike. I'll pick up the Erie Canal (a true cycling gem, by the way) and ride over to Ontario. It'll be my first time riding outside the US. My stay in Canada will be brief but I'll be sure to thank the good folks for their fine exports like hockey, Tim Horton's, Wayne Campbell, and Neil Young.

I'll pedal past Niagara Falls. (I've been to Niagara Falls once. I couldn't help thinking the water would shut off. Seriously. It's surreal.)

Hopefully, the immigration folks in Buffalo will allow me back in. (They once detained and interrogated my school-aged children because they were traveling with my wife who doesn't use my last name. True story. They were eventually allowed in when they told the authorities that they didn't know how to skate. Can't be Canadians then, can they?)

I'll continue down the shore of Lake Erie - inland sea number two - to the cleverly named Erie, Pennsylvania. Then I'll turn south on the Adventure Cycling Underground Railroad Route to Pittsburgh. Once there, I'll jump on the Great Allegheny Passage (another cycling gem) to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath. The C&O will take me on a flat slalom back to DC. Then I'll ride 15 miles home.

And there you have it. Something like 2,600 miles and lord knows how much climbing.  Should be fun.