Maine: Bike Rental

One of the best ways to cover a lot of ground quickly while visiting a new place is on a bike. While we were in Maine in August, we knew we wanted to rent bikes both to tour around in Camden & to do some more serious riding in Bar Harbor.

In Camden, we rented bikes from Maine Sport Outfitters, which has a huge store right outside of town in Rockport. We were outfitted with sturdy hybrid bikes & were quickly on our way through the rolling hills of Maine (emphasis on the word hills). The bikes were reasonably priced – $38 for two bikes for two days with an advanced reservation – it’s a little cheaper if you just walk up, but you have to return the bike the same day. If you’re thinking about doing this, you should know that the bikes are a bit heavy (good for riding, bad for lifting) & that the place is a decent distance from downtown Camden. We were able to fit my bike in the back of our rental, & my husband rode his back into town, but we would have had to rent a car rack if we hadn’t had such a big car.

We cycled two routes – 11 difficult miles that the shop recommended (which I wussed out on about 2 miles into), & a 6 mile ride we came up with studying the map, which took us past Camden’s famous Belted Galloway’s & through some scenic neighborhoods:

The folks at Maine Sport were great at suggesting routes for all ability levels & clearly had a passion for the local cycling community.

In Bar Harbor, we went back & forth debating who to rent bikes from. I emailed with the great people at Acadia Bike, but unfortunately, they weren’t able to rent us the road bikes we were looking for. We ended up going with Bar Harbor Bicycle, who were a bit rude & difficult to deal with (mostly due to a seasonal staff of teenagers working) but had the bikes we wanted. We rented Specialized Allez road bikes for $30 a day; they also offer lots of other rental options at a cheaper price.

As I mentioned before, I started cycling back in the spring with the end goal of cycling the 27-mile Acadia National Park Loop Road:

You can read about my harrowing experience here. But, even if you’re not a hard core cyclist, sections of the Park Loop Road are very do-able, especially if you walk your bike up the hills. In addition, the miles & miles of Carriage Roads within the park are perfect for leisure riding. Any of the bike rental places in Bar Harbor can help you map out a route that meets your fitness level.

After our great experience in Maine, the first time we had ever rented bikes, I think we’re much more likely to look into it as a fun option to tour around. Have you ever explored a new place by bicycle?