We decided to bike the Mountain Division Trail yesterday because it was such a beautiful day.

I had a stomach bug that I couldn't seem to shake most of the weekend but was feeling better yesterday so biking the trail sounded like a good way to salvage the last day of the holiday weekend.

We set out on the trail from the Standish trailhead with plans to see if we could bike the entire length of the trail (which was posted on the kiosk as 4.7 miles from Standish to Windham).

The shady spots of the trail were great and the sunny parts required a couple of water breaks.

We had never biked (nor hiked or skiied) the full length of the trail so had not realized how many road crossings it had. There were four in total with all but one very quite roads.

This crossing had a lot more fast-moving traffic than the others.

After passing over the Presumpscot River, we got to thinking about our canoe and if we'd paddled down to this part of the river before. We all agreed that we hadn't .... yet.

On our way back to the Standish trailhead we ran in to some horses. We see a lot of horses in the Otter Ponds area when we're on this trail and the kids love it.

By the time we came to our favorite hill to cross country ski down, L. had to walk her bike up part of the way. The bike ride was about 10 miles round trip so everyone was entitled to be a little tired by the time we got to the last 1/2 mile.

We brought along our GPS unit to make a track of the trail since we're really enjoying everytrails.com (they really liked this trek of Namibia with the animals in it). But the GPS lost reception for about 1/2 mile so there's a portion of the trail missing on our map. We have plans to fix it this week but according to the readings on our GPS, we covered a little over 10 miles roundtrip. That was a record setting afternoon for mileage we've done on our bikes in a single day. The kids suggested we stick to our 4-mile roundtrips to the ice cream store near our house this week to recooperate.

We went for a bike ride last night around our neighborhood and the kids had to include their dolls in the ride.

The baskets were an important addition to the kids' bikes when we started our trail riding last month because I wanted them to be able to carry their own water bottles and snacks on our rides.

Well, it was a good idea in theory. In reality, L. can't fit her water bottle because after her lunch pack she HAS to also take some random - very important - stuffed animal.

The bear from the Bronx Zoo had to come along on the Portland Trails.

The little cat she sewed was a must on our ride in Brunswick.

So G. usually ends up carrying the majority of the picnic supplies in her basket (a second-hand store find that we modified for her bike that she loves) ...

... and usually L.'s water bottle (and reminds L. about her good deed often).

I usually carry my backpack with the first aid kit, camera, sweaters and random supplies.

The only one who doesn't have a basket Fino. He's "too cool" (as the girls say) for a bike basket. He hangs his water bottle on his handle bars and leaves it to me and G. to carry the rest of the supplies.

But it all works out in the end because he's usually the one with the heaviest back pack when we go hiking.

What do you carry with you when you go bike riding?

... it's about all the other stuff we can see and do on the trail too.

Like watching the frogs in the pond at the Androscoggin River trail head in Topsham.

Or trying to identify birds on the Eastern Prom (L. believes she heard an American Goldfinch and a Song Sparrow during our picnic).

If you're unfamiliar with the Identiflyer, it really is pretty cool even though it's a bit pricey. The Indentiflyer cards have pictures and songs for 10 birds on each one. And on the back of each card is the human-word translation of the bird songs. L. shares her impression of the Barn Owl, "Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all" in this most recent video.

The kids have had a lot of fun this week and riding their bikes.

We had so much fun biking in Brunswick, we decided to try out the Portland Trails yesterday.

We started off on the Back Cove loop because parking is easier (and free) there but our plan was to connect to the Eastern Prom trail so we could avoid riding in the street bike lane (part of the Back Cove loop is on the street and my kids aren't ready for that just yet).

Part of the Back Cove trail is stone dust with some pavement while another portion of the trail is a bike lane on the street.

We stopped for a closer look at the graffiti wall as we left the Back Cove trail and connected to the Eastern Prom trail.

The kids thought the waste treatment plant was pretty bogus - especially this bubbling brown water - but still stopped to read the signs explaining the treatment process, which turned out to be pretty interesting.

The Narrow Gauge Railroad was running while we were biking the Eastern Prom trail.

We had brought along our Identiflyer because we know this area is a fun place to hear the birds singing.

We also took a detour from the trail to visit Fort Allen Park's cannon so G. could take some photos.

The girls spotted this impression on the cannon and insisted I take a photo of it.

The girls liked the Brunswick trail better because there were less hills there but said these Portland trails had lots of fun stuff to look at.

Thank you Pati for the bike trail recommendation last month. We finally found some time when the weather was cooperating to make the trek over to Brunswick to try out the Androscoggin River Bicycle Path.

The trail was smooth without many hills and the bike lane was wide enough to accommodate the girls' occasional swerving because they are still novice bike riders (they learned to ride about a month or so ago) and are working on their steering correction technique.

Of course the reason for L's swerving is usually because she's looking everywhere but where she's going (yes mom, I know I did that too).

But her wandering eyes came in helpful for a stray caterpillar that had wandered onto the trail.

She had to 'save' the caterpillar from being run over and used a leaf to coax him back into the grass.

After the tree-eater rescue we continued on our way and before we knew it, we were at the end of the trail in Topsham.

We all thought those 2.5 miles flew by.

At the Topsham trail head there was a small pond brimming with frogs. I was surprised we heard the croaking over the highway traffic noise and airplanes flying overhead (it's not a quiet nature trail). But we did and were rewarded with many frog sightings and their croaking songs.

We found a quiet, grassy spot for a snack on our way back to Brunswick and after eating, L. demonstrated her bike hand signals for a poster she's making about bikes for her 4-H project.

Left turn signal

Right turn signal

The girls gave this trail an enthusiastic two-thumbs up! If you've never tried trail bike riding with your kids, it's worth the effort to dig out the car bike rack and load it up. And if your kids are like mine, they'll be beaming at the end of the day when they realize they rode 5 miles and passed through two towns in a single afternoon.

Biking the Trail

Mother's Day was a lot of fun this year - I received a new bicycle and am thoroughly enjoying it!

When I got home from the office yesterday I received some special homemade cards from the girls - and Toddy.

The girls always make sure Toddy is included in the card-giving tradition. But he will likely spend the next week trying to get blue marker off his paw.

And then we attached the new bike rack (to go with the new bike) to the car to set off for the Mountain Division Trail. Since the girls only learned to ride a bike about 2 weeks ago (yeah, it's the first year they've seemed interested in learning), the trail was a little scary for them. And although I learned to ride a bike as a kid, I haven't owned one in over 15 years. Needless to say, the females of the family are not strong riders and the rocky, bumpy trail was a little stressful for us (not feeling in control going down hills with lots of rocks that move your wheels around). We decided to give it another try in a few weeks when we're more confident in our riding abilities.

The girls and I were being silly with a self-portrait on the trail.

Fino has a new bike too (an early Father's Day present) and was teasing me about being excited about my new bike. I thought he had similiar feelings about his bike but just wouldn't admit it.

Later in the afternoon, we set took a short ride to Grandpa's house together to show off our new bikes.

My dad gave me a basket for my bike and commented that he felt it was a bit odd to be buying his adult daughter a bike basket. I assured him it was just what I wanted.

L.'s bike has been around our house for years without anyone riding it until now. We found G.'s bike at Salvation Army for $10 this year and after a tune-up, it's a great bike for her.

Now the family is ready to explore some biking trails this year. If you have a favorite biking trek, let us know.