Golden Road event attracts 60 cyclists

MILLINOCKET – No ringing cell phones. No appointments. No traffic or crowds of people. Just a gorgeous mountain, thick woods and a nearly virgin bicycle trail.

That’s why Patrick Walsh and Lisa Kushner came from Morrill, about 112 miles away, with their 21-speed Bianchi Advantage Hybrids to bicycle the Golden Road on Saturday.

Though they braved rather large swarms of mosquitoes – “You couldn’t rest because of the bugs,” Kushner said ruefully – they said it was worth the trip.

“This was really fun,” Walsh, 58, said Saturday. “We had no idea what a pleasure it would be.”

“We just thought the novelty of riding the Golden Road would be a great opportunity,” Walsh said.

“This was our longest ride,” Kushner said. “There was a lot of up and down [hills] on the road, and you could see rafters on the river.”

“The furthest we had traveled before was maybe 22 or 23 miles in Acadia [National Park] on the Carriage Trails,” Walsh said.

“The views of [Mount] Katahdin across the pond were really beautiful,” Kushner said.

The two were among about 40 riders on Saturday who toured about 30 miles of paved road from Ambajejus and Millinocket lakes to Ripogenus Dam and Gorge, said Lisa McLaughlin, one of the organizers. About 60 riders participated by the event’s end Sunday afternoon.

No accidents were reported, police and firefighters said.

Besides being good exercise, the biking event, which ended Sunday with a race and more touring, allowed riders to sample the wildlife and natural beauty of the region and the trucking lifeline to Katahdin’s storied and still vibrant paper manufacturing and forest management industries, said Stanley McLaughlin, co-founder of the Katahdin Trails Alliance.

The event was sponsored by the alliance, a 35-member nonprofit bicycling and hiking club that, following in the footsteps of area ATV and snowmobile riders, wants to map trails, publish a trail guide, promote bicycle and hiking safety and education, establish bike lanes and signs on roads, create Katahdin racing and touring events, and apply for private, state or federal grant money for those efforts.

Marcia McKeague, president of Katahdin Timberlands LLC – the area’s largest landowner, allowed the event to occur on Timberlands property, through which the Golden Road runs.

It was the first cycling allowed on the road since at least five years ago, when then-Great Northern Paper Co. opened portions of it a few weeks a year to bicyclists for training.

The Golden Road Bike Tour was the group’s first large-scale event. Profits will go back into the alliance’s trail-making efforts. Profit totals were still being compiled Sunday.

Overcast skies and occasional rain squalls probably cut into the number of participants, but for a first outing, the event was well-attended, Lisa McLaughlin said.

The group hopes that the tours and racing will become an annual event.