LEWISTON — It was Tom Kropf’s first Trek Across Maine, but he had already figured out how to maximize enjoyment of the event.
“It feels great,” he said, “to be able to ride all day and then chill out afterwards with some beers.”
Tamera Grieshaber, on the other hand, was agonizing. She had just arrived at the end-of-the-day event known as the Trek Downtown Street Takeover and there was the matter of what to eat first: a burrito from El Rodeo Tacos? Or a Sweet Potato Bomb from Tripp’s Farmhouse Cafe?
She was leaning heavily toward the burrito.
“My God,” she exclaimed, almost reverently. “There is so much stuff in there. There was so much food in in that burrito.”
Eating and drinking and tunes — that was the lineup for hundreds of people who flocked to the lower end of Lisbon Street, which had been closed to traffic. Many of them had bicycled all day, wheeling from Brunswick to downtown Lewiston on the first loop of the three-day trek.
“It’s been so great,” said Kate Johnson of Portland. “It’s a great loop, it’s beautiful and the weather has been really nice so far.”
Her favorite part of the journey so far? The long stretch of Route 136, along the Androscoggin River between Freeport and Lewiston.
“That took us by the water,” Kate said. “I really liked that.”
Team and support members of the Berman and Simmons Trek Across Maine team gather outside Bear Bones Beer during the Trek Downtown Street Takeover on Lisbon Street in Lewiston on Friday evening. Organizers closed Lisbon Street to traffic so that Trek Across Maine participants could sample what Lewiston has to offer with music, beer and bands. From left are Justine Satterthwaite of Lisbon, Mckenzie Swift of Freeport, Melissa Beauvais of Lisbon, Alison Douglass of Topsham and Lance Forrest of New Gloucester. Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover
Food trucks were stationed at several points along Lisbon Street for the tired and hungry. Beers were poured in a cordoned off area for adults only and live music thumped nonstop up and down the block between Lisbon and Ash streets.
“This is actually our second time playing today,” said Emily T, lead singer of Emily & the Zealous which performed in front of Bear Bones Beer at 43 Lisbon St. “It’s been great. Just awesome.”
Most of the cyclists were staying overnight at Bates College and they expected to get rolling again Saturday at about 8 a.m. Kropf and Johnson said they planned to start pedaling even sooner, around 6 a.m. You had to wonder how long the pair could stick around the street party after such a long and exhausting day.
Johnson, for one, wasn’t worried about it much.
“I’m tired,” she said, “but I’m not. I feel pretty good, actually.”
Greishaber, who lives above Bear Bones, said she planned to stick around long enough to have her dinner — whether that would be the burrito or The Bomb remained unclear — and to have a little something sweet after that.
“I know I’m coming back here for dessert,” she said, pointing at the My Waffle truck parked just up the street.
Her only problem: Would she have a lemon waffle? Or blueberry?
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