We had a group of seven riders to go ride the Carriage Roads at Acadia National Park. Two of us…read morehad our own gravel bikes and the five others needed to rent gravel bikes. Because I was the organizer of the ride, I insisted (pestered) them to reserve their bikes online, which they did. We arrived the morning of the ride and there were several staff members outside ready to help renters. They were friendly and quickly set up my buddies on their bikes. I should mention that they rent Cervelo Asperos (my bike too) and Trek Checkpoints - both really good gravel bikes and perfect for the Carriage Roads (frankly, a bit better than needed on those tame roads). With everyone set up, we started off. This is where the shop shined. For whatever reason, my derailleurs were not working, and I had just charged them up a couple of days ago. Even though I was riding my own bike, I went back to the shop and asked if they could give me a quick charge-up. One of the mechanics (Shawn) instead, put the bike on the stand and started fiddling around with it. Meanwhile, the shop owner took me around the shop and showed me his collection of Cervelo bikes (awesome! He also does Ironman Triathalons). Meanwhile, Shawn figured out that a wire had worked loose while I was bringing my bike up to Acadia. He saved the day (I do NOT want to ride the Carriage Roads on one gear). No charge, and we were on our way. Generally great folks at the bike shop, and they rent real gravel bikes that you can ride with verve. I can't recommend this shop enough.

Chaotic from start to finish…read more The rental process alone should have been our warning sign. Their online cutoff is 2pm the day before, which means you have to call-fine, except the woman who answered never called us back. We had to chase her down twice just to confirm a reservation. We arrived at 12:50 for a 1pm pickup and stood there watching the one staff member slowly process an entire family who was renting bikes for the next day on our time. The guy who eventually got us our bikes moved like he was underwater. Directions? He handed us a map that would challenge a cartographer and told us to "turn at the thing that blinks." That was the landmark. The blinking thing. We missed a turn. My husband's bike was mechanically broken. He came back with mud splattered across his backpack, shorts, and hair. And the e-bikes if you've rented an e-bike anywhere else in your life, do not expect that here. These things have less power than a child's ride-on toy. I'm not exaggerating. There is no assist. There is no joy. Unprofessional, disorganized, and a complete waste of a half day in a place where you have limited time and actually want to have fun. Skip it.