It’s a great day to go for a bike ride! Maybe you’ll tool around Portland, riding the scenic Eastern Promenade Trail, cruising around Back Cove, and then pedal on to Mackworth Island (with an ice cream stop on the way back, just because you can)! Except, dangit, you don’t have a bike.
Fear not, bikeless adventurer. The Portland EnCYCLEpedia is here.
The EnCYCLEpedia (aka, a bike-filled shipping container that recently appeared on Commercial Street, in between Casco Bay Lines and Ocean Gateway) now offers bike rentals (hybrids and cruisers) 7 days a week, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Rates are $20 for up to 4 hours, $30 for the full day, and $15 for a kids bike. They also have area maps to help get you were you want to go, whether on bicycle or foot.
(Full disclosure: Portland EnCYCLEpedia is owned by Summer Feet Cycling. I’m a guide for Summer Feet, which also runs guided bike tours around Maine. No, I’m not getting any kickbacks for this post.)
I imagine the EnCYCLEpedia will come in handy when you have out-of-town visitors and you want to tour them around and show them the sights (and by “sights” I mean lighthouses and breweries). We live in Maine, after all, so we ALWAYS have people coming to visit.
You can also rent bikes in Portland at Gorham Bike and Ski, CycleMainia, and Allspeed.
And while you’re welcome to take a rental bike wherever you’d like, here are a few nearby places you can easily get to straight from the EnCYCLEpedia container:
Bug Light Park in South Portland. Shannon Bryan photo
