When the ice on Toddy Pond is thick and clear, the skaters and fishermen come out. Sometimes, so do people on bicycles.
They’re part of a group of friends who started riding across the ice several years ago using studded titanium tires on the mountain bikes they enjoy in the other three seasons.
It’s a fun, practical and unusual way to stay active outside and spend time together during the winter months. But it also gives them opportunities to explore Hancock County’s ponds, lakes and rivers from a new point of view.
“It was like we were 10 years old again, just goofing off and pure enjoyment,” Greg Forrest said of his first ice bike ride with friend Mike Zboray. “We went from feeling nervous to feeling invincible.”
Their group of friends met years ago through school activities for their children, now in their late teens and early 20s. Forrest and Zboray often went mountain biking and canoeing together in warmer weather; they started to wonder how they could keep going year-round.
Spiked tires were the answer. They can be ridden on ice that’s too rough for skating, can be added to regular mountain bikes and give enough traction to make cycling over ice feel like riding on pavement.
Ice biking has scattered fans in other cold states, including Wisconsin and Minnesota, where some replace their front wheels with ice skates. It’s not so widespread in Maine.
Once Forrest and Zboray tried them, there was no going back. Their friend Paul Markosian borrowed a bike and was “hooked,” he said, using his bike to commute to work.
Soon more friends and their spouses joined the outings, and for the last several years, a fluctuating group of up to 10 have hit the ice around the county every weekend when conditions allow. Sometimes, skaters join them too.
They’ve traveled often on their “home pond,” Toddy Pond, nearby Craig Pond, Hothole Pond and Alamoosook Lake. They’ve explored water bodies in Acadia National Park including Bubble Pond, Jordan Pond, Long Pond and Eagle Lake. They’ve ridden a tidal swamp stream down to the ocean and explored the meandering whaleback of the Union River’s east branch.
With the ability to travel farther and faster across the water, bikers can have new adventures. Markosian recalled exploring behind beaver dams. Forrest described tracking coyote prints across the snow and discovering eagles eating a carcass.
“I’m more confident, and can cover a lot more ground” than on skates, said Markosian. “I like being able to explore these bodies of water from that vantage point.”
On sunny days, the bikers can head into the wind, then turn around and let it push them back, gliding over the ice with almost no effort. Sometimes they joust with cattails. If snow is followed by rain and a hard freeze, Zboray can take his bike out in the forest, cruising on top of the snow.
They can’t ride when the ice is covered in snow or slush, as it has been this February, and changing ice-out dates can shorten the season. But it’s worth the wait.
“Nobody can put a finger on what’s addicting about it,” Forrest said. “Some days you’re out there and you’re like, ‘This is boring.’ But it’s not.”
For some, it’s a source of camaraderie with friends, a chance for adventure or a fun source of exercise, Zboray said. It can also be a way to feel in touch with nature and get “in the zone” while riding.
“It’s just really wonderful to have a group of friends who like to do some similar things and adventuring together,” he said. “Everybody gets something a little different from the experience.”
