Local Riders Train in Acadia for the Trek Across Maine and They Want You to Join Them

Carrie Jones

Feb 17, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Edward Jones Financial Advisor: Elise N. Frank.

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MOUNT DESERT ISLAND — Often on a cool late-spring morning before the tourist traffic thickens and the buses begin to idle along the Park Loop Road, a small pack of cyclists moves through Acadia National Park.

The bicyclists who make up the Acadia Ridge Riders usually ride in tight formation, wheels humming over pavement that curves between granite cliffs and ocean views and sometimes canters a bit. If the cyclists can complete the entire loop—and then ride up and down Cadillac Mountain in a single go—they know they’re probably ready for the hills, ready for 180 miles, ready for something much bigger than themselves.

They’re training for the Trek Across Maine, the three-day Father’s Day weekend ride that supports the American Lung Association.

For founding member Jack Frost, this June will mark his 17th consecutive year riding.

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A Tradition Built on Miles — and Meaning

Frost began riding in the Trek more than a decade ago, long before the cause became deeply personal.

It became personal in June 2020, when his father, Thomas, was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare cancer caused by asbestos exposure that affects only 2,000 to 3,000 Americans each year. Thomas had worked for 40 years as a tool-and-die maker in southern Maine and had been exposed to asbestos at a young age.

That year, the Trek was canceled due to the pandemic.

For the first time in a decade, Frost wasn’t riding on Father’s Day weekend. Instead, he joined his father at the family camp near Greenville.

His father wasn’t feeling well. A trip to a local hospital led to devastating news. Tests later that month confirmed the diagnosis.

Thomas Frost managed the cancer for about a year. The second year, Jack said, was “brutally painful and exhausting.” Thomas passed away April 7, 2022, just before his 80th birthday.

“In honor of my dad and all the others who have suffered from lung disease, I’ve been more motivated than ever to support the good works of the American Lung Association,” Frost said.

More than 35 million people in the United States are affected by lung disease. Maine’s lung cancer rates remain significantly higher than the national average — a fact that weighs heavily on members of the team.

“The Trek is a small way that participants, volunteers and donors can make a difference,” Frost said.

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Training Where the Scenery Competes With the Climb

Why train in Acadia National Park?

“Why not train in a place that has some of the most beautiful scenery in the country?” said Phil Bailey, another core rider for the group.

The team trains primarily in Acadia in late spring, before most of the visitors start to arrive. The Park Loop Road ride followed by a Cadillac Mountain climb has become an unofficial readiness test.

If they can do that, they can handle the Trek.

They also ride on the Schoodic peninsula and throughout Hancock County. Some members live within a few miles of one another in Hancock and log frequent hometown miles together. Others, based in Waldo County, train in their own communities and join the full group at the Trek itself.

Schedules often dictate who rides when. Most team members maintain demanding professional lives. Even the retirees volunteer weekly with area nonprofits on Mount Desert Island and in Ellsworth.

Winter mountain bike rides happen, although this year they’ve been sparse. More often, it’s a group text that sparks a ride.

“Who’s up for riding today?”

As the weather improves and June approaches, those texts come more often.

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Three Days That Matter

The six weeks leading up to the Trek are about conditioning, about discipline, and about logistics, but the three days of the Trek itself are something else entirely.

“It’s three days of team camaraderie in its purest form,” Bailey said.

They eat together. They trade stories from the road. They unwind after long miles in the saddle. For riders with packed calendars and community commitments, it’s rare, uninterrupted time together.

“Training for an event helps keep us motivated, both personally and as a group,” Bailey said.

In recent years, several members have also participated in the Champion the Cure Challenge in Brewer after a teammate joined that event. Cancer has touched all of their lives; two riders have partners who are cancer survivors. Riding has become both habit and healing.

And friendship. It’s always friendship.

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An Open Invitation

The Acadia Ridge Riders isn’t exclusive. There’s no elaborate vetting process. They want people to join, to train together, to fight cancer together, to become friends together.

Anyone who wants to join can simply reach out (by email or a call to Bailey) and start riding.

What binds the group isn’t uniform pace or identical schedules. It’s commitment: to the miles, to each other, and to a cause that has left its mark on all of them.

On a June weekend soon, they’ll leave Acadia’s granite and salt air behind and join hundreds of other cyclists crossing Maine. Hopefully, a few more members will join ranks.

For Frost, the ride will once again fall on Father’s Day weekend.

Seventeen years in, he still shows up. He does it for the views, for the friendship, for the fundraising and his team, but also, he does it for his dad.

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LINKS TO LEARN MORE

https://cycleforair.lung.org/trekacrossmaine

Champion the Cure Challenge.

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