Cumberland to Rockwood

Jake insisted that I write today. He thinks that I tell him he's a really good writer just to get out of blogging, but honestly his writing is clear, cohesive and coherent and a tough act to follow. Besides, after riding I really haven't had the energy (mental or physical) to make much sense at all.

Yes, here I sit in another B&B (The Gingerbread House... quaint or creepy? You decide!). The weather tonight calls for a 50% chance of showers after midnight and lows in the low 50s. A warm bed and a bathroom that isn't across a campground seems to be the intelligent choice. Also, Jake and I are doing our best to support the local economies along the way.

On to today's ride...

We had a substantial breakfast at the Fairfield Inn and mounted Ol' Bessie. The path connecting the C&O Towpath and the GAP runs right behind the Fairfield, so that was a great start to the day. As advertised, the first 22 miles of our ride were uphill at a grade that averaged 1.7%. It wasn't brutal but more like an unrelenting headwind on A1A. We had Ol' Bessie in the middle ring and were spinning our way up. I asked Jake if we could put it in the big ring for a while and so on every 10 minute mark, we powered for a minute so that the middle ring felt relatively easy.

At the top of Mt. Savage we passed the Mason-Dixon line, went over the Eastern Contiental Divide and went through the Big Savage Tunnel.

On the other side of the tunnel, we were done with the uphill, but did pick up a little headwind, but no worries, we were feeling great for having done our penance up the mountain.

The air was cool and the breeze was brisk. Fall is definitely in the air up here... we were cruising through a tree canopied stretch with the faint aroma of woodsmoke in the air watching the leaves drift aimlessly to the ground and Jake said, "Take a mental snapshot of this and it will be in a dream one day." I am positive that he is right, it was gorgeous and this ride already holds such great mental snapshots that I will relive in dreams (daydreams and in sleep) for many years to come.

About ten miles after the peak, we hit our second water stop at an old rail station in Meyersdale, PA. We got there so early that we helped Valerie set up the canopy. One of the volunteers of the rail station came out to greet us and invited us in to come have a warm cup of coffee. Inside, there were several Lionel train displays and the history of Meyersdale. Unlike our more usual quick stops, Jake and I stayed for nearly 30 minutes and chatted with the two proud and lovely volunteers. What a hoot and a highlight of our day that was already pretty frickin' awesome!

The rest of the ride was uneventful but not in a boring way. We enjoyed the sights, sounds and smells of autumn which we will surely savor as we return to the heat and humidity of Florida.

We arrived in Rockwood and found the campsite, got showered and changed into our off the bike clothes. The owner of the campsite recommended Rock City Cafe for their cheeseburgers. We walked through the quaint little town and had a great cheeseburger... of course, after our solid effort on the bike today, anything would taste good, but I really think this was a great cheeseburger. The bartender/waitress regaled us with tales of small town life and invited us to the American Legion! We thanked her properly, tipped her well and set back through town to the Mill Shop and Opera House for dessert and met up with fellow cyclists to do what cyclists seem to do at the end of the day... talk about the route that they all just took.

We had dinner and listened to a presentation about the GAP and walked back up the hill to our creepily quaint B&B... did I mention that our room has a dressmaker's form dressed up with a hat next to our bed??

Tomorrow is 71 miles down to West Newton, most of it downhill, but still it's 71 miles. Several people are SAGging some or most of the way. Jake and I plan to get up early and ride the whole way. Saturday is only 30 miles and then a long bus ride back to DC.

Kelly

LIttle Orleans to Cumberland, Md

Recalling the Marty and Jake blog from the cross-country trip and then rereading some of this blog, whininess night be a reasonable impression for one to have of cyclists; or pointedly, me.

I mentioned the headwinds in Texas at least a half dozen times and now seem to be harping on the rain. There were two good reasons for this: It was windy as hell in Texas and rainy as hell in Maryland the past four days.

Neither element did a thing to diminish the fun of either ride, but they both gave me something to write about!





Yes, the rain continued today, but while most of the travelers were packing up rain-soaked tents and damp sleeping bags, Kelly and I were enjoying one kick-ass breakfast at the B&B. Considering they don't have to do too much to fulfill the promise of the first "B", they ought to have their stuff together for the Breackfast! Not whining about that, guaranteed.



We were shuttled down to the campground where the rest of the group had left an hour and a half earlier. No worries, we took off... in the rain.

At 75 degrees, the rain was not a problem. In fact, the rain made a lot of the scenery more beautiful. The trail was basically a tree canopied tunnel of deep shiny greens. All the water falls and run offs were flowing to capacity and when the sun finally spilled through the trees in the early afternoon, the sunlight itself looked wet from the rain.

The flipside was the trail was a freaking mess! More puddles with surprise potholes hidden, blah blah blah. At one point in the day, the entire trail was underwater. Needless to say, Kelly and I opted to roll slowly through that quagmire. We almost went down a couple of times, but knock on wood...

About halfway through the day, we came upon the Paw Paw tunnel, a 3100 foot tunnel was built for the C&O canal. I had to don a headlight and we walked the big rig through. It was pretty cool.
























At the end of the riding day we arrived in Cumberland, Md - the END of the Chesapeake Ohio Canal system.

The construction of the canal system began about the same time railroads were being built and the railroad guys were faster. Once the railroads were operational, the trains were WAY faster than the mule pulled canal boats. They stopped building the C&O when it reached Cumberland, well short of its namesake, the Ohio.

Basically the Canal was the Betamax of the 1800s. The VHS guys were clearly running the railroads.

Fittingly, the rest of our trip will be on the Great Allegheny Passage trail which is a 150 mile rails-to-trails project. The construction is crushed limestone and we will not be experiencing the mud, puddles, and muck of the past 180 miles.

Railroads win again.

The start of the day is a 24 mile climb. Kelly is ecstatic!

Jake - PS - time for Kelly to write one of these, right?

Day two and three recaps.. sort of

One of the damn in the Potomac that fed the C&O canal system.

As Kelly mentioned, we were without wifi and posting on the blog from smart-phones is for smart people. So I do not know what Kelly's excuse is, but mine is evident.

The rain continues to fall... as if it had a choice?

You can just see the Charlie Brown comic strip now. Snoopy atop his doghouse, not shooting down the infamous Red Baron, but working the typewriter with his paws writing the Great American Dog Novel. "It was a dark and stormy night...".

Well it was last night and it is again. Here is the view of the campground. Can't see our tent? There is a reason.

Here is where the genius of Kelly comes to the fore. Weather iffy yesterday afternoon. she immediately secures a cabin (oh sorry, a Kabin) at the KOA near Williamsport, MD. At 4:30 AM, ridiculous thunder, lightning and a downpour hammers our tent-dwelling fellow cyclists as we hunker down in our airKonditioned Kabin (what is with the KOAs and the Ks... a tad disturbing if you ask me).

Today we roll into the campground at Little Orleans and the bugs start to eat one of the bicycles. After fendng off the swarm, we notice the sky darkening once again. In a flash, Kelly is on the horn arranging a room in what is almost certainly a haunted bed and breakfast.

Wimps, you say? Well go ahead and say it! At least our luggage and tent are not being washed away by the torrential downpour we left behind as we rode up the hill in the friendly B&B van. Putting "torrential" in perspective, we are from Florida and have not seen this kind of rain in a long long time. Bring on the ghosts!

But enough about us, let me tell you about the rides... and us.

Yesterday we started at Brunswick Family Campground which is so far, the only camping we have done (we did it well, by the way). In 6 short miles we were in Harpers Ferry, WV. Harpers Ferry is an historic town that changed hands at least five times in the Civil War. Most of the town was either destroyed or seriously damaged except the Irish Catholic church that flew the Union Jack which was supposed to signal neutrality or insanity... either way, it worked. Lots or Irish laborers involved in the building of the railroads and Harpers Ferry was a big railway town. But the really important thing about Harpers Ferry was that Kelly and I had our second breakfast there after a scant 30 minutes on the bike! Living the life!

Our gluttony did not go unpunished. On a steep incline, not a half mile back on the trail, our drive chain broke! Aside from the additional time (we had already blown an hour and a half eating breakfast number two), this was no big deal. I broke out the chain tool and promptly repaired the chain by fixing the link that popped.

The serious bike guys are probably already shaking their heads knowing what is going to happen next. Yes, on the next seriously steep incline, pop goes the weasel again! Luckily I realized that repairing a damaged link is stupid and removed the link, fixed the chain, again and off we went.

Now we are way behind our normal pace and you know what? That was just fine by me. I was enjoying another day riding with Kelly, not worrying about anything and having a great time, mechanical issues notwithstanding. And all that mud, rain and nasty puddles with God-knows-what hiding in the murk that plagued us on Sunday? Well they were still in full force, but like I said, we had fun anyway.

Today, we headed out In the misty morning mess and trucked on over to Fort Frederick. Once there, we finally got a respite from the C&O Towpath trail and its muddy thrill ride. The Western Maryland Rails to Trails allowed us to cruise along 22 miles of paved bike path. On the big Tandem, we really put the hammer down and smoked that section. The rain hardly bothered us.

Alas, we had another tem miles or so on Old Muddy (C&O). The path ended in Little Orleans where a proper dive called Bills awaited us. A couple of brewskis (Kelly did a hard lemonade), we rode straight up to the campground. By straght up, I mean a short but nasty-steep hill in the lowest gear we could find. About halfway up, I cunningly asked Kelly if she wanted us to walk the rest of the climb... whoosh! The engine in the back kicked in and up we went. She is a trooper... pretty strong too.

Tomorrow (by the time we have internet and post, it will be today) we finish our sentence on the C&O towpath in Cumberland, MD and begin the Great Allegheny Passage trail to Pittsburgh. That trail is suppose to be 100 times better than the C&O, so we are really looking forward to it.

I still cannot believe we took a racing tandem on this trail! Most of it looks like the fire roads in Western NC without the big hills.

Imagine a road bike zooming through that crap after weeks of rain... now double down - tandem, remember?

No WiFi!

This is from my iPhone because there is no wireless right now. Jake and I are doing great and will blog tomorrow night.

So far we've done about 150 miles from DC. Tomorrow we make it to Cumberland and then we will be on the Great Allegheny Passage to Pittsburgh. We are rocking our road tandem through mud, roots, and rocks. Hopefully tomorrow we can upload some pictures of me caked in mud!

More to follow :)

Day One! DC to Brunswick Maryland

Day one is in the books.

To be honest, we are kind of beat. I know that 60 miles does not sound huge, but the C&O trail is not easy after a ton of rain... and this area has had a TON of rain lately.

We started the day by heading over from Arlington to the Lincoln Memorial. Snaking through traffic on the Tandem in a slow moving group was a little dicey... but at least we were on pavement!

The C&O is really beautiful, but just bumpy as well and full of puddles of murky water. We were advised to ride through the middle of the puddles and generally that was good advice except that one time when the puddle was basically a pot hole with a thick root hidden. It took some fancy bike handling to keep the big rig upright and Kelly safe.

Did I mention the mud?

We kind of hammered (compared to our fellow tourers) but we did stop to see some cool stuff like the Great Falls.

So... after lunch we fired up the Sirius Satellite Ap on Kelly's phone and listened to the fist half of the Jags game as we pounded out the last 20 miles. As you can see from the picture of our little homestead below, we were here and all cleaned up well ahead of the crowd. That works for me - hot water still works, snacks are fresh, and plenty of time to BS with everyone.

That was not a very funny post I know, but that bumpy ass trail took it our of me. Everyone is in now and hitting the brewskis, so I am sure there will be some entertaining tidbits to follow.

Jake

The full extent of Dorkiness

Kelly does little justice to our Dorkdom.

Yes, we have the iPhone handlebar mount and the headsets (thanks to Barb and Tom). And yes we have the weather proof speakers, etc. But let's start with the bike.

We decided that the best way to actually ride this tour together would be to take the tandem - a Trek racing tandem.

As any who ride with me know, I would be hard pressed to toodle along at a chit chat pace for very long, and as those who know me best will tell you, I really don't like being far from Kelly when I do not have to be. My habit of taking off like a rabid jackrabbit might lead to some tense times in the tiny super-light-weight dork tent we ordered.

The tandem seemed the clear answer to keeping us close, very close.

As details of the tour become evident, it seems we may be bringing a gun to a bumpy, rainy, muddy knife fight. Not one of the 40 or so other riders seems to be bringing a road bike, much less a tandem! At least I put on cyclocross tires. The bike alone puts us high on the dorkometer.

We will be traveling with paniers on the rear rack. Of course, tools, tubes, mini-pump, food, rain gear, etc. will be easily reached. So will a ziplock bag full of chargers, usb cords, bike-mount power supplies, and a solid state notebook computer complete with aircard. This way, we can stay connected, entertained, and guided... did I mention the GPS devices... at all times.

Serious dorks, seriously. Actually, truth be known... and it is... Kelly is no dork, but I make up for it.

Jake

Hit the Road

So begins our Great Tandem Experience. One week to ride from DC to Pittsburgh on the C&O Canal Towpath and the Great Allegheny Passage. Jake and I will definitely be the King and Queen of the Dorks. Our tandem is equipped with an iPhone mount (so that we can listen to the Jaguars game on my Sirius app), speakers, and we'll be sporting a headset so that we can whisper to each other without anyone else hearing.

We drove up to SC tonight so that our ride to DC won't be so bad tomorrow. We will meet the other riders tomorrow evening. We will hit the trail early on Sunday morning. Several of the campsites advertise that they have wireless internet, so hopefully we will be able to update our blog with tales of our crazy ride.

More to follow....