Friday, July 4, 2014

The Big Bike Adventure 2014

        Well I did it. I pedaled from Pittsburgh to Washington DC by way of the Great Allegheny Passage and the C & O Canal taking me 5 days. Two great trail systems that are a national treasure and I just needed to explore them.
         My lovely wife Sherrie and my Daughter Jessica brought me to Pittsburgh and I met up with a very likable gentlemen named Lenny.Earlier in preparation for this trip I posted on the web site that I would be doing a trip and would anyone like to join me? Lenny chimed in that he would accompany me from Pitts to Cumberland MD about 150 miles of the 330 mile trip.
     

So me and Lenny with his friend Jim met in Pittsburgh and pedaled to Ohiopyle Pennsyvania. at one point me and Lenny pealed off to eat and his friend continued on. We pedaled about 75 miles to our destination that was a bed and Breakfast where we had the whole house to ourselves
a sweet deal for the cost of $50 each.  We pulled into town and before checking into our room we went and had a beer I knew then I found a friend. Day one of the trip was very different in scenery as we started in the city of Pittsburgh and then ended up in the state park of OhioPyle. So to me it just got better and better every mile
         The next day ( Day Two) we awoke pretty early and pedaled into confluence and had breakfast. This is where we seen the crazy group from NJ doing a bicycle trip. We talked with quite a few of these people during the day while we pedaled into Cumberland MD This is where Lenny's wife Michelle was there to pick him up. Wait, I must tell about the trip from OhioPyle to Cumberland MD. It was pretty much a up hill journey not that it was a stand up pedal but when you tried to coast you basically came to a halt very quickly. That was for the first 50 miles until we hit the continental divide. Then it was all down hill for the last 20 miles. While going down I stopped to talk with a trio of  young men that started in Altantic City, NJ and was going to pedal to LA, California.
Le
  Lenny and I rolled into Cumberland MD where we said our good byes and I thanked him for accompanying me on the first half of the journey.  I got a hotel ate had a few drinks and hit the hay for tomorrow which starts the C&O Canal path and I was anxious to start the second half of the trip that would be  solo and on a trail that was known to be not as groomed as the GAP was for the first 150 miles.
  (Day Three) Well the stories did not lie, immediate I realized that the trail was a little tougher then the GAP and with the nightly rain made it muddy and actually fun and an adventure.

180 miles of this? Oh Boy


I made it this far I was going to roll on to DC nothing was stopping me I was confident and besides I still had a bunch of money I needed to spend LOL.  This days trip was pretty cool and it was the day I got to go threw the Paw Paw Tunnel  as I pulled up to the to the tunnel I put my light on the ones I carried all this way just for this long tunnel.
Look at my lights I was Paw Paw Ready

It was one long dark wet creepy tunnel

I made it looking back


Ok enough pictures pedal forward ( facing toward DC again)
 So I continued on and was suppose to stay at a Bed and breakfast just a mere 40 miles outside of Cumberland but I felt good and it was only noon. So I cancelled that reservation buy calling the guys answer machine and I was glad I didn't get him on the line. Yesterday he seemed so excited about me staying at his B & B.  He was all up beat about me and him going out to dinner it was kind of a little too nice for my East coast tri-city leave me alone ass that I am. (LOL Just kidding)  I guess the town of Little Orleans in MD doesn't get much walk in business.  So I stopped in town anyway and had lunch at a place called Bill's Place that was a unique place and if you read the bills Place link I can say yes one of my dollar bills is on his ceiling. I think he told me there was 8500 of them up there.
The next Time I go back I will see my dollar on his ceiling
 So I'm off and rolling for the final stretch of my day. I was happy because there is a trail that parallels the C&O path called the Western Maryland trail and it's PAVED. So a few miles out of Bills place I'm headed to the town of Hancock. I stop at a local bicycle shop and ask them where I could find a hotel and bar with food preferably close by. This is my first night that I do not have reservations and was a little anxious about this.  So Mr. Bicycle shop tells me a place one mile up the road that should serve my purpose. Well there is no one at the hotel office but a number where they can be reached. So I sat at the bar located directly next door and ordered a beer and got to joking with all the locals at this fine establishment about the usawal things that are talked about during happy hour at the local watering hole. I finally get in touch with the hotel manager and I'm glad to find out this place is only 40 bucks a night. I wash my bike and realize I have a squeaky front tire and can't seem to figure out the problem. Well this is a call to all arms to the locals living at the hotel and the next thing I know boys are being awoke so they can help the old bicycle dude that's riding his darn bike to "D" freaking "C"   . Well the mechanic in room 8 and myself discovered that some junk must be stuck in the bearings and with a little WD-40 resolve the issue and I'm off to the bar again for dinner and a few more cold ones. Well my second trip to the bar didn't find any of my new friends there and the atmosphere was not as friendly so I retired early for bed. 
    ( Day 4)   I pulled out of town and on to the trail before 6 am wishing I would of stopped at the dinner I seen down the road before I went into the lonely trail. I seen what looked like one last access trails into the street and decided to poke my nose up and see if there was any place to grab some food. Low and behold there was truck stop with a great little restaurant where I ate some great bacon and eggs. I was so happy of my luck I just knew this trip was some how being blessed by the same gods that bless 99% of my motorcycle trips. I'm going to have to declare my faith to the two wheeled gods not the motorcycle gods as I thought they were. 
Thank you motorcycle I mean Two wheel Gods 
I Quickly got off the paved trail and went down to the C&O canal trail. I some how felt I was cheating on her in some weird way. I keep seeing her below me and I felt almost like she was looking up at me.
Looking down at the trail I needed to be on.
 I found my way down to my beloved C&O trail and away I peddled.  My short plan was to peddle into Shepherds town West Virginia because I wanted to say I stayed in WV and the next town down the trail was Harper's Ferry and this town you had to carry the bike up a few set of stairs to reach the bridge over the Potomac River to the town. Well this didn't sound like the greatest idea to me and I was determined to avoid this task. I was pedaling up the bridge to Shepherds town when I spotted this fellow who I have been running into through out the whole trip. You see it's about a 5 day journey and running into the same people all along the trail is not uncommon. That is what I was told and sure enough it held true because me and this fellow were constantly meeting up.
 We chatted for awhile and after I sat under the bridge and contemplated my next move. It was still fairly early and I was not ready to through in the towel just yet and decided OH hell what's a few stairs so off I went to Harper's Ferry WV and up those blasted stairs. I think this days travel were the most beautiful. I think it was a great days ride because I awoke very early and the early morning trail was nice with all the morning creatures one would expect to find in the woods during the morning hours. The trail was also very unique on this day because here the canal was actually the Potomac River in this area. Meaning there was no Canal because the area was to rocky and the engineers of the time decided it was much more cost effective to divert the barges out to the Potomac then to cut a man made canal. So this allowed me to see the great river up close and the people living on the river in Maryland and across the way in West Virginia.




I ended the day in Harpers ferry at the stairs I was trying to avoid. I seen some young teenagers and looked in my wallet and I was going to pay them 10 bucks to carry the bike up the spiral steps to the bridge that crosses the river.


but  I only had 20's and for 20 bucks I would carry a bike so I lifted the bike and found it was very easy and was happy I didn't waste my money on something so easy. The view was beautiful crossing the river and I conversed with a few people while doing so. I think that's one of the beauty of solo travel is conversation comes easy with strangers when traveling alone. I don't know if it's the need to communicate or because a lonely traveler doesn't seem to be of a threat to other people.
 I located my hotel and called to reassure my reservations that were made a few hours earlier. While asking the hotel employee I mentioned my need to wash my bike and she assured me there was a hose near my room and they are used to bicyclists. Then she proceeded to tell me of the route I should take considering I was on a bike. Well I don't listen very good and decided the hill she was having me avoid didn't look to intimidating so off I went to exactly where she advised me to avoid. So I get to the top and sadly realized this was not the top of the hill but just a turn in the road where the hill got much steeper and twice as long. There goes Mr. I Know Better than the locals walking my bike up a very tiring hill. The good news was the hotel was at the bottom of the  hill and I easily coasted to the entrance
I asked the clerk where I could find a six pack and a a Italian restaurant where I could enjoy a cold beer and eat some spaghetti. She promptly informed me there was a place only a mile up the road and pointed back up the hill I just coasted down. Maybe I'll leave hilly West Virginia to my motorcycle adventures from now on. 
         While eating breakfast in the hotel a fellow a few years older then I started up a conversation with me by asking, "what brings you to Harper Ferry West Virginia?" I was eager to tell the stranger my great manly solo bicycle journey and when I was completed I returned the same question is his direction. You know you're never as great as you think you are and this older gentlemen proceeded to tell me that he is walking the Appalachian Trail to those that don't know is a 2200 mile trail from the Georgia to Maine via the Appalachian mountain range. This kind of reminded me of 80 year old that I met on the trail and he told me that he also did
this whole bicycle trip I'm doing but was much younger then. Yes he was only 74 when he made that journey.

Day 5 the final day of the trip and I was eager to finish but also sad that tomorrow when I awake I won't have to travel many miles on my beloved bicycle. I'm really starting appreciate the mechanics of this self powered machine and take a few minutes each day to make sure she is cleaned and running properly. So out of the hills of West Virginia and back on my trail I have become so accustomed to riding this last week. Again my morning turtles are up to greet me.
I thought the trail would slowly get more residential until I reached DC but it didn't.



 It was absolutely mesmerizing until it promptly ended and sent me scurrying into the big city. Talk about culture shock seeing more people and cars in 30 seconds as I have all week. It was all good and I smiled knowing I was in Arlington and a decade dream was now coming to a close and I would soon be asking my wife when she could come get me from my hotel room. 

(Day 6) I pedaled into Washington DC and took my picture of the Lincoln Memorial which was my unofficial ending point to my trip.
I spent the day pedaling around the very bicycle friendly city of DC and enjoyed the sights that the capitol of the free world has to offer. 



 Day 7 sherrie and Jessica picked me up at my hotel and we spent the day visiting the Capital's zoo and the 911 memorial at the pentagon and my trip was over




In conclusion I would have to say that I don't think there was one time while pedaling the 340 plus miles that I was wishing it was over. It truly was a trip that I will ever cherish as simply enjoyable. I think I liked the unexpectedness of each day the excitement of not knowing. Sometimes you just need to step out of your comfort zone and rock the boat. 

ALL THE PICTURES FROM THE TRIP CAN BE FOUND HERE