2010 DC - Pittsburgh Bicycle Trip

Four Day Bike Trip via C&O Canal and Great Allegheny Passage

Intro,    Plan,    Stuff,    Logistics,    Day One,    Day Two,    Day Three,    Day Four,    Lessons Learned

Introduction

In 2004 we rode Pittsburgh - DC in three days, which in retrospect was bad planning on my part. In 2006 we rode Pittsburgh - DC in four days, which was much saner. We planned to ride DC to Pittsburgh in October 2009, but adverse weather (early snow in the mountains) prevented the trip.

Mary Shaw and Roy Weil identify the key variables for a bike ride as direction, duration, support, and luxury level. For direction we decided to ride westbound to see what the other side of those trees look like; also, the logistics of starting in DC seemed more certain than ending in DC. For duration, we talked about four or five days, and settled on four - we all work crazy schedules, and getting more than four days aligned wasn't possible.

For support, we attempted to identify a spouse who would be willing to drive along, but none of our wives would be involved in anything called the sag wagon. We attempted to rename it the perky mobile, but that didn't help. Fortunately, Kevin's brother Jim, recently retired, agreed to drive a support van.

For luxury level, we're staying in hotels. Although breakfast and lunch will be targets of opportunity, we're going to attempt to eat good meals for dinner. We're planning on overnight stops in Shepherdstown, PawPaw, and Confluence.

Resources: we're guided by the GAP Yahoo Group and the C&O Canal Yahoo Group, by the ATA Trail and C&O Canal Trail websites, as well as recent trip reports by Sam and Jane, Chris and Heidi, Franklin. What I find exciting about their reports is that they're generally all regular people and not extreme athletes (NTTAWWT).

Planning

Our plan is to begin at milepost zero (MP 0) at Thompson's Boat Center in DC, have lunch and supplies at MP35 (White's Ferry), and end the day at MP73 and stay overnight in Shepherdstown WV. Daily mileage: 73 miles.

Day Two sees us advance through Williamsport (first lunch and the History Center to pick up C&O badges), riding on the paved WMRT, stopping in Hancock (second lunch at Weaver's, C&O bike shop) and ending in Paw Paw WV, where we'll stay at Grandma's. Daily mileage: 85 miles.

Day Three is flat until Cumberland (first lunch), then climbs until the Eastern Continental Divide prior to Mount Savage. An alternative to climbing is the 14-mile WMSR train up to Frostburg. At Meyersdale we'll have second lunch at the GI Dayrooom, and then we descend through Rockwood (pizza) to Confluence where we spend the night. Daily mileage: 89 miles, including a 26 mile climb.

Day Four is a trail ride from Confluence to Connellsville (first lunch) and through West Newton (second lunch) to Boston, a trail ride to Duquesne, a street ride from Duquesne until Hays, and then a trail ride to Pittsburgh. Daily mileage: 84 miles.

Stuff

Carrying On The Bike

Packing In The Van

Starting Logistics

Day One, Bike Washington DC to Shepherdstown

Started Tuesday at MP0 at 1100, Thompson's Boat Center @ 10:00. The stretch of trail from MP4 to MP13 is recently rebuilt and quite beautiful. At MP14 we stopped at the Great Falls Overlook. Kevin's Droid skills warned us of an approaching storm so we put on our rain gear, and shortly thereafter the skies opened up in a major downpour.

We had planned on lunch at MP35, White's Ferry, but unfortunately the ferry store was closed. The sag-wagon went into town and got drinks and sandwiches, and we enjoyed a good meal (and washed the mud from the rain) off the bikes.

At MP38, potential disaster struck when Kevin had a catastrophic failure of his carbon-fiber front fork. A stick lying on the trail got into his spokes and as the wheel rotated around the stick carried up into the fork, which disintegrated. Kevin went down immediately as his bike became an unwieldy unicycle, and the rider behind him (Curt) rode over Kevin and then went endo himself. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries. It seemed like Kevin's tour was over.

Kevin and Curt walked back to White's Ferry and the sag wagon. We called the local bike store and they said nobodt would ever carry replacement forks, steel or carbon fiber; they couldn't help us, and neither would anybody else. Forks need to be ordered from warehouses. Then he gave me an overview of the complexity of front forks.

Fortunately, we looked for a second opinion. Kevin's Droid located All American Bicycles, a Trek dealer in Damascus MD, 20 miles away. The GPS suggested we'd get there ten minutes before they closed, which was quite accurate. We told our tale of woe, explained that we were on a tour and in a hotel an hour away, and they were kind enough to work late and fix Kevin's bike (replacing the CF fork with a new steel fork, fixing his broken seat, fixing the broken spoke and truing the wheel, etc). Remarkably, Kevin was back in business, although it took a bit of cash and all the Black & Tan beer in the van.

All American is an excellent bike shop. It's the opposite of the first place we called, who didn't want to deal with our problem and gave us a BS line. A real bike shop like All-American gets bicycling, understands that a rider on a tour is different than a local weekend rider, and commits to support bicycling - because that's what real bike shops do. My hat is off to the people at All American Bicycles. Chapeau!

The front fork failure provides a data point for the discussion of carbon-fiber forks. If Kevin had a steel fork, the fork would have survived - and the stick would have torn the spokes off the wheel, and he would have still gone down. It resists simplification.

The riders and the sag wagon rejoined at Shepherdstown WV which was an excellent overnight stop. The town is bike friendly, the Comfort Inn was very cool with bikes in the rooms. It's a bike-friendly hotel and I'll stay there again. There are several   great   looking  restaurants in town but we were late, so we ate at Rumsey's at the Clarion Hotel - it was an excellent dinner.

Day Two, Bicycle Shepherdstown - Paw Paw

Day 2, Wednesday, opened with the complimentary breakfast at the Comfort Inn, which was great. We joined the trail at MP73. At MP84, where you have to leave the trail for the Widewater Detour, we used an alternate detour (which we received from Sam Menchyk) which was a great route that shaved seven miles off this segment.

This detour let us visit the Downsville General Store, which I'd never been to before. We'll use this detour again in the future.

We ate at Tony's Pizza Time Cafe which was excellent. Our waitress Amy invited us to use their self-serve soda fountain to refill all our water bottles with ice, water, and drinks, which I thought was a tremendous accomodation of bicyclists. Highly recommended. We saw road crews painting sharrows in Williamsport, very nice.

At MP114.5 the group departed the C&O trail to join the paved WMRT trail, transitioning back to the C&O at MP136.3. We had hoped to visit Bill's Place at MP141, but he was closed. Fortunately, the van had drinks and snacks.

Photo of my Surly LHT (Long Haul Trucker) at the south end of the Paw Paw Tunnel:

At MP155 we went through the Paw Paw tunnel, and then at MP158 we departed the trail for PawPaw; it's an easy transition into town. We stayed at Grandma's, taking all four rooms in the hotel and all four rooms in the B&B - we took every room in town.

We used the adjacent convenience store, and ate dinner at Anthony's (our second Tony's of the day). There's no cellphone coverage or internet in PawPaw, so in the evening we used the van to drive up to higher terrain and make hurried calls home. Grandma's has a bike barn, so for the second night our bikes were sheltered overnight.

Day Three, Ride Paw Paw to Confluence

Day Three (Thursday) the group began riding without breakfast at 0600 - we wanted an early start to ensure we'd make the train, and Grandma's breakfast counter doesn't open until 0800. The sag wagon met the bunch at the OldTown trailhead with McDonald's breakfast sandwiches. The pack arrived in Cumberland at 1045, in advance of the 1100 boarding time for the 1130 WMSR diesel train to Frostburg. The WMSR is no hobbyist project; it's a serious old-school railroad, and the trains run on time.

We stopped at the bike store at Cumberland's Canal Place. Well stocked in terms of supplies. Two anecdotes: (1) They lost a lot of cred with me by trying to cross-sell home brewing supplies to bicyclists on a trip - I mean, they saw our bikes, they knew we were riding DC to Pittsburgh, and they're trying to upsell us a beer making kit? Bogus. (2)The rack-bag rain covers they sold for $14.99 were priced at $9.99 at Bikes Unlimited further down the trail. They left me even more aware of the difference between a bike store and a bike shop.

We saw a school field trip with 120 kids and bikes, it was really cool. They broke the kids into small groups and rode from Cumberland through the Paw Paw tunnel. All those kids will have a very positive impression of riding bicycles.

The train ride from Cumberland to Frostburg was interesting. From Frostburg there was several more miles of climbing to the peak, and then the group pulled into Meyersdale. I had a grilled ham-and-cheese at the always excellent GI Dayroom, which is a favorite stop of mine.

Departing Meyersdale we crossed the Salisbury Viaduct, which is an astounding thing for a bike trail to have. We continued to Rockwood, where we saw the Maynard Semblower Memorial Visitor Center. They had a cellphone signal booster so that you could get cellphone coverage, that's a tremendous capability and I hope more places provide this service.

We arrived in Confluence with an extra boost from the descent. We dined at the River's Edge Cafe and were joined for dinner by (trail cartographer, rail-trail activist, bicycle tourist, author and raconteur) Bill Metzger. When you look at a map of the Montour Trail, or WMRT, or the GAP, you're looking at Bill Metzger's work. Sam and Jane Menchyk were at the adjacent table. Sam's a web artist who makes GAP infographics, and Jane works at the Pennsylvania Land Conservency. It was like a trail loya jirga on the wraparound porch. Note the fog sitting over the river in the photo's background.

Bill regaled us with the history of the train system and the subsequent trail system, and gave us a good briefing on the "what's next" trends in rail-trails. He spoke glowingly of Ray LaHood's bicycle perspective, and talked to us about new concepts such as "protecting view-sheds" (also), which was something I'd never heard of. We talked about paved vs dirt trails, and the effectiveness of local organizations in trail maintenance. It was a great meal and better conversation, and I really appreciate Bill Metzger joining us. Jane Menchyk, at the next table, gave us an informed perspective from the Pennsylvania Land Conservency perspective. Dinner was a mini-seminar. I hated to see it end, but we were keeping the staff beyond their closing time.

Day Four, Bicycle Confluence to Pittsburgh

Day 4 (Friday) we started early, arriving at the famous Sister's Cafe for breakfast when they opened at 0700. We departed Confluence at 0800, and enjoyed a foggy ride to Ohiopyle.

The trail route through Connellsville still amazes me with its segregated bike lanes and the trailside bike shop (Bikes Unlimited) with its shop's garage door open for drive-by inquirees. They're one of the best examples of supporting bicyclists that I've seen. There's a bit of construction going on at the riverfront.

At West Newton we stopped at the bike shop (West Newton Bikes) and GAP offices for a visit with world-famous trail advocate Betsy (who took out picture).

We had two mechanical issues pending - Joe's knee was a problem, and Kevin's bottom bracket was chewing itself up - so we decided to avoid the hill auround the Durabond Plant in Boston and departed the GAP at Versailles, taking the McKeesport Industrial Trail to McKees Marina. The staff at the adjacent club came out and invited us to sign their wall of through-cyclist names.

We departed McKeesport using the new trail, the new Riverton Bridge (which produces a wow! similar to the Salisbury Viaduct), and the new Duquesne trail. Then we left the trail for (busy, not-bike-friendly) Route 837 from Duquesne to Kennywood, and on to the south end of the Waterfront. We took the Waterfront Trail through the shopping development, and then (with permission) we used the Sandcastle access road to get to the Glenfield bridge. Then we walked along the tracks for a bit and got onto the SouthSide Trail.

We had originally planned to ride the Hot Metal Bridge and the Jail Trail to Point State Park, but Kevin's Droid brought news that this was the opening Friday of the Arts Festival and we thought it would be prudent to avoid the crowd with our bicycles, so we stayed on the West Bank and rode to the Station Square Sheraton, where we dismounted and called it a day.

We really enjoyed the McKeesport-Station Square ride, but I'd like to make two points. If you're not very, very comfortable in riding on roads in an unfriendly hazardous environment, I recommend you terminate your ride in Boston; that's what most people do. Second, even if you're from here, I don't know how people manage to navigate the transitions and workarounds to get to Pittsburgh. I've attached these images of our GPS track from McKeesport to Pittsburgh, click each and they'll open in another window.

Pittsburgh to Sandcastle		Sandcastle to Duquesne, PA		Duquesne to Boston, PA

Lessons Learned

• On our four-day schedule we were always rushing for an early start, a quick meal, and getting done and getting dinner before it was too late. I think next time it'll be a five-day schedule.
• As Pittsburghers it was better logistically to start in DC and ride home. Riding-wise, it seems better to ride west to east due to two factors: (1) the slope on the east side of the Continental Divide - even with the train, without carrying panniers, it was an unpleasant climb to Meyersdale, and (2) the fact that the C&O is a flat, level trail with 74 eight-foot bumps. I'm going to prefer Pittsburgh-to-DC from now on.
• Having a large group is slower and more complex - which I get, because the number of connections between n-people = n*(n-1)/2.
• the Droid / 3G combo bring real-time weather and info to the trail, and that's a big (positive) change
• Having a sag wagon is awesome. We needed it many times.
• I highly recommend:
  • All American Bicycles in Damascus, MD
  • Comfort Inn in Shepherdstown, WV
  • Tony's Pizza Time Cafe in Williamsport
  • GI Dayroom in Meyersdale
  • River's Edge Restaurant in Confluence
  • Sister's Cafe in Confluence
• There's a lot more people out on the trail than we saw in 2004 or 2006 - and they're regular people (not triathletes) -- parents with kids and dogs, senior citizens, etc. The towns that have made an effort to be bike-friendly - Williamsport, Hancock, Cumberland, Meyersdale, Rockwood, Confluence, Connellsville - are seeing significant economic benefit$.

Prior Lessons Re-Learned

• The C&O Canal Trail is wonderful, amazing, and historic - until you compare it to the Great Allegheny Passage. In comparision to the GAP, the C&O is rough (rocks and roots), dangerous (precipitious edges), and isolated.
• Pittsburgh has no idea how many people are on the trail (and ending early because of the lack of a trail to downtown). When the trail is completed (maybe 11.11.2011?) the appearance of the pent-up demand will seem surprising.
• The road between the Waterfront and Duquesne is not in any way bicycle friendly. For visitors: start/end in Boston.
• The trail currency is ca$h. A lot of places don't take all/any credit cards.

Greedy Desires for the Future

• I look forward to a simple, well-marked trail from Boston to The Point.
• I wish that Harper's Ferry would replace the trailside spiral staircase with the sort of switchback path at the Hot Metal Bridge.
• It would be cool if more trailheads included a cellphone booster station (as in Rockwood) in areas of no coverage.
• I'd like the B&B's to provide (1) Breakfast, (2) laundry access, and (3) some shelter for the bikes overnight.
• It would be wonderful to find (A) cellphone coverage and (B) wifi at more restaurants and B&B's