So, the long days also means I need to get some night miles. Hhhhmmm....I really struggle with remote night riding/sleeping alone....STILL. So, one person, Erika, who has time off offers to go along, and is actually really motivated to attempt the ride. This is good....but also as I have learned one too many times, I will not be able to max my effort towards my goal as once someone else is involved the horizon of where you will get totally shifts. Especially with a fact of someone doing this type of ride for a first time, having little insight not only to ability of long mileages but to the importance of certain issues over others in getting prepared accurately and for the most common follies that can just kill your trip.
So, not just through luck, but thru the last few years of me literally hounding Justin to make sure I know MUCH more about being self sufficient with my bikes so I can do more long self support rides without him needing to supervise or make sure our schedules are always the same, I have acquired 'some' ability to be pretty confident that I can get thru most of the common bike issues and nuances that can be a hold up. JP is also really great at easing my concerns over mechanicals by allowing me to 'demand' some bigger items are new just before each big trip I do...sometimes costing more, but then we can always keep the older parts as spares anyway. So between this and trusty stuff from Top Gear, I feel pretty good my bike is going to be just peachy as I get ready to head out.
Unfortunately, I do not feel so good about my ride partners bike/knowledge to be self sufficient & right from the beginning I get some doubts. Preparing in a crunch, with a bike used for commuting, with little love, and old/unknown condition of parts is just not a good combination. Period. At one point, I rethink this and almost cancel but then I figure wth, the worst that will happen is we just have to find a way home....can't be that hard. So, she gets some brief mechanical help, and I roughly give her the guidelines for packing and we head out.
Also, due to the circumstances, I had to adjust my 'camping' & packing style. I knew for a first time, she would need a little more sleep, shelter, hot food, & hygiene issues than I worry about. So, gear total was packed much heavier than ideal to allow for this, but I figure in the end it would be worth it and give us a better chance to make it in good time.
When I say heavy, here it is. Not how I typically travel, but needed. We shared a set of pannier bags, and according to my inexpensive theory, lots of poortex was used for rain protection. The pack scenerio:
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| Pack scenario for GAP/CO |
Day 1-So my overall goal was to make it to DC in under 70 hours, then back in just over that. Leaving from my house and getting to Confluence by day 1 was over 130 miles. At this point I could have continued on, but since the GAP tourist trap has little options of free camping all throughout the middle section, this was the last area for cheap camping for the next 60 or so miles. huh. (I didn't want to stealth camp due to the forecast and my sleeping setup wasn't rain tolerant!) Erika would need some camp time and hot food so we settled on setting up camp there, it's only $5 in the public camp. Flat one of multiple for Erika this date.
Day 2-waking up to a downpour was a little slow to get packed up and of course when you full on camp near a town, there is more delay inevitable as there was. Going to town to 'grab' something/load up becomes an hour affair. Finally we get going and this day easily get to Cumberland ahead of schedule, plenty of daylight left. We both love to eat healthy, so we hit up the Cafe Mark on the main drag 'no car' brick square in town and get some awesome fresh grilled chicken salads & fresh made iced teas. Camping & water south of here is plentiful so we decide to ride until we just get too tired then pull over. Erika ends up getting stuck with a few more flats which lose daylight for us, we don't make it near as far this day as I intend, but again I knew at a certain point we would need to stop again anyway. Erika did really good riding the long days for a first effort, so I couldn't begrudge her some sleep!! We rode until close to midnight, pulled over, had a hot camp 'dinner' and settled in for 8 hours.
Day 3-One reason I hate to camp or long stop is because I totally am slow getting up/packed so again the morning takes some time on my part, a camp breakfast, pack and finally get rolling. The C&O is the slight downgrade to DC, although the pedaling is still relentless and mucho calorie burn, so food stops/eating took presidence for this day along with a few more flats for Erika and some other time consuming mechanicals I believe this was our lower mileage day....the killer that dug into the 70 hour goal. We rode as late as we could again, this time the camps were crowded as this is closer to some touristy areas there is a little more trail/camp traffic. At this point, I realize we just lost the chance to make the time goal and also the option to attempt to ride back, as by 9AM tomorrow morning will be the 70 hour time check.
Day 4-I try to just not worry about it, but as we start out in the AM it eats me alive! Just 4 more hours of riding last night and we would have made it in 65 hours w camping/stopping :-) My feet are killing me, and there is no use pushing a finish that is 'useless' now anyway, I let it start to not only dismotivate me but physically I feel like a bonking sluggish for a few hours. Erika is still excited to get to the end so she rides ahead for a bit while I struggle to get through it. At one point, I take a mental stop and actually lay down, pressure off the feet and think some happy thoughts & completely zone out. After this I seem to bounce back, I just want to GET DONE, get home and start on a next trip now that this hasn't gone my way. That's how I am. So, I decide to (carefully on the sometimes crowded trail) push up my pace, my feet can take a little pressure after the break, I actually get my heartrate high, break a good sweat, love the few hike a bike detours involved, and the teeth chattering bumpiness of the last sections of C&O. I do stop though to snap a few photos, as along with the big rocks & crashing water on one side here, the canal on the other side is overflowing with wildlife abundance. I see some really cool large birds, and also this big guy!!! yes, he was a snapper!!
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| I am diggin the wildlife along the C&O Canal. |
Erika rolls in to the end a bit after me, and we hit up the large refreshing park fountain to rinse off, then a rest at Starbucks while we devised our plan to get home.
All-in-All, this was a cool trip to finally do the entire route, as several times I have ridden from home to Cumberland before but never the whole route due to logistics, etc. I was quite bummed of the finish for us was 78 hours, thus I wasn't able to use any rest time nor have the days to begin to ride back, or have much time to explore in DC, so we instead got ourselves a ride to Cumberland to the scene of the ongoing Cranky Monkey MTB race where we hitched up with JP for a carpool back to the burgh.
Thanks to Erika for going along and sticking with it, to JP and Top Gear for all the preparation!
This was definitely a great training run for the upcoming Allegheny Mountains 400!
(ps: although I keep hearing what a beautiful route this ride is, I really have to say people are so overly influenced by words and hearsay....riding along this canal is in a lot of cases nothing more than standing gross mosquito laden water that stinks! I actually now refer to it at the B&O! I can imagine that sometimes the bugs/camping could get pretty nasty along here, just like most rail trails that exist....um...you know...along sewar lines and used tracks & people love it because it's called a Recreational Trail....really??)
