Idiotic Bike Adventure April 2006 - The C&O Canal Towpath

So what the hell? I hadn't been on a bike expedition since last spring and had a couple days off so...

At 7:30 a.m. on Saturday April 15th I left the house on my bicycle and rode the 5 miles down the Mt Vernon Trail into Virginia to Ronald Reagan National Airport. Here I rented a car and threw my bike in the trunk and took off for Cumberland, Maryland. Along the Potomac River runs the C&O Canal Towpath from Cumberland, MD to Washington, DC. It is an

184 mile unpaved bike trail that has over 80 historic canal homes preserved on it and passes locations including Harper's Ferry and Great Falls (check out http://www.bikewashington.org/canal/ for maps and an info on the trail). I dropped off the rental car in Cumberland and made it to the head of the trail at noon where you see me in the picture above ready to take off. On Saturday, I covered the first 85 miles of the trail taking me until 8:30 p.m. and 7 hours 10 minutes of actual pedaling time. There were several trees down over the trail that I had to stop and carry my bike over. At about mile 30, I had to walk my bike through the pitch black 3/4 mile long Paw Paw Tunnel. I rode by a couple 4 or 5 foot long black snakes stretched out catching some sun on the trail. Most of the ride was beautiful - through the trees, lined by flowers, along the canal and the Potomac River. There were several deer out at dusk before I turned off and crashed at the Red Roof Inn in Williamsport, MD.

On Sunday I made it back to the Towpath at 11:30 a.m. for another day of riding and beautiful sunny weather. Not too long into my ride there was a detour off the Towpath due to flooding damage. I wound up biking 6 miles along hilly roads before being put back on the trail only 1 mile down from where I turned off. All that wasted energy. Later on in the afternoon I biked over a bridge lined by dozens of scary looking vultures. Check out the up close picture of one. They didn't seem that scared of me. In the late evening I passed by an area called Bald Eagle Island and was instructed to look up by a biker I passed along the way. There was a HUGE birds nest in one of the trees and a bald eagle sitting on the branch close by. No kidding! In the end I didn't have quite the stamina or daylight hours to make it all the way back to DC on my bike. My near and dear girlfriend Anna picked me up at milepost 35 around 7:30 p.m. Altogether, I biked the first 150 miles of the Towpath and 162 total miles over the 2 days and had a phenomenal time. The legs, back, and hands are a bit sore today, but I am definitely making it back out next weekend to milepost 35 to pickup where I left off and pedal the rest of the way into DC. Will pick up the story here where I left off after next weekend.

So long for now! ~ D.