Great Allegheny Passage and C&O

[Dirt]

Hey Chris. Great idea. I’ve been trying to fit this into my summers for the last 3 years. I haven’t been able to yet. This year doesn’t look good either. We’ll see.

Best wishes,

Pete

[CMtrekker]

Hi Pete,
Looks like at this rate you may not ever squeeze this ride into your summer schedule. Maybe we’ll develop enough interest in this ride to inspire some creative scheduling on your part.
At any rate, thanks for the encouragement!

Cheers,
Chris

[Dirt]

I do have some consolation. I’ll be riding in Colorado, the Sierra Nevadas, Costa Rica, France and New Jersey this year.

Sorry. I had to say that.

I might try and wedge in a 3-day sprint from Pittsburgh to DC over a long weekend this summer. We’ll see. It’s all downhill, right???

[CMtrekker]

Wow! All I can say is … nevermind. haha Sounds like an incredible itinerary. I’ve actually never cycled overseas before, which is precisely why I bought a new bike which I can disassemble and fit into a suitcase. I can’t wait to get out to Europe at some point, but in the meantime I’m ready to put some serious mileage behind me in the states. I visit Central America quite a bit. I’d love to hear about the biking in Costa Rica (hopefully a lot better than some of the roads are for cars).

[CCrew]

I’ll be running it week of the 16th (May). Starting in Pittsburgh and running it south.

Oh, and Dirt… the 60 miles from Ohiopyle to Big Savage is this annoying, constant 1-1.5% uphill grade the whole fricking way….Far from all downhill!

The 22 miles of downhill into Cumberland almost makes up for it however…

[Dirt]

@CCrew 3397 wrote:

Oh, and Dirt… the 60 miles from Ohiopyle to Big Savage is this annoying, constant 1-1.5% uphill grade the whole fricking way….Far from all downhill!

I love/hate that section.

@CMtrekker: Costa Rica will be fun. I have friends that live in the La Fortuna/Arenal area and the mountain biking there is pretty dang good. Road riding is pretty risky most places in Costa Rica. I’m taking the mountain bike this year. I’ll explore the possibilities of riding a road bike there while I’m tooling around on this trip.

[JimF22003]

Also I understand the GAP is not “paved” either. It’s supposed be crushed limestone. It’s a better surface than the C&O, but still not paved.

I rode about 50 miles of the C&O from the Cumberland end south last summer on a cross bike with 700/35 tires, and was still pretty beaten up.

[CCrew]

@JimF22003 3403 wrote:

. It’s supposed be crushed limestone. It’s a better surface than the C&O, but still not paved.
.

Oh, it’s in much better shape than the C&O. “Beat up” would not an issue on the GAP, although I’d still stay away from narrow road tires just for the comfort factor. I intend to run it on my Salsa Vaya with 38’s and pulling a BOB trailer. Have run it on my Cross bike with 32’s on it and was about like riding on the road.

[JimF22003]

Sweet! There’s a century out of Cumberland in August that I did last year. I took the day off the day before to ride down to the Paw Paw tunnel on the cross bike the day before. If I do it again this year, I’m definitely heading up the GAP.

[CCrew]

@JimF22003 3411 wrote:

Sweet! There’s a century out of Cumberland in August that I did last year. I took the day off the day before to ride down to the Paw Paw tunnel on the cross bike the day before. If I do it again this year, I’m definitely heading up the GAP.

You”ll enjoy it. the 22 mi grind up and out of Cumberland gets a bit tedious, but hitting the Big Savage tunnel and the Continental divide make it worth it. Go a bit further north toward Meyersdale and the windmill farms area and the viaducts are cool too.

Coming back that 22mi downhill is nothing short of sweet!

[CCrew]

We rode 65mi on the C&O Saturday… All I can say is that it was a soul sucking mudhole almost the entire way

[paytonc]

This ride has definitely been on my to-do list for several years now. I had planned it as a five-day trip headed down, with 56-90 miles a day, but that was before I actually rode on any of the C&O… might end up taking it slower than that.
1. to Connellsville, 70 mi.
2. Rockwood (stop at Fallingwater en route), 56 mi.
3. Paw Paw, 85 mi.
4. Harpers Ferry, 90 mi.
5. DC, 63 mi.
I’ve done three day bike tours before, but nothing a week long; it’s impossible to plan that many days around weather and other conditions.

The easiest way to get a bike to Pittsburgh would be to check it aboard Amtrak’s Capitol Limited train. It’s $10, plus $10 for a very generously sized box, and it’s a lovely ride up there. Supposedly, this will get even easier in 2012 when roll-on bike service is supposed to be implemented between here and Pgh. That would also allow cyclists to board the train at intermediate stations like Harper’s Ferry and Cumberland. I’ve talked with friends from Chicago who’ve said that they could join the trip for at least the first half once the roll-on Amtrak accommodations are in place, since Chicago-Pittsburgh is an easy overnight Amtrak ride.

[eminva]

@paytonc 8253 wrote:

Supposedly, this will get even easier in 2012 when roll-on bike service is supposed to be implemented between here and Pgh.

Ooh, this would be great news. Did Amtrak announce this? When? Where?

We are starting to research this trip for 2012. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do start planning vacations a year in advance. Doesn’t everyone?

Liz

[paytonc]

Sadly, there’s a bunch of “news” from 2010 that indicates that such service would start in June 2011, but it seems to have fallen off the radar and thus might not happen by 2012. There’s a reference here:
http://www.thewashcycle.com/2010/07/paternity-link-dump.html

In the distant future, Amtrak recently ordered new baggage cars that in theory could allow many more trains to accept unboxed bikes, but given that sort of track (ha) record…

[paytonc]

@eminva 8321 wrote:

Ooh, this would be great news. Did Amtrak announce this? When? Where?

The Allegheny Trail Alliance has a form letter that you can send to Amtrak to ask them what’s happening:
http://www.atatrail.org/calltoaction.cfm

Until then, I’m going to see about blocking off a week in the autumn for the full Pittsburgh-DC run.

[Author]

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