Great Allegheny Passage and C&O.

[Jacob P]

Hey all, 

I know it's a well traversed route, but for those of you on the east coast within spitting distance to DC or Pittsburgh, please do consider riding the GAP and C&O. I have a few cross country tours in my quiver, but for a couple specific reasons, this one stood out as an exceptional micro tour. First being, NO CARS! I am a distance lover (not much for speed unless it's a screaming downhill!), and these consecutive trails provide 335 miles of exceptional riding. The conditions on the GAP are near pristine, and although the C&O is a bit more rough and tumble, it's also an incredible ride. I've heard a lot of people say that the C&O is a complete mudbath. I will advocate for November riding -- the leaves cover most the path and the ground was slightly frozen. Zero mud. 

Secondly, it's a micro tour-able route! I live in Charlottesville and my buddy in DC. I parked my car in a quiet neighborhood of Arlington, then pedaled over to a rental car company where we quickly hauled our bikes and gear to downtown Pittsburgh. Rental minivan dropped off, one night in a hotel, and we were off. Four and a half days later, we were on the National Mall in DC. Here are a few pictures along the way. He's riding a Surly Bridgeclub and and I'm on a 63cm AHH. Notice the goosenecked stem -- I had to get creative to get this bike to fit me correctly :) 

We camped along the Potomac, spotted Bald Eagles and Red Tailed Hawks, encountered a few trash pandas who attempted to bust into our panniers. I rode the entire route in Crocs and second hand wool/reflective clothing. We are here. And finally, as it should be noted, a good time was had by all. 

Happy riding everyone, 

Jacob

Charlottesville, VA

[Steve Cole]

Jacob,

Sounds like a fabulous 4+ days.  I don't generally think of record-setting cold days in November as very desirable.  Since they allowed you to cycle the C&O without mud on a frozen, leaf-covered surface, I might change my mind.  I'm wondering how cold it got at night and what kind of equipment kept you warm.

[Tom Horton]

jacob, I'll second your endorsement. just rode my atlantis back to maryland from colorado and when people ask best part of the route, I have to say it was the GAP!  C&O not shabby either, and is being increasingly upgraded for bikes vs its original footpath intent. and yeah, colorado was kinda spectacular.  I believe amtrak will now take you and your fully assembled bike from d.c. to pittsburgh or vice versa; also will drop off in cumberland, where GAP meets C&O.   It is a spectacular passage, not viewable by car; also flattish and shady enough I never used sunblock.

On Monday, November 18, 2019 at 1:42:26 PM UTC-5, Jacob P wrote:

[Jacob Thies]

Steve, Yes, frigid temps at night (I think the lowest we got to was 20°F). I have an older EMS zero degree bag and Z mat and slept through the night just fine. Half a bottle of red wine helped that cause, too. Riding temps were mainly in the mid 30s to 40s. Double wool socks on the feet and some robust gloves kept the extremities toasty. Pedaling kept the core warm. When arriving at camp, before doing anything else, I find the trick is to immediately get out of the sweaty clothes and into warm night time clothing. Ideally, the temps would not have been record setting November freezes, but we definitely made the best of it and was well worth the extra layers to get some extended time on the bike. 

Tom, sweet ride! What route did you take? Follow any of the ACAs or make it up yourself? GAP is definitely special. As you pointed out, Amtrak does indeed take fully assembled bikes along the PGH and DC routes. I think we looked at tickets which were $80 one way (though they throw in a service fee for the bikes. I'm not sure how much that ended up being). We decided on the mini van because it was (unfortunately) cheaper and significantly quicker. 

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[tom horton]

jacob, I and a friend followed, loosely, a newish mapped route called the Eastern Express…done by Frank Moritz, a seasoned cross country biker and bike guide. It goes from Walden, CO to D.C., via the GAP and C&O…follows Katy Trail and other lesser trails for about a third of its overall 2000 mile plus length.

It’s only mapped east to west, and we reversed the routes west to east with Ride GPS…works ok, but we found that unless you add a number of waypoints, reversing routes can cause glitches…one such led us into some unexpected dead ends in Colorado before we figured out what was going on.

but overall a good basis for a long ride…at Walden it connects with the traditional Adventure Cycliing TransAm route…. worst part of it was eastern Colorado, after Fort Collins…not much shoulder and lotsa trucks…we opted to go on gravel roads some…slower but less stressful.

We also diverted through Kansas City and St. Louis, with some nice route mapping help from Moritz. He’s very responsive to questions about the Eastern Express. I don’t know if Adventure Cycling will make it an official route or not. I think they did run a group across it, perhaps to check that out.

We did a combo of camping, warmshowers.org, motels, air b and b’s…probably carried about 25-30 pounds of gear. I rode my Atlantis and David rode a Surly Long Haul Trucker. One flat tire each, and that only because we followed Ride with GPS down a thorny rabbit hole due to our glitchy route reversal.

[ascpgh]

Some of my finest time on a bike have been on the GAP and C&O.

My favorite two day trip is to go south from Pittsburgh, overnight somewhere and reach Cumberland, MD in time to tidy up in the Canal Place bathroom and enjoy a meal at the Crabby Pig (at the outdoor bar optimally) and wander over to the Amtrak station for the 7:30 pm home. I try to make the trip twice a warm season. More other times with a new project under way that won’t limit me to the long days.

Andy Cheatham
Pittsburgh