I'm biking across the country

Today was a bad day. Most things that can go wrong did, but I made it through alive so that’s something.

The day started with me replacing the tube on my front wheel. The last time I had pumped up that tube, the tip of the valve had snapped off so I wouldn’t be able to pump it any more. As soon as I replaced and pumped the tube, it developed a flat so I had to do it again after moving all my stuff outside the motel since it was checkout time. Tubes installed so far: 2
I headed back over the large hills to the Montour trail that would take me west. All of the towns I passed by were very small so I only stopped to pick up some food from a convenience store before moving along.

There had been a steady headwind all morning that turned into a crosswind as my trail veered north. It was just about then that I reached my connection to the Panhandle trail which would take me to West Virginia. More headwinds.

This trail was very beautiful, with lots of white flowers lining the path. At one point the trees opened up and I got a great view of a beautiful sky. After about 10 miles however, the trail became very bumpy and I slowed my speed to about 8 mph to dodge ditches and rocks. This section lasted 6 or 7 miles before I entered West Virginia and the trail once again was well maintained.

I reached the end of the trail and promptly made three unsuccessful attempts to reach the town that was right next to me, wasting a lot of energy and time. The town was strange, almost all of the restaurants were closed, and those that were open had no windows, so I assumed they were strip clubs and stayed away. I wound up just eating at a kfc, despite my efforts to avoid chain food on this trip.

After lunch I proceeded to try to enter Ohio only to find the bridge I was supposed to cross was closed. Previously, while trying to get into town I had attempted to get on the freeway only to find a sign at the top of the onramp prohibiting bicycles. At this onramp, however, there was no such sign so I pedaled my way onto a 60 mph freeway.

A problem arose as I had to cross two lanes of freeway at a split in the road. I somehow managed to get across between cars screaming by me but it wasn’t a whole lot of fun. As the bridge approached, my precious 8 foot shoulder completely disappeared as the freeway gained another lane, so I kicked it up a notch and somehow managed to sprint up the bridge at 30 mph, so at least cars would have slightly more reaction time to get around me.

Once finally in Ohio I found myself confronted with never-ending hills. Already worn out from crossing the bridge, I wound up pushing my bike uphill about 200 feet until I could continue my snail’s pace on a sidewalk. The sidewalk was incredibly poorly maintained and the uphill climb seemed to go on forever as my speed slowed to 5 mph.

I reached a dairy queen and got a milkshake and refilled my water bottles. As soon as I left the parking lot though, I found my front tire had a flat. I pulled into the shade to replace it, only for my pump to break while pumping it up. Tubes installed today: 3.

Luckily there was a sporting goods store 2 miles away so I slowly rode my under-inflated tire to the store. I bought two pumps and some spare tubes only to find that now my rear tire was flat. I replaced it with a new tube, only for that tube to explode on me, so I replaced it again. Tubes installed today: 5.

So by this point it was dark and my chances of making it the remaining 25 miles to the campground were slim, so I rode 3 miles all the way back down the arduous hills I had climbed to grab a motel. On the way back I had a dog chase me. I was hoping the cars on the road would just run over it but they stopped for it.

fml.

Today’s mileage: 57 miles
Total: 426 miles

I awoke this morning to find the storm had missed us, which is nice because it’s a pain to pack up wet gear. I wasn’t really in a rush so I leisurely packed up while talking to some of the other bikers who had stayed at the campground.

A couple of older men from the area were headed down to DC and back. It was their second day and they had only made it 30 miles before running into bike trouble and so one of them had headed back into town to try and find repair supplies for their homemade trailers. After an hour or two of swapping stories I headed out.

I made my way to the end of the GAP trail that I had been on since Cumberland and found no fanfare or signs about the end of the trail, it just kind of petered out. Biking through the city of mckeensport, PA, I found lots of abandoned buildings which I always like to photograph. After a few wrong turns I found my way to a connection trail that would take me to another bike path which runs west about 40 miles.

I’ve met lots of different kinds of people on the bike trails thus far and perhaps it’s best to reflect on some of them.

The first thing I worked on was my trail etiquette. On bike paths you pass by lots of different kinds of walkers, joggers, backpackers, and cyclists. In order to bring a little bit of human interaction into a day otherwise filled with solitude, one comes up with ways of greeting the people you come across.

At first I was just nodding at the cyclists I would pass. Problem is that women never reciprocate the nod and it’s kind of impersonal. So I moved on to the wave, and then the “hello.” Now I’ll use a mix of the three, depending on the age and gender of the person.

The first cyclists I met on the trail were a couple from Pennsylvania. They had gotten a flat tire and had lost their pump converter. I let them use my pump then went on my way. Despite the fact they were going my route for the next 5 days, I never saw them again. In the journals I’ve read of other touring cyclists, I hear of running into the same people over again on your trip, but I have yet to experience this phenomenon.

Near the end of the c&o canal I came across a couple lost boy scouts on a biking trip. They had gone the wrong way but had since found the path again, and now were out of water. Apparently they had to bike 10 more miles on top of the 20 they had done and were in completely over their heads. There wasn’t much I could do to help them but I gave them a liter of water and directions and bid them farewell.

One of the bikers staying in the campsite as me a few days ago was headed from Ohio to DC to permanently relocate. I wished him luck as I can’t imagine showing up in a new city with nothing but a bicycle and two changes of clothes.

In Pennsylvania, the Montour trail had lots of detours and insufficient signage, so I often found myself making wrong turns. I came across a road cyclist who was able to help me find my way back onto the trail even though it meant him waiting for me because of my slower pace. Most cyclists I come across seem to hold touring cyclists in high regard and will go out of their way to help – it’s very nice to receive such hospitality.

Another older cyclist I met on the trail was on a weekend ride with his wife. Most of the weekend riders ignore me but this guy was wearing a “rails-to-trails” shirt and was very interested in my trip. He was able to point me to a place to stay for the night and wished me luck on my ride.

It was kind of a short day but I took his directions and biked over a few very difficult hills to a motel and called it a night.

Today’s mileage: 56 miles
Total: 369 miles

Today was a pretty boring day so I’ll keep it short.

I slowly packed up camp and took a nice shower in the facilities provided by the campground.

On my way out of town I decided to go to the bathroom one more time so I rode across the bridge to the campground building and promptly impaled my rear tire on a rusty nail. My first bike problem of the trip. It took a while to get that fixed, being my first flat, so I didn’t hit the road until 12:30.

Then I just rode and rode, stopping in a town for a lunch (two lunches actually – I’ve been making a habit of eating twice as much as normal).
I passed by a lot of towns that were not as accommodating of cyclists so I never stopped for dinner. I eventually came across a free campground and set up camp and ate a dinner of protein drinks, peanut butter and crackers, and clif bars.

Today’s mileage: 71 miles
Total: 313 miles

I took my sweet time getting ready this morning as I wanted to squeeze every dollar out of my expensive hotel room. I left town shortly afternoon and began the long uphill ride to Frostburg.

There was a light rain for the entire hour and a half climb and the temperature was in the high 60s or low 70s. It was pretty much perfect weather.

I never made it into town as I stopped at a little shop on the outskirts for lunch. It was pretty mediocre but it gave me the time to write the entry for the previous day. Speaking of which, I know that some of my writing is rather trite since it is composed primarily of short, matter-of-fact sentences. I need to work on that.

Leaving Frostburg, it was a few more miles uphill, passing into Pennsylvania, until I reached the Eastern continental divide.

Something has been bothering me these past few days. Whenever I come across two people walking side-by-side taking up the whole trail, it always seems to be that I am coming from behind them. In order to proceed I must alert them on my presence. Therein lies the problem – whenever I say ‘on your left’ or some variation thereof, people get extremely startled. If I yell from far away they get scared by the fact I’m yelling. If I wait until I’m close, it’s just as bad.

A strange game. The only winning move us not to play.

So perhaps the correct way to approach the situation is to turn it into a new game. Try and scare these people as much as possible. Maybe they’ll get used to it or die of shock. Either way, problem solved.

In any case, the next 100 miles are all ( extremely slightly) downhill so I proceeded leisurely. The rain had let up but the clouds remained, keeping the temperature down. I called it a day after 44 miles in the town of Rockwood PA which had a nice little restaurant called the Rock City Cafe. The staff was super nice so I would highly recommend it.

Accommodations in Rockwood were both more varied and cheaper than Cumberland. I was sad I had spent so much last night as I vastly prefer spending money on small b&bs instead of large hotel chains. I kept it stingy and stayed in a campground with showers, setting up camp as darkness fell.

Today’s mileage: 48 miles
Total: 242

It rained hard last night, with the approaching thunderstorms waking me up at about 3am. The campsite I pulled into already had people there, so I had decided to use my rain fly for privacy and so I was lucky it was already set up when the storm started.

I slept a fair amount and got up at about 8 and set to packing up my very muddy gear. By the time I was done it was hot and humid outside and I was caked in mud. It was time for a shower.

I set my sights on Cumberland, the end point of the c&o canal and got to pedaling. With each passing mile marker I would count down the remaining miles. Only 57 miles until a shower. It’s like counting to 57 except really slowly.

The first half of the day went by quickly. There were no towns to stop in for food so I would snack on what I had and move on. About halfway through there was a 3000 foot long unlighted tunnel. My front light had stopped working last night so I set off into the darkness. Once a few hundred feet in, the tunnel became like a sensory depravation tank, with no sounds but the echoing of my cleats and the inability to see the wall two inches from my face.

Eventually I started stepping in puddles so I felt my way around for my rear light and used that as a flashlight for the last third of the tunnel.

Oh, and there were snakes.

As I approached Cumberland, the forest would change sometimes from the typical greenery to more pine trees and rocks. The smell of these forests were reminiscent of California, though I still have far to go.

Eventually reaching my destination, I found all the motels/hotels on the city to be expensive. However, 60 miles of promising myself a shower was not something I could go back on so I chose the cheapest one, took a shower, did my laundry in the bath tub, ate dinner, and slept.

Today’s mileage: 60
Total: 194