Riding Pittsburgh to Washington, DC by Bicycle

05/23/12 244# 0m

I found myself three times in the last two weeks describing the bike ride from Pittsburgh to DC, or from Washington to Pittsburgh, to people who really wanted to go but didn't know how to go about the endeavor.

I figure one time is a conversation, two times is a theme, and three times is a blog post - so without further backstory, here's an email I sent about riding a bicycle from Pittsburgh to DC.

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You can ride from the Point in Pittsburgh to the heart of downtown DC, almost completely on car-free trails. Purists will point out small gaps in official coverage, and yet people with local knowledge do it all the time. There are a few small work-arounds involved.

The northern half of the trip, 150 miles from Pittsburgh to Cumberland MD is called the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP). The GAP is a modern trail built to contemporary engineering standards; it's one of the finest trails in the country. The official web reference is www.atatrail.org, and the crowd-source is at GAP Yahoo Group.

The southern half of the trip, 185 miles from Cumberland MD to Washington DC, is called the C&O Canal Trail and it's an unimproved Civil War donkey path. It's got a historical designation so it won't be improved much. The trail is often just two tire tracks, there's roots and rocks and mud, and the C&O trail is more primitive than the GAP. They're both great, just very different. The authoritative web reference is: http://bikewashington.org/canal/, and the crowd-source is at C&O Yahoo Group.

• If you want to ride your bike for five or six days, ride Pittsburgh to Cumberland and back to Pittsburgh. The GAP is so nice, and you'll be back at your car/home when you're done. Every injury or busted bike I've seen on the DC-Pittsburgh ride has happened on the C&O. Key phrase: unimproved Civil War donkey path.
• If you use a trailer on your bike, make it a one-wheeled trailer; two-wheeled trailers are incompatible with the C&O Trail

There is a growing trail economy in the small towns you pass through. Personally, I prefer the eastbound (Pittsburgh to DC) trip because of the relative slopes. The logistics of a round-trip often outweigh the aesthetics, and many people in Pittsburgh prefer the certainty of traveling to DC first and then riding home. The wrinkle is there's a bit of a peak (Mount Savage) east of Cumberland that's got a relatively steep slope if you're riding westbound.

How to get from one end to another? People rent cars and drop them off near a trailhead, people box their bikes as baggage and take Amtrak (unfortunately no rollon, rolloff service), people get a friend to drive them one-way or solicit a lift on Craigslist. Some people even bicycle round-trip.

Every year the trail and accommodations improve, so most things in print are outdated within a year. There's a tremendous little $5 book called Linking Up that I highly recommend, and the Fourth Edition is now available for purchase. All profits benefit the GAP.

This book is written by CMU professor Mary Shaw and Michael Baker engineer Roy Weil, and if the Pgh-DC trail has grandparents they are it. They're nationally recognized trail advocates.

Almost any (non-racing) bicycle that is reliable in frequent use will do; trikes really don't work well on the C&O. An optimal tire size is 1.5". Fenders are good.

Usually, people make an intermediate overnight trip for a bit of experience before they go on a 5-day or a 8-day trip; you might ride from Connellsville out to Confluence, stay in a B&B, bike back the next day, etc.

There are various ways to assemble a group of riders; the most straighforward seems to be to go on local group rides, meet other riders, and talk it up. All the other options to some extent resemble Internet dating, but some people post for group rides on the two Yahoo groups, on CrazyGuyOnABike, on BikeForums, etc.

Sunday WakeUp

05/20/12 243# 9m

Spent the night camping along the Montour Trail in my Hennessy Hammock, then broke camp and rode out back to my car. At 58F it was quite cold in the hammock, conditions improved when I put on wool and long pants.



I woke at 0800 aware that I'd been snoring loudly, finding a text from D. on my phone explaining that he'd left at 0700, reluctant to wake me while I was so clearly having a profound REM event. People were already walking, running, and biking on the adjacent trail.

For breakfast I "cooked" Quaker instant oatmeal "Maple & Brown Sugar" and enjoyed a cup of Starbucks Via Columbia coffee. Not bad for camping. I learned that cooking dinner, cleaning up, overnight drinking water, and cooking breakfast and cleanup requires almost a half-gallon of water. That was a good thing to learn.

There's a Montour Trail sign with a QR-code on the campsite, so I pointed the smart-phone at it and gave them some feedback about the camping experience, which was excellent.

I packed it all up. Each time I pack I hope it's in a slightly more practical way. I got my bike and gear out of the campsite, checked that I left it as well as I found it, and got on my way.

As I crossed Route50 in Venice I encountered my friend S, which was a nice surprise but it was becoming a bit of an old-home-week bike ride; pretty soon I'd be meeting long-dead friends and that would be freaky. She joined me for the ride back to McDonald.

It was very nice to have a place on the Montour Trail to camp out, I think I learned a lot by doing a shakedown overnight, and it was especially pleasant to meet good friends on the trail.

Saturday Morning Burgh, Evening S24O Entertaining

05/19/12 243# 36m

My plan of the day was to ride in the city in the morning, and in the evening go out on the Montour Trail for an overnight campout to shakedown my gear.

Started 0900 at the Bastille with M, who's been working out of town and it was a welcome reunion. Rode around the northside, stopped at some sort of health-walk at the stadia, went out to the 31st STreet bridge and then back through the Strip District. Stopped at Point State Park which was hosting a Venture Outdoors celebration.

Saw some tri-types in a sort of bicycle urban orienteering competition, it looked like they were really working hard at it. Saw a bicycle skills course being laid out and another vendor was queing up electric-assist and electric-shift bikes for demo rides.

Rode out on Blvd of the Allies to Grant Street, took the Jail Trail and Hot Metal Bridge. Cruised the newly opened AEO-HBH plaza, checked out the OTB bike corral, went to Big Dog Coffee for the coffeeneuring phase of the ride (photo). Biancha mochas and elephant ear pastries, very nice. A young couple had just become engaged and asked us to take a photo. Rode to Keystone Metals (wish they'd open that mini-segment), reversed to Station Square, crossed Ft. Pitt bridge, crowded Point State Park, Ft. Duquesne bridge, rode back to the Bastille, 27 miles. It was great to see Mark and get to talk with him, and doubly so on bicycles.

In the afternoon I tried to re-assemble my bike kit, which is actually about a hundred different items that may or may not remain in formation. Last week I took geat out of their normal places to gather my TOSRV supplies, and then on the return it was hither and yon for drying and cleaning, and it became scattered.

I stopped at REI for some MRE-type meals, bought a pouch of mandarin orange chicken and another of spicy sausage pasta, by Natural High. There really isn't a place for overnight parking along the Montour, so I parked in McDonald and hoped for the best (it was fine). I spent at least a half-hour sorted gear into panniers and trying to get my stuff together.

I was unsure of water availability, so I carried an extra half-gallon container from a convenience store. Between the four panniers, bedroll, and the water jug it was a pretty heavy bicycle when I started out on the trail.

After a few miles my front fender support failed. I'm guessing the weight on the bicycle flexed it a bit too much. No damage and I consider it part of the reason to do a shakedown, and I'm glad it happened now and not when I'm halfway between DC and Pittsburgh.

Crossing Route50, my cellphone range and my friend K was on the trail behind me and had seen my car, so we agreed that he'd catch up to me which was no great leap of faith given my speed.

I reached the Montour Trail's Kurnick campground around MP25.5 at almost the same time that D. arrived from the other direction, he was doing the same thing - checking out his gear for a DC-Pgh ride.

All five campgrounds were unoccupied so I started checking for a site with optimally spaced trees and chose Site2. D chose Site1 to set up his REI tent. My friend K came up the trail on his mountain bike and I got the hammock up pretty quickly, it really does only take about three minutes. That was pretty cool, established for a few minutes and hosting guests.

We had a nice visit, I hadn't seen K for a few weeks, and then he had to go as he had miles to make before it got dark. I continued setting up camp, rigged the stove, arranged some gear etc when my friend R. stopped by on his Rivendell. He lives a few miles out on the trail and came bearing gifts of bug spray and a water jug, both of which were very thoughtful.

I "made" coffee (which means, I boiled water and invoked the Starbucks Via ritual) and it was pretty good. I "cooked" the spicy sausage pasta; it was pretty good for an MRE, it certainly had a variety of tastes for the palate and probably better for morale than a PB&J, but nothing you'd ever be happy to have at a restaurant. As darkness began R. departed and I did a bit of camp clean up.

I climbed into the hammock and it was immediately obvious that the trees I'd used weren't far enough apart, the hammock had way too much of a bend in the middle. I thought, give it a few minutes but it didn't get any better it just got darker, so I got out of it and searched for another spot.

I was using a Petzl headlight, several years old and dim by contemporary standards but quite workable, and it was an awesome tool. I found two trees on a slope, took down and re-rigged the hammock. I realized I had the entry side of the hammock on the wrong side of the slope so that it was five feet up into the air, so I took it down and hung it the other way, and it all went well and I feel a bit more proficient at hanging the hammock in the dark.

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May 19, 2012 Week 19 this week: 117 miles

243#

2nd Qtr 861 miles 17 mi/day2-QTR

2012: 1877 miles

PhotoBomb B2W-PGH, Bike Nap Cecil, Farmhouse Coffee

05/18/12 243# 50m

Rode 22 miles with S in the morning, 28 miles with R in the afternoon, 50 miles total on Bike To Work Day

Started at 0700 at the Bastille, cool enough for a sweater. Stopped at a "bike to work" support station by the stadium supported by The Priory, two very cool dogs there and some very nice bikes, excellent swag (wool socks, water bottle!) Rode around the Point, took the Strip District Trail, arrived at the City-County building in time for the 0830 presser.

Saw some great bicycles there including a Trek1100 just like my road bike, and a Trek830 just like my trail bike, representing old school. I was very pleased to see (and get to use) the demonstration bus bike rack (and thanks to Steve Patchan for the briefing).


Also spoke with a PAT expert who made a few more points: if you're the first bike using the rack, use the slot close to the bus; put the spring-loaded clip as high as possible; consider putting a pre-paid bus card in your bike bag, so if you ride in to the city in the morning and get surprised by rain, you could just take out your card and take the bus home. (I thought that was a great multi-modal point.)

The 0830 event got underway about 0900 when Hizzoner the Mayor arrived to work on a bike along with Scott Bricker (BikePgh), Bruce Woods (PMTCC), and a few other worthies I didn't recognize.


Behind the County Executive (the grownup in the suit) there's a very attractive Surly LHT with a two-legged kickstand, an orange triangle, and Ambridge Bike Shop water bottles. Just saying: photobomb ftw!

Back on the bike, Jail Trail, Hot Metal Bridge, Keystone Metals, REI for the Anniversary Sale. Bought new bike shoes at 20% off. Station Square, Ft. Pitt and Ft. Duquesne bridges, Bastille: 22 miles on a beautiful morning.

Drove out to the west and took a mini bike-nap on the Montour Trail near Cecil and MP23, then my friend R came by and woke me. We rode southwest past the Twin Bridge construction, walking up to the trail at Georgetown, then rode to world-famous Farmhouse Coffee for Farmhouse espresso, iced tea, and red velvet biscotti.

Once fortified we continued (east, I think) past the new Bebout Bridge to Logan Road. I don't get out on this section of the trail much, trail conditions were excellent.

Reversed and returned, stopped for a few minutes above the creek at the golf course. My total mileage for the day was 50.

Veloscenti Discern the True Cause of Frank Lenz' Death

05/15/12 243# 31m

A different sort of riding day, 31 miles over several hours and diverse events.

Started at Kennywood, dropping off a few young scholars for their annual Science Day field trip where they use the rides for various physics puzzles. Having a few hours until I needed to return to pick up my yutes, I did something you couldn't do until recently: I put my bike on the Steel Valley Trail (just behind Kennywood) and took a ride.

I rode north, crossed the SandCastle lot, walked the railroad ballast past Keystone Metals, and then after another half-mile came to a trail closure. Workers with a backhoe had dug a deep trench across the paved trail, leaving a two-foot gap in the GAP. I approached the work scene, dismounted, and walked my bike up to the abyss as the work crew eyed me. I said hello to everybody, passed the bike to a worker on the other side of the trench, stepped over and Wa-Lah as they say, back in business. Probably the trail should not have been closed, a bit of wood over the trench would have served well.

Went to the IBEW building for MovePGH's transportation design charrette. This was extremely cool, local transportation planners seeking public comments on what works, what doesn't work, what people want/need, and info on what they don't know about.

It was a funny and almost indulgent experience in that they listened, took notes, asked for more - that doesn't happen too often.

Continued north and met my friend S, and we rode further north to Thick Bikes just to see what was going on in there. A very well stocked shop, knowledgeable effective staff (thanks Adam!), cool bikes. I love checking out their no-rack frame packs and the snow bikes.


Went over to the Bike Corral ribbon-cutting (see photo above) at OTB Cafe. Excellent OTB eggrolls. Many local bike advocates were present, Linda Boxx, Scott Bricker from Bike-Pgh, Pittsburgh bike coordinator Stephen Patchan, and somebody named Luke who was trying out his version of a Tom Murphy imitation (didn't offend, didn't close the pitch, hey it's an election year).


The real VIP at the event was Boston writer David Herlihy, author of a recent book on Pittsburgh bicyclist Frank Lenz, who died on a round-the-world bike trip. Mr. Herlihy Himself did not comment for the record on the scuttlebutt circulating among the veloscenti; the suggested real story of the death of Frank Lenz has a lessons-learned that seems still valid today: apparently, Lenz had hoped to ride through present-day Turkey but the bike trail was not complete - it was mostly complete, but never quite complete.

Lenz spent the winter of 1898 waiting for the path to extend around the Sandy Fortress, and although it was promised it never came to be. Frank Lenz waited the next year, with the announcement of a breakthrough always imminent, and then the year after that; he foraged for food, adopted the local language and lifestyle, went native and eventually depleted the natural resources while continually placing stock in the "maybe next month" announcements. Sadly, he died waiting for the gap to be completed; he final words were, Siz Bizim Türkçeleştiremediklerimizdensiniz yoksa Türkçeleştidiklerimizdensiniz., meaning 'Next year in Sandy Fortess'. What a tragedy.

Gosh I hope we learn from history. I'd like to think that given the evolution of man, nobody today would believe a string of unrealized "soon" promises that never come to fruition.

To be clear, Mr. Herlihy's book makes no such suggestions, and has been very well received. (City Paper book review by an esteemed local writer here).


Mr. Herlihy had a photograph (see above) of Frank Lenz outside the PawPaw tunnel, and I was surprised at the remarkable picture of Frank Lenz on his bicycle in a place where I've ridden my own bike.

Rode over to Gateway Center to drop off some panniers for an upcoming DC-Pgh ride, rode over to the NorthSide and up to the Bastille. Reversed and crossed Ft. Pitt bridge to SouthSide, a coke stop at Subway and then out on Route 837 (having imposed on the work crew's kindness once, I figured I shouldn't press it).

I like riding 837 from Hot Metal Bridge to Hays, it's thrilling in a scary-fun way. Hopped the guard rail and portaged across the (live) tracks at Keystone Metals, through SC, into the Waterfront complex were I met a trail developer exploring options to finesse the trail's passage around the Costco-footbridge segment, that was pretty cool.

Back to my car, pick up the kids, what a good way to spend a day.

Hennessy Hammock and Bartleby's Rainy TOSRV

05/13/12 0m

Sunday I slept overnight in my Hennessy Hammock. I did take a little bit of time getting situated inside the hammock, but then I slept very well. After 0100 it rained heavily, but I was snug and dry in the hammock. A few thoughts on the hammock:

It was cool out, 58F, and the hammock was quite cool due to the airflow around it. The thermal pad below me and a wool Navy blanket were more than sufficient for the temperature.

One thing about the hammock it that's it's a dedicated, specialized shelter; the benefits come at the cost of adaptability. It's difficult to put on a sweater inside of the hammock, or to do much other than recline, and ordinarily that's no problem - but when it's raining outside you're limited to reclining, so things you might do in a tent - sitting up, changing clothes, making a sandwich - are constrained.

As I lay in the hammock the thought did occur to me that the hammock does somewhat resemble an REI bodybag, and then I realized that to a passing (hungry) bear I probably looked like a wrapped candy treat.


I really enjoyed the sleep in the hammock, and the freedom from sleeping on the ground. Even with the rain fly deployed there was a gentle breeze and no condensation accumulation.

DFL beats DNF double-beats DNS

Peering out of the hammock at the heavy rain at about 0500, I was very reluctant to get out of the dry shelter. I didn't bring rain gear or cold gear because of the (optomistic) forecast; no fenders or rain capes.

I checked my smartphone and the weather forecast offered no respite for 12 hours, well beyond my welcome in the park. On Saturday night you're a welcome bicycle tourist; on Sunday night you're a hi-viz vagrant.

Cold and wet outside, warm and dry inside; my lizard brain suggested staying inside. As 0600 rolled around I awoke to the sound of other bicyclists breaking camp, some clamoring into vehicles (to drive home) and others putting on rain gear and doing the carpe diem bit. I considered my options and channeled the spirit of Bartleby the Scrivener, saying "I would prefer not to" out loud to nobody in particular.

I dozed off while considering Bartleby's wisdom, a man ahead of his time who occupied Wall Street persistently in spite of being urged to leave, and who simply asserted his capacity to assert: I would prefer not to. When I thought of stepping out into the chilly rain, Bartleby's shibboleth rang in my head.

A large RV started its engine and teased the possibility of transport to Columbus, so I exited my shelter and tried to scrounge a ride, offering $50 for a lift, but they did not find it persuasive. I made the rounds of others who were filling cars with bikes and gear, but they lacked either a seat or a space on the rack, or both, and so I scarfed a doughnut and went back into the hammock to wait for better developments. I couldn't finagle my way onto the cargo truck, either.

The sun rose and I took my cellphone out of the ziploc bag and called for a lifeline; a friend in semi-quasi-nearby Springfield would come and pick me up, and drive me to my awaiting car in Columbus (and then drive himself back to Springfield). I am grateful for his willingness and his six hours. I spent the time waiting for the ride in the lobby of the local Holiday Inn, which was kindly giving breakfast to riders and wouldn't take any money for the eggs and coffee from a non-guest.

The second half of my TOSRV didn't even make it to DNF (did not finish); I was a DNS (did not start). I did get a night's experience in the hammock in the rain; I did get to ride a Century on Saturday; and it just seemed like bad judgment to choose to ride 105 miles in a chilly rain, on a road bike with no fenders, without any rain gear. I would prefer not to.

Compliments and Mega-Props

All self-justification aside, my compliments and mega-respect to the hard men and hard women who saw the conditions, remembered Rule5 (HTFU), and went out and did what they'd planned to do. You rock.

2012 TOSRV Granfalloon

05/12/12 109m

I have ridden in the 2007 TOSRV and the 2005 TOSRV, but this was the first year I'd be riding without a few friends.

Riding is initially a physical activity, but it is later a matter of conation - the decision to ride, and the decision to keep riding - and those decisions can be swayed and made easier by the presence of good company. With a group of friends a long day riding is a pleasure, but with a group of strangers it's a different experience; the company in today's organized ride is at best a granfalloon, and I missed riding with my buddies.

I was up at 0530 and started sorting my kit into piles of "bring/don't bring", choosing to leave rain gear and cold weather gear behind. Then, in spite of a long-standing personal policy of never fooling with a bike just before an event, I spent some time re-routing my aero-bars and my brake cables, and I think I ended up with a much better layout. I was now armed with a duffel bag of supplies I'll want in Portsmouth, and another bag of things I'll leave behind in the locked car.

There is no better way to summon people to a point of assembly, to give them a way to proceed together smartly, than to provide a band of musicians, and this morning I heard the unmistakable sound of bagpipes echoing off Columbus' buildings.


I dropped the duffel bag off into a waiting Ryder truck (which would convey it to my destination, they've really got this figured out) and then joined the queue for the 0730 start, which occured at about 0750.

In preparation for a mass start, organizers were marshalling riders into various clusters in a process that looked a lot like herding cats. I saw some folks wearing this year's newest accessory, the smart-looking but decidedly drag-inducing helmet cam:

It makes me want to speculate whether somebody's making this stuff up and placing bets on whether they can induce people to go out like that.

In this photo of the group start, you may see one particularly stylish cyclist with an orange triangle on the back of his bike, imagine if you will the smooth pedal stroke:


The beginning of a ride is somewhat thrilling because it's both exciting and scary; the frisson of a new day and an unknown experience, and the risk of butterfly-induced foolishness or distraction leading to a pileup. Fortunately, the riders within my range departed the city without incident, with policemen blocking sidestreets.

About ten miles into the ride I was passed by a formation of two HPVs (human powered vehicles), recumbents in fairings with fully enclosed cockpit. Extremely cool.

The first quarter of the ride seemed to be taking too long, and I was warm enough to remove a layer but hanging on to the Circleville stop. We passed the Circleville laundromat where we'd stopped to put our soaking wet clothes into the dryers in 2005 and I was missing my karass.

When I got to the rest stop I was surprised to see that it was at MP29, so it was a somewhat late position. A great stop as always at TOSRV, lots of good snacks, water, plenty of room, mechanics to assist riders with problems, the usual great job.

Centreville to Chillicothe was a nice leg, only 21 miles, and with the sun popping out, the temps rising, and the jackets coming off there was a down-to-business vibe on this segment. I saw a rider on a SlingShot racing bike with a mid-suspension design, it had a carbon fiber wedge in the top tube and a tension cable in place of a down tube, a very unusual design especially given its early 90's timeframe.

The first half of the ride, there was a lot of unannounced passing not only by individuals but sometimes by twin pacelines of twenty riders. They made an awesome woosh-noise as they passed, but it really seemed that a few calls or bells would have been prudent.

In Chillicothe there was another well-run stop, lots of food and drink, a first aid station and bike mechanics, a live band; it was like a bike swap meet with a Woodstock vibe. Saw a tandem made out of wood. Although I thought it was a Calfee it was a one-off, a beautiful bike. Usually (?) a wooden bike has wooden support members with steel or carbon fiber joiners, but this frame was wood from stem to stern. It was beautiful.

I did get lost coming out of Chillicothe, made a wrong turn and started following the signs for the next day's trip back to Columbus, but after a while I got it figured out.

The third leg from Chillicothe to Waverly has a few climbs in it, and on this segment I noticed something missing from previous years. Used to be, scout troops and church groups etc. would give away free hot dogs / drinking water, and there'd be a cigar box for donations - everybody understood they weren't licensed or certified to sell food to the public, let alone collect taxes but they could give it away and maybe you'd leave a donation? This dodge seemed to work very well in the past but this year there were no wink/nod supply stands.

I really felt the need for one at the top of Schoolhouse Hill - while the hill isn't too demanding, it's at just the right point for a water refill and none was available. Later in the ride, I did see two places giving away free water, and those folks weren't taking any donations - something must have changed. I hate it, sometimes, when things change.

I saw a woman riding a bike with a mirror mounted low on the frame, I've never seen that before. When I asked her about it she didn't have much info, turns out it's a Bike-Eye.

Approaching Waverly the residents of Bristol Village, a chronologically gifted community, were out on the street cheering and ringing cowbells for every bicyclist, that was very nice of them.

The Waverly rest stop at Lake White at MP75 was great, everybody seemed tired but there was only a last leg to go. In the beginning of the day, with the rush and vigor a lot of courtesy dropped by the wayside and people would pass without notice and other unspeakable outrages, but by the last leg it seems like everybody had calmed down and good practices resumed.

At about MP97 I developed a loud squeak in one of my rear derailleur pulleys, but a bit of WD40 fixed that and there were no other bike problems.

Camping Overnight

In addition to logging some miles and doing a century ride, which I haven't done in a few years, a big part of the mission for this trip was camping out overnight in preparation for an upcoming DC-Pgh trip.

I rode across Portsmouth to the once-famous Spartan Stadium, which was the home of the Portsmouth Spartans before they moved and became the Detroit Lions. This was also the venue of the NFL's first night game.

There were quite a few tents set up on the soccer fields outside of the old football stadium:

I was walking around, checking out all the equipment (skewing toward BigAgnes and Marmot) when somebody made eye contact with me as if I were a peeping Tom, and I hastily explained that walking around all that gear selected by knowledgeable people was better than any REI seminar.

There was one Hennessy Hammock from the alternative crowd:


And of course, there's always more than one alternative view:


It was a very nice day.

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May 12, 2012 Week 18 this week: 209 miles

244#

2nd Qtr 744 miles 17 mi/day2-QTR

2012: 1760 miles