Behold the midpoint of the C&O tow path!
We passed 92.25 miles yesterday.
This was our first long bike of the season as its early March and just getting warm enough to go out and ride again.
We had a bit of a quandary.
For our opening ride we had to drive about an hour away from home. As you can see from the map above or the linked page, most of the trail has no take in take out spots. We ended at Taylors boat ramp last time because there was parking there. Then there was another parking place about .2 miles up and another around 5 miles up and then nothing till lock 44 (18ish miles up.
Our longest ride to date was 15 mile and it was rough.
But, between then and now Megan had gotten a new and much better bike and I have been working out bit.
Also Meg and I did a number of shorter (10 mile rides between Brunswick and Harpers Ferry) just for fun and snacks.
Beans in the Belfry Yummm!
So, Megan put a water bottle holder and kickstand on her bike and I put a water bottle holder, kickstand and phone mount on mine.
David fixed our flats and my chain and put the bikes and bike rack on the car and we were good to go.
It was overcast and quite cool.
I drove us back to Taylors landing with the heated seat cranked up and gave David the ambitious instruction to meet us in Williamsport to get pizza at Tonys
We rode for the firs t4 mile or so feeling great. We saw several things we were familiar with as this part of the path is near a place we went caving with The Haven group.
We stopped at this cool dam to take pictures and eat some snacks and drink some water.
I actually stopped quite a few times to adjust my seat but those were quick.
There wasn't much in the way of wildlife as its still below freezing at night here but we saw some baby Virginia bluebells all along this section. Also on the other side of the river just a ton of huge houses going up.
Out stops started to get more frequent around the 10 mile mark. First for more snacks and stretching of the hindquarters and then because Megan was getting frustrated and tired.
At this point we got a fairly hearty headwind.
There had been a chance of rain so in one way we were grateful for the headwind but it did make our tired legs protest a little more.
Then we hit a strange and unexpected section.
We saw signs for falling rocks and then a long cliff hugging paved section.
The kids cheered.
We made better time and got jostled much less (the trail is for sure not as nice in this section. When not paved the ground is quite stony.
In this paved section we went past a few people fishing and 2 guys rope climbing the cliff just over our heads. We saw many more caves, one of which was about 10 ft up and had a blue rope hanging out of it and tempted me sorely to jump off the bike and go have a look but the wind was blowing in our faces and we were looking forward to pizza so we pressed on.
We hit the halfway point and I did stop for some pictures and the wind died down and my phone signal came back so that I could let David know where we were.
It was warmer and there were more flowers and I switched bikes with Megan.
She cheered right up and took off like a shot away from us.
We had a miscommunication with David about where to meet so were quite despondent to get back on our bikes after lock 44 and ride for another (grueling) .2 miles (hahah).
Then we carried our bikes over the bridge (that was what he had been trying to warn us about. Apparently you can cross at lock 44 without needing to carry your bike up and down stairs).
My le got a nasty cramp walking up the hill to the pizza. I've never had that before.
Boo to that.
The pizza was very good and we made just under 20 miles and I am so impressed by and proud of us (but especially the kids).
Our next ride will be down closer to 10 miles if we can help it.
Also weirdly the ride home was quicker than the ride out because we were right by a major road again.
If we do nothing but 10 mile rides from now on we will have 8 more to go before we finish the whole thing.
