Kenny Lucas
I'm not sure what got into me this year with all this biking. Over 1,300 miles logged while sitting on the saddle for more than 116 hours. Some of the riding was incredibly hard, like the Wilderness 101 and Mountains of Misery, while other rides weren't as difficult. This C&O Canal ride was my 6th century ride of the year. I had a target of 6 centuries this year so I'm happy with the effort.
The C&O Canal Towpath runs from DC to Cumberland Gap, ~183 miles. The full length of the trail from Cumberland Gap is on my 2012 Spring list, but for now myself and Derrick limited the ride to a round-trip from Great Falls to Harper's Ferry. Derrick is a fellow dad from Cub Scouts and I was lucky to have bridged the conversation with him about this ride. He's wanted to do it for some time as well. His longest previous ride was ~60 miles, so he was definitely about to be tested.
We got on the trail around 7am and it was darn cold, 34 degrees to be exact. The first few miles were a chilly and foggy affair. We had crystals forming on us for the first several miles. Let's see how we were doing after 6.5 miles.
The trail itself was in fine shape. It had rained a lot the previous few days so we did have to deal with a lot of mud. Later in the ride it was getting somewhat demoralizing to get your speed up and then get slogged in a mud bath and lose all your momentum. There was an over-abundance of sticks on the trail as well. I got a flat around 20 miles in and changing the tube was a little difficult as I was frozen in the riding position.
Here are two videos of landmarks on the way up. White's Ferry and Point of Rocks.
Brunswick is 5.5 miles from Harper's Ferry. At this point we were feeling good and much warmer. The day warmed up nicely to the upper 60's, maybe 70. We stopped for a quick bite, er, longer bite as both of us didn't mind the rest.
The trail itself is not the most scenic adventure. The water keeps it interesting with the Potomac on one side and the canal on the other. Not many people out on the canal at this time, but it started to get more populated with the warmer weather. Neither of us wanted to feel the cold again and we had a long ways to go before nightfall.
We rolled into Harper's Ferry in about 4.5 hours (I think). I've read on different blogs that although the canal is uphill going North, it's not real noticeable. I'm here to tell you that's a bunch of garbage. It's definitely uphill and much more effort than riding South. The town hasn't changed much since I was canoeing there as a kid. I still remember "Big Rock" where you could body surf down the river. The first video has a shot of the rock cliffs that I highly recommend you hike up on the trail when visiting. A great look at the town can be seen from up there.
Here's a scene that's getting to be more common. Filming a clip laid out on my back. At this point in the ride we were both pretty spent. I think it was about 75 miles in with 20 miles to go. I'm laying on the same bridge where I changed my flat tire on the way up.
Finishing is always sweet but it's always hard. We rode about 30 minutes in the dark and it got cold again when the sun went down. Slugging out those final miles was a chore and I kept focused on the leftover Thanksgiving hot meal that was waiting for me at home. Funny how at the end of these big rides I'm always thinking about food.
Ride stats: 8hrs 15 min's riding. 10.5 hours duration. 95 miles. 7,432 calories burned.
