Biking the Great Alleghany Passage – Day 0
This is the story of four guys who decided to bike ride the Great Allegheny Passage. A three day event over 150 miles from Pittsburgh, PA to Cumberland, MD
For bikers and adventure travelers few trips are more fun and rewarding than traveling the Great Allehany Passageway or GAP. It follows former railroad paths of the old Western Maryland Railroad and several other defunct railroad companies from Pittsburgh through Pennsylvania to Cumberland, Maryland.
This 150-mile trail is one of the longest rail trails in the United States and offers amazing scenary while riding through southwestern Pennsylvania and western Maryland.
There are four of us planning to take the three day trip:
* Rob Halminksy
* C. Hurst
* Carl Roberts
* Mark Brown
Rob and Carl put together the idea to bike the 150 mile GAP trail. Mark got invited and we added C. Hurst. C has done the other half of the trail from Cumberland, MD to Washington, DC so we looking forward to his insightful recommendations. We decided to stay in hotels for three nights rather than camp. All gear will be carried on our bikes. We will eat at stops along the way.
We rendevouzed at Wheelzup Bike Shop in Cumberland, Md to arrive around 12 noon. We were able to leave our cars for the three day trip at a public parking lot near WheelzUp. We loaded our bikes and gear into a shuttle van that Wheelzup Bike provides on a fee basis. From Cumberland, Md the van drove us 2 1/2 hours to Pittsburgh, PA where we were dropped off at the downtown Fairfield Inn.
WheelzUp bike shop with whom we arranged our van travel to Pittsburgh. Friendly bike shop that caters to GAP riders. Bike repair, parts, bikes and tons of gear for the ride.
Here is the sandwich shop next door to WheelzUp where we grabbed a snadwich befoe the van ride to Pittsburgh. The owner is a refugee from the Croation War of the 1990s.
Anticipatory thoughts of each rider while sitting at lunch
Anticipatory thoughts of each rider while sitting at lunch
Carl: “Looking forward to all the sights that we will see long the trail. A lot of people put in tremendous effort to create the trail.”
C.: Just looking to get from point A to point B
Rob: Want to stay positive
Mark: I pray for no rain, no accidents, good camaraderie and exercise.
Rob carb loading with tira-mi-su from the sandwich shop. Rob’s review: “It was pretty good!”
Sign atop the trail where we will end in three days.
Our driver’s name was Will. Here is loading our bikes on the car that will take us to Pittsburgh. He drove us 2 1/2 hours and never stopped talking. Some days he makes the trip twice with bikers.
The “fearsome foursome” before we took off.
Once we got to Pittsburgh and checked into the hotel, we took a short five mile bike ride through downtown Pittsburgh on the Heritage Trail.
Found the marker for the terminus of the GAP trail at the down town park of Fort Pitt where the three rivers meet.
The night before our ride we stayed a the Fairfield Inn in downtown Pitsburgh, close to where the GAP trails starts.
After checking out a dozen restaurants in downtown Pittsburgh we settled on Pizzallo Primo and it did not disappoint!
Carl and C tried the Cavatelli Salsiccia. Mark had the Bronzino fish. Rob went out on a limb with spaghetti and red sauce or Spaghetti Pomodoro. And of course there was another dish of Tira-mi-su that was voted better than that at the sandwich shop.
Group chatter before the trip:
Q. Anyone bringing a tire pressure guage?
A. Yeah, I got one. Don’t worry.
Comment: Don’t forget to pack lots of energy snack bars.
Comment: I have a first aid kit and tire pump.
Q. You bringing a bike lock? they are kind of heavy.
A. No way. Going light as possible.
Comment tone week before: Oh-oh! Forecast is for rain.
Comment: The Comfort Inn has a heated pool. Don’t forget swim trunks.
Tomorrow we start the ride!
Trail Description
The trail terrain is approximately 15% paved and 85% gravel surface. There are rolling hills in places throughout the trail but the two ends of the trail are at roughly the same elevation. The highest evalation on the trail is the Eastern Continental Divide located 23.5 miles North of Cumberland. The trail climbs in both directions to reach Divide’s elevation of 2392 feet. The elevation gain from Cumberland is about 1800 feet and about 1700 feet from Pittsburgh.
For this trip I bought a new hybrid bike from Bicycle Connection in Bethany Beach, DE. It turned out to be an excellent for the packed gravel trail of the GAP. The Trek FX 2 Disc Gen 3 costs about $750. You can easily pay thousands more for fancier hybrid bikes from Trek which are undoubtably nicer to ride but this one worked great for me. Smooth comfortable ride and excellent gear changing.
My panniers or bike bags are from Amazon. After initially ordering more expensive bags I returned them after my riding buddy, Rob brought the Sportneer Bike Bag to my attention. It is 29 liters in capacity and waterproof. The adjustable hooks and large pockets were perfect for my gear. Anything larger and I would have been dragging around too much weight. You can check it out on the link below:
Another biking enhancement my biking partners brought to my attention was tracking one’s cadence as well as your speed. Cadence is all about how many pedal revolutions do you make in a minute. I have never thought about it much in the past even on some 75 milers biking events. Both C. Hirst and Rob are big on tracking their cadence as they both like to keep their cadence at about 80 revolutions per minute. After a lot of research, I decided to go with a downloaded app from the Apple App Store called “Cadence” which actually tracks speed, cadence and more.
I purchased a cadence tracking device that attaches with heavy duty rubber bands to the axle of one of my wheels. It communicates to the Cadence app via bluetooth. Works fantastically and was not exhorbitant in price.
Here are few other products I purchased for our three day ride. Whatever you do, don’t go cheap. Get quality bike gear that we keep you going down the trail quickly and comfortably.
I like to do all I can to prevent flat tires on the trail when in the woods. Slime Inner tubes that are extra strong with puncture sealant are great deterrent to getting a flat.
CO2 Inflator Kit with 6 x16g/ 25g CO2 Cartridges – Presta & Schrader Valve Compatible – CO2 Bike Pump for Road and Mountain Bikes. Nothing puts a bummer in your nice ride like a flat tire. It is going to happen from time to time, so learn how to change a tire in the woods and make it easy with a CO2 inflator.
CamelBak Podium Bike Water Bottle 24oz, Stone Blue. You are going to be drinking lots of water – get a nice one that you enjoy drinking out of. Hard to beat CamelBak.
Slime Tube Liners – not a necessity but a “nice to have”. Tube protectors, or tire liners, are designed to protect your bike tires from punctures. They Install easily between the tube and tire to offer powerful puncture protection. It provides physical barrier to block nails, thorns, and other debris
Along with his three biking partners, Mark is an exercise enthusiast. He is also a part-time software programmer in python and django, husband and dad, crappy guitar player, gardener, blackstone cook, and traveler. I am starting to build out a blog at my website below
