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Wednesday, May 13: What a difference a day makes - the weather, my bum, no getting stuck and lost, and the terrain. Well, stayed last night at this little hole in the wall motel, recommended by my cycling bud Bill. And I’ll tell you what for 45 bucks Charlie’s Motel was a real deal. No frills for sure, but very clean, fridge and microwave, and wifi and dbl beds. And it was right next to this little sports pub that had some crazy good food for us budget minded folk! All in all it was worth the 10-mile drive out of Cumberland and into Frostburg. 


Ok, so got up this morning and it was a chilling 42 degrees. Yea, freaking crazy. We could feel the front moving in late afternoon as we were eating on the deck of the sports pub. The wind was just lifting chairs and tossing them off the deck like tooth picks. So no breakfast at our no frills motel, and we packed up at 6:30 AM and headed to Mickey D’s where Judy fulfilled her coffee jones and I was able to work while sipping coffee and eating their stellar food! Got down to the end point of yesterday with the temp at a chilling 44 degrees, a real shocker after some 11 days of 80+ degrees. Ended up putting on two pr. of cycling shorts with a pr. of cycling knickers over top of those, and up top I had a poly pro long sleeve and an insulated long sleeve winter cycling top. Also had gloves and earwarmers. 


Now the terminus of the C & O canal trail is the beginning of the GAP trail - Great Allegheny Passage. The two trails are stacked on atop the other so there’s no actual gap between the two. BUT I did have to ride the ballast on the side, and in the middle of this old Maryland Scenic RR line for about 3 miles because the first three miles of the GAP trail is paved. VERY happy to get off the ballast when the GAP turned to crushed limestone and I could get on that. BUT, there began the 20 mile climb up to the Cumberland Divide.  This thing is just forever and a day. I mean it’s about a low 2-3% grade that just goes on endlessly. Add the cold headwind coming in from the west and it made for a very slow first segment. You can just look ahead and it seems to twist and turn and twist and turn and continue to the pearly gates of Heaven. I was probably churning away at about 8 mph what with the grade, the headwind and my big old duel shock 29er. Worked hard enough to have to take off my winter cycling jersey and ear warms so I wouldn’t overheat. 


Now the scenery is so much different that on the C & O. Just totally different. This GAP trail is more like mountain terrain whereas the C & O is more like swamp and lowlands for most of it’s length until about 30 of 40 miles east of Cumberland. But this GAP, it just ramps right up into the mts. Passed the Mason-Dixon Line, the border of PA and MD, which was kind of bricked off on the ground in white marble with an obelisk on one side and some marble blocks on the other, a pretty cool display, and then I just continued to climb higher. I stopped just before the summit to eat a banana and fruit bar, and to give Judy a call to let her know I’d be riding far slower than the 12-13mph she was used to me riding. But just that little stop and I was just cold as hell. Had to put my jersey and ear warmers back on, plus put on my goretex jacket. Man I was cold. And to add insult to injury a slight spritz of drizzle was dogging me. 


So when I did top out, and it took a good 3 hrs, I went through this long, lighted tunnel where the wind was just gusting like a wind tunnel, and then once out I was greeted with this weenie descent. I mean it was NOTHING compared to what I’d climbed. Just seem to be a very gentle gradient down, not the really apparent climb I’d just done. Hell, there were people just flying by me riding west to east. But what I got just wasn’t fair. Not fair I tell you! Now I was able to go from the middle ring to the big ring, but heck, I was still working to do this descent because the headwind was just vicious on the east side of the divide. And I was just freezing up there. My hands and toes were numb, more from the Raynaud’s Syndrome than the cold. But the cold does bring early onset of the Raynaud’s with me. 


There were times where I was just out of the saddle working it to keep the momentum going. Finally hit our support stop in Meyersdale, PA in a pathetic 3:45 hrs. Only plus here was that we put another state behind us. Now I have to give Judy so many props for taking care of me. So I get to the van and I’m just cold as hell, and wouldn’t you know it….she had the heater going so when I stepped in it was toasty warm. I had to put my feet up on the heater vents along the passenger dash they were so numb. Downed a ham and turkey sandwich with swiss cheese and avocado, pounded a coke and water….and had a VERY hard time getting out of that van. Basically Judy had to chase me out to continue. So we decided that since the rain spritzing was continuing that she’d just go up 10 miles to Rockwood for the next stop rather than go all the way to Confluence, just in case the heavens burst forth with a full on rain. I’m good with riding in the rain, BUT no when it’s 48 degrees out! That’s hypothermic. 


So I got going again, dressed in full winter gear. And man, just stepping out into that weather again was such a mind game. It was like jumping out of a sauna room and into an icy lake. I mean it was just a shocker! Gritted the teeth and pedaled on, into a drizzly, cold, windy day in the mts of PA. Damn what a difference a day makes. I’d been sweating my “butt” off for 11 days. And then this!


But tell you what, my butt felt ok. No sweat meant a nicer situation for the butt. Yet I’m now having these little tweaky issues with my left, medial knee. I think it’s because the bike I’m riding is new, and I just hadn’t had a chance to put in miles to familiarize my body with the bike slowly and gradually. Don’t really know if I have my fit dialed in with this thing and that could be bad what with putting in big miles each and every day on a new bike. So I stopped and bumped up the seat height again to see if that might work. And it just may have. I felt a bit more efficient so we’ll see over the next few days how this change went. Now I also switched shoes today, taking off the old Sidi beaters that I’ve been doing all this crappy bike-a-hike stuff, and put on my good Sidi ultra distance shoes. 


To me these pups are like Dorothy’s ruby red shoes. Except when I click my good Sidi’s they make me go faster! I put my ruby red’s on after that first support stop, thinking that maybe the change of shoes and the slight change in seat height might help my knee, and also make my ass feel better - better bike fit makes happier ass. So these subtle little changes “seemed” to make these better. We’ll see in the long term. 


Made the second support stop at about a 12 mph average - much better than the first stage of mt climbing. Made this one a quickie stop just so we could get done at a good time. So the plan was for me to do the last 21 miles to Confluence. Weather appeared to be stable with no rain looming over the horizon, so let’s “git er done.”

And be damned if not more than 2 minutes after me leaving the van the rain began spritzing again. Nothing steady, but it was there. And all I needed was the heavens to break open and me getting soaked for 21 miles in 40-some degree temps. But luck was on my side and the spritzing just came and went on occasion. Made Confluence in about 1:50 hrs, and darned near the minute I loaded the bike in the van the spritzing turned into a light rain. Luck was really on my side today. 


Now I have to say that this GAP trail is a really sweet trail. This is my second time doing this section of the trail and I just love it, despite that 20-mile climb out of Cumberland. If you really love getting out and just enjoying a weekend of scenic cycling, the GAP is definitely a super choice. We headed to the Trailside Pizza shop and were treated to a fantastic gourmet pizza for 15 bucks.


Forecast for tomorrow is for sun and 67 degrees. Can’t really get any worse than today I guess. So we’ll see what we get. I know that my care-free trail riding ends tomorrow as I have to get on some old abandoned rail lines sometime around mid day tomorrow and then it’s back to battling ballast, old RR ties, ATC tracks and berm riding. Got to savor the 20 miles of GAP I do tomorrow morning, because things get gnarly again once I’m off of that.