{"id":3341,"date":"2021-06-16T20:58:54","date_gmt":"2021-06-17T01:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/?p=3341"},"modified":"2024-06-17T18:50:03","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T22:50:03","slug":"210616","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/210616\/","title":{"rendered":"210616"},"content":{"rendered":"

The morning started like every other morning\u2014packing up. Some days that’s fun. Other days you wonder why. I don’t know which day this was.<\/p>\n

I headed down the ramp to the hostel to pick up my battery\u2014left charging overnight\u2014and swap it with my phone. While Erica’s and Amanda’s gear was there, they must have walked back into town for breakfast. I bumped into Cameron and a couple of his friend’s packing up, also headed to DC. I helped Cameron with some bicycle stuff and talked touring a bit before heading out.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The first 28 km flew by with the steeper descent into Cumberland.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As became the pattern for a while, I’d run into Cameron and friends each time they or I stopped. The last time I saw them they were trying to come up with an alternate plan. I vaguely remembered the WMRT (Western Maryland Rail Trail) from last year, and had suggested it to them as an alternate when they\/we got there.<\/p>\n

I walked through the Paw Paw Tunnel last time. This time I cycled it\u2014very challenging.<\/p>\n

All day the alien hum of the cicadas surrounding me, and the crunch of them under my wheels.<\/p>\n

While I had remembered the C&O as better on the DC side, I had forgotten just how bad the Cumberland side starts at, and for how far. Even after riding 70 km, I still felt like I was riding an old wooden roller coaster. The recent rains add long deep muddy stretches.<\/p>\n

At 89 km for the day I felt exhausted; weary at the core. My default rate dropped considerably, with the associated implication of how long it would take to get anywhere. I stopped for yet another break, and checked the rear wheel. Caked in mud, the wheel spun only with considerable exertion. I flipped the bike over, removed the rear wheel, and pried the caked mud from the fenders.<\/p>\n

My base speed immediately increased 50%. I measure how tired I am by speed and how frequently I stop – an invalid metric when forcing the rear wheel to spin.<\/p>\n

And then I came to the WMRT. I stuck a note on the sign for Cameron on the off chance I was somehow ahead of them, and turned off the C&O. Flat, (mostly) smooth, asphalt.<\/p>\n

Changing trails late in the day required careful deliberation. I planned to camp at one of the hiker biker campsites, on the C&O. The WMRT parallels the C&O (often by only 50 feet or so) but you can rarely change from one to the other. I needed to make certain that I could switch back to the C&O to reasonably reach one of those sites, and have an alternate plan if I couldn’t find the connection.<\/p>\n

Wow. My base speed on the WMRT increased by 50% again. I re-calibrated for the day’s final destination, adding another 30 km. Hitting my nth wind, I blew past a group of sport cyclists like they were standing still. I held that pace the remainder of the day to the Little Pool Hiker Biker campsite past Hancock. 134 km. I could easily have ridden to the next campsite. I stopped only because I’d likely arrive at the next near dark with no options.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Buzzing with energy I set up camp and cleaned myself up. While doing so two other cyclists (Patrick and Jamie) rode in. They set up hammocks and left to meditate with the sunset.<\/p>\n

I ate dinner. When they returned we talked late into the evening. They’re from Pittsburgh. When needing to lick up a truck in DC, they decided to bike there. Patrick has cycled in Thailand and Bali!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The morning started like every other morning\u2014packing up. Some days that’s fun. Other days you wonder why. I don’t know which day this was. I headed down the ramp to the hostel to pick up my battery\u2014left charging overnight\u2014and swap it with my phone. While Erica’s and Amanda’s gear was there, they must have walked … Continue reading “210616”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-touring"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3341"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3423,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3341\/revisions\/3423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}