Chicago to NYC – Days 14, 15, and 16

Wednesday, October 9 – Friday, October 11, 2019

Start: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
End: Cumberland, Maryland
Mileage each day/cumulative: 61-58-31 / 806
Elevation Ascended each day/cumulative: 535′ – 1,115′ – 390′ / 17,067′
Weather: Each day… Sunny!!! High 40s at start; low 70sº at finish;Winds: gentle
Flat tires (entire group) day/cumulative: 0 / 5

If you’re in a mall, the GAP is where people younger than us buy clothing. If you’re in London and a sign reads “MIND THE GAP”, you should watch your step when boarding the Underground train. If you’re in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the GAP means only one thing – Great Allegheny Passage, a 150 mile trail that extends from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Maryland. It is an iconic trail for bicyclists, pedestrians, and in some sections, the occasional horse. We spent three days riding the entire GAP and rather than posting about the daily rides, I’ve combined them into one post. 

Much of the Great Allegheny Passage is built on the abandoned grades of the Western Maryland Railway and the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad. The GAP can trace its beginning to 1978, when the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy purchased the first  piece of property. The GAP’s first 9-mile section opened in 1986 and in 2013, thirty-five years after construction first began, the final GAP section was completed.

At the Cumberland terminus, the GAP connects with the C&O Canal Towpath, making it possible to reach Pittsburgh from Washington D.C. on a continuous, non-motorized corridor, running a total of 335 miles. When we leave Cumberland on Day 17, we will ride a portion of the C&O. 

Our ride on the GAP began with simple directions. Get on the trail in Pittsburgh, head toward Cumberland, and keep riding. We launched this section of our journey at Point State Park’s water fountain, where Pittsburgh’s Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers converge to form the Ohio River. The trail took us out of downtown, over the Hot Metal Bridge and out of the city, where we met up with our friend Deb. We rode across the country with Deb but never get tired of riding our bikes with her. On this first day, we would be riding to her hometown.

Leaving Pittsburgh, we passed defunct and operational steel plants. The trail’s surface turned from asphalt to crushed limestone after mile 15 and would remain that way until the end. We rolled along the Monongahela River, before taking a turn and following the Youghiogheny River. The trail was wooded and a bit rough in a few spots. For the cycling nerds, we rode titanium bikes with 28cm tires. Our bike frames absorbed much of the ride but our hands and shoulders were sore 61 miles later when we finished in Deb’s home town of Connellsville, PA, where we had the privilege to meet her parents and have a home cooked meal prepared by Deb’s wife, Julie. It was a wonderful way to end our first day on the GAP.

Our second day on the GAP picked up where we left off in Connellsville. This is a town that once had the most millionaires per capita in the USA, all from the steel business. Connellsville was known for its coke ovens, a process where coal was burned in ovens (more like caves) cut into the stone along the railroad tracks. Once the impurities of the coal were burned off, it was loaded onto trains and sent up to Pittsburgh’s steel plants. We rolled out of Connellsville with Deb leading the group and highlighting some points of interest from her childhood. She would ride with us all day to our destination of Meyersdale, PA. The GAP from Connellsville to Meyersdale was smooth and more scenic than our first day, with postcard views of the Youghiogheny River and bridges to cross, making the 58 miles go by pretty quickly. When we finished in Meyersdale, we bid farewell to Deb and got ready for our last day on the GAP.

Day three was the shortest at only 31 miles but it was easily the most epic. When we thought of a fall bike ride from Chicago to New York City, this was the kind of day we imagined. Perfect temperatures, blue skies, and sweeping vistas of fall foliage. Just over eight miles into the day, we crossed the Eastern Continental Divide, the highest point of the GAP at 2,392′ and where the Gulf of Mexico watershed and the Chesapeake Bay watershed are separated.. From there, it was literally all downhill for the last 23 miles into Cumberland. Along the way, we rode through the 3/4 mile long Big Savage Tunnel, built in 1911, and crossed the Mason-Dixon line, which formed the Pennsylvania-Maryland border. From there, we flew down the path all of the way to the GAP Mile Zero marker to commemorate three spectacular days on all 150 miles of the Great Allegheny Passage. 

Here are some photos from the three days, in no particular order: