Category: Cycling

Wednesday, October 16 – Thursday, October 17, 2019

Start: Lancaster, Pennsylvania
End: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mileage/cumulative: 78 / 1,075
Elevation Ascended/cumulative: 3,091′ / 26,385′
Weather: Cloudy, 40º at start; rain, 60º at finish; Winds: not much
Flat tires (entire group) day/cumulative: 4 / 9

Everyone went to bed in Lancaster knowing that the next day was going to be a race against the weather, which we would all lose. Rain would be chasing us all of the way to Philadelphia and the only question would be how far we could get before being caught. The radar map looked like a giant Pac-Man coming to swallow us.

Continue reading “Chicago to NYC – Day 21 and 22”

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Start: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
End: Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Mileage/cumulative: 59 / 997
Elevation Ascended/cumulative: 2,359′ / 23,294′
Weather: Sunny, 40º at start; cloudy, 67º at finish; Winds: mild but mostly in our face
Flat tires (entire group) day/cumulative: 0 / 5

We rolled out of Gettysburg with fresh memories of our battlefield bike tour and a memorable dinner at the historic Dobbin House Tavern. The Dobbin House was established in 1776, making it the oldest standing structure in the Gettysburg town limits. Originally constructed by the Reverend Alexander Dobbin for his family dwelling, the house was also a “station” on the Underground Railroad in the mid-1800s and, after the Battle of Gettysburg ceased, it served as a hospital for wounded soldiers on both sides. Today,  the house appears virtually the same as it did over 200 years ago. Dining there was a special experience.

Continue reading “Chicago to NYC – Day 20”

Monday, October 14, 2019

Start: Hagerstown, Maryland
End: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Mileage/cumulative: 36 / 938
Elevation Ascended/cumulative: 2,060′ / 20,935′
Weather: Sunny, 42º at start; sunny, 71º at finish;Winds: light
Flat tires (entire group) day/cumulative: 0 / 5

Well, I’m a few days behind writing about our adventure. I guess that means we’ve been having too much fun! 

Day 19 was another short ride but with over 2,000 feet of climbing in only 36 miles, it gave our legs a good workout after so many days of flatter routes. Most of the short rides on this trip have been due to lodging logistics on stretches where accommodations were limited. Today’s ride was abbreviated for a different reason – we were meeting a guide for a four-hour bike tour of the Gettysburg battlefield.

I’d last been to Gettysburg about 15 years ago and saw the battlefield by car, following the Park Service’s automobile audio tour. Seeing it on a bicycle provided a true sense of the difficult, undulating terrain that the Union and Confederate armies fought on. The Battle of Gettysburg took place over three days in July 1863 and our guide led us around the field in chronological order.  It’s difficult to describe the size of the battlefield and the level of destruction that occurred when these two armies converged on tiny Gettysburg, simply because that’s where the roads intersected.

Near the end of our tour we stood on Cemetery Ridge, where, on July 3, 1863, 6,500 Union troops watched 15,000 Confederate soldiers run out of the woods and, led by Major General George Pickett, charge over three-quarter mile of open ground susceptible to cannon fire the entire time. The ill-fated Pickett’s Charge resulted in over 6,000 Confederate casualties and marked the end of the Battle of Gettysburg. Continue reading “Chicago to NYC – Day 19”

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Start: Hancock, Maryland
End: Hagerstown, Maryland
Mileage/cumulative: 36 / 902
Elevation Ascended/cumulative: 1,680′ / 18,875′
Weather: Sunny, 40º at start; sunny, 60º at finish;Winds: light
Flat tires (entire group) day/cumulative: 0 / 5

After spending four complete days on the Great Allegheny Passage and the C&O Canal Towpath, this was the day we got re-introduced to automobiles. The first 11 miles were on the peaceful Western Maryland Trail before we popped back out on roads for the rest of our ride into Hagerstown, Maryland. Fortunately, most of it was on country backroads with beautiful panoramic views of farmland and fall foliage. It was a “history-free” day but that’s not to say we didn’t see lots of old buildings and landscapes that haven’t changed much over the years.

Continue reading “Chicago to NYC – Day 18”

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Start: Cumberland, Maryland
End: Hancock, Maryland
Mileage/cumulative: 60 / 866
Elevation Ascended/cumulative: 128′ / 17,195′
Weather: Cloudy, 42º at start; cloudy, 59º at finish;Winds: none
Flat tires (entire group) day/cumulative: 0 / 5

This was the one day on the itinerary that the entire group worried about. With the Great Allegheny Passage in the rear view mirror, the route for Day 17 would begin with 48 miles on the C&O (Chesapeake & Ohio) Canal Towpath, a dirt and stone path that runs along the C&O Canal from Cumberland, Maryland to Washington D.C. The towpath was originally built for the mules to walk beside the canal as they “towed” the boats through the waterway. Though construction began in 1828, the canal wasn’t completed until 1850, several years after the B&O Railroad had already reached Cumberland. The canal couldn’t compete with rail in terms of speed or capacity, and so it was nearly obsolete from the time of its opening, although it was operational until floods irreparably damaged it in 1924. What was once an active transportation link between the coalfields of the Allegheny Mountains and the urban markets at the upper reaches of the Chesapeake Bay is now a rugged path used by cyclists and hikers.

Continue reading “Chicago to NYC – Day 17”