C&O Canal: Day 1

This post is about Friday, July 26, 2019. The day when we take off for the bike trip has finally arrived. The weather forecast for Little Orleans, MD where we will start our trip is a high of 89F, no rain, but humidity in the 50-60% range. We get up at around 7:00 am, hang out with tea/coffee and I make a run for bagels. Bela makes us पोहा for breakfast -- I swear to you, this is the best friggin' पोहा I've ever had in my life. After a filling breakfast and showers, we load our panniers with our stuff. We distribute the common items among ourselves so that the load is balanced, and check tire pressures on the bikes, load the bikes onto the bike carrier, dump our panniers in my RAV4 and off we go! Kedu, Rohit and myself off on our bike adventure. It's about 10:25 am when we finally head off.

The plan is to drive to Little Orleans, MD and park at a C&O Canal Trailhead there, unload our bikes and ride for about 40 miles until we reach Williamsport MD. There we will stay at the local Red Roof Inn for the night. On the way there, Rohit made reservations for two rooms at the hotel for one night. We stop outside Hagerstown MD at a Subway for lunch at around 12:45 pm. By the time we arrive at the trailhead it's approximately 2:05 pm and the sun is scorching hot. The parking lot is completely exposed and by the time we unload the bikes and install the panniers, we are already hot and sweaty.

Based on the way the shadow of the trees is falling, I mentally come to a conclusion on which way is south. I see a biker on the towpath and yell out to him, "Hey, which way is south?!"  He points in exactly the opposite direction to which I was going to head. 😂

Off we go!

Initially, we stopped quickly a couple of times just to make some minor adjustments, but soon enough we were riding at a rate of about 7 minutes to a mile -- which is roughly the average we maintained throughout the trip. After about four miles of riding we came to a spot where there was a boat launch and a small canoe and kayak rental place -- very primitive. But there were kayakers/tubing enthusiasts emerging from the river. They took one look at us and pointed out the fact that we could switch to the Western Maryland Rail Trail (WMRT) which is parallel to the towpath and is paved. The WMRT runs parallel to the towpath for about 25 miles (as of this writing -- it is continually being extended) to the towpath and is much easier to ride. It was about 50 ft. to the east of the towpath and there was a small connecting path that led us to it. Voila!

We had decided to start the first day in Little Orleans because I thought that 40 miles to Williamsport MD would be a reasonable ride for the first day. I think we should've aimed for a bit less on a hot and sultry day like it turned out to be. About 15 miles into the ride, we reached the pretty little town of Hancock MD. We took a short stop there. I checked out the C&O bike shop there: it's a small place but it could be helpful under the right circumstances.

Hancock MD, 7/26/2019, 4:15 pm

The WMRT continues after Hancock for another 10 miles. Right before it ends, there's a sign that says "You might want to turn right here and make your way to the towpath, because otherwise you'll have to take Rt. 56 and that's not easy."  Well, we ignored the sign and continued to the end of the WMRT and took Rt. 56 to the towpath. This was possibly the hardest riding of the day as Rt. 56 had ups and downs and the road was totally exposed. Which isn't fun in 89F heat.

At around 6:30 pm a few miles before our destination for the day we were somewhat wasted. We had to stop to take a water and gel break. On a 10-mile hike a few years ago, I hit the wall at mile 8. The leader of the group had these energy gels in his pack and he shared one with me. I was a new man! The gel contains maltodextrin and a bunch of salts. Taken with water, it really provides a shot of energy and salts to a body that feels it can't physically go on. All three of us had a gel each and some water. Personally, I'm sure it provided us with the energy to go on.

Water and gel break, 6:30 pm.

After about 30 minutes, we arrived at a gorgeous fall in the river. This was our last break of the day.

A little after mile marker 100 on the towpath, we had to take detour into Williamsport. It's a tiny little town with just one hotel: The Red Roof Inn. We checked in and they were able to give us rooms next to each other on the first floor. We stacked the bikes in Kedu's room.

Showered, then off to the pizzeria across the street (which had a beer store right next door) for a cold beer and delicious pizza. Good night!