Blogging hiatus explained (sorta): C&O Canal towpath

I've been so busy trying to take over the world these last few weeks that I've forgotten about this lil' blog. I made a few weekend road trips here and there - wrote in my journal as I went and then burnt the sappy thoughts on the camp fire. I do, however, would like to share with you the C&O canal adventure.

Once upon a time, two crazies decided to take on a 184.5 unpaved miles bike trail in two days. One crazy tried "to kill" the other, while the other moaned about the pain of constant pedaling. One of them had never biked more than five miles; the other still wanted "to kill Trynn". One mid August weekend, SG and I bought our $14 bike racks and got too excited about a bike trip. Brother in Black daringly drove us to Cumberland, Maryland for our starting point. The day was beautiful. We load our food and camping gear (~15 lb/each) onto the racks. I won't go into details about how we shove two mountain bikes into Cammy's trunk. I will tell you that we used bungee cords and my dollar ropes to hold the trunk door down. I made a few stupid moves. One of which is not having proper gear, like biking shoes; instead, I was wearing sandals -- what an idiot (right photo). That was not such a big mistake. My seat cushion was not as comfortable as I thought. I could've easily pulled a hamstring if we had completed the towpath. My *ss was definitely aching for days. You would've noticed my pain if you had seen me walk. Aside the pain, which is good pain by the way, the towpath was amazingly beautiful.

We got to Cumberland at noon and biked 60 miles. We were not allowed to exceed 15 mph, and we didn't wear a helmet. SG enjoyed the Paw Paw tunnel very much, hehe. The last two miles on our first day was exceedingly painful for me. My pain threshold can only be pushed so far. Because of my constant complaint, SG agreed to stop and camp out. At that time her bike rack was falling apart and was holding on loosely in place by my dollar rope (lucky me!! ha.ha). Remember folks, rope and duct tapes are your two best friends for life! You don't know why or when you'll need them, but they're handy when you need them most. We were fortunate not to have experienced any violent summer tropical storms or have to use our supply of inner tubes. SG went down the Potomac River to relax her muscles. The Icy Hot patch helps too. For supper, I cooked curry-flavored rice pilaf with turkey slices. The two of us ate all four servings. My buttocks and legs were in so much pain that my brain could not register the loud banging of the train engines on the railroad switchyard during the night. I slept like a baby with her eyes rolled up. The next day, we biked to milepost 95 and got picked up by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Brother at Williamsport Visitor Center. This is another testimonial why I love my brothers.

I would recommend this adventure to anyone (not for the faint of heart). You could do 20 miles on Harper's Ferry or select some other segment of the C&O, and it shoudl be lovely. It would be much more enjoyable if you plan it on three to four days for the whole path. Leave some time to check out the local towns and the local shops. You'll probably look a little silly from exhaustion, but no one would dare laugh at you; instead, they would leave a shocking look to their faces when you tell them your trek. We had one lady that was speechless after we told of our lil expedition...And no...we did not do this for a cause, we just felt like biking 184.5 miles (though we only made 95 miles). For more information, check out the C&O Canal Bicycling Guide. Make sure you bring a friend or a group; it's more fun that way. Then again, you have to watch your back cuz SG would try "to kill" you along the way.