Hi Friends, I had the best year of riding. Ever. This was the year I took up bike touring and camping, and it has ignited an insatiable hunger in me to do more of it. I was on a club ride, riding next to Katie, and I said, Club riding is good, but it is not my favorite kind of riding. I want to do adventure riding, but I need a friend to do it with, and I need to have riding chemistry with her.
“I want to do a bike trip out East,” she said. “Want to do the GAP?” I asked. “Ok,” she said. “What’s the GAP?” And that was how this trip came to be. Now, we were quite the pair. She rides a carbon Trek Domane and I took my most favorite raspberry Rivendell. I offered her a Platypus but she declined. She had never ridden anywhere loaded; she has done a lot of “tours” where she rides in a group but has all her stuff hauled. She is resourceful and managed to get enough bags on her bike to make a 150 mile ride work. She was nervous about her tires (maybe 38s?). I made all the arrangements. Pam is the boss of me, and she said I had to try Warm Showers, and here were the hosts to contact. I had to sign up, and then with zero reviews on my profile, hope the hosts would let me pass simply because I am Pam’s friend. (Have I mentioned how much I and everyone else adore Pam Murray?) We drove to Pittsburgh and stayed at a WS house our first night. The couple was lovely and everything was as Pam said, and we had a great late evening chat. We were out the door at 0430 to catch Amtrak to Cumberland. I was so nervous about getting our bikes on the train. What a dumb setup Amtrak has for this. I had to unload the bags and then was supposed to lift the bike aloft into the waiting hands of a woman attendant who was up on some platform, rolling the bikes onto a train car. Katie’s light Trek was no problem, but my Rivendell with its wide bars and heavier weight made this very awkward. I had left some things on the bike because I couldn’t carry all of it. At home, I lift the bike overhead onto a storage rack, but this was different. Now, men have this way of magically appearing and using their God-given strength to save the day, and that’s what happened here. This man was riding the C&O and he was not to be deterred from lifting my bike. HERO. With the bikes safely on the train, we took our seats. We arrived in Cumberland and it was raining. It would rain for the next two days, with nary a pause. We rolled into town starving and in need of real coffee.The restaurant was darling and we were immediately swarmed by a group of retirees who had been chatting over breakfast. “Larry” was the trail president (or something) and he had a lot he wanted to tell us about the GAP. This set the tone for the whole trip - it would be the people we met that marked our adventure, not the ride. We took a selfie with Larry and now fortified, began our 23 mile climb out of rainy Cumberland. The trail is beautiful, though we missed a lot of beauty as we fought through rain. The trail was soaked and the mud was formidable. I felt like my pedal bearings had gone bad, but it was the mud and debris that were cycling through my drivetrain. We shifted cautiously, as we were worried our derailers and chains would snap. The bikes were absolutely thrashed. Katie had no fenders, but the seat bag she had took a lot of the damage and she had only a small mud stripe up her back. My Backabike bags kept all my things dry, which was a relief as I did not use any plastic liners. Our next WS host met us at Fort Hill in his pickup. I unloaded the bags on my Riv and as I was warning him that the bike is heavy, he effortlessly lifted it and set it in his pickup. “See?” I told Katie. Men with their generous strength, showing up and sharing it again. We pulled up to a gorgeous log home in the woods of Pennsylvania. “D” gave us a hose so we could at least attempt to clean up our drive trains. We were disgusting. The bikes were worse. Our hosts did not mind. We headed straight to the shower. “A” had set out a charcuterie board and drinks. D put our bikes in the garage. After we were clean and changed they announced that they would take us out to dinner, their treat. Dinner was lovely, but our hosts were lovelier. I slept like a baby in my own room in a queen bed. The next day we awoke to a huge breakfast. We were sent out the door with “fry pies”, a glazed pastry with fruit filling, shaped like a half moon and with crimped edges. “The hunters go crazy for these,” said A. Meanwhile, it was pouring outside. We waited for a break in the rain, and then D dropped us back off on the trail. The day was more of the same; rain and mud. We were warm and there was no wind, so it was bearable. We made it to Smithton, where the hosts at Adele’s B&B awaited us. The rain had stopped and they had a hose and rags ready for our bikes. When the bikes were clean, they stored them in the cellar. We took showers and headed to the only restaurant in town, a 1 block walk from the B&B. We came “home” and spent the evening on the second-floor covered patio. We awoke to another giant, hot breakfast and coffee and were treated to the story of the building and some town history from Christine while Dan made spinach and feta omelets. You cannot imagine people more dear. I was not surprised that Christine hugged us on our way out the door. Finally, the weather cooperated. We rode our last 40 miles to Pittsburgh under partly sunny skies. We took photos, talked to other riders. When we got to Pittsburgh we did not dally, but loaded up and drove home to Michigan. I bought “gear floss” and cleaned my drivetrain the next day. Tons of Prolink. I conditioned the saddle and grips and used T9 to address rust on bolts and in eyelets. The fork has a decent paint chip that is new. I was completely unbothered by this. I earned that paint chip. If this bike is going to have adventures, it is also going to have paint chips. I’m at peace with it. A year ago, I would have mourned. I will take a moment and talk gear. I think a Platypus is perfect for this adventure. Backabikes are waterproof enough for rain rides. I had a rain skirt, rain jacket, and Keen sandals - 5 stars. Nearly all my clothing was merino wool. It dried quickly and kept me the right temperature. I will be buying more of it. Also, dyno lighting. We went through some dark tunnels and we needed lights. U locks: what a waste of time. I brought 2 (one for each of us) and we did not use them one time. I schlepped those dang locks along for 150 miles UNNECESSARILY. I did not wish I had something I lacked. I only wish I left those locks behind. If you made it this far, thanks for reading. There’s an Instagram reel below, if you want to see our setup and our trip in living color. Leah https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPJyVNwkUQa/?igsh=bXVrMHQ1c2Nqdmlp -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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