Pitt Drift Trip Report
Wednesday, May 18: Cumberland, MD to Hagerstown, MD
Despite my deep sleep, 4:30 am came toooo soon. I woke up pretty easily and packed up quickly. I had prepped a lot the night before anticipating the wake up (filled up my water— and also stored it in the fridge which is a great hack— for especially hot days you could even freeze your water bladder). I was one of the first out to the van again, and I waited and packed everyone’s bags as they brought them with the help of my chore group. We had breakfast, and a local alum brought coffee but I skipped that. There was definitely anticipation for the long day ahead. During our route meeting, we decided sweep the same way we had been— standing in a circle with a foot in and spinning a bottle. The girl it landed on was newer to riding, and this would be her longest ride ever. I knew she was nervous about even finishing it, so I volunteered to sweep in her place. (Fun fact: I swept a 112 mile day on my cross-country trip in 2012!) I felt more confident with the distance and with playing the role of sweep/helping people. I also felt sooo much better after those salt tablets (and I took two more before the ride). After I volunteered, Walt also volunteered to sweep with me. This was cool because Walt was actually on my cross-country trip with me! A reunion sweep! I know he probably volunteered because of the same reasons I did, but it was nice that someone wanted to ride a bike with me all day.
(Image description: Our feet in a circle with the fate-deciding bottle in the middle. Can you guess which foot is mine? (It’s the foot with the moon/sun Sandler and socks with bikes. I am nothing if not high fashion.))
As sweep, we had to be last to leave the host. Finally it was time to go— I think around 7:30 am (why it took us so long in the mornings, I do not know), and we made our way to the new trail: the C&O Canal Towpath. While the GAP trail was a converted railway (I think), the C&O Canal Towpath was, well, a towpath. So, in many sections there were two small dirt/rocky tracks with grass in between them. It was very beautiful to ride, with the morning fog and the water on one (and sometimes both) side. But it was definitely bumpier terrain.
(Image description: Sign at the beginning of the C&O Towpath. Don’t be fooled by the bricks— that won’t last long.)
(Image description: This is what a lot of the C&O Towpath looks like— two dirt paths with grass in the middle. It doesn’t look that bad but it was a bit bumpy with rocks!)
Walt and I would ride until we caught up to a group resting, then we would wait for them to go on and continue riding. With the bumpy terrain, I didn’t mind the breaks. Because it was a 90 mile day, we would have two lunch breaks. The first one was in Paw Paw, West Virginia (still no state signs) at a little park. There were a lot of gnats at this park. I also knew that there would be an unpleasant detour after this park and wanted to spend minimal time there (but of course had to wait for people to leave first). I ate a PB&J and an orange (I’m pretty predictable), and I had some of a sugar-free Monster that one of the leaders got for us Sweep! The caffeine boost was great. I couldn’t finish it all, so I hid it in the van for second lunch.
After lunch was the dreaded detour. The Paw Paw Bridge was closed for construction, so bikers had to take a side trail that went up and down a very big hill for 1.5 miles. The hill was still trail, so it wasn’t as scary as the hill two days before, but it was too steep and technical to ride up which meant hike-a-bike! For all that I dreaded this, it wasn’t as bad as I anticipated. Maybe it was the caffeine, but it was probably because we brought the Disney tunes back out for the hike! I don’t know if Walt had it on a random station or what, but the songs were literally perfect. We had Moana’s How Far I’ll Go. We had the classic Go the Distance. We even had You’ve Got a Friend in Me which admittedly is not my favorite song but it literally has the lyrics “when the road looks rough ahead, and you’re mile and miles from your nice warm bed, you just remember what your old pal said, boy, you’ve got a friend in me.” So many Disney songs just work for endurance events, haha. We made it to the top and elected to walk our bikes back down. There were other riders around us who were riding it, but it didn’t feel safe to us— too steep and technical. We made it back to the trail, and the 1.5 mile detour took us about an hour, but I felt accomplished. Back on the bike!
(Image description: Elevation profile of the day featuring the big hill aka hike-a-bike.)
(Image description: Selfie of me and Walt walking down the hill. Smiles 100% attributed to Disney music.)
Eventually, we caught up to two riders, one of whom was struggling. She decided that she would call the van to pick her up because she felt too bad, so we found a nice park that the van could access and waited with her under a shady tree. It was pretty hot outside. Since we were sweep, we had to wait with her, but I was grateful for the break and chance to take my shoes off. I think we waited around 30-40 minutes. Once the van came, I stole another sip of my Monster, and we continued on our way.
There was a dilemma ahead. At one point, the Maryland Rail Trail runs mostly parallel to the Towpath. The Rail Trail is a wonderfully smooth paved road, and the Towpath’s bumpiness was getting to us. The rider who didn’t get in the van was still riding with sweep, and she was struggling a bit too. We knew that some riders had taken the paved path even though they shouldn’t have since it wasn’t on the cue sheet. This causes a dilemma because if riders are on different paths, sweep can’t make sure everyone is okay. However, it was too late for that so we opted to take the paved path and to make sure everyone had checked in at lunch 2 so nobody was missed from the towpath. The paved path was much needed. I forget how many miles we had on it— maybe 14 or so?— but it was a welcome respite for our hands and butts. I tried playing a riddle game to occupy the rider who was struggling, but I don’t think it worked. Eventually, we made it to lunch #2! And there was apple pie! And my Monster!
The rider we were with elected to stop at lunch #2, so Walt & I ate fairly quickly and then went on our way. We were starting to cut it close on time, and we still had 30ish miles to go. As I said in the previous day’s report, I had a personal goal on this trip to not get in the van. On my previous trips, I would use the van a lot— sometimes for I think valid reasons (one time I literally lost my glasses and then ran out of contacts when they kept drying up so I couldn’t see for three days until we got to a mail stop where I had contacts delivered) but sometimes I think I could have pushed myself harder. So, that was my goal. And I knew that I might have to surrender that goal on this day when I volunteered to sweep but I really didn’t want to. As we made our way out of second lunch, I learned that I would definitely be surrendering the goal— there was a group of riders who elected to stop at the end of the trail on our cue sheet and be vanned the last 7 miles into town. Due to time, Walt and I would have to van with them. I made peace with this because at least I would have done all of the C&O miles— the road riding to the host was just extra (and I would learn later that the route on the road was not good and somewhat dangerous). Walt and I booked it, and it felt like we were flying (really we were going like 14.5 mph, but this was a lot faster than the 11 we had been doing a lot of the day). Then… the whammies began. First we had to stop because I got a message that one rider had gotten separated and gone too far, so we worked to figure out how to help her get back to trail where the group was waiting for the van. We resolved that and went back to flying. And then… I got a flat!!! Nooo. I was prepared to deal with the flat and Walt helped me change it while I updated our leader, but she told us we wouldn’t have time to get to the end of the trail (which was only like 7 miles away at this point) because the van was almost there. We were right by a road, so the van would come get us. I was pretty disheartened. We made it 78 miles, which is not insignificant, but I did not want to get in the van. I had no choice, though, and felt comforted at least that it was not because I had given up. Had I been allowed, I could have finished the day. And sweep is an important job, and I was happy to volunteer to do it so some newer riders wouldn’t feel an extra pressure on such a big day. The reason we weren’t allowed to continue was because traffic gets worse later in the day and there was some road riding, which was already pretty bad, and because our host had dinner and a presentation for the group at 6:30 pm.
(Image description: Selfie of me holding my flat tube.)
The van came and we did some maneuvering to get everyone and their bikes to fit. And we drove to the host. Womp womp.
(Image description: A peacock on the side of the road! Very cool.)
The host, though, made up for it all. We were staying at a shelter which is like B&B host Heaven. Once we got there the presentation had already started, so we sat down to listen in. We got to hear from two women who works for the local Habitat for Humanity, who we’d be volunteering with the next day, and from a woman who worked at the shelter. I was sad to have missed some of their talk because it was so interesting. The whole point of this trip is to raise awareness around affordable housing issues, and sometimes that gets forgotten in the excitement of biking all day. So I like to soak up any opportunity we have to work directly with the cause. During and after the talk they fed us, but it was not vegan so I ordered Indian food through DoorDash. And that Indian food, once it arrived, was amazing!
(Image description: My delicious, albeit not the most photogenic, Indian food feat. vegetable korma and garlic naan.)
Reasons a shelter (which we had all go ourselves as it’s only fully operational in the winter) is B&B host Heaven: we had a full kitchen. We had BEDS. We had lots and lots of showers and bathrooms (including one completely private one). And… we had LAUNDRY! Having laundry at the host is pretty unheard of in B&B, and it was so so nice and made our lives a lot easier.
(Image description: My bed in the shelter. There are some motivational quotes on the wall— “Did you think to pray?” and “Worry ends where faith in God begins.” I am spiritual but not religious… but sometimes I find these types of quotes condescending given my struggles with mental illness.)
A few people contemplated going out because we had a later curfew on a build day eve and it had been a rider’s birthday the previous day. I thought about going out but decided against it. It had been a long day and I had a lot of chores to do with laundry, still needed a shower, etc. I had also started my period despite my attempts to manipulate my birth control so I wouldn’t, so I was not feeling super. I found a sheet for the bed which was great because I don’t have a full sleeping bag, I have a quilt (which is a lighter option for backpacking). Build day eves are also nice because you don’t have to get all your bike stuff ready for the next day. So, I chilled, Katrina finished our laundry (and folded mine! So nice!), and went to bed. Once again I was in a side room with less people. I had hopes that I would read but it didn’t happen. Tooooo tired.
(Image description: My watch with final mileage for the day. 77.57. Still salty I couldn’t finish those last miles!)
it was fun though. 
