It’s OK to pamper yourself.
Pumphouse at Homestead
As you read through the posts and watch the You Tube videos from the past week, you can piece together our eight day bicycle tour on the GAP and C&O Canal Trails. We were pretty happy with how things turned out. We tried to prepare ourselves as best we could as novice bicycle tourists. That worked for many situations while others required us to work out issues on the road. The bottom line was that we had a great time and made it to Washington D.C.
On Saturday morning, we left the Waterfront shopping district in Pittsburgh under cloudy skies and began cycling east. The day was pretty uneventful, as was the trail. After passing through urban factory towns of Homestead, Duquesne and McKeesport, we found ourselves in a pretty solitary setting for the rest of the day. We stopped for lunch at the Trail’s Edge in West Newton. We settled in for a nice night at the River’s Edge Campground just west of Connellsville.
I’ve been doing casual research on Chuck and my journey. My definition of casual research is Googling bicycling touring, backpack camping, and bike trails. I’ve actually assembled nice list of dependable web resources that have been helping me get up to speed as a novice. I thought I would share them with folks who are considering bicycle touring.
The two basic things you need to know before you embark on any trip are where the journey starts and where the journey ends. Right now Chuck and I don’t necessarily know that; at least the detail map coordinates for our GAP and C&O ride.
I’ve spent some time researching trail sites, personal blogs and trip journals for information on trailheads and their status. An interesting thing is that this research led me back to an old dependable web resource, Yahoo Groups. I don’t use them much any more, but they are still going strong in these days of increasing social networking.
Tom emailed me about a cycling clinic where the main topic is touring. This falls right in line with one of the main reasons I got back into biking aside from the benefits of getting out. Also since we have this trip in the planning stages I thought it will be good to go and get some extra information from folks that have been into touring for some time. Unfortunately Tom will be in New York when the clinic is so he won’t be able to attend.
I wrote to the organizer of the clinic and asked if their may be any spots left as it is being limited to 35 places. I also explained how a friend and myself were in the planning stages of doing a tour along the C&O Canal Way and the GAP and going from Pittsburgh to Washington DC and hopefully beyond.
The organizer wrote back and told me that one of the speakers actually as well as himself have done the same tour only starting from DC and heading west instead of east. He also gave me a coveted spot in the clinic witch I am certainly grateful. It is pretty awesome I will get to meet and speak to a couple folks that have recently done this trip as well. I can’t think of a better clinic to have been able to attend. Looking forward to April 30th.
Chuck
After considering different options and going back and forth on if I wanted to user a trailer for the trip of just load everything up with Panniers I deiced on panniers. I always kind of leaned that way anyway as think it will give me more choices and will enable me to balance the weight out better. Also in a few cases we may be in some spots where being longer by pulling a trailer may not allow for easy turns and manipulations around some objects.
Anyway I went ahead and ordered a ‘Surly Front Nice Rack’. I wanted one that I can mount low panniers on and at the same time one that had a shelf on top to load my sleeping bag or tent. I ordered it last week at Blimp City Bike and Hike. Andy gave me a call mid week to let me know it was in. I was going to have Andy install it but decided that I would just pick it up and do it myself so that I knew how it went on and everything. I have a tendency to do things myself most of the time so I know how to do it in the future should something need tweaked or fixed. Plus I enjoy doing things like this. Anyway I decided today to install it.
Courtesy of Microsoft Office On-line
People that know me know that I love inspirational stories. I learn so much from the trials and tribulations that others go though and emerge triumphantly and as a better person. I try to reflect that in my blog posts on Beariatric.com. I see my blog as somewhat of a teaching tool. I don’t think my experiences are news shattering, but I think they have some value to other folks on weight loss journeys.
Image courtesy of Microsoft Office Image Gallery
95 days… It’s hard to believe that Chuck and I will be departing on our Gap/C&O Canal Trail cycling journey in just a little over three months. The constant planner and organizer that I am, I’ve been reading just about any cycling touring journal on the Great Allegheny Passage and the C&O Canal Trail that I can find on-line. I’ve read the official printed trail guide a couple of times. I am becoming more comfortable with the ride as I become more knowledgeable.
This trip has really opened my eyes to touring by bicycle. There are some good web sites where people share their personal touring journals and their knowledge on touring. I like Crazy Guy on a Bike. Although not real glossy, it has some of the best journals. These web-base diaries are perhaps the most helpful thing I have found-to-date on traveling long distance via bicycle. There is nothing like reading a person’s real life experiences on the trail. Most people are brutally honest. I especially like journals where people admit to things they did wrong. It helps me not make the identical mistake.
