I was glad to have some adventure to tack onto the rather cushy GAP/C&O Canal trip. I still have lots of family on the East Coast, and whenever I travel I look for excuses to ride, so this is my fourth big tour in the mid-Atlantic area; most recently Erie Canal/Finger Lakes in 2024, and Philly through the Delaware Water Gap up to Poughkeepsie and back to Jersey, way back in 2001. I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite area to ride, but I’ll find fun stuff to do wherever I go. The mix of lodging types (friends and family, Warmshowers, traditional hotel, and primitive camping) provided some variety to the days and nights.
I don’t think I’ll do another tour that’s predominantly rail-trails. I understand the appeal, but riding in similar terrain for hours on end just doesn’t isn’t the experience I seek when bike touring. There are times when a rail trail provides an important link in an area where there aren’t good alternatives, but I’ll always want to string together some mountain climbs and rural roads, with an occasional rail corridor, rather than the other way around.
I did a better job, compared to the Finger Lakes trip, in keeping the days short enough that I wasn’t under time pressure. With the exception of having to catch the ferry in Highlands, the rest of the time I could afford to go off-route, check out a museum, or throw some golf discs. That’s the way I like to tour, and it begins with choosing spacing that doesn’t force me to hammer all day.
I got lucky with weather and mechanicals; I didn’t have so much as a flat tire the entire time (on either trip), and other than the final headwind, the only rough spot was the downpour that I managed to escape. Partly planning wisdom, partly dumb luck.
I’ll consider the linearity of the road network in future trips. The terrain of central Pennsylvania is similar to that of western New York, with lots of short, steep climbs and descents, but the curviness of the roads made riding in Pennsylvania more fun. That’s probably generalizable; the curvier the road network, the more likely it’ll be good bike touring.
I used BikeFlights to get my shipping case from Pittsburgh to Jersey City, and then to ship the bike home from Jersey. I would totally use them again; it reduced my stress of transportation logistics substantially. And I’d trust the shipping companies to be better than airlines about not breaking shit. The shipping home came out to $120, which is more than the $50 the airline would have charged (unless they decided to charge more), but it also meant that I didn’t need a upsized taxi on both sides of the trip. Worth it if you can wait for ground shipping.
Overall, a month on the road, over 1200km of riding, plus a couple weeks of tourist fun in several cool cities. I’m blessed to be able to continue to have these kinds of adventures.
