TOP: John and Mark relaxing at a typical canal house. Lumpy is only 34 miles behind at this point
2nd: Dam on the Potomac River
3rd: Typical canal lock (not ehow narrow the width, a far cry from the current Erie Canal locks
4th: C&O Canal start in Cumberland, MD. Very nicely done
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We overnighted in Cumberland, with about 80-85 miles to go. Our original plan was to make Harpers Ferry yesterday, but we already had 90+ miles in, and our backs, necks, wrists, and manly parts had taken a beating on the stone trail, so we elected to bed down for the night. Besides, there was beer and ice cream nearby.
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The morning broke to a light coolness and fog coming off the river, but it was a great morning for cycling. John broke with his usual "sprint from the start" mentality; at about mile 30 we reeled him in and then pelotoned for another 20 or so miles. As we approached the little town of Hancock, we had to stop to clear a tree that was down on the trail. In talking with folks coming the other way, they told us about a minor detour to a parallelling rail trail that was paved...as we were starving, it seemed like a good option.
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Little did we realize that between the now tailwind, mark's thin tires and aero bars (yes, on his mountain bike...geekasaurous), pavement, and john's need for 2 MORE milkshakes that we would fly there. I think we never got under 23mph for the whole stretch, and walkers were bailing into the brush to get out of our way. It turned out to be a great move, both mentally and logistically, as when we got to Hancock we discovered "Weavers" (genuflect please), the best food stop of the trip. Weavers was awesome....fresh cooked turkey sandwiches on homemade bread, homemade pumpkin muffins, and 6 packs of chocolate chip cookies...which EACH of us bought and devoured (and you wonder why I put weight on during these rides...). Hands down the best restaurant of the trip. We spent a couple of hours there, eating and gaspiping, and then headed on in towards the finish in DC.
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The trail became more crowded as we got towards DC, and we met john's wife at a major tourist site just before the actual finish (easier logistically). There was some weird religious sect there running around with about 20 kids each, and crawling out on the rocks on the Potomac rapids (a SERIOUS set of rapids). The park police were at their wits end yelling at them (and their young kids) to get off of the rocks astride the rapids, and have a brain. Since nobody died, I guess god was on their side this time. Weird group of people...what the heck were they thinking
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"Weaver's is my heaven" Lumpy out
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