Bicycling the Entire C&O Canal In One Day
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ส.ค. 2024
- As a personal boundary test and the general pursuit of adventure, I set out to go end-to-end on the C&O Canal Towpath trail in one day. Things got kicked off around 7:00 AM up in Cumberland, MD, and I eventually came to an end in Georgetown, Washington D.C. somewhere around 1:30 AM, It was a super long day of peddling, but absolutely a great ride packed with many mini-adventures. The advertised total of 184.5 miles turned into 190.4 once detours were accounted for, along with getting lost a bit once I got into the city and some photo op riding up in Cumberland.
Many thanks to my wife for meeting me at multiple points along the way to sort out technical difficulties and the super critical flashlight she brought me in Carderock after my primary headlight died on me. Backup & headlamp were doing all they could but getting extra light on the last 10 miles or so was pretty valuable seeing that it was a bit choppier than it had been.
As always, the C&O trial was peppered with great people and tons of wildlife, including a ton of bats, a sleepy raccoon, way more deer than I’ve seen on it before, a few snakes and what may have been a black bear.
Special shoutout to the people at C&O Bicycle (www.candobicycle.com/) for a speedy repair on a misbehaving tire.
Super fun and a boatload of great memories.
Thanks for watching!
Bike: 2022 Trek Checkpoint SL5
/ rickzeleznik
rickzeleznik.com/
www.canaltrust.org
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"She took an entire weekend to entertain my nonsense . . ." I've ridden from Williamsport down to Mile -0-, and am going to do the Cumberland to Georgetown ride over 3 days this may as a "preliminary." If my fitness is okay, in the fall I'll do the whole 185 in a day, too. Thanks for the video. Super helpful.
Taking more time is definitely gonna be more enjoyable from a historical sight seeing perspective. After our trip from DC to Pittsburgh a little later, I feel like the right amount is probably arou d 50 miles a day if you want to enjoy stuff along the way
I did the c@o from Georgetown in 2022. At age 74 took.me 4 days. The detour at paw paw when the contractor took you up the mountain with his 4 wheeler was something to experiance. Then you were on your own going down the other side. Glad I had my hybrid with 32mm knobby tires.
You obviously had a different detour.
I heard rumors of such a 4 wheeler when we did the full c&o and GAP later that summer, but it seemed like they only operated on certain days. With all the stuff we were carrying, it would have been awesome
Nice going. Enjoyed the video. Im a few miles from you. I love the C&O but at a slow 8mph pace camping. Good job
This is in the Top 10 videos I've seen on TH-cam this year. I just needed to add that.
Ride safe bro ! From Ontario Canada...
Well done!! Me and my wife biked from Pittsburgh to DC in june of this year for our 25th anniversary. We spread it out over a week. Very nice trip really enjoyed it.
Great work, Rick!! Inspiring!!!
Thank you very much! Anything that can help give people the idea that they can just get out there and do weird stuff is a great thing in my book. Those kinds of videos are certainly what inspire me
Excellent! In Germany we call this a RadMarathon! On someways we ride 280 kilometers a day. RadMarathon the C&O😅😅😅
Happy Birthday to all Marines today!
Great finish Rick!
Thanks Dustin!
Just Amazing 😆❤️.
Thats a long time in the saddle man. Nicely done! Video also really well put together
Thanks dude! Yeah, it was a pretty long day. I'd been riding a lot this past year so thankfully the butt was at least at peace with it. Hope all is good with you guys
great video man! im aiming to do it in one day this april so this is super motivating. And then im gunning for pitt to dc in one day next!
Im just glad to add to the pool of content out there :) I think i watched every video on the subject 20 times before making the trip
Really cool Rick!
Thanks Mark! Oddly enough, we just finished the full c&o / gap ride this afternoon. It was absolutely brutal with all the gear we were hauling
Hey brother. US ARMY here. You ever want to do this again got me up. I'm hearing up for GAP to C&O in 2023
Hell yeah!
@@rickzeleznik oh shit you responded 🤙. Wasn't expecting that. I'm down here in inwood wv. If I give you my email can you hit me up?
Looks like the surface has been improved from when l did it back in the 80’s, then as l remember it was all dirt. It would have pretty tuff to do it in a day, l think we took 3 days.
If you want to do the Cumberland to Mile -0- ride again, in one day, hit me up. I'll aim for sometime between high summer and the September. The detours that you had to suffer on your ride are now no longer ... detours, so it is a little bit straighter a shot. By June 20, 2024, Sunup will be at 5:47AM and Sunset will be at 8:46PM. So, that's 15 hours of daylight. I believe one can do this ride in 12 hours without too much trouble. That would be a 15.41MPH pace. Not very fast.
For anyone trying to find Mile Marker 0, just do a search on TH-cam for videos that will get you to the marker. The best one is from Noble Invention Bike Touring. It worked for my daughter and me after a fantastic ride form Pittsburgh.
When we went back on our trip from DC to Pittsburgh, we made sure to get to the right spot this time :) - largely made possible from watching videos like you said
This is FREAKING OUTSTANDING!!! The video, sound, and editing quality is off the chart!!! I'm looking to do the GAP and C&O and ran across this. Fabulous job Rick!! Sub'd!!
Nice video, just completed it ourselves on a tandem over three and a half days, August 13-16, for our 42nd anniversary, two dry days and two wet days. The detour at Pawpaw is very challenging, but the scenery was great. We couldn't find the start sign as well.
Where did you guys stay along the way?
@@rickzeleznik in Brunswick we stayed at the travelodge, at the very top of the hill, in Williamsport, Bay Farms BNB, very nice place with big breakfast, At Pawpaw, Airbnb, C&O Canal bugalow, very nice, not much to do or eat in Pawpaw.
@@terryjefferson5637 I've been very curious about Brunswick. Rarely see it get any coverage or references on the C&O videos
Wow.
I'm planning on doing this ride the last week of June 2023 with my son and daughter, I hope the Paw Paw Tunnel is open by then.
That sounds awesome! It looks like parts are open and there's a shuttle running.
Semper Fi Devildog
Semper Fi & Happy Birthday 🎂
👏 congrats. What a bummer with that flat.
I plan to ride the C&O in one day this May or June. Fortunately the construction at MM 88 should be done any day. I'm also hoping the the Paw Paw tunnel will reopen soon. That should save me a good amount of time. I will definitely start earlier in the morning (~5:00 am) to maximize daylight.
Getting ready for a 100 mile training ride tomorrow.
That should have you in daylight by the time you hit paw paw, so that should be good. I intended to start earlier, but one thing after another...
The cops gave you the wrong instructions! 😂 Awesome trip
Definitely, but it at least got me back to the canal. I went a few blocks where I was just "in the city" instead of anywhere near the canal :)
Cool 😎
Bruh, that paw paw detour is something else lol
When my wife and I did it a month or so later, it was a lot harder than coming south. I think they have a whacky shuttle up there now to get people around it
Congrats! From someone who rides the C&O regularly, that’s a tough ride! Way worse than 190 miles on a paved road. I’ve done the route between DC and Pittsburgh twice now and the GAP is way nicer than the C&O.
Terrain was worse, but i definitely appreciated the consistent shade, until the sun started going down i guess :)
rick looks super old in the video (riding) but young during the recap. I guess it true, glasses, a bike helmet and a grandpa shirt adds 20 years.
Lol. That's the 2nd time in the last 2 weeks that someone's called my costco button downs grampa shirts 🥺. Fwiw, I feel 20 years older that I did last summer.
I would do this on my Giant Cypress.
we did it over 4 days about a week before you. I got a flat as well after paw paw detour.... maybe the rocks are a bit sharp in that section. we got stuck in a major hail storm because of the flat tire and had to seek refuge in a porta potty.
Im conflicted, part of me would prefer the hail. Yeah, some of that stuff seemed super sharp, like riding over a mile of arrow heads. I know at least one of mine came from a stick, but i had suspected that the other issues came from that loose sharp stuff on the eastern side of paw paw
@@rickzeleznik buying high quality tubes is important too..... I had packed extras, but they were crap from amazon and i had a crappy portable bike pump that i couldn't quite get the PSI high enough so tube kept deflating. i bought a better hand pump with a gauge and more tubes from that CO bike shop, thank goodness that place exists!
@@erikwhitesides I was running tubeless, but I barely understand that stuff. I also had more air in the tires than I should have for the terrain
I once camped out behind that bike shop. I don't know if they use the shelter for camping anymore, but they even had showers.
I swear, that bike shop saves my bacon every time I'm in the area
Wow that's a lot of distance The best I've done is a roughly about 75 with camping gear and 1 day. I don't know if I can do it now though at age 52. Good on you as they say in Ireland!
It was also slightly downhill on average from end-to-end. When we did the bikepacking trip up to Pittsburgh with fully loaded bikes, it was a different story :)
I'm planning a next year trip DC to Cumberland. Thinking of getting a cheap Craigslist bike one speed cruiser that I can donate to someone once I get to Cumberland so I don't have to deal with Amtrak bike issues on that ride back to DC.
Way to challenge yourself. Great video.
Thanks Jeff!
Man, that was an impressive ride! I want to do the C&O as it is not far from where I live. I see you were on a checkpoint, do you think a bike with 38MM tires like a domane would handle the trail?
Heck yeah! I had 38mm specialized pathfinder pros on mine. I was a little leary if it got super muddy, but it didn't. My wife and I just finished our first day of several up to Pittsburgh (1st night in Harper's Ferry). I mention it because a lot of it is even better maintained now than even a few weeks ago. I would have zero reservations about the domane
In 1983 as a 14-year-old, I rode this on my trusty Trek 311 with 27 1 1/8 tires and did not have one flat the whole way. Of course, I only weighed probably 125...It was June and not very muddy as I remember about forty years later...
Great ride. What was your actual riding time and avg pace?
Its hard to say. My tracker died around 4 or 5 PM so all I had was the numbers spit out of komoot. That told me the average was 12 & change, but mathematically it seemed to only count the time fixing flats and the stopover in Hancock as time not morning, so not accounting for any water or bathroom breaks or the time i spent laying in the bushes after going over the handlebars on one of the detours. Komoot/phone didnt have GPS signal for a lot of it so I figured it just presumed constant movement. My guess is somewhere around 13-14.
@@rickzeleznik "spent laying in the bushes after going over the handlebars" lol Been there. Great time and pace
@@clayhammer5037 lol Thanks Clay
not to be the 'rules guy', but just fyi, the max speed for the C&O Tow-path is 15 mph; it's posted on various signs along the path but yeah, frankly, never enforced
Indeed. There's nothing worse than people blowing by people on the trail. All I can say is that I tend to slow down to a point where I'm saying hi to people as if I were walking up behind them. Truth be told, there's a lot of stretches of that ride where you'd wish there there were more people around
And a USMC tat. 😁SFMF
You made me check the video, i didnt remember it being visible. SFMF :)
Rick, what an accomplishment AND an amazing video!!! And I'll bet you were downing one of your famous energy drinks at th-cam.com/video/oRaHdS_rfWQ/w-d-xo.html, weren't you?? ;)
Thanks Mike! I was basically living off those weird gel things. Pretty much one every hour. Man, believe it or not, I manage to wean myself off the 5-hour's a couple years ago. :) I still wish I had gotten around to making a raft out of the bottles