Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania to Frostburg, Maryland

August 7, 1981

Riding to The Old Line

As I mentioned earlier, we never expected to be in Maryland at all. But since we did not want to make another steep climb out of Ohiopyle, we worked our way over to US-40, which ran in a Southeasterly direction, taking us into the Old Line State. The National Road, as 40 is also known, was no picnic, as we would soon find out.

Collage of 4 photos: Upper left, our crew at the campsite in Ohiopyle State Park. John-D is second in from the right; Lower left, an idea of the kind of hilly terrain we were riding through, in SW PA; Lower right, Paul with his brother Bob and Steve-W in the background; Upper right, At the Maryland State Line.

The day began with a good breakfast, prepared by John-D. He also prepared 6 hard boiled eggs to take with us! If we were staying around any longer, he might've adopted us. Seriously, what a great guy he turned out to be. We thanked him, said our goodbyes to everyone, and then headed out to continue our adventure.

The first few miles set the tone for the day... it was going to be a tough one. I was still feeling the effects of our battle with the hills on Wednesday and there were more to come. When we reached Route 40, the hills began, in earnest. They came one right after the other with very little rest in between. It was like a giant system of frozen waves and troughs.

The Maryland State Line, on US-40. I've been back there many times, since it is not very far from where I live. It looks a little different these days but that is how it was in August 1981.

The Maryland State Line seemed to be at the top of one of those large hills. Once there, the rolling terrain continued, perhaps becoming even more difficult. We summited 5 Appalachian Ridge tops between the border and the town of Frostburg.

Side notes: The ridges were, Winding Ridge (~2800 feet ); Keysers Ridge (~2900 feet), Negro Mountain (~3000 feet ); Meadow Mountain (~3000 feet ); and Savage Mountain (~2847 feet ).

Negro Mountain was called by that name as late as 2016 when I rode through the area again There is a photo in a journal that I wrote for the "Crazy Guy on a Bike" website. The link to it (that you may have to cut and paste into a browser is,

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/pic/?o=3d2&pic_id=2917776&size=large&v=1

Photo of Negro Mountain sign from a past journal.

Although I have not been back, I am told that the sign has since been removed. If it has a new name, I am not yet aware of it. Stay tuned.

After climbing each, a nearly equal descent was made. Then after a short break where the road was mostly level, the climbing of the next one would begin. It was beautiful country but very difficult riding. At the top of Savage Mountain, there was a big sign warning truckers to keep their vehicles under control due to a steep drop into the town of Frostburg. Bad news for them but great news for us! I was ready to get to Frostburg and be done for the day, so, this nice descent to finish was welcome news.

Excited to be heading downhill for 9 miles, into Frostburg, Maryland and beyond. These days, almost no cyclists go this way anymore. The GAP Trail takes most riders to Frostburg without having to battle all of these ridges. However, back in 1981, the GAP Trail was a pipe dream.The only way through these mountains was US-40 and its many ridges.

Although the sign said the descent was much further, we only went down for about 4 miles before reaching the town. The rest of the descent would await us tomorrow morning. Since it began raining, we needed to find a place to spend the night. Frostburg State University was a logical choice, based on our past success with institutions of higher learning during this trip. We entered Annapolis Hall and lugged our loaded bikes up to the third floor lounge. There, we were immediately confronted by the Resident Advisor who wanted to know who we were and what we were doing there. She said we needed to be cleared by security and would likely have to leave.

When we called security and did some explaining, we were rewarded with a dorm room of our own, free of charge! Once again, we came out smelling like roses (unless you got to0 close). It was a great outcome to celebrate our 3 month anniversary of being on the road!

Some students warmed up to us very quickly. At their request, we all got together, ordered pizza, drank a few beers, and sat around talking and laughing for a little while. This was absolutely wonderful. I went to bed at 8:30 PM because I was exhausted from our past several days. Paul stayed up with the students for a good while after my departure. He had a great time talking with them.

Today's ride: 54 miles (87 km)
Total: 4,606 miles (7,413 km)

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