November 9, 1997
Day Three: The Denouement - 51 miles
No Food at the Ferry
A wimpy cold front had moved through during the night. Temperatures started out in the 40s, but the sky was once again postcard blue. We scarfed up bagels and donuts and juice from the Comfort Inn breakfast buffet and were on the road by 0730. We decided to push our bikes up Union Street and go through downtown Harper's Ferry rather than chance riding on 340 again. It was actually a nice warm-up, and a very pretty area to be walking through early on a Sunday morning. At the top of Union Street we gingerly mounted our bikes and rode our brakes down into hysterical, er historical, Harper's Ferry for some photos.
Back over the pedestrian bridge and we were on the Towpath again. The surface is in very good shape for a few miles downstream from Harper's Ferry, as the Appalachian Trail shares the route and those sissy hikers can’t have a bumpy surface under their little feetsies, don’t you know. After the AT peels off at Weverton Cliffs the surface got considerably rougher.
Surprisingly quickly we reached Brunswick, where the Towpath turned into a very pothole-filled access road to a local campground – not much fun to ride. Once again Da Boyz caught up to us, although there were only 5 of them now – maybe a Donner Pass incident? From Brunswick to Point of Rocks the Towpath is in pretty good condition but there aren’t many river views – you basically are riding through a tree-lined tunnel, with only the occasional passing train to liven up the scenery.
The plan was to do 25 miles to White's Ferry, eat lunch at the snack bar there and then have 25 miles to go back to Carderock where my friend Jim would pick us up. At the Monocacy aqueduct we were joined by about 10 energetic pre-teen boys on mountain bikes who were doing a Sunday morning ride with a few adults. They passed us old farts by, politely yelling "On your left" as they went by. They flagged after a few miles and Carole’s competitive juices kicked in: we reeled most of them in before reaching White's Ferry.
Of course, the snack bar at White's Ferry was closed for the season, shattering Carole’s remaining morale. She now had 150 miles in the saddle – more than doubling her mileage for the entire year. I stuffed all the remaining PowerBars down her throat and we got back on the Towpath after watching the teens torment a few geese that were begging for handouts.
From White’s Ferry to Seneca, the ride became a real slog and our average speed began to drop. This is not a very scenic section of the trail. Carole began to mutter and stare at my neck as if she was once again measuring it for a bungee cord noose.
Since we had told Jim to meet us at 1:30 pm and we didn’t reach Seneca until about 12:40, Carole bravely volunteered to take a nap at Seneca while I rode the remaining 13 miles to Carderock. I put the pedal to the metal, speeding along what is one of the most beautiful sections of the towpath. I was making very good time until I reached Great Falls, where the entire tourist population visiting DC had decided to stroll along the Towpath and leap in front of passing cyclists. Since I didn’t know how to say "On your left" in Japanese, the going was slow. The detour onto Berma Road around the Widewater area didn’t help either. Berma Road seems to have been purposely built to be as rough as possible. Update: there is no longer a detour here, either.
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From Widewater to Carderock is a very pretty ride, with breathtaking river views and a smooth surface. However, I was focusing on ending this damn thing and just put my head down and cranked. I reached the Carderock parking lot at 1:30 pm on the dot, but couldn’t find Jim’s Volvo or our Explorer, which Jim was to have picked up. I got out the cell phone and reached Jim on his cellphone – he was 20 feet away,sitting in my old Saturn reading the Washington Post. We packed the bike and panniers away and drove up to Seneca to pick up Carole.
The excellent adventure was over – almost. When we got back to our house, Jim’s cellphone was nowhere to be found. He drove all the way back out to Seneca and Carderock, but no luck. By now many trans-Atlantic calls have been made on it, I’m sure.
Today's ride: 51 miles (82 km)
Total: 176 miles (283 km)
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