May 31, 2019
Meyersdale, Pa. to Paw Paw, WV.: Sunshine Superman/Bog Monster/Serenity Now
SUNSHINE SUPERMAN: The day dawned sunny and cloudless, and we sipped our morning coffee with great satisfaction. Not even going down to the basement to find my bike with a flat rear tire could harsh my mellow. No worries I said, we’ll just fix that thing, and I did. That felt equally satisfying. Things were looking good as the weather app’s hour by hour forecast had a series of unblemished sunshine icons for the whole day. This looked promising.
We walked the bikes up to the visitors center and pumped up the tires, and off we rolled. Oh my, the day was grand. Sunny, high pressure, steady breeze, low humidity. The payoff for yesterday’s character builder. My grandpa used to have a pet phrase to make note of anything hard that you had to overcome. “That’ll put some hair on your chest boy!” Yep. Yesterday put some hair on my chest.
We hit a series of really interesting historical and/or geographic spots in short order. First was reaching the eastern continental divide. There is a small tunnel there and a couple murals to mark the spot. Lots of bikers were gathered there to commemorate the moment, and a nice couple volunteered to take a picture of Margaret and me together.
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From that point there is a significant drop of altitude all the way to Cumberland, Maryland. It loses about 1700 feet in less than 23 miles. It was a hoot, because although it doesn’t “feel” steep, it is a rollicking ride on the way down.
We did slow down to go through the Big Savage Tunnel (that name trumps any other tunnel name, for reasons that would seem obvious). It has some internal lights installed that allow you to see well enough to actually ride it, which you could not have managed otherwise. It was a thrill.
Less than a mile later we came to another screeching halt to ponder a segment of the Mason-Dixon Line. I’m on thin ice here, but I recall this being kind of the dividing line between the cultural north and south of the US. Thomas Pynchon wrote a great book titled Mason & Dixon … a fictional yet still somewhat historical tale of the two men who surveyed that dividing line centuries ago. Not really historical fiction, but more like psychedelic historical fiction. Pictures taken, we continued the gradual plummet down the hill.
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A less happy event caused another halt … flat tire! Damn it! But, in keeping with the happy vibrations of Sunshine Superman, we chilled out a bit, fixed the flat like champs, and had a bonus chat with a guy biking past who had recently retired from working at a nearby federal prison. He said he hasn’t felt so relaxed for decades. I had no doubts about that claim.
BOG MONSTER: After a lunch of peanuts, jerky strips, fruit and RX bars in Cumberland (classic menu that any bike tourist will recognize), we ventured onto the C&O trail. Here the tone of the day took a darker turn. Recall that the C&O is kept in a “historical” state, meaning any spots where water can collect and mud holes form are left to their own devices. And sure enough, there they were, waving and shouting "Yoo-Hoo!" as we approached. It was not quite the horror show that I’d read about in other journals where riders were on the C&O immediately after, or worse – during - a healthy rain. Fortunately quite a few of the muddy spots had firmed up or even dried out, but there were plenty of bogs waiting to embrace us. At first they were kind of a fun challenge, then a nuisance, then a soul sucking $!@*&! that demanded immediate eradication.
A rider is left to settle on his or her own method of navigating the bogs/mudholes. Marg’s tactic was to adopt a “Damn The Torpedoes” approach and hit the gas, barreling through them in an impressive spray of brown water and occasional fishtailing in the really messy spots, often accompanied by a loud “WHOO!”. I decided to finesse my way through, somehow thinking that by being delicate all that mud and water would decide I was too sophisticated to soil. At a certain point we both said WTF and stopped worrying about the mud and grime, and simply pressed on. It put some more hair on our chests, a' la grandpa's wisdom.
SERENITY NOW: After about seven miles of boggy mud the trail became much friendlier. In fact, the ride turned almost pleasant. That came just in the nick of time to forestall a mutiny by the crew. Since the crew was composed of me and Margaret, it was unclear against whom we would mutiny. Clearly, we were in charge here. But the dry and flatter section heading into Paw Paw, WV, where we were staying that evening actually found us both saying, aloud, that the day had been AB FAB … absolutely fabulous. Memory and perception is a fickle thing.
In Paw Paw we stayed with Dan at his biker’s B&B. He (and Moxie, his beloved Dachshund) has opened his home and spare bedroom to any biker looking for shelter on the sparsely populated northern part of the C&O. He is a home spun Philosopher King, with a deep curiosity about people, their lives, and the world at large. What a great guy. A generous heart, an open mind, and a deep well of information about the local area. My favorite note from our conversations was Dan sharing that a friend of his had asked someone, who was making an assertion that seemed a little far fetched, “Do you know that, or do you ‘Google” know that?” Yep. Dan entertained us, helped us hose down the bikes, got us squared away, let us use his washer and dryer, and made us a killer breakfast the next morning to start our day. He was the highlight of the stay. Thanks Dan!
Today's ride: 62 miles (100 km)
Total: 182 miles (293 km)
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