GAP C&O bike ride info

[bicycletricycle]

I want to ride the GAP C&O trail this year. I think I am going to try September or something, don't want it to be too hot. Wondering how rough the trail is and how tough a tire I should bring with. Also, any other information that would be helpful.

Thanks.

[rwsaunders]

BT...there was a discussion here earlier in the year. You can fly to Pittsburgh and ride the Montour Trail into the city and start from there...fly back home from DC. Try the www.bikepgh.org site for info as well.

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showth...ght=pittsburgh

[2metalhips]

https://www.traillink.com/trail/ches...storical-park/

This may help

[pinkshogun]

The GAP is smoother than the CO. A 32mm or wider tire is fine

[mcfarton]

There is a group called ride Allegheny, they should be a wealth of info. Around that time of year they do a group ride from Pittsburgh to DC, I think its 5 days. Its for charity and they sleep in hotels.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

[pinkshogun]

i should add that camping facilities with water pump and port a johns are available right on the trail and are much more closely spaced, mileage wise, on the C and O than on the GAP

[rccardr]

Late September is a great time, we did it on an Adventure Cycling tour in six days & stayed in hotels and B&B's. Could easily have done it in five but did a lot of historical stuff along the way. If you're just riding straight through you could do it as a two or three day ride- it's about 265 miles from downtown DC to downtown Pittsburgh.

Parts of the C&O are a little rough, but nothing that a thirty two size tire can't handle. No need to worry about gearing, I think I only used the big ring and about three cogs all week on this:

[bicycletricycle]

Call and plan ahead for campsites or can you just show up?

[robin3mj]

September is good. Watch the weather the ten days beforehand (fewer days if it's hot) to gauge the amount of mud you're likely to encounter.
If dry, any 32mm tire like a Pasela is fine, if wetter then something with nominally more tread may be better.

Honestly though, it's flat the whole way and there's zero need to brake so I'd aim for a 35-38 or even 40mm tire if you can fit it. Once you get rolling, there's no need to constantly brake and then spin a heavy tire back up to speed.

Flats on the C&O are more due to bad luck, bad handling, or bad tire pressure than the wrong tire choice, so don't put yourself thru the misery of Gatorskins etc at the expense of ride quality.

[pinkshogun]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

Call and plan ahead for campsites or can you just show up?

just show up. they are literally right on the path. if i recall every 5 miles or so on the CO, sometimes more than one site in one specific area.

the towns are also very close if you want a hotel/motel/restaurants.

[Plum Hill]

Take in Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater near Ohiopyle.
There's another FLW home nearby that friends visited last year. I believe it may be rented by the day.

[El Chaba]

To the question, "How tough a tire should I bring?"....Well, it's fashionable today to think that one needs a 28 mm tire for smooth asphalt...but back to what will get the job done...The GAP is no problem and a 28 or 25 mm road tire would be fine. It also has a packed, finer gravel surface that is not as vulnerable to bad weather conditions. As for the C&O...It varies considerably from east to west. From Georgetown to Great Falls, it has a good gravel surface, but it can be loose in spots. Beyond Great Falls, the conditions deteriorate and the trail is basically packed dirt. I think a 30-32 mm road/gravel tire is fine, but you do have to be vigilant against roots and protruding rocks. A 30-32 m tire has enough air volume to not bottom out against *most* of these obstacles if you are vigilant. If it rains, all bets are off on the west end. A full blown MTB tire would be best-with mud tread. Having said all of that, I last did the C&O half several years ago in two days with 30 mm Grand Bois Cypres, so a popular road randonneur tire that actually measures 32 mm on my rims. It rained pretty hard on my second day on the west end and the tires were less than what would be ideal WRT to both width and tread aggressiveness. I made it, though.

[zennmotion]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

Call and plan ahead for campsites or can you just show up?

After Labor Day the trail empties out significantly. You may not get the campsite of your choice all to yourself, but they are spaced at 5 mile intervals on average along the C&O, and each site can accommodate several parties- first come first choice. I've never done it, but you can also reserve a few of the lock houses for sleeping through the national park website- might be fun for a night especially with a group. Drinking water at the sites along the canal is from a pump at a well, and these are periodically shocked with iodine so the taste can be pretty bad- a carbon filter might come in handy, or just live with it. It will probably dry out a bit by September, but there are sections that I've ridden in the past couple of weeks that have a lot of mud puddles West of Riley's Lock to the end of the C&O that you have no choice but to ride through, so it can be messy business, fenders would be nice- it's been a wet Summer. It's pretty dry now between Riley's and Georgetown though. One last bit- be sure to have a light or flashlight handy to go through the Paw Paw tunnel- you can't ride it and it's long enough that it's pitch black in the middle, with a light wooden rail between you and the canal, a little freaky without a light, though there is an option to just hike a bike over the top of the tunnel if you're not traveling too heavy. A 32-35mm tire is all you need, if it's wet or actively raining a little tread on the front is nice to help in the ruts in the rougher western portion of the C&O. Give warning to the fishermen that line the path, more than once I've come close to getting a baited fishhook in the face from somebody throwing a cast line as I pass!

[cp43]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

Call and plan ahead for campsites or can you just show up?

On the C&O you can just show up, the sites are free, and maintained by the National Park Service, you can just stop and camp.

On the GAP trail, the camping sites are privately owned, you'll have to register and pay, and when we did it, we arranged a site ahead of time.

Chris

[El Chaba]

Zen makes a good point about the lights for the Pawpaw tunnel. When got to that the first time I did that ride, my modern halogen headlight would not work. My bike had a 30 year old system involving a generator, but you need to be going at least 10 mph for that to work in any discernible fashion, so I plunged into the darkness and felt my way through. I was committed at that point, but should have just walked through.
I'll re-emphasize a point on tire width/volume. A 32 mm +/- tire is good for the obstacles. The rhythm that is stuck in my head is pedal pedal pedal pedal-BANG! (root)....pedal pedal pedal-BANG! (rock). You need the air volume to protect from the sharp impact. There is always the possibility that a protruding rock you encounter will be sharp enough to kill a tire. Since the towpath is shaded, it generally has dappled sunlight on the surface making some obstacles tough to detect until it is too late to avoid them. Because of this, I also find that about 15 mph is about the practical speed limit. The last time I did it I had limited time on the first day so I was pushing it and hitting quite a few more things at 18 mph or so...