Another exhausting day riding through frequent and sometimes long patches of puddles and mud. What I’ve learned:
Slow down, going too fast sends more mud farther. Whatever you do, don’t stop pedaling, even if you begin to fishtail. When in doubt about the best path, go straight through the middle and hope for the best. Talking and swearing your way through the most challenging patches helps. You (knees down for sure, smaller glops elsewhere) and your bike will be thickly coated regardless, get over it.
Today was awful, every 25-50 feet, a new patch. The worst patches were 25-30 feet long. There was a long stretch of trail right along the Potomac where the canal could not be constructed and boats traveled the Big Slackwater.
McMahon’s Mill.
New in the last year, an intermittently paved path along the Potomac to avoid a long detour through Maryland farmland.
In Shepherdstown, a post-lunch stick-cleaning.
The end of the trail for us. We had to carry our bicycles up a long flight of stairs (yikes, that was hard),
and walk them across the bridge.
This is the convergence of Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia where the Shenandoah River flows into the Potomac.
Harper’s Ferry WV. Miles = 41.
JD met us, we loaded up our bikes, and Billie drove 4 hours back to Roanoke – to find Billie’s crape myrtles in full bloom!
arletelouise 