28 July 2023
Bike / 86.3 miles / 814 ft ascent / 7 hrs 49 mins
A brilliant day out on the bike! One of the highlights of the summer.
I left home in the dark at 5.30 am under full lights. I reached lower town just as dawn was breaking so the lights were soon dispensed with.
Then it was onto the C&O towpath, headed downstream towards Brunswick and beyond.
The park is beautiful at this time in the morning, with no-one else around, only the wildlife. As the sun rose, it peaked through the trees in glorious bursts:
The previous day a big storm hit the area around Dickerson Power Plant, so the trail was covered with downed branches and several fallen trees. It was slow going as I cleared as much of the debris out the way as I could. Several other cyclists who caught up to me helped out. We were able to leapfrog each other, taking it in turns to clear the next section.
Past this 3 – 4 mile section, the trail was clear again.
At Seneca, I split off from the canal towpath and jumped onto some singletrack: the Seneca Bluffs Trail.
This was really fun but also pretty hard work. It’s been a loooong time since I’ve been mountain biking and my skills are rather lacking.
(A longer term project of mine is to complete the full Muddy Branch to C&O Canal to Seneca Ridge Trail.)
For today, I was satisfied with a few miles of singletrack and decided to see if I could cross Seneca Creek to reach the road on the opposite bank, which would lead me back to the canal.
I scouted it first, without the bike. It was fast flowing but not particularly strong and never more than knee deep. It would definitely go.
On the far bank I had about 1/4 mile of bushwhacking to reach the road. I pushed, swore, and sweated my way along a vague trail to the road.
I thoroughly enjoyed this section!
After all this excitement, I had the relatively easy task of 40 ish miles back along the canal to home. The main challenge was surviving the heat.
My phone said it was 96 F and 104 F with the humidity. Much too hot for an Englishman.
I was out of water by the time I reached White’s Ferry, so I stopped here to refill. (I drank 7 large bike bottles and a bottle of coke during the day and still ended up dehydrated.)
I felt good until the final hill in Harpers Ferry, which had no shade. I really suffered in the heat and, sure enough, I had a headache by the time I got home.
A small price to pay for a fantastic day out!
I took a few videos during the ride, which I share below.
(There’s no coherent storyline, so it’s probably pretty tedious footage for everyone except me. But, one day, when I’m old and can’t ride a bike anymore, it’ll bring me some joy.)
Ben Collins Outdoors 