About a year ago, friends Liz and Kelly rode a century route
from Hancock, MD north into Pennsylvania and along an abandoned stretch of the
Pennsylvania Turnpike. I done some
riding, and driving, through that area and knew it was beautiful and the idea
of riding on an abandoned expressway, including tunnels, was just cool. I also knew of a great farm-to-table
restaurant in Bedford – Horn O’Plenty – that would make a great lunch stop, so
I began to plan routes over the winter.
Last week, riding pal Ed asked if I wanted to join him and
Mary (life and tandem partner) on an informal 300k ride to help them prepare
for a 1200K Randonnee in August. Looking
for an adventure on the longest Saturday of the year, I said yes and quickly
modified my abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike route to get to 300k. Ed looked over the route and said “let’s do
it!” He especially liked the Horn
O’Plenty stop because we had stopped there a few years ago on a Fleche with our
friend Jerry, who is riding across Eurasia and who would have loved this
adventure too. We promised to toast him
at lunch.
In retrospect, we probably rushed the route planning a bit
because the route turned out to be more of everything than we anticipated: more
confusing intersections and turns, more rain, water, and flooding, an
unbelievable number of double-digit grades, more than a few moments of doubt
and pain, and a generally tough route.
Any one of those things could have turned the day into a disaster. Instead, the day offered non-stop surprises
and adventures that delivered a much more rewarding ride than if we had dialed
it all in perfectly. Here is how it
happened. You can also read Mary's account here and Ed's account here. They both feature some great photos of the day.
We met at 5:00 a.m. near the Valley View Mall in Hagarstown,
MD. Between the three of us, we were
familiar with some of the roads, but not all of them. In particular, the miles between about 35 –
110 were almost all new to us. All we
knew is that Pennsylvania hills and roads are often ridiculously steep, there
are lots of them, sometimes they turn to dirt, and there are not many stores or
services out there. Daunted but game, we
set out.
The first 35 miles to Hancock were over mostly familiar
roads, but we were starting in a dark drizzly rainy morning with low clouds and
fog. Not promising, and more than once I
told myself if the sun did not peek out and the fog lift I would bail at
Hancock. Nonetheless, the miles rolled
by in an eerie, dreary sort of beauty.
And so much water! Creeks and
rivers were swollen and brown with mud.
Small ditches were now raging creeks or lakes. We had our first surprise on this stretch
when we encountered a flooded road and had to splish splash our way across a
yard to avoid the lake in the road.
We rolled into Hancock a bit behind schedule, but with the
clouds seeming to lift a bit, feeling ok about the rest of the day. After some Sheetz food, and a brief chat with
two guys heading to Pittsburgh on the C&O – GAAP trails, it was off into
the unknown. Although it was not
raining, it was damp. And there was
water everywhere. Raging creeks, drippy
trees, hillsides leaking water everywhere, it seemed. We knew the 50-odd miles to lunch would be
the “climby” part of the ride, and we were not wrong. Lots of hills, all of them steep, and two
long climbs. The descents were great,
though. Not too technical so we could
really fly – hit 44 MPH once despite braking frequently. Ed & Mary had a scary moment when their
chain over-shifted and managed to get wrapped around the crank. Luckily, they stopped pedaling immediately
and did not rip their derailleur off.
They cruised to a stop and Ed’s expert wrenching skills saved the day as
he had to “break” the chain to unwrap it and use a quick link to repair
it. Soon enough we were off again.
Next was the big climb to Rainsburg Gap. This was my low moment of the day. 2 miles at 8-12% was more than my legs could
handle. It may have been mental too,
because the clouds made it impossible to tell how much more there was. Whatever, I walked the last ½ mile or so
while Ed and Mary patiently waited for me at the top. From there it was another spectacular descent
and a nice, fast run to Horn O’Plenty.
The sun started to come out and the roads were even dry in places. We also saw goats, and if goats don’t help
cheer you up, nothing will. The day was
looking up!
Lunch did not disappoint.
We toasted Jerry. I had an
appetizer of creamy garlic cheese stuffed into Day Lilies. Beautiful and tasty. A hearty veggie burger, coffee, and ibuprofen
and I was ready to the rest of the day.
Bellies full and batteries recharged, we set out on a gentler stretch of
road east to Everett, PA. This section
runs through a gap in the mountains along the Juanita River and the views were
lovely. The views also included a
looming line of thunderstorms. We
decided to push on and hope for the best, while keeping an eye out for shelter
just in case. We encountered our second
detour of the day when a bridge was out for repairs. As we mulled our options, neighbors popped
out of their doors and showed us a way around through their backyard. Super friendly and helpful. We got about 100 yards before the rain
started, so a quick detour under a large awning to sit out the rain. After about 15 minutes, the storm had passed,
and we were off. Despite the predictions
of another wave of rain later, that was the last of the rain for the day.
The next waypoint was the start of the abandoned turnpike
near Breezewood. On paper this section
looked easy, but it included a number of short steep hills that really hurt,
and a surprise dirt section that required walking over a new layer of thick
gravel and then slippery mud. Another
salute to Jerry who delights in surprise gravel roads. After that first 100 yards or so, the road
was easily ridable and scenic too, and after more ups and downs we made it to
where the abandoned turnpike was supposed to start.
But we could not find it.
There was the road we just came up, and the major road coming from
Breezewood. The map showed the old
turnpike just to our left, but all was saw was a sketchy sign and a foot path
leading up a steep embankment. After
scratching our heads, we headed up it and low and behold, there it was. Partially overgrown and badly deteriorating,
the divided lanes of this abandoned section of the PA Tpk headed east. Although largely flat, this was not easy
riding. We weaved and darted about to
avoid ruts, potholes, weeds, and chunks of loose pavement. The random graffiti and debris gave it a Mad
Max, post-apocalyptic look. And then
there were the tunnels. Two of them,
both long. They were pitch black –
Stygian I think is the word – and cold too.
Although the pavement was pretty smooth, we went slow to avoid rocks and
rubbish. And because it was downright
creepy. After the second tunnel, Ed and
Mary flatted, so we got another impromptu break. After another two miles, we came to the end
and returned to normal roads.
To continue what was becoming a somewhat surreal day, out
next rest stop was an actual Rest Stop on the real, modern Pennsylvania
Turnpike. We wiggled and snuck our way
through a service area to ride our bikes up to the Sideling Hill Rest Stop,
where one person asked us if we had ridden on the freeway. We said no, but felt awesome for biking to
the rest stop! As we ate a late lunch,
we also began to do the math and realized that our planned route included two
more big climbs and over 70 miles, and we were probably looking at a tough slog
to get back by midnight. More of
everything than we wanted. Luckily Ed
knew this area well and found us a shortcut that shaved 15-20 miles and
replaced two big climbs with one climb he described as a “super shallow climb.” And that became my mantra for the rest of the
ride: “super shallow climb, super shallow climb.” It sounded so good.
And in fact the super shallow climb up to Cowans Gap was
fantastic. After a frustrating pause to
repair another flat – which also gave us a chance to plot out the rest of our
route – we set off up the super shallow climb.
Mostly in the big ring, with the skies clear and cool, I felt like a
real cyclist instead of the dead weight I felt on the steeper climbs
earlier. We regrouped at the top and set
off the even more awesome drop down to the valley. The 2-3 mile descent was fantastic. Oddly, although we had not felt a drop of
rain for hours, the road on the east side of the mountain was wet and we had
clearly just missed the rain. After a
few more ups and downs, we reached the valley proper and motored our way to
Mercersburg for a late snack before the final run back to Hagarstown.
As we pulled into the Rutters in Mercersburg, we saw a bunch
of folks in reflective gear waving and shouting at us. We waved back, and realized they were a
support crew for a RAAM team. After
getting some quick food, we rode over to say hi. It turned out that this was the support crew
for the tandem relay teams. Ed and Mary
bonded with the tandem riders, and I chatted with another rider and crew
members. They had 28 people, including
both riders and crew, three or four vehicles and everything you needed to be a
rolling kitchen, hotel, and bike shop for 2+ weeks. Pretty impressive. It was also awesome to get props from RAAM
riders for our 180 mile adventure and to simply be standing by a gas station in
Mercersburg PA at 9:00 on a Saturday talking about biking adventures like this
is a normal thing in Mercersburg (or anywhere!). My Peeps!
Finally, and with the sun truly setting, we rolled out for
the last 15-20 miles. We were off our
original route now and navigating by memory and occasional glances at out
phones. By this point, we were not
functioning at peak mental capacity and we opted for the route easiest to
remember, with fewest turns, rather than the shortest. This section was wonderful. Riding at night is something special. The air was cool but pleasant. Lightening bugs lit up the fields, and frogs
and bird chirped all around. The sun
glowed over the hills to the west and soon the moon and stars filled the
sky. The road trended downhill and we
flew along nicely, ticking off the miles. I even started to enjoy the feel of bugs
smashing into me.
But the exuberance of riding and the diminishment of mental
capacity is not a good combination. I
got ahead of Ed and Mary and missed a turn after the route numbers changed as
we crossed into Maryland. Fortunately,
Ed and Mary saw me miss the turn and chased me down by the next intersection
where we stopped to replot the route. My
phone was dead, so having got us off course I was useless. After getting himself oriented, Ed replotted
our route, with no real mileage penalty as it turned out. I dialed my exuberance back a notch and resolved
to stick behind Ed and Mary so we could stay together. With one final stop to check the map, we
rolled back to the hotel just before 11.
I ended up with 179 miles on the day, and about 12,900 feet of elevation
gain. Here is my GPS track of the ride: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/24671368
(my Garmin fritzed out a bit between about miles 40-50 and I am missing the
first mile or so due to operator error) and the mapped out as-ridden version is
here: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27887381.
It was a great day. A
true adventure. After getting over the
morning blahs, and the low point on the heights of Rainsburg Gap, I felt great
all day, both physically and mentally. I
finished feeling strong and really never had an extended period of just wishing
the ride would end. Looking back, this
was several rides in one. Between the
different times of day, weather, terrain, and roads, every 15 miles felt like
something completely different and new. Plus,
the sequence of seemingly out-of-context events gave a slightly surreal quality
the whole ride. The easy camaraderie of
riding with Ed and Mary, and the added adventure of improvising the super
shallow climb shortcut, made it that much more fun. I am not sure I need to do the abandoned
turnpike section again, but it was an experience that I won’t forget. Totally worth it.
