The GAP or Great Allegheny Passage is basically a 150-mile rails-to-trail route starting or ending at Cumberland, Md. or downtown Pittsburgh, Pa. It is one of, if not the longest such trail in the country.
Last year’s self-imposed confinement, riding strictly within our neighborhood, created a built-up yearning to do at least something different this year. While I still ride the local neighborhood daily, I started toying with an idea mentioned to me a couple years ago by my friend Greg, who lives in Florida.
I had vaguely heard of the GAP, but never paid much attention. Primarily because I knew it was not a wholly paved route and did not know how well the Avatar would handle. All of my previous trips had been on macadam roadways, and I saw no reason to venture otherwise.
However, with covid keeping people homebound last year, many were flocking to State and National parks this year. I was not up for another drive back out to the West, where I prefer to ride so I thought maybe I should look into experiencing an “official bike path”!
In October 2019 I had an opportunity to sample a 9-mile section of the GAP. My best friend Marty has been a train enthusiast all his life and he asked if I would be interested in accompanying him for 2 nights – 3 days to Cumberland, MD. We took two short train trips, and both were very enjoyable. The one trip started in Cumberland on the Western Maryland RR and runs west about 15 miles to Frostburg where it turns around via turntable. The GAP bike path follows alongside the live train tracks to Frostburg and then continues all the way to Pittsburgh on what was originally pioneered by the B&O RR. The tracks are long gone, and the bike path was created using a crushed limestone. (Later, on my bike trip just outside of Ohiopyle, I made my way around a work crew putting down a new bed of limestone. It was several inches thick and like sand on the beach. But they then used a huge roller – in my day called a steamroller! – and after one pass the crushed limestone becomes almost as hard as concrete.)
There is a ton of information on the internet about the GAP, so I won’t elaborate on most points of interest. Suffice to say that with a maximum grade of 1.75%, (Cumberland to Big Savage Tunnel) it’s not a significant physical challenge for most people. But you do have to keep cranking the pedals on these gradual upgrades. This section gains about 1,760 feet, but over about 24 miles. Then it is all “downhill” of 1170 feet to Pittsburgh over 125 miles! Basically, you can consider the entire GAP as a near level ride.
The more interesting feature of the GAP is the 3,300-foot long Big Savage Tunnel, only about 22 miles from the start at Cumberland. It is my most dominant memory as follows: Prior to this trip, during the Oct – ’19 trial run, I actually rode through the tunnel a total of three times. Marty and I drove to the access point above the tunnel at Deal. I got the bike out of the car and rode the mile or so to the Eastern Continental Divide road crossing, where Marty then met me after parking the car at that point. He wanted to see the tunnel. So, he decided to walk the mile or so while I took off on the bike. I rode through to the other side and decided to turn around and go back to meet him before he got to the tunnel. He showed up within minutes and he planned to walk all the way through, and I decided to leave and continue to Frostburg where he would meet me with the car. So, I rode back through the Big Savage and continued to the parking area at Frostburg. This was the third time through the tunnel in less than 20 minutes.
On this current trip, I arrived at the tunnel around noon. Now, like driving through tunnels you had better take off your sunglasses. Which I did. The tunnel has lighting from quite dim bulbs in the ceiling spaced about every 30-40 feet or so. My experience on the three previous trips revealed poor to fair ability to see the riding surface. Well, I entered this time expecting dim conditions and only moving at about 2 mph. I expected my eyes would adapt quickly. Did not happen. In a matter of seconds, I realized I could not see a thing! I expected to be able to see any fraction of a second and I believe that I was trying to steer by sound. While the riding surface is quite good, I could hear the sound of the front tire on fine grit or very small gravel and tried to quickly steer to a quieter path. This all happened within 1-3 seconds, and I must have oversteered, and too quickly, because before I knew what was happening, I found myself going over. Still could not see anything but there I was lying with the bike on its side! Fortunately, the front and rear panniers took 90% of the fall and all I ended up with was minor scraps on my forearm, right leg, and pinkie of the right hand. No real blood.
Overall, a good experience because this was the very first time I ever took a fall with my loaded Avatar. I needed a reality check to remind me it can happen.
A few words about the GAP during wet weather. I am spoiled by having always having macadam under me on all previous trips. The Oct-’19 test ride gave me a taste of the GAP when wet. While not really raining, the early morning that I rode the 9-miles to Frostburg was very foggy and the mist made all surfaces wet or damp. By the time I arrived at Frostburg the bike was quite a mess. Big-tire Mountain bikers would laugh and shrug it off. No real harm, but I guess it is the exposure during my life to precision machine work that makes me cringe to think of the grit and grime being ground into the chain and other moving parts!
That said, I decided it would be more enjoyable to ride in only good weather. Accordingly, I watched the weather forecast closely from home and broke this round-trip 300-mile ride into three portions: about 100 miles or 50 miles per day. It also meant three trips to western Pennsylvania. I had great weather and enjoyed the entire trip. (6 biking days in total and done in Sept-Oct)
The first leg was from Cumberland to Rockwood, where I camped at the Huskey Haven CG and rode back to Cumberland the next day. Round two was from Pittsburgh to Connellsville and back. (Also, on that trip I rode the 14-mile round trip to downtown Pittsburgh without all the baggage – staying at the Hampton Inn at Homestead) The last trip was from Connellsville down to Rockwood and back; staying at the same campgrounds again.
A word about the camping experience, particularly at Rockwood’s Huskey Haven CG. For much of the route of the GAP you will find active train tracks on the other side of the Casselman River. If you are a deep sleeper, which I am not, you will be awakened as often as every two hours by major freight trains. I never heard a train sound so close in my life. Even though the trains are on the other side of the river, when that whistle blows you will think you have pitched your tent on the RR tracks!
A final thought about my bike set-up. Perhaps I would have had a little more traction of the front wheel if I had used the original Avatar wheel/tire combo – by using the 16″ rim with the standard 1 ⅜ wide lower pressure tire. My 17″ higher pressure bald (Kojak) Schwalbe worked ok but occasionally in semi-loose gravel I had to be extra careful. Who knows, maybe that little extra traction would have prevented my major malfunction in the Big Savage Tunnel!