Originally Posted by
riceowls
My main motivation to do it eastward (if using the Amtrak) is to spend the Saturday night in Pittsburgh. It seems that we should be done on our last day early afternoon and Cumberland, MD is not the most exciting city to wait around for the train. Also 1800 ft does not sound like that big over climb overall so doing it over 20 miles sounded better than over 40. But I never had a consistent 1.5% grade before. Is there prevalent wind direction? It seem I can find bed/train reservations in either direction at this point and will keep bike disassembled on the train.
Be sure to check out Bicycle Heaven while you are in town.
But you might opt to take the Montour Trail to finish (or start) your trip. If you take the Montour, you can ride right up to the airport parking lot. The Montour is well worth seeing IMHO.
You can see the city and also take the Montour. You can take the light rial to or from Library. The Montour goes right through Library. The downside is that you will be missing the newest section of the trail. And one of the prettiest. It is short but very nice section.
Heading toward Pittsburgh from Cumberland, you can avoid part of the climb by taking the excursion train to Frostburg. But I think it only runs on weekends. It might run on July 4.