thestoutdog

My son (thestoutdpup) and I headed out to Cumberland, MD yesterday morning to meet up with jagraham and The Historian for what we hoped for a DRY and crisp day for riding. Much to my dismay, we had just that, a beautiful 36 miles of cool temps and good company for the day. This was my son's longest ride to date, and my longest of the year. We had a wonderful time and will be posting pics as soon as my I find my camera. Thanks to jagraham and The Historian for a nearly perfect day.

Neil_B

Ditto.

Neil_B

Everyone met in Cumberland, MD, at 11:00 AM Sunday morning. Both Stoutdog and I drove more than 200 miles that morning for this little trip down the hill. JAGraham lives about an hour away - lucky her!

JAGraham led us up the mountain to our starting point, but she led us on an amazing detour. Noticing black smoke near the trail, she quickly drove us to the Woodcock Hollow trailhead. We had only a minute or two until Mountain Thunder came round the bend.....





We took five hours for the 36 miles. The four of us were having too much fun to make it a shorter ride. Some photo highlights, starting at Salisbury Viaduct with Stout father and son:



Notung the Long Haul Trucker makes his debut on the GAP:



Kid tries to teach the old man about electronic devices. "Dad, the 'On" button is HERE, duh!"



Trail traffic at the Eastern Continental Divide.

Neil_B

View south of the Big Savage Tunnel.





Historian and Stoutdog welcome you to Maryland:



JAGraham with the Stouts in chase.



Father and son test some important scientific law by throwing stones at bigger stones.



Thestoutdog and thestoutpup pose with Daisy the Mule at Cumberland. I wish the background were not as washed out - the look on stoutpup's face is priceless. I think he had fun.

jeneralist 

Now you've got me missing the trail. I was there last month when everything was green; now that it's just starting to change colors for autumn, it's a different beautiful.

abqtj

Looks like a great trip

thestoutdog

Me too, darned the two of you, now I need to do more of it!

Neil_B

Next for you guys would be Meyersdale to Ohiopyle, which is 41 miles of a gentle downhill. Pass miles of forest, over five bridges, and end at Ohiopyle Falls.

Neil_B

Another photo of the dynamic duo:



It was delightful to watch father and son explore the trail. At times I wondered which one was the kid. :-)

Neil_B

Still waiting for photos..... I don't know which will be more embarrassing, my pose as The Great Pumpkin or my kissing Daisy the Mule in Cumberland.

thestoutdog

Okay, The Historian has told you how our day went, so here's my photos.
We narrowly avoided a train, went across and back the Salisbury Viaduct, rode for abour ten or so more miles and got to here.


We had an absolutely beautiful fall day!





Kind of looks like he's (thestoutpup) having fun. My favorite retro-styled photo of him.



Enjoying a snack.

thestoutdog

Guess where we're at now?



JAGraham blowing by us!



Where is she going in such a hurry?

thestoutdog

We finally made it!



Pretty proud of himself (as well he should be!), I bet none of his friends could or have done this 36 miler.



Time for a swim to cool off!

thestoutdog

I'll let the good Bike Forums members decide the answer to that question.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you:

The Great Pumpkin!



And an A$$ kising a mule. Just kidding Neil!

JacktheFlash

Nice report, I'm starting a day ride Saturday probably from Meyersdale. The GAP is lots of fun and the weekend weather looks great.

jagraham

If you're in Confluence around 7pm on Saturday, stop by the new Arts Center -- they're having a coffeehouse! Live acoustic music and snacks at 533 Williams Street in Confluence (admission by donation). I won't be playing, got to cook for 25 men at Fort Ligonier this weekend.

JacktheFlash

Thank you for letting me know, at this point I haven't decided on riding east or west. I will stop if I'm there, thanks again.

scrapmetal

Nice pictures as always, Neil. Glad to see you are alive and kicking ass

Neil_B

Stoutpup's ride:





Watching JAGraham's wheels as I wait to get picked up and taken back to my car at Meyersdale.

Neil_B

BTW, there's an amusing story about the end of the ride. I underestimated the amount of time it takes to get down the mountain on bikes and drive up it. My thoughts were that we would be wrapped up by 5 or so and we could store our bikes at Cumberland Trail Connection while we retrieved the cars. I would then head to Confluence and camp, or stay at the Hostel on Main in Rockwood. Well, we got done at 6:15, and the shop closed at 7:00. I stayed with the bikes while JAGraham and the Stouts went uphill. JAGraham came back to recover me, my bike, and the trike, but I didn't get to my car until 8:30. I was too worn out to camp in rainy 40 degree weather and the Hostel on Main closed at 9. I was a minute or two late and they were closed. Fortunately Sayrekulp returned a call I'd placed earlier about his first day touring, and he mentioned the motor lodge he was staying at was cheap. So I drove to Connellsville instead of sleeping in the car.

Neil_B

We met a talkative Ohio musician at the Salisbury Viaduct on Sunday. By coincidence I bumped into Fred the next day at Ohiopyle. Like me, and Sayrekulp, he had spent the night at Connellsville. In fact, he'd parked his RV at the Wal-mart across the street from my motor lodge! Fred was still just as much a chatterbug on a rainy Monday as he was on a clear Sunday.



BTW, PM me if you want Fred's MySpace info if you need a guitarist. :-)

Neil_B

My photos from the weekend:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/thehist...7625100801080/

Sayre Kulp 

Fred was an interesting character for sure.

Jagraham, how is that "terror" trike treating you?

jagraham

Had some derailleur problems on the last trip down the Glide and need to have somebody take a look at before next weekend, but most of the disappointment has been in the operator and not the equipment. BTW - I'm just in for short replies this week, trying to make full use of all 28 hours in a day...

Neil_B

Bumped because we want to do the Glide again this fall.