Saturday, June 29, 1996
Day 49
Paw Paw, West Virginia to Purcellville, Maryland
Today's Miles: 59
Cumulative Miles for the Tour: 3212
Degree of Difficulty: Medium to Easy
Terrain: Rolling Hills
Find of the Day: The Appalachian Youth Hostel
Our expectations of being "finished", with only 2 days of easy riding to go, left us all a little weak in the thighs this morning. It's our seventh straight day of pedaling and we were looking for an easy, coasting ride out of Paw Paw. Yeah, right...
The climb out of Paw Paw towards Winchester is along Route 29. Dave Wallace and I got a half hour jump on everyone, leaving before the rest had finished breaking down their tents. Route 29 connected with Route 127 through a set of rolling hills in the back country of West Virginia. The struggle today was mental. We've passed through terrain much steeper than this during our trip, but everyone seemed to be having difficulty keeping the rhythm this morning.Everyone met at the border of Maryland for a group picture of entering a new state. Maryland is the 12th state on a 12 state tour, and yet we have two more states to pass through. Go figure...I think most people go on a bike tour, expecting to be given specific directions from point "A" to point "B" at the beginning of each day, with the tour leader laying out the route. That's the way Dave Blair planned this tour, I'm sure, but it hasn't worked out that way. This group of riders might not be the strongest cyclists, but we sure don't mind trying out new routes to see if we can find the "perfect" backroad or the friendliest rural town.Some of the best finds of the tour have been when we would pull Dave aside and say, "Hey, Dave, look at this little sliver of a grey road on the map here. We sure would like to check that out". That's how a planned tour of 12 states becomes an unbridled romp through 14 states and a lifetime's worth of memories.It's getting near the end...tomorrow's the last day and all of us are getting more and more excited. It's a time for thinking about where we've been, the people we've met, the things we've seen...the amount of food Ken can eat and STILL lose 15 pounds. At dinner tonight, we put together a "BEST OF.." list. I didn't put a "Best Journal Day" on there, but if you have a favorite journal day, e-mail me with your vote and I'll put that on the list, too.
The accommodations for our final night
We ended the day at a hostel in the hills above Purcellville. It was at "the top of the steepest, longest grade I had ever seen before taking this trip. It's a monster climb. I hope I can make it." All this came from Adam, who had taken a bike, day trip with Ken a year and a half ago in this area.
We all had a good laugh when we got to the hill. It was embarrassingly simple. We saw steeper grades in the flat section of South Dakota. The "climb" up Route 601 to the hostel was about a third of a mile with a 5% grade. So much for the accuracy of memory...or are we in that good of a shape, after all, where a 5% grade is just the normal part of a ride?Ken and Adam are strong riders for this group. It was their fear that got us psyched to get ready for that hill. I guess one and a half years ago, that WAS a big deal for them. It's worth a laugh now, but what was the hardest climb of Adam's life, is now just a bump in the road where we spent the night.The hostel at Purcellville is remarkable. It's an old, stone chateau, sitting on the Appalachian trail, supplying the through hikers with showers, laundry facilities and a bed for the night. There are stopping points all along the 2100 mile trail, but I'm sure this is one of the best of them. Our hosts, Kelly and Bill, gave us free run of the place. We took over the downstairs, spending our final night on the road in BEDS!Tomorrow's the finishing, 50 mile trek into DC. We've decided to forego all roads and take the "Rails to Trails" that follows the old "C&O Railroad" bed. We've been told we'll start with a slight, 20 mile downhill out of Purcellville, and stay on the path to the base of Memorial Bridge, crossing into DC at about 1:00pm tomorrow.Fifty days, 3300 miles comes down to one day, sixty miles. That's it. It'll be over...
Bike America Tours
dblair@wtp.net
1-800-738-7271