 | My bike ride on the GAP trail and C&O canal tow path from Pittsburgh to Washington DC – Intro |
I rode my bike from Pittsburgh to DC. I enjoyed the time alone, the time with others, the ups and downs (geographically and emotionally), the lessons, the tests, the process; the journey. I enjoyed – the journey.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to write about it. I had to step away from the real time highs and the ostentatious desires of something for others. As time went on, I found (or rationalized) that I want my journey to help others too. To be blunt, I don’t want to read pages of someone else’s bike ride, so I wouldn’t expect anyone else to read mine. If my journey can help yours though, I think that’d be awesome. If you want to connect with specifics, I’d love to hear from you. Use the contact page if you don’t know how else to get me.
I love to break things down to the W’s of journalism. I’ll break everything down from my journey in separate posts chronologically, but I’ll try to to hit all the dubs along the way. this first post is just a high level introduction to my story. I have had many friends and acquaintances tell me about their journey, before and after mine. I believe my present life is just a collection of my experiences and the people who have impacted me along the way are all part of it. All those who inspired me, with what their journey looked like, even when their journeys were before or after mine, have brought me where I am. If that’s true for you, I’d love to believe I’m part of your why or how and I’d love to know where you are on your journey.
At the risk of sounding like a recipe blog, I grew up on the Old National Pike (Route 40) just south of Pittsburgh, my dad being a civil engineer helped root a respect for the US transportation system – how we got all these roads and how people moved around before we had cars. I used to sneak into the National Pike Steam Show grounds behind my mom’s house and that grew my curiosity for train culture. My family used to do bike rides at Ohiopyle and Cedar Creek, so I grew up knowing about the rails to trails efforts.
I had riding the trail on my list of “30 things to do before I turn 30”. I got a few things out of order and didn’t reach my goal. The furthest…and only distance…I got was with my friend Ryan. It was important to me to be able to say “I rode my bike from my house to the Lincoln Memorial.”, so we started off from my front door in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. My house is now on Airbnb, and I have bike hooks that hang from the stairwell ceiling, for anyone who is starting or finishing their journey. We went down to the point, hopped on the GAP trail and cruised down to Sandcastle and the waterfront. From there, we looped around the high level bridge, scooted past his neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, and back to my house.
9 years later, my life was unrecognizable from 29 year old me, but the desire to finish what I started was just as strong. I knew I wanted to finish it. I knew a week long trip wouldn’t be sustainable, for me. My friend, Chad, chided me for not doing the “full ride”, like he had done with his friends, but I barked back that I think it would take more perseverance to break it up over months like I did. I’m grateful for friends, like Matt, who went out with me and we coordinated parking cars so we would only have to ride out 1 way. I’m forever thankful for my wife, Amanda, who dropped me off or picked me up, sometimes after hours of driving. Her support made this possible. My friend Billy taught me things about riding that were crucial to me finishing. I was inspired by Angela’s luggage transportation service, Sunshine Luggage Shuttle and Josiah’s bed and breakfast, The Ginger Bread House, just past Ohiopyle. Even more, I was awestruck at the requests and response to Amanda’s etsy store of her own creations of GAP Trail and C&O merchandise.
I am not a stereotypical “bike enthusiast” – never have been and don’t think I ever will be. I’m not an adrenaline junkie and I enjoy running more than I like riding a bike. I love to challenge myself though. That’s what this was all about, for me. If you have some people to do a continuous ride with, I’d recommend that too. the beauty of the canvas that is the 333.3 miles of trail from Pittsburgh to DC is that you get to splatter your own journey and vision all over it, from start to finish, at whichever end you want to call your start.
Click through for the rest of the journey:
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