Spectacular. They will fondly recall this trip for years to come in conversations with others. A friend who shepherded his son with a handful of his willing friends and another parent on that trip for a 13th birthday "party". His son who has graduated college and works in Florida now, mentioned taking that ride again.
Andy Cheatham Pittsburgh On Saturday, June 21, 2014 9:44:08 PM UTC-4, WETH wrote: > > (Riv content: no Riv bikes, but much Riv gear and Riv inspired bike > set-ups. I really doubt this ever would have happened without the knowledge > and encouragement I have received from this group. Thanks!) > > On Father's Day, we loaded the bikes on the car and drove three hours to > Cumberland, Maryland to begin our five-day family trip on the Great > Allegheny Passage (http://www.atatrail.org). > > Early on Monday morning the good folks at Cumberland Trail Connections ( > http://www.ctcbikes.com) drove us to McKeesport, PA to begin our ride > west to east. There were five of us: my wife, my 11 and 13 year old sons, > and a family friend age 12. I settled on riding the trail west to east so > that the climbing would be gradually spread over three days, so the last > day would be a fast downhill ride, and so each day we were a bit closer to > home. We also slowly increased the mileage so as not to overwhelm the > youth too soon. The mileage each day worked well for our group and left > the boys tired but neither exhausted nor burned out. > > We stayed mostly in B&Bs with one night in a cabin at a KOA campground. The > whole trip was great. The boys asked at the end when they could do another > bike trip! That makes it a success in my book. We only experienced an > hour of rain, and on most days the temperature peaked around 85*F. > > The GAP itself is a well maintained treasure that traverses a beautiful > section of the United States. > Here was our trip itinerary, inspired by a tour offered by Adventure > Cycling Association: > http://www.adventurecycling.org/guided-tours/family-fun-tours/2014-family-fun-great-allegheny-passage/ > : > Sunday-Drive to Cumberland, MD - Fairfield Inn and Suites > > Monday-McKeesport, PA to West Newton 19 miles > Lodging: http://www.brightmorning.net/ > > Tuesday-West Newton to Connellsville, 22 miles > Lodging: http://www.campriversedge.com/cabins > > Wednesday -Connellsville to Confluence 31 miles > Lodging: http://www.riverviewkitchenettes.com > > Thursday -Confluence to Meyersdale 31 miles > Lodging: Gram Grams Place http://www.gramgramsplace.com > > Friday-Meyersdale, PA to Cumberland, MD 32 miles > Lodging: Home > > I highly recommend all the places we stayed, except the campground outside > of Connellsville. They have a pool, which I thought the boys would use > more than they did. I might look into a B&B in Connellsville if planning > this again. The campground was fine, but it was located 3 miles outside > town. Being in town would have worked better for us, and we wouldn't have > needed the sleeping bags. If you wanted to camp each night, the Adventure > Cycling itinerary (link above) would work well, as would the KOA campground. > > Finally, I took immense pride in watching my family make the trip on bikes > that I had built-up from just frames. A feat I could not have done without > this group. So many, many thanks! This group is a treasure, too. > > Photos from the trip are here: > https://www.flickr.com/photos/86975051@N08/sets/72157644880466610/ > > Here is a photo of the boys indicating our progress on the elevation map > inside the tunnel at the Eastern Continental Divide. The last 20 miles from > the divide to Cumberland were all downhill and a fun reward for a few days > of gradual climbing. > > > <https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_p2Dy2h8VRc/U6YyBAH2AbI/AAAAAAAAAQY/3LpU91d1REc/s1600/14289825107_daf046b408_o.jpg> > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
