Riding the Great Alleghany Passage (GAP)

[owlice]

I hope to ride the GAP this summer; I've been talking about this with two friends who don't ride much, but are interested in riding more and working up to this. Two years ago, I did a C&O Towpath ride (solo) and found the information on bikewashington.org invaluable for that, and hope for a similar resource for the GAP.

Has anyone here ridden the GAP?

[DebW]

Yes. It's a really nice trail, very well-graded with a smooth cinder surface. If you go from Pittsburg to Cumberland, you'll hardly notice the uphill grade to the divide, but the downhill grade from there to Cumberland is significant, and views at the divide are exceptional. How many days do you plan? Camping or motels? I purchased a guidebook to the trail and camped along the way. Have fun planning, training, and touring.

[susan.wells]

Check out this site for information: Great Allegheny Passage (http://www.atatrail.org/). They have really nice maps. There is a guide book like DebW says. I highly recommend it also. I would certainly ride GAP again if the opportunity presents itself. Most enjoyable.

[kmehrzad]

I hope to ride the GAP this summer; I've been talking about this with two friends who don't ride much, but are interested in riding more and working up to this. Two years ago, I did a C&O Towpath ride (solo) and found the information on bikewashington.org invaluable for that, and hope for a similar resource for the GAP.

Has anyone here ridden the GAP?

The GAP is on my list to ride this year. Since Amtrak will be allowing bikes on their trains starting the end of June, that'd be a convenient way to get up to P'burgh and ride south.

Last October, DivingBiker and I rode the C&O Canal Towpath in 3 days. It was a great time - beautiful weather, scenery, company, and enjoyable time all around.

[owlice]

Thanks, all! I'd been thinking west to east, and am glad for the info about the view, and good to know about the guidebook!

Motels for us. Well, for me, anyway; the other two can do what they want! (Motels, I'm sure. :D )

kmehrzad, thanks for the info about Amtrak; that's also good to know.

One of the husbands wants to train with his wife for this; I think he'd like to come along, too! :) We've also talked about making our kids come with us. (We met through our sons, who went to high school together. We each have an only child.) I suspect we'd have some difficulty talking the kids into it, and I envision that if they went, we'd be on parallel rides (as in, they'd zoom off and meet us at the end of the day). I think it'd be a great experience for everyone, though.

Assuming we all lived through it!!

[bikingbets]

Sorry I'm coming to this late, but wanted to make sure you found http://gaptrail.org/. There's a trail store on the site where you can find TrailBook and other merchandise, such as a GAP or C&O dvd.

I volunteer in West Newton Station...stop in!

[Catrin]

I hope to ride the GAP this summer; I've been talking about this with two friends who don't ride much, but are interested in riding more and working up to this. Two years ago, I did a C&O Towpath ride (solo) and found the information on bikewashington.org invaluable for that, and hope for a similar resource for the GAP.

Has anyone here ridden the GAP?

I just saw this post for some reason, when are you planning on doing this ride? This is on my list for September, hoping nothing interferes with the trip :)

[owlice]

bikingbets, thanks very much for the link; much appreciated! And I'll stop in West Newton Station along the way (hollering, "Hellooooooooo, BikingBets! Where's BikingBets?" :) ).

Catrin, this is on the agenda for August. I'll admit I'm tempted to go twice, though, once to scope it out by myself (maybe in June), and once with friends!

[owlice]

The other two, for various reasons, cannot go now, so I'm thinking of doing this in October rather than in August.

[Catrin]

The other two, for various reasons, cannot go now, so I'm thinking of doing this in October rather than in August.

As it turns out, I had to cancel this year. We were talking about the same time next year in late September. I would also consider late spring, but that probably would not be the best time to take on a multiple day ride of 50+ miles each.

[owlice]

Well, poop, I was counting on you for information, hoping you'd be the voice of very recent experience!

I looked at the expensive way to do this (the 50/40/30 option here: http://www.atatrail.org/pv/hotels.cfm), but two things stop me from signing right up.... the thought of having to negotiate the steps to the sleeping loft when I wake up in the middle of the night to pee, and the cost. I have the money, but wow.... just do not want to pay that much to have to negotiate steps in the middle of the night!! (I think everything else sounds just lovely!)

So I'm trying to figure out how to get to P'burgh with my bike while leaving my car in Cumberland. I'm thinking of renting an SUV in Cumberland, tossing my bike in the back, and driving to P'burgh. If anyone has other ideas, please share; thanks!

[ny biker]

There's a coTowpath yahoo group, and I think some of the folks there have ridden the GAP. Might be worth a look.

[Zen]

It wasn't entirely solo. The GAP is a whole lot smoother than the towpath. If they can do 30 miles a day they'll be fine.
And hi, howyoudoin?

[Zen]

There is also a yahoo GAP group

[owlice]

Hey there, Zen; I've been wondering where the heck you were! And yes, it wasn't entirely solo! :) How are you? And where are you?

ny biker, thanks! I'm hooked into the towpath Yahoo Group, but don't want to take them off-topic. At the moment, anyway... may change my mind about this!

Zen, there's a GAP Yahoo group? Didn't know; will go look. Thanks!

[withm]

It wasn't entirely solo. The GAP is a whole lot smoother than the towpath. If they can do 30 miles a day they'll be fine.
And hi, howyoudoin?

YAY! Zen is back! I've wondering what happened to you. Hope all is well.

[Liljam]

Hi! I'm new to the board and biking but I've lived in Cumberland (the area anyway) my whole life. The trail is amazing and the canal is great too. We have a business off the canal and our home is off what we hope to become an addition to the rail trail.

You might be able to rent a SUV from Enterprise in Cumberland and leave it at an Enterprise in Pittsburgh. This is done occasionally for our auto customers at our business. I think we also have a Hertz rental but it's slightly more expensive. When you do come to Cumberland, I hope you enjoy our town!

[owlice]

: wanders in :

Wow, that's some thick layer of dust going on!

: dusts off membership :

: looks around :

Everything looks so... so... different. Still taking biking, though, so looks the same at the same time, too.

So finally, I'm going to do the GAP this summer. Took me long enough, hmmm? Going with a friend, taking a leisurely pace.

And hey, hi! :)

[Catrin]

Nice! Looking forward to reading about it!