Tell me about your GAP / C&O ride!

[Crankin]

I see nothing wrong with preferring to go to Europe after you've already run Boston more than once.
But, the Marathon, even apart from what happened this year, is a huge undertaking for the whole area, not just the city, as it goes through several smaller towns and cities. Here, we don't do regional. Every town is its own little fiefdom and this is one thing they all cooperate for. Yes, we do make money from this. And we love having it here! I stood and watched people run up Heartbreak Hill every year during my childhood, in my hometown of Newton. It's also spring vacation week here and Patriots' Day. There's a huge amount of tourism going on, in addition to the Marathon. Of course, prices will be up. I complain about the tourists overrunning my town for the Patriots' Day re-enactments, but it brings a huge amount of money here.
You could stay outside of the city, nearer to the start.... but, you'd need to have a car to do that.

[hulagirl]

You could stay outside of the city, nearer to the start.... but, you'd need to have a car to do that.

Yeah, we looked into that. And knowing how the transportation can be difficult on race day, we opted for the hotel close to the finish line. But, if family does a house swap we may stay with them and just suck it up and save a bit of money for sure.

The good thing that did come out of the hotel prices being so high - we are going to do the GAP & C&O! So there is a silver lining to everything I suppose.

And talk about tourists! Obama just arrived in our town last night. He spends Christmas here in Kailua and it brings in all the nut balls. Ever since he started this, Kailua is on the map and our tourism has skyrocketed! I'm fine with it because I run an Airbnb and ride my bike around town so the traffic doesn't bother me. But ohhhh boy are folks up in arms over it! We love to hate the tourists. But I can think of worse things to drive our economy for sure! It's always a touchy subject….that and politics, religion and Duck Dynasty. :-)

[Crankin]

Agreed. I've seen way too many busloads of tourists parked in front of the Colonial Inn, taking pictures of the "weird spandex clad cyclists" who gather in our town to not understand. But, it is good for us.

[emily_in_nc]

We did a little bit of the C&O as a part of Bike Virginia back in, I think, 2004 (or was it 2003?) The weather had been rainy prior, and the trail was very, very sticky MUD in parts. I was riding my skinny-tired road bike and had to walk parts of it. Didn't go too well for my Speedplay X-Series cleats. It was a beautiful stretch, but if I ever rode it again, it would be on a mountain bike for sure!

[Takemusu]

This looks like an intriguing part;

https://www.canaltrust.org/2018/04/5...aw-paw-tunnel/