Day 79 Frostburg to Hagerstown, Maryland

95 miles.... 85 miles of mostly rocky and at times muddy trails followed by 10 miles of rolling hills. 4 punctures. 3 new tubes one patch job as we ran out of properly sized tubes but that's another story.

Although most of the ride was slightly downhill, it was still tough due to the many obstacles we had to avoid...rocks, roots, suicidal squirrels, puddles, pot holes,... you name it. Although the ride was tough, it was beautiful. We had breaks from the tree cover and saw wonderful countryside views as we left Frostburg.

Here are some shots from the day...

 Early morning descent

Nice single track...but where's my mountain bike?

Views

Surprise coffee delivery (thanks Sean and Dennis)

Riding through the Paw Paw tunnel, 3118 feet long on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

(Glad we had lights as it is not lit and was deceivingly long)!)

Out the other side

Swampy regions

When we reached Hancock, Maryland, Dennis pointed out that there was a nicely paved bike path that had been running parallel to our rocky route for the last 10 miles. Ouch!  We quickly  switched over to that and were like kids in a candy store..or maybe more like dogs without a leash. We felt free as the wind and enjoyed the beautiful feeling you get pedaling with efficiency!

Pavement!

We even got a rotating pace line in place. This is always fun. Here's a short clip.

We pulled in to our hotel just as a some thundershowers started to come down.

David Regan being chased by storm clouds

No one complained as the humid heat prior to this was oppressive.  Lots of smiles...

Diana is describing the effect of the wind on her riding...I think

We ate dinner at the hotel, pizza brought in from a nearby gas station pizza joint. It was not bad, though as hungry as we were, I bet we would have been content with cardboard flavored with salt and sugar.