I am trying something a little different for this trip – I started a vlog – every sunday I will post a new video of my time from my bikepacking trip from Harpers Ferry – DC.
ENJOY!!
Year: 2016
City to Shore 2016 Recap
The MS City to Shore 2016 ride is now complete – for me anyway – as I write this there are quite a few cyclists crazy enough to bike all the way BACK to the start. Who knows maybe I will be one of them someday, but for now the 80 miles from the PATCO station in Cherry Hill, NJ to Ocean City, NJ is a perfect ride for me.
Kevin was kind enough to wake up early and drive me to the beginning – it was of course organized chaos with so many cyclists eager to get on the road. There was plenty of parking when we arrived and I loaded up my bike with everything I needed for the day and headed over to the start. I was there at about 6:15, skipped walking around the tent area and was lucky enough to get into the last chute before they closed it off and then the rest of the cyclists had to wait in line until they started releasing the (maybe) 7 or 8 chutes they had set up. Then those waiting would fill the chute just released and wait until all the other chutes went, then it was their turn. So I was lucky to get in the last chute of the first batch. The first wave started off at about 6:30 or so and then we would wait until the all clear for the next chute to be released – this was approximately every 5-10 minutes. They have been doing this ride for a VERY long time and it is a major event so they have this down to a science. 7,000 people sign up every year and it is so well organized it’s remarkable!
picture I took from the MS FB page
some of the 7,000 cyclists ready to go!
My trusty ride!
City to Shore T-3 Days!!
So the MS City to Shore bike ride is right around the corner – just 3 days away! I just wanted to thank everyone who donated to the cause – I actually raised enough money to ride in the MS City to Shore AND the MS NYC in October! SO THANK YOU!!!
Trouble With Trekking Poles…
What am I doing with my trekking poles in this picture? Ohh just weighing them to see how much it would be to FedEx them back to home….
V-Bar-V Heritage Site
I absolutely love petroglyphs (pictures carved into rock – most are so old no one knows what they mean anymore). There are some amazing petroglyphs in Red Rock Canyon and Vally of Fire which I have seen on other trips to the Arizona/Nevada area so when I was planning a trip to Flagstaff I decided to see if there were any close by.
I found the V bar V heritage site which was about 45 minutes away. The area used to be a ranch and in 1994 became part of the Coconino National Forest to preserve the petroglyphs. The site was easy to find – we parked in the lot and headed down to the visitors center to get a parking pass ($5).
Humphreys Peak – 1st Attempt
After I flew into Las Vegas my BFF Jen picked me up from the airport and we drove to Flagstaff, AZ to spend a few days of sightseeing. On the list of planned activities was hiking Humphreys Peak. We were up before the sun and headed out to the trailhead which was only about a 15 min drive from Flagstaff. The sun was just coming up as we started down the trail at 6am – I was seriously wishing I had some gloves as it was a little chilly, but I knew it would warm up as the day went on.
Cape Cod Rail Trail
I have been wanting to bike the 22 mile Cape Cod Rail Trail in Massachusetts since I saw it earlier this year in an article about the best rail trails by the beach (or something like that). I was hooked – I wanted to bikepack to Nickerson State Park or some other campground along the trail, but was unable to get a campsite. My parents decided they wanted to come along too so my bikepacking trip turned into just a long bike ride – which was fun!
The GPS said it would be a 6 hour drive, but with traffic it turned into about an 8 1/2 hour drive. We checked into the hotel near the start of the trail in Dennis and were lucky to get a room on the 1st floor so we could keep our bikes in the room (no elevator). I honestly have no idea what we did after we checked in – I think I just went to bed and my parents went and got ice cream and walked around a bit. Why does a long car ride make you so tired??
Bikepacking – What I Packed
I have had a lot of people ask what I brought with me on my bikepacking trip so I figured I’d put together a quick list. The following items are what my nephew and I brought for our overnight trip.
going through the Howard Tunnel
water refill station
First Bikepacking Trip!
I have been TRYING all summer to take my nephew on a camping trip, but it just hadn’t been working out and has been extremely hot lately. I have also been wanting to try bikepacking for a while so I decided to see if my nephew would be able to come on a short trip with me – win win right?! 🙂
In case you don’t know what bikepacking is, it is like backpacking except you load up all your camping gear in panniers (bags that attach to your bike) so you don’t have to carry it on your back….which I probably should have explained to my sister because she mentioned she was trying to fit his sleeping bag into his backpacking bag. I had to laugh at the image of my nephew riding his new bike down the trail with his giant backpacking pack on his back. I reassured my sister that I would be carrying everything on my bike and he could just focus on riding his. 🙂
I decided to take him on the York Heritage Rail Trail – which is a trail I have ridden a few times before. The plan was to park at Glatfelters Station Parking Lot around mile 13 and then we would bike Indian Rock Campground which is right off the trail around mile 18, camp overnight, then bike back the next day. This seemed like a reasonable distance to go for an 8 year old on a new bike and myself hauling all the gear – and it is a FLAT trail which is a plus!
Centralia’s Graffiti Highway
On the way back from my camping trip to Watkins Glen we stopped off in Centralia, PA – this is a whole town that was evacuated due to a fire that started in the Coal Mine below. The fire has been burning since 1962. Some people didn’t want to leave, but eventually most of them were forced out. I am always surprised at how many people come to see this — well — area of nothing but shrubs, weeds and cemeteries – there was even a person selling hotdogs at a stand on the side of the main road (that’s a new one).
You can wander around the abandoned roads and hope to see smoke that still escapes from the cracks in the pavement and dirt to this day, although to be honest each time I go there, there is less and less smoke visible. We didn’t see any on this hot summer day. I am going to go back in the winter because supposedly you can see it better then so I’ll talk more about the town in that post.
blisters and bug bites 