Old 08-09-06, 05:49 PM
  #19  
quester
...into the blue...
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Bikes: Thorn Nomad 2, LHT, Jamis Quest, ....

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I'd worry about the butt more than the speed....

A buddy and I did this (+ 30-mile lead-in) last year in 2 1/2 days. I was using 26x1.5 armadillos. You can get up to 15 mph or so on some of the path, but it gets very painful after a while. We left the path in the middle section in an effort to find smooth road.

I don't remember any of the street names, but if you look at a map there is a big bend of road that comes near the towpath, say 80 miles (give or take 20) from cumberland. The smooth road was much appreciated, but we ended up doing some hills, which we handn't prepared for (my buddy was riding a road bike 700x28 w/ corncob gearing). However, there was one beautiful 10-mile stretch where we averaged >20mph, despite my MTB, camping gear etc. It just felt so good....

Bottom line was that it was beautiful, but in retrospect I would have either taken more time, or put on fatter tires, because it took more than a week before I could sit a bike w/o pain.

The highlights of the trip were the evenings, where we sat in the potomac (careful of the current), drinking beer.
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