GB, sounds like you had a great OC trip! I've been there a few times in the off-season, and I've always enjoyed it. I still need to get to Rehoboth (and Dog Fish! ) sometime, I've never managed to organize myself into a trip there.

NOLA hasn't happened yet. It's 21-24 October.

The Codorus trip was hard. As I sometimes tend to do while biking, I bit off just a tiny bit more than I could really comfortably chew. I met up with my friend Dave at his place near Hampden (I guess it's actually Wyman Park -- Beech Avenue). After an enthusiastic bon voyage from Dave's girlfriend and her too-sweet-and-adorable-for-words pit bull, we rode up through the city/county to the southern end of the NCR Trail. I don't know what the route was, I was just following him, but I do recall one long climb -- Seminary Road, maybe? -- and a nice fast downhill on Bellona. 15-ish miles to the trail.

I think I'm going to swear off any further loaded tour routes that use very much of the NCR/York trails. As was the case on my trip to Gifford Pinchot a few years back, the trails just sucked the life out of me, in tiny increments. The steady slog of the 1%-2% grade, combined with the constant beating from the bad surface, and the fight to keep the bike upright as my rear wheel fishtailed through the many deep-graveled sections of the York Trail . . . it's just not much fun, although the trails are beautiful. My lower back started twinging before we'd gotten halfway to New Freedom.

We couldn't find the Google-recommended turnoff near Glen Rock from the York Trail to Seven Valleys Road (PA 616), an alleged "Owengarry Lane." (Early New Year's resolution: finally learn how to use that fancy-pants GPS that I bought *ages* ago!! ) With Dave's iPhone, we finally realized we were a bit north of where we wanted to be, got on 616 via another road, and then found our turnoff onto Krebs Road.

And there the true climbing fun began! It was about 12 or 13 miles to Codorus, most of it uphill. A lot of 3%-5% rollers, a few 6%-8% sections, and then, just a few miles from the park, the hill that finally beat me into submission: the upper reaches of Smoketown Road. When it hit 10%, I slugged it out for a few more yards, and then suddenly my back and knees all tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Okay, you know what? We're done with this." I got off the bike. Pushing a 31-pound bike with 35 pounds of baggage uphill isn't exactly a picnic, itself -- it's just a different kind of pain, and at that point, the most I was asking for was a little variety. As I trudged, I watched the gradient feature on my computer continue . . . 11%, 13%, 14%.

Another climb (but not so steep) on the main road (Blooming Grove Road, PA 216) leading to the park. We overshot the campground entrance -- the signs weren't very clear -- and turned around, only to be faced with yet more climbing, once inside the park, to get to the campground. I had picked a site in the "roughing it" (that's what Codorus calls it) tent-only area. It was beautiful, the sites were huge, not too many of them, and far away from the RVs and their generators. The challenge: to get there, we had to ride down a steep, curving, rough gravel road. Dave zoomed down, no problem; I think I was gun-shy from having almost dumped my bike on the York Trail, so when I felt the rear wheel start to slide out the first time, I got off and walked down the hill.

Total mileage for the trip to Codorus was 59.

It was about 5:30 when we arrived, so we got our tents set up, made some food, perused some campground maps, and were falling asleep at the picnic table by 7:45, despite our avowals to stay up until at least 8:00.

Neither one of us really wanted to get on our bikes on Sunday, but Dave's caffeine addicition got the better of him: he had forgotten to pack any coffee, and the camp store at Codorus is pretty thinly stocked. With his trusty iPhone, he found a Starbucks just south of Hanover, about 5 miles from camp, and set off for it. While he was gone, I did some wandering around. When he returned, we hiked one of the nearby trails, about 4 miles. Nothing too hard, but I was moving slowly nonetheless.

Codorus is a huge park, and a lot of the amenities aren't close to the campground. We had thought about renting kayaks, but the rental spot was too far to walk to, and I didn't want to ride there. (With my back still being sore, I realized that kayaking would not have been too smart an idea, anyway.)

Dave and I were both a little apprehensive about the return journey, in particular climbing back up Stone Church Road, which had been such a long, fast, fun downhill on the way to Codorus. (When we got to the bottom of it on the way in, the first thing we both said: "Man, that's gonna be a bear on Monday!!!") I had been feeling sharp, stabbing pains in my left kneecap every time I got up out of my low camp chair, which was worrying me -- I've never felt anything like that before.

We were packed up and on the road by 8:15, and the return trip was much easier. Certainly it was more downhill, and of course we were hitting the biggest climbs early on, before we were too tired, but we kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it never really did. Even Stone Church turned out not to be as bad as we had anticipated (except for the short 13% knuckle right by the church itself.) My knee didn't bother me. My back didn't, either, until after we were back on the York Trail again.

From the beginning, Dave had suggested that on the way back we catch the light rail at Hunt Valley to avoid climbing back up Bellona (he's done that a few times). I've never ridden a train with a bike, so I was interested in trying it out with someone who had done it before. It went well, but I would not have been able to get my loaded bike on and off the train without Dave's help. (Note to self for future reference!) We got off at Woodberry, and rode back to my car. 42 miles for the return trip.

I was an achy mess last night. I'm feeling mostly normal today (although my legs were complaining a bit as I climbed the stairs to my second-floor office. )

Overall, though, it was a nice trip. I knew going into it that it would be hard for me, because I've done so little big-hill riding this year. But the weather was perfect, the countryside was pretty, and I liked Codorus a lot. Dave, as he was on our trip to Janes Island last year, was a great touring partner -- good-humored, no whining, up for anything. He did the ride on his Surly Cross Check, with just two large rear Ortlieb panniers. With his much lighter rig -- oh, and sure, the fact that he's young, skinny, and in great shape might have had something to do with it lol: -- he had no trouble with the climbing (although he admitted to being pretty sore and tired Saturday night.) He would generally zoom ahead of me for a while, and then wait patiently at the tops of the big hills until I plodded into sight.

I took some pics, I'll post them somewhere later on.