Reality is very much a relative experience, and if your experience is somewhat limited in off road riding, in this case the C&O may seem kind of challenging. I was challenged by it to a certain degree by my choice of triking it over biking, and really only in the sections that had grassy doubletrack. Aside from that though, it was beautiful, quiet, shady, almost off pavement cycling paradise as there were campsites and water pumps galore over the whole length! I loved it. It still was the highlight of my east coast tour this last summer. The couple that owns the store that let me test ride my next recumbent touring bike last weekend told me they did it last summer on Rans XPs and they did 30 miles/day and had a ball. They were definitely not athletes, nor even in very good shape and they were fine. If I could still ride a DF bike, I would not hesitate to take my 700c touring bike with 35mm tires.