C&O Canal - bad news

[Crash]

I did the C&O canal and its not nice.   The National Park Service is "fixing" the potholes & ruts in the trail.  They know NOT what they are doing.  NPS is ruining the trail by thowing down a ton of gravel which causes a 'quicksand' effect.  The gravel swallows up your tires and slows you way down.  I would rather deal with the numerous potholes & ruts than the gravel. 

[skunkawombat]

They started that last fall. 40 degrees and 3 days of rain doesn't make it any easier - I rode it last October in those conditions.  I guess they are trying to make it more appealing to the masses (which is good), but until the new surface gets broken in, it is going to tick off a bunch of people.

[mmeiser]

don't worry it'll pack down. I've ridden the whole thing several times as well as other similar rail / canal trails.  It's just another step in the process.  The end effect will be harpacked crushed limestone that you could ride a road bike on rain or shine. 

Backing up in riding the C&O I've encountered every single stage. Two track pot-holed truck routes, overly manicured soft crushed limestone, super soft dragged path, wood ship, rough gravel. It's all very interesting. Complaining about it is like complaining about hike-a-biking in the snow.

Let's my try some different zen approaches to this:

You can't change the world, you can only change yourself

Sh*t is the norm, be thankful there's anything better.

"The Man" got you down... you need to get off the beaten path and experience what mother nature has to offer. It's the only truth I know. It'll give you a new perspective on just how mankind makes things better and screws things up. And there are far worse screw ups then putting down to much gravel.

That said... perhaps you could encourage them to speed things up by taking a roller to it.  Otherwise it won't really take that long. A year or so is all. A drop in the bucket in the long term.

[WWOOF]

Any updates on C & O trail conditions? I am planning on riding in over my spring break in March, and after reading this I guess i'll be buying some 700X28c tires

[sean salach]

Were you really planning on riding something smaller than 28mm on a rail trail trip??

[WWOOF]

yea hahaha after thinking about it I realize it would be a horrible idea for touring, but i've seen many riders on the trail before with 25s or 23s albeit they were all riding unloaded and most likely not riding more than 20-30 miles out.

[sean salach]

Yeah, smallest width I've ridden extensively on rail trails(NJ and PA) is 32mm(Ritchey speedmax), and even that was sketchy or had me walking if the trail was the slightest bit soft. If it happens to rain, anything smaller than 45mm is probably going to leave a bit of a rut in at least some parts of the trail. Mtb with semislicks is the best all-conditions rail trail tourer in my opinion.

[sean salach]

I should note that I have a friend that rode I think 28mm tires on the Perkiomen and Lehigh Valley rail trails on a short tour with me and he did fine on the rail trails and left me in his dust(noxious fumes) on the road portions.

[skunkawombat]

I rode it on my Hunter FixieMonsterCross with 700x38 Specialized Crossroads Armadillos and fenders, more than enough.  Went with the little larger because of not being able to unweight my hands and butt.  On a coasty bike, I would probably ride a 700x 32 or 35. 
And still fenders.

[Steve1127]

I have ridden the canal fully loaded on a single speed 1970's schwinn with 1 1/4" tires and did just fine. I also hiked it and then did it on a tandem pulling a trailer. It can be done with ease on any kind of bike or tire. I am doing it again this spring on my mountain bike with big wide tires to absorb the bumps.

[WWOOF]

cool man! Was talking to dudes at the LBS today who did the C & O in spring of 07 and 08 and said that march is usually a really wet month and that the rain muds up the trail more so in PA than MD because of the difference in surfaces.  They did it on 28mm tires and were sinking into the trail a bit but they still did it without too many problems

[Steve1127]

If it is really muddy, fenders are a real pain as they get clogged up with mud and leaves. This past fall I must have been carrying at least five extra pounds of mud and leaves in my fenders. In reality though the mud is only bad in a few places,(from my experience) mainly between White's Ferry and Harpers Ferry. The rest handles rain pretty well. I am going to go again as soon as the weather breaks for my first bike camping trip of the year. No fenders this time!

[Crash]

Has anyone been on it this spring?  What's the condition of the trail?

[WWOOF]

Yeah I rode it back in March from DC to Cumberland.  Trail conditions were pretty good. some sections have washout/construction warning signs but are completely rideable with 28 or 32mm tires. We only hit rain once so the trail was pretty dry I have no idea how it is taking all the rain the area has been getting in the past few weeks.

[jon_baler]

You can certainly run skinny tires, and be just fine (especially if dry).  But since the C&O is so flat, there is really no penalty for running fat tires.

A couple of weeks ago, I did a road/gravel tour in MD-PA with 2 friends, and we did about 50-60 miles on the C&O.  All of us had a heavy-duty touring-city tires between 35 and 40 mm, and had no issues.   For a dedicated C&O trip, I'd probably go even fatter, due to lack of a weight penalty and in case of mud.

[Noah_Deuce]

I rode Washington, DC to Harpers Ferry a few years ago right after some rain - even with 700x28s it wasn't too bad (although I was only carrying clothing in a saddle bag because I was staying at the hostel up there).