Getting Back Into Cycling

          Well here I am starting to blog my bike trip.  Hopefully I can keep up with this blog!  Here we go:

          Let me start by saying that I haven't done much bike riding since I was about 18.  From 14 to 18 I did a lot of riding.  From 18 to about 21 I had a few occasional cycling stints.  After 21 I don't even remember ever getting on my bike!  I did mostly road riding with some occasional rails-to-trails type riding.  The C&O canal trail was a favorite and when I was 18 I rode the entire C&O from Cumberland, MD to Washington D.C. (ok, we stopped in Cabin John just short of D.C. - I was avoiding the D.C. congestion) with 3 other guys (1 dropped out after the first day due to bike problems).  That was approximately 178 miles we rode. 
          So here I am at age 35 starting to get back into cycling and planning to ride the "Great Allegheny Passage" and continue on the "C & O Canal" with Phil & Mark.  The Allegheny Passage's trailhead is still under construction.  The trail is complete northward to Duquesne at mile marker 135.  Construction is slated for completion on November 11th, 2011 (11/11/11).  Our trip is planned for Sunday May 22nd through Friday May 27th.  We tried to plan for weather that won't be too cold, nor too hot, and a time of year with fewer tourists and crowds (i.e. kids still in school).  Sunday will be getting everyone to the beginning and then just riding 13 miles to the first campground by sunset.  We then plan 4 days of solid cycling (at about 60 miles per day) and then the final day is about a half day of cycling into D.C. leaving the rest of that day for transport back home (the logistics are the hardest part of planning the trip!).  Total trip mileage of 319.5 miles. 
          Now this isn't the first time back on my bike.  Phil & I rode the Ghost Town Trail (which is located almost right outside my back door) back in October last year.  That trail was 36 miles and is a typical "rails-to-trails" type trail.   (My profile picture is from this trip.)  I started getting back into shape for that trip riding a few weeks to a month prior to that trip.  Then winter hit and cycling in western PA is almost unfeasible from November to April so I've only gotten one ride in this spring.
          For those wanting links for further information, here is the website for the Great Allegheny Passage.  Here is the website for the C&O Canal. 
          My next blog entry will be about preparing for the ride, especially my bike (a 1989 Schwinn Voyageur).  Stay tuned!