Day 2 - C&O Canal Towpath

On Day 2, we officially commenced the bike tour! We set off from Cumberland, MD on the C&O Canal Towpath and biked about 15 miles to the Michael Cresap House in Oldtown, MD (Cresap is the inspiration for the main character in the movie The Patriot). The scenery along the path is gorgeous, with lots of trees/shade, the canal and locks, and even the occasional deer :) Plus the weather has been gorgeous (not nearly as hot/humid as we feared it would be)! However, the path itself is a little different than we expected. Unlike the smooth, paved surfaces we trained on in Minneapolis, the towpath is made of packed dirt and rocks, which makes the biking harder (and muddier!) than we're used to. But that's okay - we are still thoroughly enjoying ourselves, and the miles went by quickly while we were getting to know other members of our team.

After a brief stop at the Cresap House, we had a nice picnic lunch to refuel before continuing the journey. Unfortunately, Todd was “tricked” (so he says – we think he was trying to show off) into thinking he could take a shortcut to the lunch break spot and took a nice spill down a short hill. He ended up coming to a stop face-down with the bike on top of him, but just like with cancer, he bounced right back up and except for some dirt skid marks on his shorts and shirt, he showed no ill effects and kept going.

After lunch, we set off for another 15 miles of biking until we reached Paw Paw, WV. There we saw the Paw Paw Tunnel – a .5+ mile canal tunnel through a mountain that was built using only pick axes, shovels and black powder. While it was quite impressive, we also learned that by the time it was completed in 1850, the railroad had already been up and running for 8 years, making it a bit of wasted time and money. (I guess some things just don’t change.)

From the tunnel we all shuttled back to the hotel to shower and change and meet up for dinner. After dinner, each of the dozen or so sarcoma survivors in our group said a little something about a moment during their battle (just one, although we all know there are many) that really impacted them. The stories were incredible, inspiring, and emotional. And the whole thing really drove home how amazing the people on this tour really are – just a terrific group of people who really want to make things better for others facing this disease. Another interesting thing about this year’s tour is that our team is primarly made up of “young adult” survivors (in their 20s and 30s), rather than pediatric patients are their parents and older adult patients like in years past. So needless to say, it has been great to connect with people our age who really know what we’ve been going through these past few years.

Tomorrow, we are taking a break from biking (it’s another 30 mile ride -- but all before lunch this time) to do the walking tour instead. Aside from letting our butts and legs rest, we’re excited to spend some time with some of the non-bikers and get to know them as well.

By the way, the Cumberland Times did a little story on Team Sarcoma yesterday – you can check the story and group photo out here if you’re interested:

http://www.times-news.com/archivesearch/local_story_200000356.html

Also, Mary from our group has started uploading photos from this event to the following link:

http://tinyurl.com/m94doh

Love,
Karen & Todd