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Ride along the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal towpath from Harper's Ferry, W.Va. to Washington DC and back.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/43112181

Rain would take the fun out of this ride so a final decision to cancel or ride will be made on Friday, June 2. You you reserve lodging before that make sure you can cancel with no penalty.

Harper's Ferry is 215 miles and a three and a half hour drive from Princeton. It’s located at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where the states of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia meet.

The plan is to arrive on your own Sunday night, ride to and from Washington along the Potomac River and Monday, Stay over and return home Tuesday, although anyone who wants to make the long drive home after the ride is welcome to do so.

There are several options for lodging including motels and airbnbs. We will be there before school is out and at the tail end of a weekend which should mean plentiful and inexpensive deals.

We will be starting at 8 am and with stops along the way should be back by 8 pm, with darkness as our deadline. Waiting around for cyclists who are not physically up to the challenge is not an option, so make sure you are in shape for the ride before signing up and make sure you have a bicycle that works well on gavel trails like the D&R Cabal towpath. There will be a couple miles of asphalt and traffic as we make a loop around the National Mall.

Because mechanical breakdowns are always a possibility when bicycling and one that can’t be fixed along the way would be a big problem when we are far from home with a darkness deadline, I’m hoping a non bicycling spouse of friend would be willing to join us, hang out in the very cool town of Harper's Ferry (it’s also a national park and popular tourist destination) and be available to drive up to 62 miles to retrieve any bike (and rider) that can’t complete the trip.

The sooner you sign up the better chance you have of finding someone to carpool