Day 5. Cumberland - Rockwood

After the dramas of trying to find accommodation last night we ended up in a room overlooking the train tracks. The good was that the trains were going very slowly through town and not sounding their horns. However they did make the building shake and were rumbling and clanky noisy. Inadvertently I discovered a great way to get back to sleep. I started trying to count the number of seconds it took for the trains to pass by. Never managed to stay awake long enough to find out, although at breakfast we watched one take at least 15 minutes. It had tankers carrying Molten Sulphur .., firstly where do you get that from and secondly who uses it and what for?

We caught our train at 11:30 and rode it up to Frostburg. Parents, your yelling and screaming children in a confined space for an hour are not cute.

I set off up the hill with some trepidation. 9 miles of uphill to our planned picnic lunch spot at the viewpoint near the Big Savage Tunnel was an intimidating thought, but it turned out to be a breeze and most enjoyable, as was the rest of the ride to Rockwood. It was a beautiful sunny day, cool enough to be very comfortable riding, the trees just beginning to turn and it was downhill enough to maintain 12-15 mph instead of the 7-8 I had been doing the other way.

The day flew by. It seems I just needed the 140 mile warm up. I know, I needed to train for it.

The plan is Rockwood to Connellsville tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a sunny day to make up for the rainy one we had coming the other way.

Tony