Recap: Loop De West Virginia
Background
Two guys, two bikes and about two weeks of time to explore West Virginia via a 650 mile and 37,000 feet of climbing loop that consist of every kind of surface you can imagine including gravel, dirt, double track, single track, hike-a-bike and road riding. The route links together many of the excellent and some not so excellent rail trails throughout West Virginia. We rode on approximately thirteen different rail trails, and I’ll try to highlight them during the daily recaps.
We are from Smithfield, Va. Jay Walls was born and raised in Smithfield, but I’m considered an outsider because I’ve only lived in the area for 32 years. I was raised in Parkersburg, WV but ended up in Smithfield after I left the Navy in 1990. The link to growing up in Parkersburg is the genesis of this trip as my wife and I have family and friends all over West Virginia and we spend a lot of time in West Virginia every year. During those visits to the Parkersburg, Spencer, Fayetteville, Lewisburg, Marlinton, Canaan Valley and Morgantown areas, I started wondering if it would be possible to connect these wonderful places together and ride a big loop around West Virginia. So the Loop de West Virginia was born and I’ve spent the last two years planning, scouting, purchasing gear, etc. in preparation for this adventure. Jay’s father-in-law was also born and raised in Elizabeth, WV so we were also able to ride through the town and see where the old homestead used to be.
Over the past several years I slowly built up my ability and confidence to tour and bikepack. I started riding gravel in West Virginia with the purchase of a Salsa Warbird from Fayetteville’s New River Bikes in 2017, graduated to a simple overnighter on the Greenbrier River Trail in 2018, completed the Great Alleghany Passage in three days in 2019 with Lee Scruggs, rode most of the future Parkersburg to Pittsburgh Rail Trail in 2020 over four days with three other riders and completed the Ohio to Eire Trail last year in six days along with Jay and four others. I’ve even done some local overnight bike packing trips near Smithfield and every time I’ve taken a trip I’ve learned something that I didn’t know before, which was a huge advantage during the Loop de West Virginia.
Please note that the miles and climbing statistics that I quote in this article are actual miles and feet of elevation. The miles and elevation in the linked routes may not match our specific numbers especially in the Parkersburg area. For Parkersburg, I have the loop starting and ending at the North Bend Rail Trail Happy Valley trail head. I did this so anyone riding this tour has a place to park their car. We actually started at my parent’s house outside of Parkersburg and ended the trip at my wife’s parent’s house near Parkersburg. Some of the other days, such as day 9 and 10, we diverted off of the route to speed up the ride because we needed to finish early.
Day 1 - Ridge Riding and Family Heritage in Western West Virginia
We started the Loop de West Virginia adventure with excitement and a little bit of anxiety because neither of us have ever attempted anything like this before. We started at my parent’s house near Parkersburg and ended the day in Spencer after 52 miles with 4700 feet of climbing. We rode a lot of gravel with various conditions from smooth compact to chunky with some mud. We also experienced some very steep climbs with some exceeding 20% grade. We had to walk up one of the 20%+ grades because the gravel was too chunky and loose causing us to spin out. We were successful on the remainder but our legs and lungs certainly suffered for those successes. We also experienced many hills with 15+% so when we got the 10+% it was easy! We would eventually figure out that this was probably the day with the steepest climbs during the whole tour as the hills in western West Virginia are choppy and steep and it doesn’t appear that there was much engineering that went into the construction of them. It just kind of seemed like they needed to get over a hill so they just went straight over them. We ended up riding on top of a lot of ridges with great views but we had to get up to the top of the ridges thus a lot of steep climbing.
We stopped for brunch in Elizabeth at Molly’s Diner. Don’t let the outside appearance fool you. The inside is clean and comfortable, and the food is amazingly affordable with huge portions that taste great. The homemade biscuits are huge and are to die for.
The other theme for the day was our family heritage. Jay's father-in-law grew up in Elizabeth so we were able to stop and visit the place where he grew up, which now has a Piggly-Wiggly grocery store on the property. We also went through a section of Roane county where six generations of my family have lived or are currently living. We spent a couple hours with one of my cousins, who owns a dairy farm, and got to see our old cabin that my family used to own. So many great memories there while I was growing up.
We did experience our first mechanical of the trip. Jay’s brand new bike’s chain kept falling off when it was in his lowest gear. Not a great place for this to happen as we were several days from a bike shop and we both have limited mechanical experience with bike drive trains. Jay was able to nurse the bike to Spencer but was without his granny gear so it made his climbs much more difficult than they needed to be. That evening we tried to adjust the upper limit on the rear derailleur with some success. It wasn’t 100% correct but it did work a bit better allowing Jay to use the granny gear when absolutely necessary and with advanced planning.
We ended the day in Spencer and stayed at the Arnott House Bed and Breakfast. An excellent and affordable B&B. The Innkeeper was very accommodating for our bicycles.
A great first day!
Day 2 - Remote and Beautiful Backcountry Valleys
We rode from Spencer to Frametown covering 52 miles with 2700 feet of climbing. This route has some really nice riding as there was significantly less steep hills and many backcountry roads with very little traffic. There was also some very nice gravel riding but the overall amount was less than day 1. We really got to experience some of the remote and less traveled areas of West Virginia as we spent a lot the day traversing up or down several remote beautiful valleys with streams. Once the creek ran out, we climbed up and over a ridge and into another valley and this repeated for the whole ride until we finally dropped into the Elk River watershed. The elevation profile of the route perfectly represents the valleys and ridges of this day. We ended the day in Frametown at the Elk River Campground. The campground is privately owned but well maintained with water and electricity available. They are currently renovating their bathhouse so call in advance for arrangements. The owner, Jason, is very supportive. We ended up on a nice primitive campsite right next to the river. We went to Minney’s Diner for dinner and I highly recommend this place just down the road a mile or two from the campground. The food was very good, priced right and the dessert, brownie waffles, was excellent. Stopping here to camp set us up nicely to start on the Elk River Rail Trail the next morning.
Day 3 - Our First Rail Trail and Some Big Climbs and Drops to the New River Gorge National Park
We rode from Frametown to Fayetteville covering 77 miles with 3600 feet of climbing making this the longest day yet. Jay and I made the decision to push through to Fayetteville in a single day due to predicted severe weather. We were originally going to ride to the Gauley River and wilderness camp in the National Park/Reserve but due to predicted heavy rain overnight and the following day we went for two days in one so we could stay at my wife’s parent’s house in Fayetteville. We got up early and started the day on the new Elk River Rail Trail and rode the trail for about 40 miles until we got to Rt. 16 just past Clay. The Elk River Rail Trail has only been open a few years and they just completed another 10 miles from Frametown down to Duck. It is a good trail with a lot of potential; however, it is lacking support infrastructure though they just added some nice restrooms along the trail and have plans to expand the trail to over 75 miles long. We wanted to stop at the Nottingham family country store in Duck, but they were not open yet because of our early start. I believe the store has been run by five successive generations of the same family. I’m a sucker for old country stores so I was disappointed that we were not able stop. We spent the next portion of the ride basically climbing the mountains out of the Elk River watershed and then we had a great and long downhill ride into the Gauley River watershed. The rain finally caught us for the first time on the tour, so we got a little wet for the remainder of the day. It wasn’t a super heavy rain, so it actually felt nice.
We didn’t stop at a restaurant for lunch (there weren’t that many options) as we relied on the junk food calorie oasis known as Dollar General. There are a lot of Dollar Generals and Family Dollar stores throughout West Virginia and we took full advantage of them. I think we stopped at one almost every day. If we didn’t, we still had plenty of jerkey, Cheeze Nips, Nabs, Combos and whatever other salty and sweet goodness snacks left over from a previous stop.
If you would like, you can split the route into two days by camping in the Gauley River National Recreation Area near Swiss. See the National Park rules for wilderness camping. We continued our ride and got a great climb up the beautiful Rich Creek on a very nice gravel road. After you climb out of the Gauley River watershed you then get to ride down into the New River watershed and enter the New River Gorge National Park. This is a blast as you drop into Anstead on a very steep and curvy smooth road. You'll have a few options to finish the route out of Anstead that include the Hawksnest Rail Trail plus very technical single track to the Fayette Station Bridge or paved but hilly back roads. If you take the back roads, you'll then have the choice to drop into the Gorge and climb back up via the Fayette Station Bridge or take the New River Gorge Bridge across the top of the Gorge. There are several commercial campgrounds, National Park camping sites and lodging options near Fayetteville. The best option is to search google though two I can recommend are the Outpost, which is at the end of the posted route, and Adventures on the Gorge, which has all of the options you can think of from camping to renting a house. Finally, there were a lot of dogs on this day. I finally had to use my pepper spray on one of them as it got a little too close. Luckily, I just sprayed it on the ground and the scent was enough for the dog to turn away. A dog on an upcoming day was not so lucky…more to come on that later.
Day 4 - The New River Gorge National Park
We took a rest day in Fayetteville, so we were able to restock on some food and enjoy a few of the restaurants (Pies and Pints, Wood Iron Eatery). We also were able to reevaluate what we needed to carry on the remainder of the tour. We left behind a lot of heavy tools because we were carrying duplicates, so we consolidated to a single pump, multi-tool, knives, etc. I also realized that I needed to adjust the type of clothes that I was carrying. I bought another pair of shorts that I could ride in and I also bought another synthetic t-shirt. I left my swim trunks and some additional socks behind to further drop volume and weight off of the bike. Reflecting after the end of the tour, I would recommend at least three pair of shorts, three shirts and three pair of socks, with one pair of socks and one of the shirts being wool. I found that the wool socks and shirts will help you keep warmer when you get wet from rain on cooler days. Having three pair of each allows you to laundry two sets while still having the ability to wear something. Also, this allows you to ride with the same clothes for a few days so they just keep getting dirtier but then allows you to have clean(er) clothes in the evening once you get to your camp or lodging. Riding this many days you will eventually stink. Funny note though, I really didn’t smell myself until the last day on the ride. Always learning…
Day 4 of riding from Fayetteville to the War Ridge Campground included 41 miles with 4100 feet of climbing. The route took us right up the middle of the New River Gorge National Park on single track, double track and sparsely maintained gravel roads. This was the most technical riding of the entire tour. We took an extended rest with lunch at Thurmond ending the day with a long and steep climb to the top of the gorge to the War Ridge campground. There are multiple camping options throughout the National Park but we chose War Ridge because it got us closer to Lewisburg.
We rode 18 miles of single track on Kaymoor Miners and the Southside Junction “Rail” Trails. These are actually old coal railroad track beds but they are not comparable to the many nicely maintained rails to trails on the remainder of the tour, such as the amazing Greenbrier River Trail. Jay thought I was riding them too fast and I thought he was riding them too slow. The conditions were very wet and I eventually hit a big root and went flying over my handle bars. Luckily, I landed on a nice soft pile of pine needles did a roll and stood up. Jay was a bit further back taking his time so he didn’t see the acrobatics though I guess he was right about the speed.
Interesting note: In one of the attached pictures, you can see coal tipple foundations that look like concrete trapezoids. This is the now abandoned Rush Run coal mine on the Southside Junction Trail. My wife’s grandfather was killed in a coal mining accident here. If you like history, read about all of the old coal mines and communities in the National Park. It is hard to believe that not that long ago the entire New River Gorge was industrialized but is now a National Park and Nature Preserve.
The next section of the ride was on the McKendree gravel road, which ends in the town of Prince. McKendree road is in good shape to the very small town of Thayer, but it becomes very rough and rocky with a lot of mud till you get to Prince. There is a great mid-century modern active Amtrak station in Prince. It is worth a few minutes to visit and admire the architecture as it kind of looks like it is frozen in time. After Prince, it was a very steep and long climb up to the War Ridge Campground, which was full so we just wilderness camped further down the road in the National Park.
There are a lot of camping options in the National Park. See the route Points of Interest for options but since we were riding through the Park on Memorial Day weekend all of the campgrounds were pretty much full. The National Park campgrounds are free but are first come first served so they fill up quickly. Also note, that there are very few options for resupply and fresh water as you are riding through the park so be prepared to carry extra or filter water as needed. The old train station at Thurmond is a National Park visitor center so they have running water and a limited selection of drinks for purchase. I felt like we didn’t take enough water to War Ridge as we needed water to clean up, cook dinner, cook breakfast and most importantly rehydrate. There are no water supplies on War Ridge and the next supply opportunity was Meadow Bridge 15+ miles away the next day. I was constantly trying to ration what I had that evening because I had to save water for the next day’s ride.
Day 5 - The Connector Day
We rode from the War Ridge Campground New River Gorge National Park to Lewisburg with 49 miles of riding and 4600 feet of climbing. This is basically a connector day to get to the Greenbrier River Trail. Most of the riding is on pavement with a small amount of gravel. There are also limited resupply options until you get to Lewisburg with the Family Dollar in Meadow Bridge being the best option. Yes we stopped and resupplied fluids and a bunch more junk food calories. We even got there before it opened. The employee was kind enough to actually open the store a little early just for us. Again, we had limited options for restaurants this day so we just went for the dollar store option.
Another big day of climbing started with a long climb out from the campground and then multiple climbs to get to Lewisburg. It became obvious that we were starting to climb mountains as the climbs became a lot longer than they were closer to Parkersburg. We had many beautiful views, and the weather was awesome.
We made it to Lewisburg and stayed with our buddy Lee Scruggs for an additional rest day. We thought our rest day would be restful, but Lee wanted to do a little of bit of hiking at Hanging Rock, West Virginia and then take a walking tour of the Greenbrier Inn in White Sulpher Springs. Initially, I wasn’t too hot on the idea but eventually joined the fun and boy was I glad I did. Hanging Rock is an absolute must see. It is one of the few places in West Virginia where you can sit on top of a ridgeline and see both west and east for as far as you can see. It was absolutely gorgeous and worth the short hike to the top. On the way back we stopped at the Cheese and More Store in Gap Mills WV. It is run by Mennonites and they have an excellent lunch menu and an amazing selection of dry goods. We stocked up on more delicious calories for the following days of the tour. The tour of the Greenbrier was pretty impressive as well as you get to see how the one percenters vacation. The highlight was the chapel that the Governor of West Virginia, who owns the Greenbrier, built for his daughter’s wedding. The side trips are really too far to reach by bike from Lewisburg but if you are staying for an extra day or two in Lewisburg they are well worth renting a car and exploring.
There are many good food and lodging options in Lewisburg. Another option is to camp on the Greenbrier River Trail. Look for the link to the trail map in the route to determine where the campsites are located. Camping on the trail is first come first served and is free.
Day 6 - The Greenbrier River Rail Trail
We rode from Lewisburg to Marlinton covering 57 miles and climbing 335 feet on the amazing Greenbrier River Trail. Lee Scruggs joined Jay and me today after he graciously hosted us for two nights in Lewisburg, WV. Lee has been on every one of the tours that I’ve been on over the past four years so it was great that he could join us for part of this tour. This was absolutely the easiest day because of the beautiful and flat Greenbrier River Rail Trail. We started heading north so we finally started to create the loop around West Virginia as the previous days were generally heading east. After riding up steep hills and mountains, it was really nice to ride over 50 miles on smooth and flat crushed limestone. It is easy to see why the GRT is in the National Rail Trails Hall of Fame as the ride is beautiful as it winds its way right along the river. We stopped for lunch at Jack Horner’s Corner Store in Seebert. They have a little bit of everything including hot meals and the soft serve ice cream is to die for. We all stayed at the Mason Jar Cabin Airbnb in downtown Marlinton. Marlinton is a nice little town with several good food options. We enjoyed the Greenbrier Grille for dinner then had breakfast the next morning at the Dirt Bean. The Dirt Bean is a combined bike shop and cafe. Interesting combination but it’s a good one.
Day 7 - Old Trains and a Pesky Dog Gets His Due
We finished the Greenbrier River Rail Trail to Cass WV then rode through some rolling hills before stopping in Durbin WV finishing with 41 miles of riding and 2000 feet of climbing. We started the day off with a nice breakfast at the Dirt Bean Cafe and Bike Shop in Marlinton. After breakfast, we said goodbye to our good buddy Lee Scruggs who headed south back to his house in Lewisburg. About 10 miles north of Marlinton we ran into Sharps Tunnel and bridge, which cuts off a sharp bend in the river. This is the first time I’ve been to the tunnel and bridge early in the morning and we were lucky enough to have fog rising out of the river valley. It really enhanced the already beautiful natural and manmade scenery.
We made it to the Cass Scenic Railroad and State Park and spent some time exploring the old company store, which is still in operation but run by the state park. It has a soda fountain bar and restaurant but it was too early in the day for lunch, so we just bought a few sweets and kept on our journey. You can take a ride on an old steam train from here and go to the top of Bald Knob, which is the second highest point in West Virginia. You can also rent cabins from the state park. They have converted several of the old lumber town houses to cabins for rent.
The biggest excitement of the day occurred on Back Mountain Road between Cass and Durbin. I was warned by Andy, the owner of New River Bikes in Fayetteville, that there are several dogs on this road and they bite. We were able to outrun a few of them but we eventually ran into a large dog that came barreling down from his house barking loudly, showing his teeth and shooting right at us at a high rate of speed. He had the angle so the only option was to use the pepper spray. I used to give dogs the benefit of the doubt, but I eventually paid the price and was bitten by one that drew blood. Needless to say, I don’t give them much leeway anymore. I have found that if you just spray the pepper spray gel on the ground between you and the dog most of the time they will back down and go away. This dog did not. It paused and then came at us again so I sprayed the gel into the air and again it paused but this time it took off trying to out flank us and then made another run at me. When the dog finally got to within a couple of yards, I hit it right in the face and mouth with the pepper spray gel and it finally turned and left us alone. The last we saw, it was driving its face into the grass trying to recover from the spray.
We finally made it to Durbin and stayed at the East Fork Campground. The owner gave us an amazing spot right on the East Fork of the Greenbrier river. We went for an early dinner in Durbin and ate at Al’s Upper Inn Club. Again, looks are deceiving as the food was very good and prices reasonable. Another one of my West Virginia biking friends (Bill Brannon) recommended the East Fork Campground and Al’s. Both good recommendations.
Durbin also has an old train ride and you can book those at the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad.
The forecast was predicting sketchy weather the following day so we got to bed early as we were going to try and get up at 4AM so we could get to Canaan Valley before the heavy storms arrived.
Day 8 - We Found the Mountains
We rode from Durbin to Canaan Valley using mostly gravel forest service roads ending with almost 60 miles of riding with 6700 feet of climbing. We woke up at 4AM to some showers so we got a little wet breaking down camp. We got on the road a little after 5am using headlights to find our way through town and up Forest Service Road (FR) 44. After several miles we took a right turn at Burner and started the first of several long climbs starting with FR17 Little River Rd to where it meets FR14 Middle Mountain Road. At the junction, we turned left and started another long climb on FR14 eventually reaching the top of the mountain.
We continued to encounter some rain along the way but it never came down really heavy so we got lucky. However, there had been some very heavy rain overnight so the roads were pretty wet and muddy. All of the forest service roads stayed this way all of the way to Caanan Valley. They are generally in good shape but with the heavy rain there was just a nice layer of solid mud on top of them. The views were amazing and as the day went the rain clouds disappeared and we started to see a bit of sun again.
At the beginning of this route, you will have the option to use the West Fork Rail Trail or Forest Road 44 before turning at Burner and then climbing to the top of the mountain ridges in the national forest. I’ve done a lot of research on the West Fork Rail Trail both online and talking to folks who have ridden it and I’ve pretty much received the same feedback. It has a lot of potential because it is remote and is in a gorgeous river valley, but the trail is not maintained and can be very soft and overgrown. Because of the rain, we didn’t take a chance and just rode FR44.
The majority of the rest of the day was riding up and down the ridge tops of the mountains until we dropped down into the Dry Fork watershed. The drops are steep and fast and we had a blast on them. Jay was significantly faster on downhills. We speculated that because he was carrying more gear and was running more road oriented tires he could coast down the hills faster. About this time my front brake started sounding like a very loud and out of tune harmonica. It never stopped working or even got squishy for the rest of the tour but everyone could hear me coming down the mountains from a long distance away.
Once we got to the Dry Fork river, the only thing left was to do a very long, steep and strenuous climb into Canaan Valley. After about 7 miles of almost continuous climbing, we finally dropped into the Valley and headed to another one of my West Virginia biking buddies’ camp. Sam Barger was kind enough to let us camp on his property. We planned on taking our last rest day here but Sam had some plans just to make sure we didn’t get too rested. We took Sam and his wife to an early dinner at Moma Mia Pies and Pasta in the Valley. Another great restaurant!
We setup our tents before we left for dinner and after returning to camp the storms finally arrived. We pretty much spent the rest of the evening in the tents, which led to a very nice night of sleep even though the rain was very heavy.
Sam is building a cabin on his lot so we pitched in the next day to help. We got a couple of ditches dug and buried some water piping and helped him get the first joists into his floor. We also had time to do some laundry in Davis and go see Blackwater Falls State Park. At the end of the day, we all went into Davis and had a couple of ice cream cones at the Ice Cream Shop. They make their own scoop and soft serve ice cream so I had to take advantage of the opportunity and have one of each. It was a delicious sacrifice! Davis is a cool little town with a lot of lodging, restaurants, shops, brew pubs, and a bike shop if needed. It’s sister town, Thomas, is just a couple of miles down the road and has a nice selection of art stores and other restaurants.
We finished the day relaxing around a campfire roasting hot dogs and having smores.
Day 9 - A Beautiful Canyon and making Two Days into One
Jay is a small business owner and was asking if we could maybe do some longer days so he could get back to his business sooner. The original goal was to ride just to Rowelsburg for a relatively short day and then follow that to Morgantown the next day. We decided to ride to Rowelsburg, see how we felt and then make the decision to go to Morgantown. We felt pretty good in Rowelsburg so we pushed on and finished the day with 82 miles of riding with 3400 feet of climbing.
We woke up to a very cool early morning where the temperatures had dropped into the low 40s overnight. After rigging our bikes and saying goodbye to our gracious hosts, we started on a very long and fantastic downhill adventure out of the Valley. We got a really nice steep and long drop on asphalt all the way through Davis and Thomas. In Thomas, we picked up the Blackwater Canyon Rail Trail the follows the canyon all the way to Hendricks. The trail is pretty steep for a rail trail and you can coast for several miles down a single track path where you have to keep your concentration up as some of the trail is rough. You do get some awesome views looking out into the canyon and can stop at Douglass falls at the beginning of the drop.
At the end of this trail we immediately picked up the Alleghany Highlands Rail Trail that took us to Parsons. This section is mostly paved and you have the option to ride it all of the way to Elkins though the pavement stops outside of Parsons. We turned off of the trail once we got to Parsons and rode Rt. 72 the rest of the way to Rowelsburg.
Just outside of Parsons, I experienced my first mechanical on the trip. I punctured my rear tire and spent quite a bit of time trying to get the leak stopped. I eventually got it to stop with two bacon strip plugs and about 20 psi of pressure. This would last for about 30 or so miles but it finally gave out on the other side of Kingwood so I put a tube in the tire and rode it that way for the rest of the tour.
Note that the mapped route uses more back roads and some gravel routes around Rowelsburg. These roads were actually part of the Dirty Double Gravel Bike event being held in Rowelsburg on June 5th and 6th, which we arrived on the 5th. Talking to a participant from Vermont, he said the gravel in West Virginia is as good or better than VT.
A couple of notes about Rowelsburg. We had reservations at the River House Lodge B&B. When we made the decision to push on to Morgantown we stopped at the B&B to let the owner know we weren’t going to stay the night fully expecting that we were going to eat the cost of the stay. The owner told us thanks for stopping by and letting him know and not to worry about the cost of the rooms. Since we arrived in town around noon, we stopped at the Rowelsburg Mercantile country store for lunch. They had a nice selection of hot sandwiches and drinks and we were able to meet and get some route advice from the owner.
So with the new more direct route information in hand, we stayed on Rt. 72 to make up time and compress two days of riding into one. As you approach Kingwood on Rt. 72 take Rt. 72A, Shower Bath Road, up to Kingwood and cut across town until you intersect Rt. 7. Take Rt. 7 to Russelville where you will intersect the Deckers Creek Rail Trail. You will ride up a lot of hills that never seem to end until you get on the Deckers Creek Trail. What a trail this is? This trail is pretty much downhill along the beautiful Deckers Creek all the way to downtown Morgantown where it intersects with the Caperton Rail Trail. It was a great treat after climbing out of the Cheat River watershed.
We ended the day in downtown Morgantown and stayed at the Marriott right on the Caperton Rail Trail on the Monongahela River. I was able to connect with Kelly Williams, who is the President of the Country Roads Cyclist Club in Morgantown. Kelly was a big help in the planning of the 2020 tour where we rode from Pt. Marion, PA to Nelsonville, OH following pretty much the same route that we were planning on taking the next day. Kelly and several members of the club joined us on the first day of that ride and we had a great time. We met Kelly for dinner at the Mountain State Brewing Company just up from the hotel for some great pizza and a few beers.
Sometime during the day, Jay started hinting at trying to make it to Parkersburg from Morgantown in one day. I wasn’t sure that was a good idea, but I did agree to at least shoot for North Bend State Park, which would be about 100 miles.
Day 10 - The Long Ride to Close the Loop
We got up early so we would have maximum sunlight for the attempt at making it to Parkersburg in one day. I promised Jay that I would go to North Bend State Park and then make the decision if we could attempt the remaining distance to Parkersburg. At the end of the day, we rode 137 miles and had 5100 feet of climbing.
This was definitely our longest day and also happened to be the longest single ride I have ever done. However, since large portions of the route is on mostly flat rails to trails we thought it was achievable. The only concern was the pace that we could ride on the rails to trails and the knowledge that the 70 mile long North Bend Rail Trail is actually closed on about half of the eastern end though people are riding it. I’ve ridden on that portion of the trail many times and it is normally the worst part of the trail with muddy and very rough sections, which could slow us down. Based on this, we decided to ride on Rt. 50 to Ellenboro where we hopped on the newly resurfaced trail all the way to Parkersburg. For those concerned about riding on Rt. 50 note that there is a very large berm which allows a lot of space between you and the traffic. I felt more comfortable on Rt. 50 than I did on Rt. 7 between Kingwood and Russelville.
This route includes the Caperton, Mon River, Marion County, Harrison North and North Bend Rail Trails. This route can be broken into two or three days if desired. You can split the route staying in Clarksburg and then North Bend State Park for a three-day ride or maybe camp along the North Bend Trail part of the way between Clarksburg and North Bend State Park.
All of these trails are in good shape with the exception of the Harrison North Rail Trail and the eastern part of the North Bend Trail. The Harrison North trail appears to be in a state of improvement but they have laid down a lot of new large gravel. I think they are doing this so they can come back later after it settles in and top it with crushed limestone. This trail desperately needs improvement but the middle section of the trail is extremely difficult to ride right now due to the very loose and thick gravel. My arms were getting very fatigued as the front end was continuously trying to kick out. The North Bend Trail is currently undergoing a resurface and they have completed the upgrade from Parkersburg to Pennsboro. I believe they are going to continue with the resurfacing but am not sure when it will be complete. If we had time, I would have ridden the whole trail even though the eastern portion can get a little technical because it can still be a fun ride.
Over the past year there has been a lot of progress made on acquiring land and planning the completion of the Parkersburg to Pittsburgh trail at least in West Virginia. There are gaps in the Fairmont, Shinnston and Clarksburg areas that require some climbing and the use of public roads. The last status I got was they have completed the acquisition of the land necessary to close the gaps in Fairmont and Clarksburg. Once all of the gaps are closed and the trails that need it are resurfaced this is going to be an amazing network of trails.
While riding on Rt. 50 we met up with Brenden Martin and rode with him for about 30 miles. Brenden is riding all the way across the U.S. from Virginia Beach to San Francisco. You can follow Brenden on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/thewindscarredtraveler614. We had dinner with Brenden at the McDonalds in Ellenboro.
We finally made it to Parkersburg around 8:30PM after working very hard the last 48 hours to turn five planned riding days into two. We completed about 650 miles of riding and climbed about 37,000 feet of elevation. It was an amazing journey that helped both Jay and me truly appreciate and love West Virginia even more. We both have tons of memories and stories to share for years to come.
Final Thoughts
This was the bike event of my life, and it was truly amazing. There was always some doubt in my mind that I couldn’t complete this journey but I learned that I could actually thrive on a long and multi-day ride and enjoy every minute of it. It certainly was hard both physically and mentally, but it is definitely doable. After the first two or three days, I found myself actually getting stronger even though the conditions continuously changed and challenged us. As a result, we were really able to push ourselves and turn the last five days of planned riding into two very long and strenuous days.
We also learned the value of calorie intake and proper rest. We were constantly eating to keep our bodies fueled and we took rest/zero days every few days. This made a huge difference as our bodies and legs could recuperate and go strong the next few days. It is interesting that even though we were eating constantly consuming an estimated 3000-4000 calories a day, I still lost weight. Not sure why I thought I wouldn’t but it happened and I’m as light as I’ve been since I stopped playing soccer about 6 years ago.
We got lucky with the weather. Take a look at the pictures and you’ll see that almost everyday we had blue skies. The temperatures were very moderate for the whole trip even getting down into the low 40s at night in Canaan Valley. I think the hottest day was the last day when the temperatures got into the high 80s, which was still very manageable. We only got rained on twice and was able to avoid two big storms by riding a little longer to Fayetteville and leaving very early in the morning out of Durbin to get to Canaan Valley before the storm hit. I’m not sure if my thoughts on this trip would be different if we had constantly been in wet weather.
Now what’s next? Jay is already hinting at a cross country trip and I’ve been eyeing the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR). I think we can do them! We’ll see if our predictions come true…
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I would like to thank Jay and his wife Michelle. Jay was originally going to join me on the first four days of the trip and then it turned into the first six days a few weeks before the start. Luckily Jay’s wife helped talk him into riding the entire ride and leave his small business to run itself while he was gone, which turned out OK from what I’ve heard. It was a joy riding with him as we were able to motivate each other, make fun of each other and generally have a great time laughing and cutting jokes as much as possible along the way. Without Jay, I would have been on this tour by myself and I don’t think it would have been as enjoyable as it was.
I would also like to thank my wife for supporting my biking passion. Tolerate might be a better choice of words but it is still greatly appreciated. Without her understanding and encouragement, I wouldn’t have attempted this.
We would also like to thank my parents, in-laws, Lee, and Sam for letting us crash at their homes and being awesome hosts while Jay and I pursued our goals on this journey.
A big shout out to Walt, Connie and John at Village Bikes for helping get my bike ready for this trip. I would also like to thank Andy at New River Bikes. Andy was a big help in providing feedback and input on potential routes when I was planning this tour.
A huge thank you to my brother Chris in helping me scout and plan the first two days of this trip and finally a big thanks to Ray George for allowing me to share this wonderful experience with like-minded bike enthusiast. I hope some of you will attempt this tour or something similar to it. It really is a defining moment and I encourage everyone to just go for it. You won’t regret it.
Dana’s Bike and Gear
2019 Specialized Diverge Comp Carbon 52cm
One thing I learned riding in West Virginia over the past several years was that the original gearing on this bike was not adequate for many of the climbs that I would experience on this trip. The bike originally came with Shimano Ultegra with 2x front rings of 48 and 32. The rear cassette was an 11x34 and though Ultegra is an excellent group set many times I felt like I just needed lower gears when climbing. About a year and half ago, I started looking at the Shimano GRX group set and made the decision to go in that direction. However, it became nearly impossible to purchase almost anything from Shimano through most of the pandemic. About 3 months before the ride, I was finally able to find parts of the GRX group set and working with my local bike shop, Village Bikes, in Newport News, VA we were able to upgrade the front cranks, rear derailleur and replace the rear cassette. In the end we built an amazing super wide range gear set with 2X front rings of 48 and 31 with an 11X42 XT rear cassette. We were able to work that huge rear cassette into the drivetrain by adding a Wolftooth rear derailleur hanger extension. I call this my Shimano Frankenstein Group Set - It has GRX cranks and rear derailleur, Ultegra brakes and front derailleur and a mountain bike XT rear cassette. It worked flawlessly and was amazing on steep and long climbs. It truly made this ride more enjoyable and achievable.
I also have to mention the Futureshock in the Diverge’s stem tube. It only has 20mm of travel but is sure makes a difference after a long day of rough roads and trails. It was especially noticeable on long and fast downhills where the vibrations just went away creating a feeling of gliding over the rough stuff. You will still feel big bumps but it really does work and your arms will not be as fatigued or sore at the end of the day.
Finally, some thoughts on my tires. I used the Kenda Booster Pro 700 x 40s (Thanks OGG for the discount!) with tubeless and was pretty pleased with their overall performance. They have an aggressive tire tread that worked really well in the rough stuff, but you do pay the price on asphalt as they were pretty slow. I did have one puncture and was unable to get it to stop leaking even after plugging it with two bacon strips so I shifted to a tube. Next time, I think I will go with a less aggressive tread design.
Rockgeist Custom Frame Bag
Top pocket - 2 days of food including instant oatmeal, mountain house dehydrated meals, tea, drink packs, and anything else I could fit. I also carried a bear bag setup in this section.
Bottom pocket - tools, tubes, lubes, rags, etc.
Backside pocket - wallet, phone, and e-reader. I almost left the e-reader in Fayetteville because I wasn’t using it. I’m glad I didn’t, because I was stuck in my tent for several hours in Canaan Valley and the e-reader was my savior.
Revelate Egress Pocket
This is a great bag that I carried on the Salsa Anything Cage on my handlebars. It fit perfectly over top of my tent roll, which was a Nemo Dragonfly 2P Bikepack tent. It is easy to get to and carried maps, toiletries, headlamp, medicine, chamois cream, suntan lotion, etc. It was the first thing I took off of the bike in the evening and it became the bag I used to keep organized in my tent and get ready in the morning.
I can’t say enough about the Nemo Dragonfly. It is an outstanding tent with a lot of room and great features like a vestibule tray that keeps all of your gear that you don’t want in the tent dry and off the ground under the vestibule. It also performed amazingly during a prolonged and very heavy rainstorm in Canann Valley. Not a single drop of water entered the tent.
Revelate Jerry Can
I’m not a big fan of this bag as it attaches to the seat stem and top tube. I found that it was constantly rubbing between my thighs as I pedaled. It never caused any discomfort or anything, but it was just annoying. However, it was useful as I was able to carry my first-aid kit, emergency whistle and bike lock in it.
Revelate Gas Tank
This was my snack bag. I carried multi-days’ worth of Clif Blocks, Pay Days, Stroup Waffles, Lara Bars, etc. in this bag. These are the snacks that I would eat on quick breaks during the ride.
Revelate Mountain Feed Bags
I use two of these with one on each side of the handlebars. Since I used a full frame bag, I used these for water bottles. I carried one Camelback water bottle and one 32oz Hydroflask. I would try and put cold water in the Hydroflask in the mornings then would refill the water bottle with cold water throughout the day. These bags also have several side pockets where I kept my Garmin Inreach Mini satellite communicator, snacks and most importantly pepper spray gel. This was the final defense against dogs and it was extremely handy to have it in one of the side pockets on these bags. I highly recommend this as the Sabre Red Pepper Gel works as advertised and is easy to order on Amazon. It is the perfect size for the trip and the safety device works excellent by preventing accidental discharge but also is very easy to use when you need to use it quickly. You can see the spray in the right pocket on the right hand bag.
Specialized Burra Burra Seat Bag
Because I ride a small bike seat bags don’t really work very well as they often rub the rear tire. I resolved this issue by mounting a rear rack on my bike and just attached the seat bag to the seat post and then lashed the remainder of the bag down on the rack with voile straps. This worked great as the bag never moved the entire trip. I carried my Nemo Disco 30 sleeping bag, Nemo pillow, Sea to Summit Comfort Light Insulated sleeping pad, and MSR cookset in this bag. The bag is water resistant, so I put the sleeping bag and sleeping pad in an Outdoor Research dry sack inside this bag. I also carried several small items in this as space allowed. One of those items was a Giga Pump - look it up on Amazon. It is a great little air pump to inflate the sleeping pad and it works great. It is rechargeable and the charge last a long time. It even has built in LED lights so it is very useful for a tent light at night.
I also latched a Helinox Zero Chair to the outside of this bag using the Viole straps. This chair is amazing though a bit pricy. It really shines at the end of the day at the campground providing a very comfortable place to sit. If you are wilderness camping you either have this or the ground and even at a developed campsite picnic tables can become very hard and challenging on the back. Jay had one also and we both quickly realized that you could use the chair to keep items off of the ground as you were setting up and breaking down camp. It is very small, compact and weighs about a pound. Worth every penny and the additional weight on the bike.
Revelate Nano Panniers
These bags were awesome. Lightweight, stay on the bike, not too large to create problems on single track and water resistant. I carried mostly clothes in these bags. On the left side, I carried my rain gear and heavier clothes that I wouldn’t immediately need in camp or the hotel. I also carried dirty clothes on this side. On the right side, I carried my riding clothes and camp clothes as well as my camp shoes at the bottom of the bag. Any leftover space in either bag was usually full of extra food from a Dollar store.
Because these bags are water resistant, I double bagged my clothes in Outdoor Research dry compression sacks. Having compression sacks really helped maximize space in these bags as they are not the largest.
Detailed Gear List
Credit card
Debit card
$200
Medical card
Drivers license
Wipes and/or TP
Med kit
Lara bars
Clif bloks
Stroop waffles
2 Spare tubes
Road lights
Head light.
Extra batteries
Bug spray
Pepper spray
Suntan lotion
Chamois buttr
The duece
Micro towel
Bear bag system
Gallon zip bag for trash
Body wash
Wolfstooth tool
Patch kit
Plug kit
Two tire wrenches
Multi tool
Chain breaker
Schrader converter
Extra derailleur hanger and additional goat link
Spare bolts and stuff
Chain lube
Chain cloth
Chain link
2 chain quick links
Stans sealant
Spoke fixer
Valve core remover
Spare stem
2 water bottles
Hydroflask
Dirty CNOC water bladder
Sawyer water filter
Helmet
Gloves
Shoes
Head cover
Mini Bic lighter
Bike lock
Gorilla tape
Tire pump
Pressure gage
Emergency whistle
Extra gallon zip bags
Zip ties
Insect head cover
Rain Jacket
Rain Pants
Rain shoe covers
Rain gloves
Bike computer
Garmin inreach mini
Fire reader
USB extension 5 port
USB battery block
Phone charger cable
Comp charger cable
Watch charger cable
2 underwear
Three t-shirts -1 smart wool and 2 synthetic
3 socks (wear one) one should be smart wool for cold rainy days
2 chamois shorts (wear one)
1 Kuel shorts wear over chamois shorts
1 zip off pant Kuel
1 light weight shorts for laundry day
1 belt
1 Pull over addidas for colder temps
Toiletries (deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush, comb)
Hat
Sun arm covers
Buff
Camp shoes
New River Gorge map
Monanghelia Forest map
Tent and dry bag cover
Pillow
Sleeping pad
Giga pump
Sleeping bag
Cook kit
Heliox Zero Chair
Voile straps Two for use a couple for spare
Two days breakfast and dinners
Jay’s Bike and Gear
2022 Specialized Diverge Comp Carbon 58cm
Here is a quick overview of Jay’s gear.
Revelate Designs Ripio Frame Bag (58 cm)
Topeak MTX Trunk Bag DXP Bicycle Trunk Bag with Rigid Molded Panels with corresponding frame.
Revelate Designs Mag Tank 2000
2 x’s Serfas LT-BT1BK Bar-Tender Handlebar Bag
Helinox Chair Zero Ultralight Compact Camping Chair
Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL Ultralight Bikepacking Tent
Sea to Summit Ether Light XT Extra-Thick Insulated Air Mattress, Tapered - Regular (72 x 21.5 x 4 inches)