Day 4: Hancock MD- Cumberland MD, 65 miles, Sean Hankins

This morning we woke up in Hancock to a rough morning. Max and Daniel both did not sleep due to a combination of the cold and the bright lights at the campsite. However, Evan got 11 hours of the best sleep of his life. The crew packed up their gear and all drifted over to the SHEETZ across the road. We got Made-To-Order food and ate at the campsite. Sadly, a long bathroom line at SHEETZ gave us a late start to the day. We entered back onto our pavement trail for about fifteen miles. Blake joined Cole, Evan, and I in the lead group for a short bit before dropping back to join the next group. Our group biked at Mach force speeds to a change in the trail. This is where it shifted from pavement to a double-wide gravel trail. The paved trail is much easier and faster to ride on, so in an effort to stay on the nice trails, we decided to take a turn. Cole, Evan, and I stumbled upon an abandoned train tunnel. While we approached the tunnel, we thought we were just going to be able to take some cool pictures and see a cool sight. As we got closer, I started to hear movement inside the tunnel, and a faint almost giggle-like sound in the tunnel. I didn’t speak out because I didn’t want to scare anyone for something I just thought I heard and be THAT guy. But as we got closer, we all started to notice the sound as we took photos. It sounded almost like an owl with a different tone. The sounds never interrupted us, and always started up after our voices echoed into the tunnel. We all took notice to the fact that no owl could have fit into the tunnel through the gate that was blocking its entrance, and no lights could be seen in the long tunnel. After Cole and I took one last handstand picture, we hightailed it out of there after hearing the loudest and creepiest laughter so far. Evan then enriched us with common phenomenon and paranormal activities that occurs in the mountains near West Virginia. Our trail was a dead end, but we figured our way back to the main group. We stayed on a small path with lots of potholes and mud puddles. We ended this trail with a dark tunnel through a mountain that followed a river. All you could see were upcoming potholes within 5 feet in front of you, but our lights had difficulties and were set to strobe. We then took a small break and split in a town called Paw Paw. My group moved to the next town to enjoy a small lunch at a diner made into an old school. The graduating classes started in the early 1900s and were never larger than 80. The remaining groups then joined in after we had enjoyed classic soft serve and diner style food. Cole, Evan, and I once again began biking to our final destination to Cumberland, a city with a nice YMCA that we could have spent the night at. Our group decided to take a detour off of muddy trails and ride a road named Old Town Rd to the city. After some large 8 percent grade climbs, we enjoyed a nice stop at an Amish store that contained a fellow biker who had experience bike packing and knew the trails ahead. We also got to have a nice 8 percent downhill, which we knew thanks to a runaway truck stop on the hill. This hill gave us a maximum speed for the day of 39.4 mph. The city of Cumberland was not as great as we hoped. It didn’t contain any camping sites because the YMCA was closed due to COVID. We had to make the difficult choice of choosing how far we were willing to bike to stay the night. As the other groups joined us in Cumberland, we got to enjoy a bike wash and a nice dinner thanks to Mr. Murphy. Calls to numerous town officials were made, but we eventually found a volunteer fire department three miles away. They welcomed us with outlets and a hose to wash with, all within walking distance of a SHEETZ. Sadly, we are without any internet connection, and I am currently writing this blog while using SHEETZ WiFi on their lawn. This day was one of the most memorable, and it could change even more if a house fire causes the fire trucks to leave our campsite in the middle of the night.