Yesterday’s rain was over, our clothes were dry and the bikes oiled. We were all set for our first real mountain day of the trip.
We left tiny Hancock, MD and its intermittant internet for what we had been told was the metropolis of Cumberland and its relative urbane charm, a mere 40 miles down the road.
We gained a lot of elevation during the first five miles only to lose much or all of it moments later. Five hundred feet up, four ninety five down. In the hiking world such maneuvers are called PUDS or “pointless ups and downs.” After numerous repetitions we were already sick of it.