Cycling the C&O with the Sheetz Six

             I recently joined my friend Vince on his carefully planned seven day cycling trip along the 150-mile Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) and the 185-mile Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath (C&O) from Pittsburgh, PA to Washington, DC. One of the highlights and joys of our  journey was sharing campsites with and getting to know six cyclists, three from Chicago and three from Denver, that we dubbed “The Sheetz Six” because they loved to stop at Sheetz during their own trip from Pittsburgh to DC.

“Sheetz,” according to Wikipedia for those who don’t know about it, “is an American chain of convenience stores and coffee shops owned by the Sheetz family. The stores sell custom food, beverages and convenience store items, with all locations having offered 24/7 since the 1980s. … [W]ith over 700 stores located in Central and Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, and North Carolina,” a few of those Sheetz stores are near the GAP and the C&O and easily accessible from those trails by bike.

Dan was the principal organizer and contact person who brought the Sheetz Six to cycle the GAP and C&O, handling pre-tour group communications through phone calls and emails, and coordinating group decision making about where and when they would ride. Having grown up outside of Chicago, he moved to Denver with his wife in 2020. Once an English Teacher, he now serves as a Dean (sort of like a Principal according to Dan) in a Charter School in Denver. His roundish, wire rimmed spectacles betrayed his academic vocation. Riding a ten-year-old Trek 7.1, this tour was his first time on the GAP and the C&O. After five days of touring and one layover day, he said his best experience so far was “Being with the Guys” and experiencing the “good groove and good energy” of the trip.

The Sheetz Six began their tour in Pittsburgh on the Saturday before Vince and I began our tour the following Sunday. On their first day they cycled from Pittsburgh to Ohiopyle, PA, where they spent two nights at Ohiopyle’s Kentuck Campground so they could enjoy water activities in the area on Sunday, their layover day. On Monday they rode to Frostburg, MD. They rode to and stayed in Cumberland on Tuesday. Their Wednesday destination was the Hiker Biker Campsite (HBC) on the C&O located at Indigo Neck, which is where Vince and I first met them.

Indigo Neck HBC

When Vince and I arrived at Indigo Neck after four days of cycling, there was only one other cyclist already there, an older cyclist named Sean, a Marine veteran from Florida, who was, like us, touring from Pittsburgh to DC. Within an hour or two after Vince set up his hammock and I pitched my tent, in rode a group of six cyclists. Pitching tents and stringing hammocks near the side of the campsite, they pretty much stayed to themselves even though I invited them to share the only picnic table in the campsite, saying “This is not our table. Feel free to use it along with us. We will move some of our gear off it so you can use it too.” They never did use it. Through a brief conversation with them, we learned that they were also touring from Pittsburgh to DC and were planning to stay at the same campsite we were planning to stay at the following night.

Climbing the detour

          Vince and I were back at it Thursday morning before our six neighbors, but it did not take long for them to overtake us. We tended to leapfrog past each other most of the day, including when they had stopped to help Sean from Florida fix a flat. They passed us a little while later but we caught up with them soon after they encountered a detour that involved rolling fully loaded bikes up what seemed like a 45° plank next to two sets of wooden steps that took cyclists above and around a part of the towpath that was being repaired.

We arrived at the same detour just after they had begun negotiating the incline. One of them who had already taken his bike to the top came back to help pull my fully loaded Trek 520 Grando up that incline while I pushed and steered. Some of us took off panniers to make our bikes lighter and pushed our rides up while others in the group whose bikes were already at the top came back to help with the panniers.

At the top of the detour

Looking back, I think the common experience ofovercoming that obstacle of a detour and our helping one another was the initial bonding experience that broke down the mere cordiality of the night before. But more was to come.

When Vince and I rolled into the Opequon Junction HBC later that Thursday, the Sheetz Six were already there with tents and hammocks set up. Nevertheless, there was still plenty of room for my tent and Vince was able to find two trees to string out his hammock, but one of those trees was also being used by another Sean, not the one from Florida, but the one from Denver.

When it came time to for Vince and I to prepare our dinner, I asked a few of the Sheetz Six near the only table in the campsite, a table with a lot of their gear on it, if they minded sharing some of its space. Sean responded “Hey, it is not our table. Feel free to use part of it.”

I later learned that Sean grew up in Virginia Beach in a family filled with men named John, so he was named Sean, the Gaelic form of John. An Eagle Scout like Vince, Sean taught 8^th Grade Science in the same Charter School where Dan was Dean. Riding a State Steel Frame Gravel Bike with a Brooks Saddle, this tour was Sean’s first on the GAP but second on the C&O. His favorite experiences so far were the spectacular views along the GAP, their layover in Ohiopyle, and their stay in Frostburg. His biggest disappointment was that he packed and was carrying way more gear than he needed for the tour.

It was Sean who introduced his riding companions to Sheetz. Having grown up in Virginia Beach, he was familiar with and loved them, as many of us from their service area do. Even I have a Sheetz key fob that earns me discounts when I buy gas there and earns me points toward reduced prices on future purchases on other items I buy there. Once Seans’s cycling mates experienced their first Sheetz, they were apparently hooked and wanted to go there again for food, snacks, and drinks, and on one hot, humid day just to stand in the supper cold Beer Den where all the cold beer is stored and where customers can enter to pick out what beer they want.

After we had all arrived and set up our camps, I approached most of the Sheetz Six as they were sitting together on a bench near the C&O. I offered each of them a small sampling of some liquid refreshment from Ireland if they would let me interview them later that evening for a piece I would post on my blog. They all agreed, and that interview is how I came by most of the information about them I have shared here.

Nate was the third member of the group from Denver even though he had grown up in Chicago. He now teaches Special Education, working with about eight students a day, which in my mind makes him a very special teacher in the same Charter School as Dan and Sean. Riding a Kona P2, Nate’s favorite part of the trip was all the wildlife they had seen. His least favorite part was the first of the two nights they were camped at Ohiopyle’s Kentuck Campground when the rain just poured down, not once, not twice, but three times. He also was not a fan of their night at the Indigo Neck HBC.

The Chicago contingent of the Sheetz Six was comprised of Jared, Scott, and Aaron. Jared grew up in the little borough of Lititz, PA but now lives in Chicago. Peddling a Surly Bridge Club, his favorite experience from the tour included all the wildlife he had seen, including “numerous black snakes, snapping turtles, deer, fawns, a skink, beaver, and bald eagle.” He had no regrets or disappointments about the tour so far.

Scott, a teacher at a Friends School in Chicago, grew up about twenty minutes north of Chicago. His ride was a Specialized Diverge. His best experience so far had been pushing their bikes up the hill from the GAP to Kentuck Campground at the top of the hill. I did not ask Scott if he also enjoyed pushing our bikes up the wooden ramp and steps detour earlier that day.

Originally from Skokie, IL, Aaron now lives in Chicago. He and Scott have been cycling together since earlier this year. Aaron’s telling me that he was riding a twenty-year-old Trek Antelope that had been his dad’s bike nearly brought tears to my eyes. I can only imagine the history that bike holds and the stories it could tell. I wonder if riding it on the GAP and C&O enabled Aaron to feel more connected with his father. As of Thursday evening, Aaron’s favorite experiences from the tour were the “jokes and laughter” the six had shared during their tour. Like Jared, he recalled no disappointments.

After I completed interviewing the Sheetz Six, Dan said he wanted to know more about Vince and me, so we remained together around the bench, talking and enjoying each other’s company as well as some liquid refreshments until it was time for s’mores and then turning in for the night.

Four of the Sheetz Six at Bald Eagle HBC

As we did the day before, Vince and I were back on the C&O Friday Morning before the Sheetz Six, but again it was not long before they overtook us, and we played leapfrog all day long. As I was cycling ahead of Vince for a while, I ran into our six friends as they had stopped across the river from Shepherdstown, WV. From there they headed on to Harper’s Ferry, WV while I waited for Vince so the two of us could cycle together across the bridge into Shepherdstown for lunch. Later that day we passed six friends again as they were camped at the Bald Eagle Island HBC, but we were still peddling toward Indian Flats HBC and did not camp a third night with them.

On the final day of our tour, The Sheetz Six, comprised of the Denver Three and Chicago Three,

Four of the Sheetz Six at Great Neck

cycled past us just as we were walking back from after having walked up and out to a viewing platform looking out over an aqueduct and the Potomac River at Great Falls. We never saw them again after that.

I enjoy cycling alone as well as with others. I also enjoy meeting other cyclists during a tour. Vince and I had set out to ride from DC to Pittsburgh in 2016 and met other cyclists during our trip, often leapfrogging with them a day or two, but I do not recall sharing a campsite along the C&O or Gap with any other cyclist more than one night, nor getting to know them as well as we came to know the Sheetz Six. I hope they were able to purchase more Mac and Cheese Bites at a Sheetz somewhere before they headed back to their respective homes in Chicago or Denver.