Bike X 50-Mile W & OD ride

Looking for other trails to ride in my newish home of Maryland, I found the 45-mile long Washington and Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park. Searching online for new cycling opportunities is easy and fun. I discovered that the western end of the trailhead is only 35 minutes from my house. I needed a place to test out the 2004 Porsche Bike X after changing the tires and tubes and adjusting the brakes and shifters and the W & OD appeared like the perfect place to do jus that. The Washington and Old Dominion is another old rail line that has been converted into a paved biking and walking path. The quality of the path is incredible. It does however, run right through some heavily populated areas and that means people and cars. My average pace wasn't good due to walkers joggers, bikers, cross walks, stop lights and stop signs. But that was perfect conditions to test out the changes to the Bike X. I ended up with 50 miles and the Bike X performed great. 

Bike X info from eBay seller

The super nice guy I bought the 2004 Porsche Bike X from just emailed me this photo of the Bike X from the original product brochure. I purchased the bike from the eBay seller in Germany back in late 2016. FrankBalance regularly sells high quality Porsche, BMW and Mercedes bicycles on eBay. The bikes he sells are always in top condition. I highly recommend his bikes and customer service.

Bike X GAP ride conversion

Bike X GAP: My plan is to ride the 2004 Bike X on the 148-mile GAP trail next spring. To prepare the Bike X for the dirt path endurance ride, I moved the Ortlieb saddle pack and SKS rear wheel mud guard from the 1998 Bike S to the Bike X. I also re-installed the Bike X's original Continental Tour Ride 700c x 1.6 tires and added a second water bottle.

Bike X Death Ride: The Bike X was last seriously used in the 2017 Death Ride campaign. For the Death Ride, I converted the Bike X from a hybrid/touring bike to a hill climbing road bike. I added the Continental Gatorskin 700c x 28 tires for the 129-mile Sierra Nevada ride. Now I'm changing the Bike X back to a touring bike.

Next: GAP

With the 184.5-mile C&O Canal Towpath ride now completed, I'm turning my attention to the next Porsche Bike journey. I can't think of a better ride to follow my C&O adventure than the bike path that connects the C&O to Pittsburgh ... the 148-mile Great Allegheny Passage. The GAP trail is a collection of old railroad lines that starts in Cumberland, Maryland (where I finished the C&O) and ends in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The GAP is also a dirt trail, but generally considered smoother than the C&O. It's mostly crushed limestone, but does have a 17-mile paved stretch. For this reason, I'm leaning toward riding the 2004 Porsche Bike X. The Bike X is a hybrid (touring) bike, with a road bike frame and 700c rims, but with mountain bike gearing, handlebars and tires. The Bike X was built as a touring bike, perfect for a ride like the GAP. But I changed the bike into more of a road bike for the 2017 Death Ride. So, I'll spend some time changing it back for this long distance, off-road adventure. I'll post updates on the conversion. I'm aiming to ride the GAP across two days in mid-May 2021. 

Recovery run ... well, slow jog

Looking to give my cycling muscles a break, I decided to go for a short lunch time recovery jog. It's been awhile since I've run so the sore body from riding 190 miles and lack of recent jogging made the effort slow and painful. But I feel better that I did, which is the point of a recovery run! I jogged two miles around my neighborhood park. This is also the first time in awhile I've run with the Porsche Design EC Running Shoes. Love these shoes!

Porsche bicycle adventure on the 184.5-mile C&O Canal Towpath

Porsche has always tested drivers and sportscars under extreme conditions. Whether it is Le Mans, Daytona, Sebring or race circuits around the world, you will find a Porsche pushing these limits. This same desire to test man and machine led me to explore what I can accomplish on a Porsche bicycle.

 

With this passion, I spent the last year researching, organizing and training to ride the 184.5-mile Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath on my 1998 Guards Red Porsche Bike S mountain bike. I accomplished my goal riding the entire towpath in just over 14 hours, across three days, September 24-26, 2020. It was an epic adventure of speed and endurance on a dirt path that followed the Potomac River in Western Maryland. My goal was to prove that a two-wheel Porsche performs as well as the four-wheel variety.

 

Most people, and even many Porsche enthusiasts, do not know Porsche sells bicycles. Porsche has produced 11 different models ranging from mountain bikes, road bikes, touring bikes and even electric bicycles from the mid-1990s up until the current range of ultra-modern bikes.

 

The first Porsche bicycle was the 1990 Porsche Bike Spyder 9.85. This prototype bike is the “missing link” between Porsche automobiles and Porsche bicycles. The Bike Spyder 9.85 was featured in a May 1991 Christophorus article written by Jürgen Pippig and explained in the second paragraph, “Since Weissach engineers and technicians are often enthusiastic hobby sports fans, it was really only a question of time until the strong two-wheel lobby within the technology smithy created a mountain bike which is the 911 RS of mountain bikes.”

 

The story went on to explain the goal of the Porsche engineers was to produce a prototype bike of consequent lightweight construction, uncompromising function and aesthetic proportions and shape. The end result was a serious mountain bike for the time. And at a mere 9.85 kilograms (21.7 pounds), it was incredibly lightweight. This bike was designed and built before the days of front shock absorbers, let alone a full-suspension mountain bike. 

 

Next, Porsche commissioned several bicycle designs in the mid- to late-1990s, particularly the Guards Red Bike S mountain bike I rode on the C&O, as well as the full-suspension Bike FS, the rare purple and yellow Bike R road bike and the high-tech and bright yellow Bike FS Evolution. All were wonderful bikes for the mid-‘90s. Porsche has since continued to commission the current line of high-tech carbon fiber road and mountain bikes found at Porsche dealerships today.

 

Most cycling enthusiasts see these bikes as a curiosity or oddity. When I ride one of my three Porsche bicycles, I’m often asked, “Porsche makes bikes?” This led me to push these bikes, and myself, to see if they are worthy of the Porsche name. I have now ridden my Porsche bikes thousands of miles, including the infamous 129-mile, 15,000 ft. elevation Death Ride in California’s Sierra Nevada on my 2004 Porsche Bike X in 2017 and now the C&O Canal Towpath this year.

 

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was built along the Potomac River between 1828 and 1850 to transport coal and other supplies by boat from the Alleghany Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay. The C&O Canal Towpath is a dirt trail that was used by mules to pull the boats through the canal. Once the locomotive came to the region, the C&O ceased operation in 1924. Thankfully the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park was established in 1961 for hikers, joggers and bikers to enjoy the towpath. The path is mostly flat, but today the trail ranges from freshly resurfaced, to rocky and muddy sections. The Porsche Bike S was perfect for the conditions with the front suspension fork, sturdy frame and mountain bike tires. My 1998 Bike S is all original, with the exception of the added rear mud guard, extra water bottle and bike pack.

 

My C&O adventure started in Georgetown, just after my wife dropped me off at Mile O near the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and World War II Memorial in Washington DC. She continued driving our 2006 Cayenne S as the “support vehicle.”

 

The C&O starts at the Potomac River lock where the boats used to gain access to the Chesapeake Bay. I rode the upstream and uphill direction, completing 74.4 miles the first day. Riding on this historic trail provides a glimpse of what life was like in the 1800s. The stone-carved locks and many stone and wood lock houses were an interesting sight. Back in the 1800s, people stayed in the lock houses and operated the locks around the clock to raise and lower the canal water level for the boats to pass. My first day of riding ended in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, where I met my wife at the Bavarian Inn. I planned this trip to fall within the traditional Oktoberfest timeframe, so the evening of German bier, spätzle and brats were perfect to refuel for the next day of cycling.

 

Day two, I rode 54 miles to Hancock, Maryland, where again I met my wife and support Cayenne for an evening out on the town. The final day was a 62-mile ride to the end of the C&O Canal in Cumberland, Maryland. The last day included riding through the famous Paw Paw Tunnel. The Paw Paw Tunnel is a 3,118-foot-long tunnel built using more than six million bricks. The tunnel is completely dark, which required a bike light to navigate.

 

Riding the C&O is amazing. The best way I can describe it is like riding a bike alongside the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland. Everything is green with the Potomac River on one side and the C&O Canal on the other. The canal is overgrown with trees, plants and flowers with deer, squirrels, rabbits, birds, snakes and turtles everywhere and the canal doesn't look manmade anymore. In a couple long stretches the canal turned into lakes. One lake had a lot of surrounding granite and even granite islands. This lake looked more like a high alpine lake than a canal towpath. The trees provided plenty of shade and the dirt path didn't collect heat like asphalt. I just kept riding and looking at all the sights. Since the towpath is surrounded by nature, you feel removed from modern society. And with the 74 historic locks and lock houses, you feel like you are in another place and time, not riding in 2020.

 

Cycling on the C&O isn’t usually a competitive effort. Typically, riding the C&O is more a relaxing and scenic bike tour. However, I wanted to push the bike, and myself, so I rode as fast as I could for the 184.5 miles. I passed every rider I encountered, and not one person passed me as I averaged over 13 miles per hour across the entire trip. The Porsche bike showed its speed potential over the long ride.

 

The towpath surface was challenging. Many hours of pedaling over the rough dirt trail conditions took a toll on my body and my bike. At the end of this incredible bike tour, I completed 190.3 miles in total. The extra mileage came from riding in and out of Shepherdstown and Hancock. Both the bike and I were filthy from dirt, mud and sweat. But the 1998 Porsche Bike S performed flawlessly. The bike did not have a single issue. Not a flat tire or any problem with the shifting, braking or suspension. The 22-year-old Porsche bike proved it is worthy alongside the great Porsche automobiles. 

 

If you have an opportunity, I would suggest purchasing a Porsche bicycle. I believe you will enjoy owning and riding a Porsche bike, as it provides the performance, style and engineering of a Porsche sportscar. And if you want a fantastic bike touring adventure, I would highly recommend riding the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath. It is an epic ride and will provide a memorable lifetime experience.

 

Click here to see photos from the C&O ride.

184.5 mile C&O completed

Yesterday I completed the three-day, 190.3 mile adventure riding the 184.5 mile Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath in Maryland on the 1998 Porsche Bike S. The extra mileage came from riding in and out of Shepherdstown and Hancock. This trip took a year of planning, organizing and training. Full reporting soon. Click on the photos to see images from the entire ride.

Porsche committing to LMDh prototype!?!

Porsche may join the upcoming LMDh prototype class. That would allow Porsche to race for outright wins in IMSA and WEC. This would be amazing news!

This was mentioned yesterday in SportsCar365:

Porsche has moved a step closer to confirming an LMDh program, with its head of factory motorsport Pascal Zurlinden telling Sportscar365 that they are now in the final phase of its concept study. “Everything is going in the right direction,” he said. “We’ll have to use the next weeks to look at all of the details.”

Staging for the C&O ride

And now the packing begins. Is it over the top to have matching Porsche bike jerseys, that also match the 1998 Porsche Bike S I plan to ride, on the 184.5 mile Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath? Well, yes it is. But that's how I roll. One Porsche bike jersey for each of the two-day ride. I'm also gathering up all the gear for any weather and temperature possibilities. 

Oktoberfest!

With the actual Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it's still ok to celebrate Oktoberfest on my own during the original planned timeframe. I usually celebrate Oktoberfest well beyond the normal dates, but officially Oktoberfest started yesterday and I ate and drank traditional German cuisine at Old Stein Tavern in Edgewater, Maryland yesterday to kick off Oktoberfest properly. Today I'm drinking a huge German bier and getting my gear ready for the Thursday and Friday C&O attempt on the 1998 Porsche Bike S. 

Fast 40

Last ride before the C&O attempt Thursday and Friday of this week. Today I rode my 40 mile route around BWI and down to Annapolis and back on the old train path. Three days of rest coming up. The weather was cooler but with a little more gear on, the ride felt awesome. Cooler temps allowed for faster riding and no water. I drafted some fast guys on road bikes. With some headwind and their size I was pulled along like a Nascar draft on an oval. Felt weird to pedal half speed and get over 15 mph on a mountain bike. Good times!