We last checked in about 345 miles and many, many hills ago. Today was a momentous day in that Jim and I decided that after 9 days of riding, the last 6 on the hills of Skyline Drive(SLD) and the Blue Ridge Parkway(BRP), we needed a rest day. Denny, on the other hand is like the Energizer bunny (he may not appreciate the analogy) and did not want to stop. So we discussed it and he went on and we stayed for our rest.
But, we are way ahead of ourselves. Let me say that the riding on these roads through the Shenandoah National Park (SLD) and on the Blue Ridge is sensational. We have had some of the best days of riding any of the three of us have ever experienced in terms of riding conditions, weather and surrroundings, not to mention riding partners. There are many, many, actually endless, ups and downs. It is like the world's longest, not to mention slowest, roller coaster. The mornings are often like riding on a bike path as the traffic levels are very low. Most of the traffic is motorcycles. The speed limit is 45 so most traffic is not moving too fast.
It all began as we left Front Royal, VA at the start of the SLD. We got on to the road early, after a big breakfast and began the climb up to the ridge. The first climb was about 10 miles. The grade on this climb and actually almost all of them so far, are quite reasonable. On the long climbs usually about 5-6% I think. We also had some great downhills, the nicest one being into the Elkwallow Wayside where we had lunch and visited with some nice folks, Appalachian Trail hikers and dayhikers mostly. One was a piano tuner from Annapolis who gave us his card so he could write off the gas money. He did discuss some issues with Jim and Jim talked some accounting with him. On we went through the beautiful forested road with many overlooks out on to the beautiful Shenandoah Valley and the hills beyond. Stunning. Someone said they saw a bear along the road. Bears are much less afraid of people in the park because they are not hunted. We did not see the bear. Our day ended in Big Meadows campground, about 54 miles. With the big climb at the beginning we thought that was a pretty good day. Anyway, there were not other overnight options within reach. The campgrounds in the park are quite nice, with showers and even laundry and bear boxes for your food. The roads and overlooks are well maintained. In contrast, the BRP is less well developed as the campgrounds have no showers and the roads very good but not so elaborate or numerous overlooks and often the trees have grown to block the views.
The SLD is 105 miles long and the next day we covered the rest of it. Again, some long climbs but nothing like the day before and it was so, so pleasant. We finished the SLD and stopped where is meets the BRP. They are essentially continuous. We had some lunch by the roadside with foodstuffs we stocked up on in Front Royal. We encountered two very hot and tired looking young guys on their first bike touring adventure whose goal was to ride across the country. They looked ill prepared and were hoping to make it to a campground some 40 miles distant. It was 4 pm and the climbs on the BRP were ahead of them and it did not seem likely they would come anywhere close to where they wanted to be. We were on the road and they were finishing their lunch. We did not see them again.
The day was getting hot and humid and the first climbs were difficult and long. I had not perfected a sweat management strategy yet since we had really been riding in cool weather up to this point. I could hardly see from the sweat in my eyes but we trudged on and with a rest stop on the longest climb, may 2 miles or so it all worked out.
The riding is a constant contrast of 4-5 mph climbing and 25-35 mph downhills. When you are climbing a mountain the downhills during a climb are somewhat discouraging because you know you will just need to climb all that distance again anyway. But on the parkway you realize that it is just going to be up and down and you are grateful for the distance covered at high speed. Before I got to this part of the trip I was concerned about my conditioning and my climbing. I was struggling some on the hills in CT, NJ and PA. Many of those climbs were steeper than here, up to now, and I think I rode myself in to better condition. Also, I got those lower gears in Wilmington and they are working well.
On the first day on the BRP we were looking to go to a campground which we knew would be down a grade off the main road. We were not looking forward to the climb out the next morning first thing but we had no choices. Or so we thought. As we turned on to the road to the campground, just a few feet off the parkway, there was a fairly obscure sign back from the road which said deli and store. We debated for several seconds whether to stop. We rode in and found a large party of people and we found the store owners. They not only had a deli and small grocery and souvenir shop, but cabins! Unfortunately, the large group was a wedding party and had all the cabins booked. As we chatted with the owner he made the mistake of saying that this once was a campground. We said, maybe it could be again, at least for one night. With the permission of the mother of the bride he said we could pitch our tents over on a nice grassy area away from the party. So we did, then we ate at the deli and then we went to bed to the sounds of a very celebratory gathering in to the wee hours. Not the best night's sleep but it was a nice ending to a 70 mile day and it saved us a long climb and probably and hour or more the next day.
By the way, the name of the town the deli was in, and the wedding, was Love, VA. Don't we all?
Our next day was somewhat shorter. It was another fantastic day of riding. We had a couple of long climbs of a few miles but mostly rolling up and down and finished with a 13 mile down hill into Otter Creek campground and restaurant. We had lunch and decided to stay. Jim was having an off day, it was getting warm and humid and the next campground was about 20 some miles away, 13.7 miles of which was climbing out of the James River valley. This takes one from the lowest point to the highest point on the parkway in VA. Also, they were predicting a storm to move through. So we camped, cramming our three tents on to one 12x12 tenting pad, which is required by the park service. A quick little thunderstorm blew threw but then it cleared and was a beautiful evening. We met a couple originally from Indiana who were doing several different bike touring trips this year. They had driven their car from the southern end of the parkway to the northern end and using the elevations posted on the overlooks along the way they plotted the climbs and descents my hand. They told us that the climbs we had seen were as steep as any on the parkway. That made us feel good, but looking at some other information we have, I wonder about that.
The next morning we got a good early start after an in camp breakfast of good old oatmeal and coffee. We wanted to make that 13 mile climb as early in the day as we could. It was a long haul up but we made it and continued on to finish the day in Roanoke. We had decided to stay in a motel in Roanoke so that we could get more food and and do laundry and not have to climb back up to the campground on the parkway. We ended up bushwacking our way off a exit road on to a road that took us to the highway we needed. How did we know to do that? Well, Jim has a laptop computer with a mapping program with services listed in the program so we had looked up some motels and some grocery stores and picked a likely destination. Then Denny, who had his GPS unit on could see that the road below us was one which connected to the highway. It had begun to rain just as we left the parkway. We put our jackets on and got to the highway. We hid under a bridge while Jim whipped out the computer again to recheck the motel. We called, they had a room and guest laundry and a BIG grocery across the highway. We got all refreshed and restocked, had a dinner next door at the steakhouse and it worked out great.
The next challenge was getting back to the parkway the next morning. GPS to the rescue again and we made it back quickly. Luckily Roanoke is not far below the parkway. Often when one gets off it there is a long climb back up. Of course, since the road went down to meet Roanoke, that meant the next morning there was a long climb as the Blue Ridge gained elevation. This one was about 5 miles long. The rest of the day was more ups and downs, often a mile or so. Again, great riding and weather. We met a father and son out on a ride for a segment of the parkway for several days and we rode together with them off and on for the next two days. We camped in the same campgrounds for two nights. This day our end point was a little town on the parkway called Meadows of Dan (Dan is a river). It is a charming mountain town with a real country store and very nice little quiet campground.
Meals in camp have been mostly packaged noodle or rice dishes, the kind you cook up in 2 cups of water, and pouches of meat, like tuna, salmon or chicken. These work out very well as you can carry 4-5 days worth in not too much space and not too much weight. This night I had rotini with broccoli and chicken. Gooood.
Yesterday we went from Meadows of Dan to Doughton Park campground, one of the parkway campgrounds. It began to rain fairly hard late in the afternoon and it was the first rain we had seen since Maryland, and that was very brief. The clouds moved in and we were in the fog for the evening and pretty much everything got wet. I did not feel well riding on this day and I talked with Jim and Denny about a rest day. And so we come full circle. We rode to the restaurant 3 miles up the road from the campground this morning. Over breakfast Denny proposed his plan that if we wanted to do a rest day, he would prefer to keep riding. He would then be a day ahead. The plan at the end of the parkway is to ride back to Asheville, NC (we are in NC now) and rent a van to load everything in and drive back to return. So Denny will get to Ashville ahead of us, rent the vehicle and meet us at the end of the parkway with the van.
Jim and I went across the parkway from the restaurant to the lodge, built by the WPA when they built the parkway. It has a wonderful view across a meadow of waving tall grass to the top of a rhodadendron covered hilltop. Have I mentioned the flowering bushes? Rhododendra, mountain laurel, flaming azaleas, honeysuckle and many more I do not know all along the route. It is gorgeous. And hilly.
Tomorrow we ride. Sure was a nice rest day. Got all dried out (so to speak) and relaxed and had no trouble at all doing almost nothing. Sure glad the lodge has wifi.
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