Blue Ridge Parkway – Milepost 0 to 100

[Donald Mitchell]

Hello Everyone,

Here is a summary of my Blue Ridge Parkway trip from this past weekend:

The 1st 100 miles on the parkway was not as tough as I thought it would be.  
The first 63 miles were nothing compared to Skyline Drive.  Those first 63 
miles contained numerous short climbs and numerous short down-hills.  There 
were a few long climbs and a 1 really long fast down-hill that I really 
enjoyed.  On one such long climb I passed a guy that had his bike loaded 
down with panniers in the front and rear.  I said hello as I was passing and 
he jokingly asked if I would carry some of his panniers for him.  I replied 
“You have to be a strong person to carry all of that up-hill.”  Of course I 
was not that strong person so I declined to carry his panniers.  There was a 
short tunnel around mile 53 which was not as long as some tunnels are on the 
parkway.  There is a long descent from about mile 50 to the James River 
around mile 63.  So for 13 miles I pedaled very little.  This was the best 
13 miles of the ride.  On the way down I saw a group of about 15 cyclists 
that were on their way up and they didn’t look like they were stressed at 
all.  I said to my self “I’m glad I’m going down” and I continued to fly 
down-hill smiling the whole way.  I met my wife at the bottom for a brief 
break at the Otter Creek restaurant and then continued on.  Shortly after 
crossing the James River I embarked on the 13 mile 3300 foot climb to Apple 
Orchard Mountain.  I should have known that the ride was too easy.  This 13 
mile climb is the toughest climb I would do all day.  I stopped at every 
overlook.  There was one point where I could see the parkway far in the 
distance, which seemed to be several miles away and about 1000 feet higher 
than where I was.  I told myself “I will be there in about an hour.”  About 
40 minutes later I was looking down from that point.  It was not as long as 
I thought but it was a long haul.  After 2.5 hours of climbing I reached the 
highest point of the parkway in Virginia at just over 3900 feet.  This 13 
mile 3300 foot climb kicked by behind like no other climb that I have ever 
done.  It was a great relief when I finally reached the top and the bike 
started to move down-hill without me having to pedal.  From that point on 
the climbs were a little shorter as well as the descents.  But it seemed a 
little more difficult than the first half because I was beaten up so badly 
by that 13 mile climb.  I stopped in at the Peaks of Otter restaurant and 
visitors center for a break.  The kids had ice cream and I did some 
stretching.  At this point I only had 14 miles to go – “Less than a trip 
from home to Kilmarnock” is what I kept telling myself.  The 100 mile marker 
was on a down-hill.  My wife pulled over at mile marker 100 and I just waved 
her on to the next overlook.  There was no-way I was stopping in the middle 
of a down-hill thrill.

I didn’t get any good statistics from my computer.  It had some numbers that 
I knew were wrong.  My ride time was listed at 6.5 hours and I know I had 
ridden much longer than that.  I’m guessing the battery is on its way out.  
I’ll have to replace it this week.  But I can tell you that I started the 
ride at 0803 and finished at 1705 for an elapsed time of about 9 hours.  I 
figured I had about 45 minutes of rest which would give me a little over 8 
hours of ride time at an average pace of about 12 to 13 miles per hour.  
Before that 13 mile climb I actually had a pace of about 14 to 15 miles per 
hour.  I’ll post some photos on the website later this week 
(www.northernneckcycling.org).

This was a great ride.  The hills are longer than those that we have here in 
the Northern Neck but with the right gearing I don’t think any of you would 
have a problem with it.  I think we should organize a spring or fall weekend 
trip to the parkway.  The first 63 miles are fairly easy.  There is a 
campground at Otter Creek where we could stay.  With the proper planning and 
support I think we could make this a good trip.


Later,

Donald

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