Blue Ridge Parkway

Wow! I have driven down the Blue Ridge Parkway years ago and it was pretty spectacular in a car. I drove up back roads from Greenville yesterday so I could do the first of two planned rides on the Parkway and was reminded again just how beautiful the western Carolinas are. The ride I did was the Linn Cove Viaduct. The Viaduct is an engineering marvel around a section of Grandfather Mountain in the Blue Ridge. From the lake at the bottom, it was essentially a 7-mile uphill to the Viaduct and then a 7-mile downhill back to the car. Beyond any doubt, that was the best hour or so of riding on this trip. These are the first mountains I’ve seen since I started. Comparatively, the Ozarks are just a series of hills. This was a benchmark ride for me. First, I was genuinely looking forward to the climb. Admittedly, all the packs were in the car, but I figured this was a true test of fitness. I had driven 2 1/2 hours, hopped out of the car, and immediately started climbing. There was no warm-up flat stretch to work myself into the ride. The grade wasn’t particularly steep for the most part, but there were sections that approached 10%. It was 1400’ up. The scenery was incredible. In a 5-mile stretch of the climb, there are no fewer than 11 scenic overlooks, with some on each side of the road. It was relatively short, just over 17 miles round trip, but the downhill is why I ride. I didn’t quite hit the 45mph speed limit, reaching a max of 43.6, but I went the last 5 miles barely pedaling. I was out in the middle of the lane so no cars would pass, and none tried. I only had to brake once, to avoid a suicidal deer running across the road. It’s safe to say that I would make that ride every day if I could. I was smiling the whole way, up and down.

Done with that, I headed up the road to my next planned ride along the New River. This was to be a flat ride along an old railroad. When I got there, the community where I was to start was 3 or 4 mobile homes, a church and a post office. There was no inconspicuous place to park my car and I was a bit concerned just leaving it along the road with my packs and things. There was no cell service so if something happened, it would have been a problem. I decided not to do it, but still wanted to get another ride in. I ended up driving to Durham and did a 28-mile ride along another rails-to-trails path. Only in North Carolina would we celebrate the American Tobacco Trail. It was a nice, flat, largely forgettable ride but at least I got some more miles under my belt.

Into the “G”s on my playlist. BTW, I’m usually pretty ambivalent about listening to covers, but there are two I could listen to over and over. “Into the Mystic” by Zac Brown Band and “Free Fallin” by John Mayer. Give them a try. You won’t be disappointed.

The day was topped off by a visit to another old Rice friend, Janet Ranheim, in Chapel Hill. The last time I had seen Janet was in 2005 after Rice made it to a bowl game in New Orleans. It’s good that we didn’t wait until the next time they make one, or we‘d both probably be pushing up daisies! We talked until 2am, which is why this post isn’t timely! It turns out Janet and her husband Todd will be in Boston when we are there at the end of this month, so we won’t need to wait nearly as long to reconnect.

Sadly, today marks the end of the line for the car rental. I’m driving up to Virginia with no ride planned and dropping the car off. From there, I’ll be returning to my original plan and going point to point over the next couple weeks until I reach Boston.

Pictures do not do justice to the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but I had to try

The Viaduct in the background at the top

of the ride.