Has anyone here ridden the Blue Ridge Parkway

All (469miles) or at least some? I'd like to pick your brain for info like fitness level, training schedule, nutrition, was the ride harder than expected? Did someone follow you in a car? How long did it take? That sort of stuff.

Any recommended books or websites for training info? I'm pretty sure there isn't a "Couch to 5k" version for biking the BRP. :rolleyes:

I am exploring the idea of riding the Parkway. I'd like to make it a fundraiser for a good cause. And I'd love to be able to do it in September or October of this year or late Spring 2012. But I prefer Sept/Oct. :p


Thanks in advance for any advice!

7rider did an end-to-end ride of the Parkway within the last year if I recall. You might use the search function to find he posts/threads about it. I've had several friends ride all or part of it. All have said it was pretty challenging. You're a relatively new rider, right? If so, I tend to think a Sept/Oct timeframe for 2012 would be somewhat more realistic. Unless you can ride hills all winter, doing it in the spring--regardless of how experienced you otherwise are--would be tough. Plus, you'd encounter a lot more wet weather.

Thanks, Indy. I don't mind the dose of reality regarding timeframe either.

Here's 7rider's write-up of the experience. http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...+Ridge+Parkway

I would consider the amount of traffic in October. The roads become pretty congested during the fall with those going to see the leaf changes. My husband did it a few years back. He started in Virginia and rode the Skyline first. Most of the trip he was unsupported but he did meet up with a friend for the final part of the Parkway. We are from Florida and he definitely found the downhill portions the most terrifying.

I live near the north end of the Blue Ridge Parkway (Milepost 0, Afton, Virginia). I sometimes bike portions of the first 40 miles and always find it GORGEOUS, but challenging. For me, Parkway rides are hands-down the toughest rides I do. I'm not a newbie, but I'm a slow, so-so strong rider, so your mileage may vary quite a bit!

I dug out this link to an elevation guide for the Parkway, in case it will help you when you're planning your trip:

http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/v.php?pg=15

There's a published guide to biking the Parkway but I haven't found it to be all that helpful. You're better off Googling for more first-hand reports like 7rider's.

Have fun planning!!

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Originally Posted by rubysoho

All (469miles) or at least some? I'd like to pick your brain for info like fitness level, training schedule, nutrition, was the ride harder than expected? Did someone follow you in a car? How long did it take? That sort of stuff.

Any recommended books or websites for training info? I'm pretty sure there isn't a "Couch to 5k" version for biking the BRP. :rolleyes:

I am exploring the idea of riding the Parkway. I'd like to make it a fundraiser for a good cause. And I'd love to be able to do it in September or October of this year or late Spring 2012. But I prefer Sept/Oct. :p

Thanks in advance for any advice!

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As others have mentioned - I did the whole thing last September (read that thread - I hope you can find some useful stuff there). We went Labor Day weekend and beyond, to get there before foliage season and to avoid leaf-peepers in Winnebagos. Had to deal with some holiday weekend traffic initially, but after that, it was pretty much empty.

The only "training" I did for it was ride lots. I did a weekend ride or two up in the Catoctins for hill work, and had my LBS put a 12-27 on the back so I could have a bit lower gearing. We had 2 vans with us, with which we shared driving duties, so we had plenty of food along the way - Gatorade, water, bagels, bananas, granola bars, all the usual ride stuff - and no gear to carry. We stayed in hotels.

North Carolina section was harder than I expected because the hills were steeper than I thought they'd be. But, we were touring so we paced ourselves, took advantage of the many rest stops with scenic overlooks, and took our time so as not to completely cook ourselves each day. :)

Email or PM me and I can get you more details.

BTW...the guide we used for much of our planning was Charlie & Elizabeth Skinner's book.

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Originally Posted by 7rider

(read that thread - I hope you can find some useful stuff there).

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Yes, thank you! I was able to read it this morning on a break at work. Lots of good info and gave me some starting points for planning.


Thanks for all the input so far!

My husband did it last year (last half of October). He is has been a bicyclist most of his life, and is an experienced touring cyclist. He has rode from Fairbanks to Seattle self-supported, ridden across the U.S. with a buddy, and has cycled through Italy. That being said, he was a big dummy when it came to the Blue Ridge Parkway. He did his research, but he did not train nearly hard enough (we live in Dallas where there are no real hills or mountains). He started in Cherokee, NC and rode north. The first 40 miles north of Cherokee is really tough. A tremendous amount of climbing (I forget how many thousands of feet-the parkway rangers have maps with the elevation gains for sections of the parkway - get one ahead of time so you can plan wisely). I was riding the parkway (in our car), and going to do a little sightseeing/camping/hiking while he rode it on his bike. That was a very good thing because I had to come get him at one point because he ran out of water and he was exhausted. The section from Asheville north to Mount Mitchell is another tough part. Water is not regularly available on the parkway, so you will need to ride, in some cases, quite a ways off the parkway to get it at some points (my husband begged passing motorists). The southern part of the parkway is pretty rural and isolated, so except for a couple bigger towns (Cherokee and Asheville), there are no conveniences (gas, water, hotels, stores) directly on the parkway. You will have to know where those exits are, and how far off the parkway you need to ride to get to these things. The northern part of the parkway (Virginia), is not as challenging as the southern part. And it also more populated and has more towns on the parkway. My husband said if he had to do it all over again, he would have started in Virginia and rode south. That way he could have worked into the hills, and would be ready for the climbing that was required for North Carolina.

Mid to late October was GORGEOUS. Perfect weather, for the most part, and the scenery was amazing. We had a couple days of rain/fog in the mountains over the course of a week, but otherwise it was mostly sunny. There was a lot of traffic because of the pretty foliage, but my husband said the motorists were mostly very courteous.

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Originally Posted by Righteousbabe

The first 40 miles north of Cherokee is really tough. A tremendous amount of climbing.

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Without saying WHO this dreadful individual is....
This is what those first 40 miles of climbing out of Cherokee can do to you.
:cool:

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Originally Posted by 7rider

Without saying WHO this dreadful individual is....
This is what those first 40 miles of climbing out of Cherokee can do to you.
:cool:

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Fabulous photo that speaks volumes.....BRP cyclists, beware, LOL!!! :D

I love that photo! :D


How many miles (average) were you logging each week for training? My main problem is finding access to decent hills.

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Originally Posted by rubysoho

I love that photo! :D


How many miles (average) were you logging each week for training? My main problem is finding access to decent hills.

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Come to Arlington. Plenty of steep hills. They're generally short but close enough together to make an exhausting ride. I have a cue sheet called "Hellbent on Hills," though I prefer to call it "Have cake for dinner, you've earned it."

For long hills that are not steep, there is Skyline Drive.

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Originally Posted by ny biker

Come to Arlington. Plenty of steep hills. They're generally short but close enough together to make an exhausting ride. I have a cue sheet called "Hellbent on Hills," though I prefer to call it "Have cake for dinner, you've earned it."

For long hills that are not steep, there is Skyline Drive.

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Are they like the hills on the GW trail up to Mount Vernon? I had a good time riding those the other weekend. We (friend and I) ended up doing that entire trail back and forth.

RubySoho....The mountains here in central VA are simply beautiful in mid-October and daytime temps are perfect. (September can be surprisingly hot, even at the higher elevations of the Parkway/Drive.) Spring is also stunning, especially when the redbuds start blooming. I love watching the mountains "wake up" in April and begin to transition from brown to bright "spring" green. You can't go wrong in terms of scenery at either time of year. :)

(Brief hijack) NY Biker.....I lived and biked in Arlington for almost 20 years---put many a mile in on the W&OD, Mount Vernon Trail, and the C&O! I now live where the BRP and Skyline Drive meet. You're right, Skyline Drive isn't quite as up-and-down as the BRP, but the southern section of the Drive near me still throws me curveballs! Neighbor and fellow TE'er IFJane used the central and southern sections of Skyline Drive and the northernmost stretch of the BRP to train for the Triple Bypass (Colorado) a couple of years ago. Some of her training, of course, involved long, steep climbs out of the valley to get UP to the Drive/Parkway---I was in awe!

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Originally Posted by rubysoho

How many miles (average) were you logging each week for training? My main problem is finding access to decent hills.

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I'm not sure. I bike commuted to work ~3 days/week, and would tack on extra miles to a few of them (turning a 15 mile round trip ride into 25 or so). On the weekends, I'd ride Saturday and Sunday, doing 30-60 miles. Our trip on the BRP was 60-80 miles/day, so it was doing back-to-back long rides on varying terrain that was important (to me, anyway). So the long weekend rides were critical. I wasn't so concerned about speed, jut getting out there. Sometimes, I had to throw the bike on the truck and drive somewhere (like that ride up in the Catoctins where I saw at least 1 24% grade :eek: and actually had to walk the bike. That never happened on BRP - even leaving Cherokee.).

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Originally Posted by 7rider

I'm not sure. I bike commuted to work ~3 days/week, and would tack on extra miles to a few of them (turning a 15 mile round trip ride into 25 or so). On the weekends, I'd ride Saturday and Sunday, doing 30-60 miles. Our trip on the BRP was 60-80 miles/day, so it was doing back-to-back long rides on varying terrain that was important (to me, anyway). So the long weekend rides were critical. I wasn't so concerned about speed, jut getting out there. Sometimes, I had to throw the bike on the truck and drive somewhere (like that ride up in the Catoctins where I saw at least 1 24% grade :eek: and actually had to walk the bike. That never happened on BRP - even leaving Cherokee.).

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This is perfect information for me and helps me know how I need to change my riding schedule. Right now I am riding between 30 and 40 miles split between two rides during the week and generally one longer 40 - 50 mile ride on the weekend.

I need to build up to longer back-to-back rides on Sat and Sun. And this gives me a perfect reason to start commuting to work (24 total miles) once or twice a week in addition to the group ride I want to join.

The White Clay Bicycle Club of Wilmington, DE recently sponsored a tour of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Here is a link that one of the participants posted to his photos of the trip. Best to view in "slideshow" mode. The photos are beautiful but would be nice to have a few captions so we know what we are looking at. Here is his posting:

Here's my complete photo collection from Wally's Blue Ridge Parkway
Tour, ending Tues. 6/21:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...8AYt3LRs4Ys2Q5

Jeff, Mark: 055 (slideshow photo #31) shows true bicycle-friendly rumblestrips in South
Carolina. In fact, the white edge line is actually painted over them,
and exit breaks are plentiful.

If clicking on the below link doesn’t work, copy-and-paste it into your
browser. Use the slideshow feature for best results:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...8AYt3LRs4Ys2Q5

Ride on,
-Frank