Blue Ridge Parkway - Am I insane??

[IFjane]

7 - When will you be there? (or did I miss that?). A couple of us are going to be doing the northern part in a couple weeks ~ August 21ish. Only for one day, but still, it would be wonderful to hook up.

I have not ridden that far south, but the northern parts are wonderful. Climbs on the Parkway there (Peaks of Otter & north) are 5 - 7%, but mostly 5.....longish (3 - 5 miles) but equal downhills. The surface is wonderful for the most part; traffic is light and cycling friendly.

Oakleaf was absolutely correct - if you venture off the BRP to go to a hotel or into a town, you are in for some steep stuff - short (3 - 5 miles maybe?) but STEEP. Keep in mind that most of those roads are cart paths they decided to pave way back when. Grading roads? Huh??? That's why I prefer training here, then riding distances in the Rockies. Once the engineers got that far west they had figured out how to put roads over the mountains.

[AnnieBikes]

My husband did the whole BRP from N to S last year. Here is a link to his journal... see the last few days for the BRP part. http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/2009Retirementride I met him at the end of his ride, riding from Cherokee northbound to meet him and I had a 10 mile climb out of Cherokee. Mostly it was 5-8% grades and I have a compact crank. I did fine, slow and steady. 65+ mile days every day will definitely tax you. He was self supported so went fewer miles, 45-60 miles per day. The tunnels are definitely scary, or at least were for me. I rode through several on the 12 mile section I rode. They are dark and disorienting as I had no light. I would definitely invest in a helmet light. You need a red tail light anyway for the occasional fog, and he had some foggy days. They helmet mounts are light and stay on the helmet for your ride and are easily turned on and off. It makes alot of difference having a visual of the ground in the dark tunnels. I can't tell you much more except that I rode another section last fall from Fancy Gap to North of Mabry Mills. There is a restaurant at MM but it was full of people off tour buses, pricey, and they said it would be an hour wait! We ended up going off an exit just South of MM towards Meadows of Dan. It is a short distance off the exit and we had a wonderful lunch at a little country store on the right (can't remember the name) and ate in a gazebo out back of the store. It was an easy exit and return to the Parkway.

Have a wonderful ride!

Have a great time. When are you leaving?

[7rider]

Awesome. Thanks for the info. You guys are helping to allay my fears and just get me stoked!
I do have helmet lights...but they're more of the "be seen" variety, and wouldn't rely on the front one, anyway, for helping me see through tunnels. So, I intend to put my lights on the bike for the first few days (we're starting south, and riding north) when we hit all the tunnels. I understand there's only one in Virginia.
We'll be doing this ride in early September, as our intent was to get out ahead of the leaf-peepers.
We also intend to bring coolers and food and picnic for lunches (and possibly breakfast if we are so inclined and can't find a place for that.). We'll have two vans following us (one driven by a wife who doesn't ride - the other we'll have to split time driving - a half day for each rider). I am the only woman riding this trip. I had one friend who expressed an interest, but backed out early when she thought about the logistics.
BTW....how is cell phone coverage on the parkway?

[Zen]

A tidbit from Wikipedia-


The mountain was named after Elisha Mitchell, a professor at the University of North Carolina, who determined its height in 1835 and fell to his death at nearby Mitchell Falls in 1857, having returned to verify his earlier measurements.

The ascent of Mount Mitchell is now rather easy, since a road off the historic and scenic Blue Ridge Parkway runs nearby, and a 980 feet (300 m) trail leads through a conifer forest to the summit. The 40-foot (12 m) stone observation tower on the summit was torn down in late 2006. A new observation deck was constructed and opened to visitors in January 2009.[3] Also on the summit is the tomb of Dr. Mitchell.

Mt. Mitchell- easy!

[tctrek]

Please take a light for the tunnels... not so much so you can see, but so the cars can see you. Some of them are very long and pitch black - no light at all. I've ridden short sections of it up to Mt. Pisgah and suffered, but I am a terrible climber.

[beccaB]

We did a 20 mile stretch near Waynesville. I don't have the legs I thought I had here in the flatlands I live in! I would also need lower gears if I ever attempt that again! Good luck in your endeavor! September will be beautiful!

[beccaB]

Sorry. Didn't look at the date of the original post. oops.

[IFjane]

Awesome. Thanks for the info. You guys are helping to allay my fears and just get me stoked!
I am the only woman riding this trip. I had one friend who expressed an interest, but backed out early when she thought about the logistics.
BTW....how is cell phone coverage on the parkway?

Welcome to my world - I am almost always the only woman on a ride.

I can't speak for the southern sections of the BRP, but the northern sections have little or no cell coverage.

[Gowest]

Sorry I am so late to respond - I live near Asheville, so I am familiar with a good amount of the parkway.

Cell reception is notably poor on the parkway - don't count on it - especially in the highest elevations near Water Rock Knob and Mitchell. Do ride up to Mitchell - it is a nice little side trip.

You should be fine with your 27 in the back - you won't find anything on the parkway double digit steep - climbs are long though - several miles.

Tunnels - some are bad (btwn Cherokee and Asheville) - a light is a must. Also the rangers are really quick to ticket you if you don't have one on the back, or if they see you riding two or more abreast, and NO NATURE BREAKS in view of the parkway - that will get you a big fat fine.

Be careful with the temps - I was up on the parkway a week ago for the Blue Ridge Breakaway ride and they had to evacuate people off the parkway due to hypothermia - and the fog and rain were really really bad as well - fog has no season it seems.....

Traffic on the parkway will ususally be light - unless as someone mentioned you are near Asheville during the commuter rush. I have not had any bad experiences on the parkway, which is more than I can say once you get off it.

Regarding side trips off the parkway - usually you are not near much "civilization" and you have to ride downhill several miles for services off the parkway (asheville being the exception) Liberty Bikes is a great bike shop right off the parkway in Asheville - they are very friendly and helpful there. Another nice little area to stop in and not hard to get back onto the parkway is down davidson river road to pisgah forrest (brevard, NC) - another good bike shop here and good places to eat. Little Switzerland is over-rated in my opinion.

Sounds like a wonderful ride - be safe and have a great time.

[7rider]

Cool. Thanks, GoWest.
We'll be in Asheville over the weekend....so likely not to hit much commuter rush, but weekend holiday traffic, maybe...?
I'll try to restrain myself from nature breaks along the side of the road but no 2 abreast? Hmmmm...Usually we ride 2-3 abreast, and single up when a car approaches from behind. I hope that won't get us hassled.
We'll have 2 vans, and 1 car for the first few days, with us, and we'll be overnighting on or very close to the Parkway, so any side excursions can be done with vehicles.
Looking forward to it! I hope the weather holds.

[Thorn]

Hmmmm...Usually we ride 2-3 abreast, and single up when a car approaches from behind. I hope that won't get us hassled.

We did. Normally we ride 2 up and go single file when a car approaches. For me, it is a visibility thing -- when you're 2-up, you're bigger and more likely to be seen. But, we were told to stay single file so, for the most part we did.

At one point DH had pulled up just to confirm a decision without having to shout. There were no cars behind us and plenty of room for the oncoming vehicle....which had to stop just to hassle us about single file. Jeez....

Interestingly that was near Asheville where it was busier. Hopefully that's an anomaly.