Day 49

Started out in Claytor Lake State Park.  Did the climb out of the park back up to the route.  The route takes one to Rayford, then Christiansburg.  Coming out of Rayford, I made a wrong turn and after some time ended up back in Rayford.  Rayford is home of the University of Rayford.  The roads that I came into Rayford on were marked for cycling events, including a race WRR.  After getting sorted out I ended up in Christiansburg.   This lead to a fairly long time on small country roads with a fair amount of climbing.

The weather was partly cloudy, and the temp started out in the high 60's.  Did a lot of hill climbing, some steep, but not as long as those in Missouri and eastern Kentucky.  Cut the trip through the country side short, had lunch on the outside tables of  a road stop.  The lunch started out sunny, the wind picked up and it got completely cloudy.   As I headed north from Troutville, the sky opened up.  A pretty rainy ride. The rain had subsided by the time I got to Buchanan.  The sign at the entrance to town calls Buchanan the gateway to the Shenandoah Valley.  

We continue to pass between the mountain ranges.   We are staying at a KOA campground at Natural Bridge. 

Tomorrow we go north to the break in the Blue Ridge mountains.



Morning Ride

  • Distance
    107.35 mi
  • Elev Gain
    7,314 ft
  • Time
    8h 38m

    Comments

    Post a Comment

    Popular posts from this blog

    Image
     Day 4. I left Prineville at about 8:30, heading east on Rt 26.  This takes you through the Ochoco Mt range.  Crossed two passes today, the first was Ochoco Pass  The heat jumped up on the eastern side of the pass.  Dropped into a valley then  partly up the next side to the town of  Mitchell where Leslie met me for Lunch..  After lunch it was straight up to the next pass, Keyes Summmit.   I was feeling kind of sick after lunch so I stopped several times on the way up to let the nausea clear (Note to self: Turkey with mayonnaise  doesn't mix with exercising in the heat).   I crawled up Keyes Summit at less than 5 mph.  Fortunately the remainder of the ride was downhill until the last 4 miles.  Here's a couple of  shots of the scenery. Morning Ride Distance 88.44  mi Elev Gain 3,924  ft Time 6 h  39 m Try this route Tomorrow, we make our way further east.  Planning on something much shorter.  Stay tuned. 
    Read more

    The Last Long Ride

    Image
     Day 55 +/(We've been travelling from the coast of Oregon for 66 days,  I have sometimes not been counting Sundays since its a non-riding day. The moral of the story is to take the Day # with a grain of salt).   Started out along I 95 north of  Richmond. The route took a  somewhat circuitous route east and finally south to connect with the Capital Trail, a bike trail that goes all the way from Richmond to Jamestown. As you travel around the northern suburbs of  Richmond, you are constantly passing roadside markers commemorating various Civil War battles. And as I turned down a road, what should I see? He was scooting across the road, in contrast to the turtles I saw in Missouri, which were sitting like lumps. The bike trail terminates at the Museum in Jamestown.  There I got on the Colonial Parkway.  This road was probably built some time ago. Its concrete, with rather large round pebbles/rocks in the mix. Over time the superficial concrete has worn away exposing the rocks.  Its ve
    Read more

    Fred

     Today started out rainy,  The plan was about 77 miles with lots of climbing, as we made our way across the Appalachians.  The rain let up, and I got a fairly early start. I was able to take off my rain jacket for a while.  As I came over one climb, the sky opened up. I had to really sit on the brakes going downhill to maintain control.  I stopped in Honaker VA for lunch, and afterwards as I started out, I got so cold I was shaking,  I had only covered about 37 miles in the first 3 1/2 hrs, mostly due to the very slow downhills.  I still had 40 miles to go.   I decided that I'd never make it before dark, so Leslie picked me up. We are camping in Damascus VA tonight. We went out to eat, and the TV in the diner showed all of the flooding and tornados due to Fred.  As I sit here, we just had another downpour.  Fortunately I've plotted out a route to our next campsite that doesn't involve any significant mountain climbs. Hopefully none of the roads will be flooded out.  Thanks
    Read more