Friday Adventure Ride

After work on Friday I was finally able to get up the ridge from camp and over the other side. After 20 minutes of riding up hill, and a 30 minute hike a bike, I made it to the top of the ridge. Now I could either drop down on the ATV trails to Bee Tree and ride pavement back, or try to ride the ridge line over to Eden Rock.

With the sun setting I decided to drop down into the valley. Cruising down the ATV trail that turned into double track was quite fun. I was concerned that I would run into a disgruntled land owner and possibly be shot, but that never happened.

After about another 20 minutes of riding down, I came out on a dirt road that led to a paved road, and I eventually found my way back.

Wow, that place has some potential. Now I just have to figure out who owns the land so I can get proper permission to be on it!!

Saturday after Rhonda got home from work, I hit the Blue Ridge Parkway on my road bike. The goal was to get up to Craggy Gardens then turn around and head back. Since I didn't leave until 4:30pm I knew that I would be out past dark, so I put my lights on the bike.

When I left the temp was right around 40 degrees. The temps drop fairly quickly as one rides up higher, but I was comfortable. I felt really good and was keeping a moderate pace. The sun was dropping and the ridges looked like they were on fire.

The wind was gusting around some of the corners and I made a mental note for the way back down, when I would be going 35-40 mph.

I got to the entrance to Craggy Gardens right about the time the sun set. The gate was open meaning that I could go all the way to the Visitor Center. I thought about it, started to keep going, then turned around. A lot of reasoning went on in about 30 seconds.

As it turns out, I was really glad that I made that choice.

After about 2 minutes of riding down, I noticed that the temps had dropped significantly. There was no way to keep warm. The wind was blowing against me and I was riding down hill. I attempted to pedal but when I did, I went faster and the wind chill got worse. I put it in an easy gear and tried to spin. I was cold. I was more than cold. My shoulder muscles were stinging from tensing up, trying to keep from shivering so I could maintain control of the bike.

I finally came to the tunnel, I slowed way down because there was no wind in there. As I coasted through I started to feel warmer, but as soon as I went out the other side, I got cold again.

I was miserable, I wanted to be home, but there was nowhere to go but down. I finally got down the mountain and onto the roads to home. I was no longer worried about maintaining my heart rate, but rather attempting to warm up. I was pretty much all out the last 5 miles to home. I never really warmed up, until much later, after a lot of food and a hot shower.

Note to self, when the sun sets, it gets really cold up on the mountain!!!

Have a great day.