A Tiny Piece of Skline Drive Satisfies the Requirements

Dickey Ridge Visitor Center, Skyline Drive

25 June 2015

I'm coming to you live from a Motel 6 in Roanoke, Virginia.  I'm hanging out in Tom and Ron's room.  We're in Roanoke because, instead of driving straight to Abingdon, Virginia, where Bike Virginia starts, we took an extra day so that we could stop in Shanandoah National Park to do a 25-mile out-and-back ride on Skyline Drive. I have my car, and Tom has his.  Ron pinballed between us in hour and a half stints.

The forecast was iffy enough that I was confident we'd experience the Inevitable Rain (IR).  The IR is what happens when Tom and I ride together anywhere south of Fort Dix.  Far less likely would be the Inevitable Questionable Road (IQR), which both of us have a tendency to find by accident.

We bought lunch at a supermarket in Front Royal, the town at the northern entrance to Skyline Drive.  Then we drove to the Dickey Ridge Visitor's Center to eat.  This was our view:

Expecting rain, I put my camera in a plastic bag.  I took it out almost immediately because the sky was blue and there were too many turnouts in the road where we could stop for pictures.  This view is from the Gooney Run Overlook.

After that, we climbed.  And climbed.  And climbed.  It was never steep, but it went on for 2.5 miles.  We held up a line of cars and trucks in the process, because Skyline Drive is a shoulderless, winding, 100-mile road.

Three construction trucks passed us.  At the top was a road worker holding a stop sign, which we were happy to see.  We passed the line of cars and trucks that passed us, and pulled into a turnout to wait.

We were looking at fresh blacktop.  After the cars rolled past, we followed.  The pavement sounded like wet paint on our tires.  We passed two steam rollers laying down new blacktop.  One of my wheels picked up some tar.  I was thump-thump-thumping along the road.

"We need to turn around," Tom said.  "This isn't good for our tires."  So we did. We'd now satisfied the IQR ride criterion.

I stopped to try to get a look at the view across the road, but the blacktop was still hot.  I took pictures from where I stood, in the middle of the road, the fresh pavement throwing heat on my shins.

A steamroller steamrolled by.

The clouds thickened.

We descended the 619 feet in a flash.  Snakehead would love this stretch of road.

Then the rain started; IR achieved.

I shoved my camera into the plastic bag and pushed myself up the hill to catch Tom and Ron.  I'd just about reached them when another view presented itself.

We finished the ride with just under 13 miles, far more sweaty than wet.  We threw on some dry clothes and packed ourselves back into our cars.  Tom let me lead so that I could pull off for pictures.  I did, but only once, at the Jenkins Gap overlook.

We passed others, where the names were better than the views:  Hogwallow Flats, Gimlet Ridge, Hogback, Matthew's Arm, Elkwallow.

After 30 miles, we left Skyline Drive and headed west towards Roanoke.  We arrived hungry and sticky, more hungry than sticky.

Now it's almost 10:00.  "It's past Ron's bedtime," Tom says.  So I'll wrap this up.  Tomorrow morning we'll drive to Abindgon and do a short ride.  Tom is adding distance to it because he loves us.  We'll probably get wet again.

Here's today's route profile.