469.9 - Miles, that is

An adventure completed!

There were beautiful views again on Wednesday. My favorite part of the whole ride, though, was between Roanoke and Buchanan when we were riding on the ridge. I was happy to do that drive again Wednesday morning, as we returned to the morning's starting point.

I've been so amazed at what Mitch and Henrik were doing. Every time I talked with anyone outside our group I wanted to tell them. I held back some of the time, but there are plenty of strangers who know - believe me! The clerk at the little campground store in Love, Virginia, said "Wow, and only 16 miles to go!!!" The parkway in general felt like a fellowship - people driving, hiking, riding motorcycles, and bicycles - all enjoying the trip no matter how long their part of it was.

Thanks to everyone who's been reading, and thanks for leaving comments, and the encouragement. It's been a great adventure. (Be sure and doubleclick the slideshow to go to the Picasa Webalbum, there are a couple of movies there - especially at the very end.)

Congratulations

Congratulations Mitch and Henrik. That was quite a trip and I am glad I got to be a part of it.

-- Paul (aka Hannibal)
-- "I love it when a plan comes together!"

Day 5 - The Last Day (Henrik)

Today, we woke up as usual at around 7am to eat the same musli as we have had the last 4 days. It really doesn't taste as good any more... We changed into our biking gear, and started packing our stuff into the car once again. Our legs were stiff, and we were pretty worn down. We were looking at some major climbs at the start ot the day. Still, only a major disaster would have been able to stop us from finishing the ride today. There were no doubt whether or not we could complete the 91 miles (15 mil)  we had to cover today.

Mitch's knee was the thing I worried most about, but he did not complain much at all during the day. We decided to not ride too fast, just to save the knee.
As usual, the first 15 minutes of riding was terrible, with pain in most parts of the body, while also feeling freezing (as I had decided to go lightweight up the mountain.) As usual for me, the first two hours were the worst, with a general sense of lack of power, but getting the flow of energy (in the form of cliff bars and gel) working correctly, I started feeling good again.

The best segment of today (and maybe of all week) was decending from Apple Orchard Mountain (which is the highest point of the Parkway in Virigina ) to the lowest point of the Parkway. It is an almost 15 miles (24km) continuous drop, where we would roll down the slopes at 50km/h for over 20 minutes. It was totally amazing. My body, and in particular my hands were getting very stiff at the bottom of the drop, because of the static riding position. It seemed like the drop would never end.

After that we did some more smaller climbs, but nothing seemed to bother us today. We talked a lot during the last few hours, about how excellent conditions we have had, and that not much could have been any better. The last couple of miles of course felt really nice, but it kind of feels weird not to have to ride tomorrow... A big Thank You goes to Paul, Susan and Katie, that did an excellent job supporting us, and to Mitch for inviting me to this ride. This was clearly the most memorable bike trip I have ever done, and I can truly recommend the Blue Ridge Parkway for any bike rider that want to experience something special. (And yes, it will work pretty well if you are driving a car too...)

My stats of today:
Distance: 147km
Total Time (including stops): 6h37m
Climbing: 2630m
Average Speed: 23.4km/h
Maximum Speed: 62.5km/h
Average Heart Rate: 123bpm
Spotted animals: 4 deer, 1 snake, 1 turtle, 1 chipmunk.
Other sightings: 3 fighter jets flying in the mountains. Very cool.

Thank you for reading these posts, and for supporting us on our trip!

/Henrik

Last Day (Mitch): I get by with a little help...

from my friends.

By now you all know that we finished the ride. It took some planning, a great measure of luck, and a crew of folks to make it all happen.

Katie: for supporting me through all of my training rides to get into shape do do this thing, and for getting Henrik and I to Cherokee and up to Boone...

Susan and Paul: for doing the road support thing as well as it could possibly be done.

Aaron: at The Bicycle Chain in Raleigh for going the extra mile (or ten) to get Henrik's rental bike set up just right.

Perry: for lending the roof box that made it possible to fit 4 people and their 5 days of supplies into a Honda Element.

Jason: for all those long early Saturday morning tempo rides and Wednesday throw-downs.

Henrik: for being nuts enough to do this thing with me: joys doubled, sorrows halved.

We couldn't have had better luck with the weather. This has been the best solid 5 days of weather that I can remember experiencing... How many days in a row do you usually get in NC and VA with highs in the mid 70s and lows ing the 50s with no rain...

We had no equipment problems. Except for the time when I was searching for an easier gear that I didn't have, and shifted my chain into my wheel, (user error)

I had the idea to do this ride about 6 years ago, and once thought that it would never happen. It's a very gratifying feeling to be sitting here thinking that it all came together. It'll take a while before it all sinks in. It was really that much fun. It feels like we packed about a month worth of life into 5 days. It will be strange to wake up tomorrow and not start getting ready for another 7 hour day on the bike. It became normal around day 3.

Coming down the last few miles, I had some very strange feelings. First off, my knee which had been hurting for the previous 5 hours of riding started to feel better. As the mile markers got smaller and smaller, I was both excited and a little sad to see the end of the road coming. I kind of didn't want it to end. I mean I did want to actually finish the parkway and I did miss being back home, but I just really enjoyed the whole experience and wanted to hold onto it for just a little longer. I reckon that's the sign of a really good time. I guess I'll just have to plan another one of these crazy adventures, and see how it turns out.

///Mitch

DONE. Fifth Day, 4:00 pm

YAY!!!!

Susan

The sign is ready for the end!

Susan

Last day of the ride

PLEASE if you're reading, leave a comment. Just your first name &
location would be sufficient. We'd like to know. Thanks.

There's no cell signal most of today. At the end of the ride we're
driving back to Mitch & Katie's house for the night. So, I'm not sure
if there will be full blog posts tonight, but we'll catch up tomorrow.

At noon, the guys stopped for water and a little food. All is well. 54
miles to go.

Susan

Truly on the ridge

Paul surprised me this morning, by going 8 miles further than I expected. The road was a lot friendlier than other days, and I could tell as I was driving to catch up with Paul that he was probably having a great ride. When I caught up with him at over 12 miles, he gave me a thumbs up and yelled "FIVE MORE MILES". So, five miles later I parked until he got there. It was a good morning.



Today we saw the most beautiful scenery of all. Virginia has the prettiest stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't been on this trip. At one point for quite a long time we were truly on the "ridge" of the range, with beautiful valley views to the right of us, and then to the left of us.

It was good to know that Henrik was having a better day today. I wish Mitch's knee hadn't started hurting, but he says nothing short of amputation will keep him from finishing, so I guess tomorrow we'll get to the end!

I didn't get Starbucks today, but I had a cup of coffee at The Olive Garden, and that was good enough. I just couldn't drag those boys around any more!

Day 4: (Mitch)

The first 25 miles of today's ride covered the stretch of the parkway that Perry and I rode together, and the following 20 miles were ones Katie and I rode with Perry and Amanda the weekend before we found out that Katie was pregnant. It was pretty cool to remember that ride and how it marked the beginning of something new!

I pointed out to Henrik the place where I rode alongside a deer for a few hundred meters before he ran off into the field. That was a memory I won't soon forget.

It was pretty foggy early this morning and at the top of the first significant climb it was completely socked in, and looked like we could have been in Scotland with the dense fog and rolling meadows all around us.

The last 1.5 hours my right knee started hurting pretty badly, I'm not sure, but I think it was because it got a little cold, and I haven't ridden much in the cold this year... Anyway, it's not a problem that will keep me from continuing, especially not now.

At one point on a 35mph descent, a car passed me just as I noticed a rather large dead squirrel in the middle of the road. The car ran over the squirrel carcass right as I was passing it too. I was a little worried that I was going to be splattered with squirrel entrails, but it just made a very gross noise, with no adverse effects.

It was a great feeling to have this day behind us. We still have a pretty tough day ahead of us tomorrow, with multiple climbs that are many miles long, but with the end in sight, we could make it on will power alone.

My stats:
108.1 miles
8620 ft. climbing
6h 37m pedaling time
126 avg heart rate

///Mitch

Day 4 (Henrik)

Today was an excellent day for me. We had to cover more than 170 km (108 miles). It was not going to be any major climbs, but the distance was going to make this a long day. Immediately after taking off in the morning I was very surprised to feel that the power in my legs had returned. I felt great from the start, and didn't have any major dips all day long. It was probably my best day so far (excluding day 1).

We started in Fancy Gap, Virginia with around 50 degrees (10 grader) and a cloudy sky. The weather and the type of hills we encountered the first 3 hours could have been taken from the Swedish countryside. Rolling hills, with farms and fields, together with the forest. Then we started getting into the big mountains again. (But not as big as the first two days). As usual, we stopped every two hours to have water bottles filled, and our jersey pockets loaded with food.
The best feeling of the day was after the stop at around 4 hours of riding. After looking at the elevation profile stored in the car, we discovered a major downhill (almost 10 miles/16km long) right after the stop. I though that we had already gone down that descent, but was very happy to spend 15 minutes just rolling downhill at over 50km/h! That was clearly the best section of todays ride.

At the end, with about 1 hour to go we did the biggest climb of today, up to the very ridge of a mountain. For a while the Parkway ran along the very crest of the mountain, and we had an excellent view on both sides of the road. Very nice! Unfortunately, Mitch's right knee wasn't feeling right, but we did not really slow down much because of it.
We finished 15-20 miles north of Roanoke, Virginia, and rode the car back to Roanoke to get to our Hampton Inn.

Todays stats are: (European style)
Distance: 175km
Total Time: 7h09m
Climbing: 2615m
Average Speed: 26.3km/h
Maximum speed: 61km/h
Average Heart rate: 127bpm
Spotted animals: 2 snakes, 3 squirrels, 4 dogs, 1 chipmunk, 2 deer, 1 raccoon, 1 groundhog (actually from yesterday)

Tomorrow we will have to climb some major mountains, and cover 91 miles (14 mil), but there is no doubt in my mind that we are going to make it all the way! There is not much that can stop us now...

Today's ride ended 3:43 pm

Beautiful views today. More blogging later

Susan

Tuesday Start

The guys started up the hill at 8:35 this morning. It'll be a long ride with lots of climbing. I'm excited we'll be in Roanoke tonight. Civilization is nice to be in every few days. I'd pay big bucks for a Starbucks coffee right now!

Susan

Morning Ride (Paul)

I started off with Mitch and Henrik again today.  It was cooler than yesterday, about 45F, so I had to create my warm head gear with a couple kleenexes under my helmet.  The grade was not bad but I had to drop out of the pack at about 6 miles.  They needed to keep their pace and between my head overheating and my heart over beating, I had to slow down.  Susan arrived to pick me up about half way up a long climb just as I made 10.0 miles. 

The ride was really fun.  I did my first real downhills at speeds up to 38 mph.  They were pretty short, which is good.  I think if they had been much longer I would have had to reach into my "fanny pack of fear". 

** "Fanny pack of fear" inspired by Chris Hemmings.

Day 3: Mitch

Day 3 was a great recovery day. The knee felt pretty good, at least it didn't get any worse. It was a very smooth running day thanks to Susan and Paul. They stopped and checked on us frequently and were always helping us with whatever we needed. It really makes it enjoyable to have such good support.

It was a lot of fun for me today, we rode past a place where I have been ice climbing (Doughton Park), and had some brief but nice views of Stone Mountain which is another climbing location I've been to. We finished the day covering some of the parkway that I rode with Perry on my last trip to the parkway this past May, from the state line to Fancy Gap, so there was some familiar territory for me today. It was a very nice quiet day, very low traffic and perfect weather.

Tomorrow is a long day, 108 miles, but it already feel like coming down the home stretch. I'm having a lot of fun.

Stats (in standard for those reading in the US, Liberia, and Burma)
5h 47m (of actual pedaling time)
117 Avg. Heart Rate
86 miles
7440 ft of climbing.
1 Alpaca Farm.

Day 3 (Henrik)

Today was supposed to be the recovery day, with no major climbs and a relatively short total riding distance. Still, we spent about 6 and a half hours on the bike, and I was pretty worn down the first few hours. We started riding with Paul the first half hour, just like yesterday. The first half hour of riding is absolutely not comfortable in any way. The legs are stiff, and the saddle does not feel nice at all... After a while, you get used to the feeling, and everything is pretty much normal. However, I was surprised to see that I did not have much power left in my legs the first few hours. I tried to push to go faster, but neither the heart rate or speed increased. I simply needed more energy, and at the stop at Doughton Park, 4 hours into the ride, I ate as much food as I could. After that, everything became normal again.
I am very happy to have Susan and Paul support us - without the support, this ride would have been close to impossible.

The best part of today's ride was just before crossing the Virginia/North Carolina state line, since that is the only level section of the Parkway we have seen so far. It is about 15 km of nice (normal) bike riding. Everything else is either uphill or downhill.

Once finished for the day, it felt nice to have completed over half the distance of the full ride, and now we have only two days of riding left. We are both in pretty good shape, and the finish line is getting closer and closer.

The stats of today (in metric units for the european readers):
Distance: 139km
Total time: (including breaks): 6h27m
Climbing: 2310m
Average Speed: 23.9km/h
Max Speed: 65.3km/h
Average heart rate: 124bpm
Animals on the road: 1 snake, 1 turtle, and one deer

/Henrik

End of the Day, Monday 9/22, 3:31 pm

It was good to end earlier today, and have more time for the riders to eat and rest. They can all add their own stats.
Today's part of the parkway was prettier, to me. We are getting into more rolling hills, with more farmland visible - or even right alongside the parkway. There was hardly any traffic at all. It was a good day.
Tomorrow we go up to Roanoke.

Into Virginia! Monday 2:19 pm

Susan

Monday, Paul's ride complete, 9:53 am

Paul reached his goal of 10 miles just as I caught up to him. He didn't mind loading his bike on the shoulder of the road.

Susan

Susan's Day on Sunday

Day 2 - Susan

I really wish we could arrange these posts the way we want, but it's not possible. Oh well.----

My day Sunday started with a bang, when I tripped and fell in the motel room. I was in the room alone, and ended up slamming down on my knees really hard. I know other parts hit the floor, too, but not sure what! Anyway, worse than any pain was the irony of thinking that I would be the person on this trip with a knee injury! I soldiered through, and only feel a twinge in my knee occasionally.

Paul rode today, he gave you the stats, and my instructions were to wait half an hour and then catch up with him (in the car, of course, haha). Paul had already told me how far he thought he'd get, and I thought I knew what to expect. When I didn't catch up with him as quick as I thought I would, I started worrying he had pulled up on the side of the road and I had missed him or something, or even worse. (There's almost NEVER any cell phone signal here) When the road started climbing REALLY steep, I thought there was NO WAY he had ridden up that road. I was greatly relieved to finally turn a curve and see him up ahead - uninjured and still riding! I pulled over first safe place I found, and Paul was ready to stop his ride for the day.

We saw some beautiful views today. It was nice to have Katie here, and we leapfrogged our cars to provide good coverage for the riders. Paul and I were really glad we were close by when Mitch had the mechanical problem, and even gladder to find them already riding when we were returning with the tool box.

Having Henrik along this time makes everything better for Mitch, and I'm enjoying getting to know him. He is an amazingly strong rider, like Mitch, and I still marvel every time they come around a curve, riding UP the mountain towards where we are parked.

I'm posting pictures to show

(1)why I feel like a real road manager when we get to the motel, and

(2) that 3 bikes and 5 adults WILL fit into a motel elevator if you pack them right!

Today we will be covering area we didn't get to last year, so I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like. 

Day 2: what a day!

Man, today was a long day. We compensated for the parkway closure between craggy and Mount Mitchell by doing the climb from Marion to the top of Mount  Mitchell . Paul started the ride with us, which was  a lot  of fun.

The weather was perfect again today and we had some unexpected company for the ride to Mitchell, as we met some riders from the Raleigh area going the same way.

The only real issue we had was a mechanical problem that occurred when I overshifted and jammed the chain between the cassette and the wheel. It was stuck pretty badly, so Henrik rode back down to Susan and Paul who were luckily just around the corner when it happened. I was able to fix it before they could return from retrieving the toolbox from Katie's car farther up the road.

My knee did ok, it hurts a little but the pain is not severe and feels different from last time. I don't think it will stop me this time. Other than that I feel great and am looking forward to the rest of the ride.

Katie drove to Asheville tonight after dinner because she has a business meeting with some surgeons there tomorrow. She was an absolutely perfect support driver, she took really good care of us out on the road and got some good photos too!

Stats for the day:
97 miles
12100 feet climbing
7h 7m riding time

///Mitch

Day 2 (Henrik)

Today was the day that was (at least on paper) going to be the toughest one. Due to a closed section of the Parkway, we had to ride in the car from Asheville to Marion (about an hours drive), and ride Highway 80 from Marion up to the Parkway. At the Parkway, we rode in the 'wrong direction', and finally up to the highest peak in the Appalachian mountains (and also East of Mississippi) : Mount Mitchell. The elevation at that point is around 6300 feet, if I remember it correctly. After meeting our excellent support crew (today consisting of three people - Katie, Susan and Paul), we went back the same way as we had come up, and finally (after about 4 hours after starting the ride) rode the correct way (south to north). We wanted to do this extra ride, to make up for the closed section of Parkway between Craggy Gardens and the entrance to the Mt Mitchell State Park. In reptrospect, I would say that we rode much more than we really had to, but that was ok,
since the view from the summit of Mt Mitchell is really nice. (And the decent from it is also pretty nice. More than 30 minutes of (almost) pure downhill (at a speed of 50-60 km/h)!)
When doing the 2h50m climb from Marion to Mt Mitchell, we rode parts of it with 2 other guys from Durham, and Chapel Hill. It was real nice talking to them while going up. It gave me much energy (which I did not have much of after the really tough climb from Marion to the Parkway). The first hour of riding is clearly the most difficult for me, since I feel yesterdays effort in my legs. However, after a few hours on the bike, you are back into 'the zone'... (I actually felt worse after 1 hour today, than after the full ride, which is pretty surprising to me.)

The rest of the (long) day went pretty well. There were no major climbs left, and the road surface is really nice and smooth (compared to many Swedish roads). There were also not much traffic on the road, which makes it a safer ride. I had the elevation profile memorized (and the milepost numbers of the most significant peaks written on my arm), so I kind of knew what to expect, even though I hadn't ridden this part of the Parkway before. About 7 hours into the ride whe passed the Linn Cove Viaduct, which is the most beautiful place I have seen on the Parkway so far. It features an amazing view, over an incredibly large area consisting of green mountains, as far as the eye can see. I had to slow down a little bit to look at the view, for half a minute... But then, I had to catch up with Mitch again, who set the pace most of the day. Mitch is probably in a little better shape than I am, and I had to tell him to slow down a little bit about three times
during the day. 

The support crew did a great job today, stopping to see us many times during the ride. I think we stopped about 5 times today. (1 long stop on Mt Mitchell, and a few shorter ones). The stats are pretty impressive:
Distance: 157 km
Avg Speed: 22km/h (ok, this might not look very impressive...)
Max Speed: 64km/h
Climbing: 3710m
Total time: 8h11m
Roadkills: 1 snake and 3 squirrels
Mechanical Problems: 1 chain stuck between the cassette and the spokes on Mitch's bike. Fixed in 10 minutes.

I actually feel better overall right now than I did yesterday, and considering this was the hardest day of riding in our schedule, I very much think that we will be able to make it to the end of the Parkway on Wednesday. Tomorrow it will be much less climbing, and also a shorter distance, which will be good. I am actually looking forward to tomorrow.

/Henrik

Paul's Ride Sunday

We all started today from Marion NC. Check out the photos, my vest is screaming yellow. Mitch and Henrik broke the wind for me as we proceeded towards the Parkway, north on route 80. It was a breeze until we reached about 7 miles then the real climb started. I knew Susan would catch up to me soon so I sent the boys on without me and started taking frequent breaks. You might think I slipped a decimal on my milage numbers but I didn't. My goal on this trip was to get my daily exercise and take advantage of this great opportunity to see the splendid mountain views. I made it 9.86 miles and probably climbed about 800 feet. It was the best ride ever, well the best in the last 30 years for sure. The road was great, the boys are great and I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Top of Mt Mitchell

Susan

Start

Susan

Day one

Day one went really well. We rode a little faster than I did last year, but this time my efffort was much lower thanks to all of the extra training that I did this year.

There was a race going on that covered the first portion of the park that we rode. We started later than the race so there was an endless stream of carrots out in front of us. It was fun greeting all the people as we passed them. At one point we were flying downhill and passed the place where the race turned off the parkway. There was an old man standing there to make sure that none of the racers missed the turn. He got really animated when we flew past at about 35mph, thinking that we had missed the turn and started flapping his arms and yelling. I turned around and yelled that we were not doing the race.

Katie stopped at several places for us. We stopped about every 2 hours to refill our bottles. We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch at the high point of the parkway, where there was about 30 motorcycle riders gathered. Katie was asked by one of them if she could take a group picture of them, and she obliged.

I felt my left knee a little bit at the end of the ride. It was just a little pain, but it was enough to scare me into 600mg of ibuprophen and some icing. I think it will be ok, but I am not taking any chances with it.

It was great to have company on the ride. My previous math was wrong. I think all the company along the way makes it 10x easier.

Tomorrow is the long day, with a big climb to the top of Mount Mitchell. Should be fun
///Mitch

The first day

I or someone will post more later. We're going to eat dinner now. Paul and I met up with Mitch and Henrik at the motel (Katie was already at their room). They didn't look like they rode bikes up and down mountains all day - they looked like maybe they had walked around the block

Ready ?

Am I ready ? I don't know. I think so, but in starting something that you haven't done before you never can tell. I definitely feel much fitter and better prepared than last year. I am about 13lbs lighter, and have been riding much more consistently throughout the year than I did last year. I have many more long rides in my legs. I've trained as well as possible, while maintaining a reasonable balance in all of the other aspects in life. I haven't been injured or gotten sick (knock knock). So, I am about as ready for 470 miles and 48,000 ft of climbing as I have ever been.

Failure is a powerful motivator for me. Not making it last year has been in my mind ever since we rode out of Boone last October. The failure gets me out of the bed and on the bike early in the mornings when I'd rather sleep in. It taunts me to ride just a little bit farther or dig deeper into my "suitcase of courage" when I feel like riding easy the rest of the way home at the end of a hard ride. Hopefully we'll make it the whole length of the parkway this time, but we'll find out by this time next week.

One bummer is that a big section of the parkway is closed this year, and the detour is very inconvenient. So I've found an equivalent start of Day 2 that will give us the same mileage and climbing, and as an added bonus takes us to the top of Mt. Mitchell.

Katie has been super supportive as always, and will actually be driving the sole support car on Day 1 and along with Susan and Paul on Day 2.

It won't be lonely this time on the road. Henrik came from Sweden and will be riding with me. When you have someone to share the experience with, your joys are doubled, and your sorrows are halved. By my math that will make the adventure 4 times easier than last year.

Heading for the Hills -- 2008!

This is the first post for our 2008 Blue Ridge Parkway trip. Even though we're busy getting ready to go, maybe Mitch will have time to post something as an introduction.