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...