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