Day 6 Alexandria, VA to Skyland, VA

The beginning of Skyline Drive.
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Started the day with Home cooked breakfast by Jeff.

We had clear skies as we left Katie and Jeff's house this morning. Which was nice seeing as the weather forecast called for rain in the morning. Getting out of ALexandria and the D.C area was going to be a challenge though. Luckily I had Jeff to pull me in his draft and keep me from getting lost because we were on just about the worst biking roads you can get. Think a highway, minus the shoulder, plus stoplights. (Stoplights remain firmly on my list of things I hate, and may even inspire me to actually start that list just so I can actually put stoplights on it.) On the brighter side of things stoplights have given me plenty of chances to work on my track stands (standing still on my bike).

The first five miles brought me from around sea level to 2600 feet. After that the road managed to keep going up.

It would be beautiful if it wasn't so foggy.
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Once Jeff turned for home at a little over thirty miles the roads got considerably better. Less traffic, more shoulder, fewer stoplights, and a more scenic view. We actually got to ride past alot of Civil War battle fields like Bull Run and Manassas (SPelling?) where Stonewall Jackson got his nickname. (Stonewall Jackson is his nickname I don't actually know his real first name.)

The humidity hit about 110% at about mile fifty where it continued to alternate between sprinkling and down pours for the rest of the ride. (But hey it just wouldn't have been right if I didn't get wet at least once on this trip so hopefully I got all my rain out of the way today.)

Now we know why they required lights on the bike - into the fog...
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Once we got to the start of Skyline Drive, the road that leads us to Blue Ridge Parkway, we were informed by a rather smug park attendant (anyone telling you what to do after that much riding is likely to seem smug) that the road was foggy and I need a front and a back light to be allowed on the road. So after I deliberated as to whether I should just make a break for it I eventually loaded my bike on top of the car and we drove back in to town to visit the local K-Mart. My mom got the light along with a couple two for one towels and forty minutes after we got there the first time I started up SKyline Drive.  It was an impressive amount of up too. The first five miles brought me from around sea level to 2600 feet. After that the road managed to keep going up. I would dive down a thousand feet of vertical and climb back up a thousand feet plus another hundred. This went on until I reached our hotel which sits at 3600 feet. All in all I'm guessing that there was a solid 10,000 feet of vertical in the last forty miles of my ride. I was a little tired at the end.

Cool - a tunnel. Another good reason to have lights on the bike.
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The other problem with climbing a lot is you're going to have to descend a lot. And when I descend I like to take as much advantage of it as I can so I get in to a little tuck. The problem with this tuck is that it's an odd mixture of the fetal and the superman position and while alone both these are comfortable enough positions, put together they aren't entirely natural. Needless to say my back and neck hurt a little, but it shouldn't be anything a little stretching can't solve momentarily.  We meet up with Jeff, Katie, and a couple of their friends who are coming down from Canada. So I'll have company for the first bit of my ride again tomorrow which is always helpful.

Finished Day 6 at the highest point of Skyline Drive.
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641 Down,

Ryan S.

Today's Stats:

Max Temp.: 78

Min.Temp.: 64

Atmospheric Phenomenons: Sun-> Clouds-> Sprinkling-> Down Pour-> Alternating between the previous two

Wind: Light and variable. It was actually at my back for alot of it. (ALthough it was created by Semi's)

Mileage: 108

Vertical Gain: Enough to put any one of Kenny's hilly hundred's to shame. (If I had to give you a number probably around 14,000. (Which is actually less than the Hilly hundred Kenny is planning but 10,000 of mine were in the last 40 miles so thats got to count for something.)