May 27, 2001.
Rockfish Gap to Mallard Duck Campground, Virginia. (41 mi.) Mile 331
Blue
Ridge Parkway.......enough hills, already!!
From the Inn at Rockfish Gap, we
entered immediately into the Shenandoah National Park and the beautiful, lush
and scenic Blue Ridge
Parkway, but there was one catch: more climbing. The
Parkway has relatively moderate grades and light traffic, but our route still
involved another approx. 3,000 ft elevation gain. This wasn't such a problem
before Charlottesville, but after a few more days of climbing with our heavy
bikes, muscles were sore, and I was having trouble with the hills. At one point, as we
were crawling at a snail's pace up another incline, a motorist coming toward
us slowed down, rolled down his window and yelled what seemed self-evident at
the time, "Are you insane?!"
We did, however, appreciate the
greenery, the pink mountain laurel, purple rhododendrons, and mature hardwood
forests of hickory, maple, and oak, looking like broccoli sprouts covering the
distant mountains. We had to seek shelter under the trees once during a
cloudburst, but when the sun returned, the Park was especially pretty.
A sunny break in
the thunderstorms on Blue Ridge Parkway
Snacking at the Blue Ridge Parkway visitor center
and along the Blue Ridge Parkway
The descent from the Parkway to the
valley and the town of Vesuvius below involved approximately 3 miles of 13% grade, a hazard for bikes
as heavy as ours. Half way down we stopped to let our smoking brake pads cool.
Mike touched his bike's rim to see how warm it was and it burned his
fingers. Our pace more than doubled once we hit flatter terrain.
Preparing to
descend to Vesuvius
We decided to call it a day at a private
campground (near a railroad track) about 9 miles east of Lexington. The map
had indicated there might be a cafe nearby, but we learned the nearest food
was farther then we wanted to go. As we were debating what to do, three women
from another campsite came over to say they had heard we might be hungry, and
invite us to share dinner with them. We learned later that they only lived a
few miles away, but bring their travel trailer to this RV campsite every
summer. They had had a
considerable debate among themselves over the pros and cons of inviting unknown bicyclists to
dinner, including their notion that bicyclists are usually "health food
nuts" and might reject their simple burgers and "snaps and
spuds", home-cooked green beans and potatoes. This turned out to be one
of the best meals we have had so far, and we couldn't thank them enough for
this generosity.
