Blue Ridge Parkway Camp: Day Two Start

Today was the redux of yesterday’s 104-mile journey: Front Royal to RockFish Gap. Totals today included over 10,000 feet of gain, putting the two day total just shy of 20,000 feet of climbing.

The ride started off innocently enough, with clear skies and great temps. Unfortunately for the campers, the first 30 miles is net uphill, and they suffered through it with good spirits.

They soaked in the TSS points and the views until the clouds rolled in again. This made for some interesting riding — and much cooler riding as well. Dropping down into the valleys or climbing higher both seemed to get rid of the clouds, and the final push up to our halfway point — and lunch — at Big Meadows put the last of the clouds behind us.

The most excitement on the day came when Dave and Peter were drag racing down a mountain road next to a black bear who was trying to cross. After fishtailing his bike to avoid a collision Dave “Bear Lover” Campbell slowed down enough so the bear could cut over in front of them and dive into the woods.  What’s more incredible is that they were going almost 30 miles per hour — watch out for that bear!

Over the final half of the ride it was much hotter than Day One. We broke out the sunblock and went through water like it was oxygen. The final push to the finish took a ton of focus, fuel and energy…but we did it!

After another epic day in the saddle, we are now officially halfway done with the bike. Time to fuel up and prepare for our 80+ mile trek to the Peaks of Otter lodge tomorrow!