Father's Day Ride, Load the Pockets

Happy belated Father's Day! My Father's Gift was a day out to ride the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. This was going to be a training ride for the upcoming Devil's Backbone Mountain CX event.

First off I like to thank Mrs. Bikewright for holding down the fort so I could get in a long mountain ride. Next I would like to thank the wrenches down at Rowlett's for finding that noise that the bike was making and getting the shifting spot on.

My ride starts at Rockfish Gap where the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Skyline Drive meet. At 08:30 the day was starting out at a temperature 75 degrees 89% relative humidity with a strong wind from the west. Funny thing is the weather sites are showing that the wind was calm. My plan was to ride from Rockfish Gap to loft Mountain Wayside. There would be a place to get food and water for the trip back and giving me a total mileage of 50 plus miles.

Rockfish Gap sits at and elevation of 1903 ft and is one of the lowest gaps in the southern district in the park. Also bring some cash because between March -November it cost a person coming into the parkway $8.00

At 09:30 the Skyline is quite with few cars and a few backpackers heading back to the parking lots after a weekend on the trail.Here are a few things I saw on the way.






This picture was taken on the eastern side of the park. It could be a UFO landing site or maybe a landing zone for government black operations or maybe its just open fields on Pasture Fence Mountain.



The climb up Turk Mountain was a hard pull with an ascent of around 1100 ft. Here is a map of the route.



I took a break at Loft Mountain Wayside. When it was time to go I wanted to get a couple more miles north so I could make the total trip 60 miles. A good around number. After leaving Loft Mountain I pass going the other way a group of cyclist that where touring. What I saw next was cool! The more I think about this it is crazy. Check this bike out!



A homemade recumbent! This kids dad made this recumbent out of a regular bike. See where the back crank is located. Same as on a regular bike. His dad and little brother was riding this bike together. It has disk brakes and the rear had a mountain bike drive train. I know I hit speeds of over 40 mph but I don't think I would want to be on the front of this bike with those speeds. They where riding 64 miles and would spend the night at Wintergreen. There trip would end in Gatlinburg, TN.

On another note I ran into a thru-hiker aka (Yogamatt) he had been on the trail since 31 March 2010. I wish him luck and I hope he makes it to the end.

Here are the facts:

60 miles
4:36:55
6 Bottles of water
1 Mt Dew
1 Cookie
1 Pretzel
4 Clif Gels
3111 Cals Burn

I ended my trip here I had the Beer-Boiled Bratwurst from the Double H farm and I wash it down with The Drunken Weasel and a Kolsch 151. Both are Germany Style Beers. You get the theme!

Comments

Dan O said…
Nice ride!

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