The big one! Well, sort of. I had originally planned on stopping at a campground before the infamous Vesuvius hill. I'd heard a lot about its difficulty. But today I arrived at the campground at noon, and since it'd been easy so far, I decided to continue. At Vesuvius, with 65 miles already on the clock, I began the climb to the Blue Ridge Parkway. About a mile in, I came across Jimmy's New Orleans shaved ice stand. Don't have to ask me twice... time for some sugar and ice and a break. Yum.
Just after his stand the climbing got steep, but 3 miles and 45 minutes later I was at the parkway. It wasn't that bad. That or else the ice did the trick.
I met 4 other cyclists headed north (all on carbon bikes...) who were riding the blue ridge and skyline for a week. Sag support to boot, nice! We all stopped at the Royal Oaks for snacks (and me to camp) only to find the store, yup, closed. Fortunately, the proprietor came by and fixed us sandwiches and give me a place to stay for the night.
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| A tree (no more cow pics, remember?) |
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| Nothing like the whine and roar of I-81 to jerk you back to reality! |
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| Actually, they were paving on the Parkway, I had a few trucks today. |
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| Along the blue ridge |
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| Closed, Open, Closed.. |
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