An impromptu metric-century up Skyline Drive (with pics)
 

Phew! That was a doozy. We rode from Front Royal to Panorama, only to realize the visitor's center was shut down for construction. I had about 1/4 of a bottle left, which was just enough to make it to the shop before Panorama.

On the way back, we hit some heavy fog. I took a picture of it just before we entered the thickest stuff. Descending at 45mph in the middle of a cloud during a downpour is not recommended. Also, I SAW A BEAR!

We averaged 17mph for the entire ride. Weren't really pushing it for the first half, and my legs thanked me for it on the second half. That climb up Hogback hurts!

http://fellspointcycling.com/temp/ride1.jpg

http://fellspointcycling.com/temp/ride2.jpg

Skyline Drive? My wife comes from Charlottesville. Awesome country. Do you know how much was your climb.

I was thinking about heading their to try it out sometime this month. Couple questions if you dont mind me asking.

- Was their much traffic on the road?
- What was the total distance of the ride?

Total climbing was about 4000ft I think. I had no way to measure, though.

You can see the exact route we did here: http://www.bikewashington.org/routes/skyline/north.htm.It was about 65 miles round-trip.

Traffic wasn't bad at all, but that's mostly because it was threatening to rain/did rain the entire time. Most of the drivers were very courteous when passing.

Total climbing from Front Royal to Panorama and back is somewhere around 6,000 feet.

You must be one heck of a climber to average 17mph on Skyline Drive!

Yes, the climb back up Hogback Mountain really sucks! The trip back to Front Royal from the top of Hogback always went by pretty fast though. :thumb:

How close was your bear?

Ah 6,000 good. It definitely FELT like a lot more than 4,000 :)

We were excited to be at the top of Hogback on the way back because we knew there was only one more climb before a huge 6-mile descent, most of which was at 37mph+ I think we had a tailwind or something, because I could swear the hill was going slightly upwards, but we'd still be holding 35mph before the next slope down.

Thankfully the bear was in the woods where he(she?) belonged. It was playing with some foliage and checking us out as we started to sprint away as fast as we could :)

i did a solo century starting from front royal a year or two ago. I went down there planning on doing 40 or 50 but I felt good so I kept going. I saw 3 bears on my ride and got a picture of this one.

http://criticalthrash.com/images/skyline/bear.JPG

damn i really need to get down there again. soon. anyone not work monday and tuesdays?

also an out and back century from front royal was like 10,000+ ft climbing.

Great ride...

Got to love climbing...



I grew up in Maryland and did a lot of camping in Shenandoah National Park...



I have always wanted to do this ride...

Maybe one day when I am visiting the folks...

http://www.bikewashington.org/routes/skyline/index.htm

I've ridden on Skyline Drive twice this year, one 70 mile from Front Royal and back, and one 101 starting at Elk Wallow out and back. What a great ride!

This weekend I'm going to do the whole thing twice (hopefully) on Saturday and Sunday. I'm staying at the inn at Big Meadows on Saturday night, going from Big Meadows south and back on Saturday, and Big Meadows to Front Royal and back on Sunday. Wish me luck!

I wouldn't recommend that ride on a weekend in Oct. Half of DC will be in the area of the park. It's a beautiful area.

Weekends on Skyline or the Blue Ridge Parkway are always crowded where it's in the vicinity of a city (Raleigh, Asheville, etc.), but on weekdays it's very peaceful. We were on the stretch (by car) from Asheville to Mt. Pisgah a couple months ago and I was really impressed by all the bikers I saw heading the same way (it rises at least 3000' in that stretch!). It must be fun going back downhill, especially through all the tunnels.