What was the weight of your bike and panniers when picking your bike up over your head? Your a beast! Looks like you had a good time. I hope to do the same ride in years to come.

Second question? That appears to be a tarp as opposed to a tent. Do you ever have bug problems when using that system?

I have a bug netting insert. And it was heavy!

sweet, looks fun!

So, did your ride the entire Blue Ridge Parkway? How far did you ride and how long did it take?

awesome!

I rode the Parkway and Skyline, ODO said 640 miles--the Park and the Drive are 575 miles. I spent 11 days.

Post some details about your trip when you have time -- such as your average daily mileage and time, where you camped and ate, what kind of gear you carried, the gearing on your bikes, etc.

Well.... I like to ride my bike. I have goals of more long distance hiking and tours, but for now I am going to college on the GI bill. I left my summer job as a Ridgerunner on the AT early this year because I had a hankering to ride. I had purchased my plane ticket to Asheville months in advance for 65$ and planed to ship my bike to a friends house. My friends, folks that I had hiked with, were incredible; they picked me up from the airport, had a bike stand to reassemble my bike, and then they dropped me off in Cherokee. I was rather worried that the trip would double my miles for the year, not to mention I did not ride much before hand, due to the hiking, and a bum rear wheel. GO! time closed in and I barely rebuilt my rear wheel, took a quick 25 mile ride, and dissembled and boxed my bike before I was 30,000 feet in the air southbound--instyle.

The first days about killed me, the mountains are big and the climbs will put a hurt'in on yah. So I took my time; 30miles and thousands of thoughts of failure on the first day humbled me. The fist campsite was off the parkway, a private campground... I went the wrong way and ended up staying for free next to a brook and a grist mill at the foot of the mountains I so longed to be apart of. The next couple days knee trouble, and other pains haunted each pedal stroke. Too suddenly I was past those 6,000 foot piles of magic and cruising at four times the speed. Too soon I was in the triple digits miles past the physical pain. I would however gladly accepted a little knee trouble to be back in those clouds--crossing into VA I just feelt empty and drained. I turned thirty pedaling alongside fields, farms, and the trailers and homes of those who woke up each morning to conjure from the ground corn and cabbage and hay for live stock. My motel budget was spent, one just because I was a wimp and another in Boone that helped the detour be a productive resupply. I only met a few other loaded tourers, and share a camp with a couple headed south.

The miles came easy after a business week of cranking, eating, guzzling water, and gazing off vistas and hearing the constant drone of a thousand thoughts analyzing the past 30 years. At this point I could have rode forever, but school was coming and so was the end of my ride. I stopped in to see a friend in the Hard Time Hollow and took a couple less than 60miles days to let the weekend catch up with me. This way I could meet my girlfriend in Rockfish Gap and ride the last 105 with her.

Skyline was a breath of fresh air, being on top of mountains just makes me smile endlessly...
The details are endless mountains, thousands of wild flowers, and memories that will too easily fade away.

cool. (not cool that posts were deleted).

What was deleted?

nm....i was looking at the wrong thread. all is cool.

Hi Alan. I think I might have seen you at Big Meadows on Skyline Drive last Saturday. Was that you? I think I recognize the red jersey and the beard. You looked like you were having a great time!

Could have been, I pass thru then. Small world or big web, either way...