Our original plan was to bike from the 4H center to Damascus VA on the Bike VA's pink route then take the orange route over and around Whitetop mountain. The weather forecast had been bad and getting worst for Saturday since I started looking at it 5 days ago. when we went to bed on Friday there was a 90 % chance of rain on Saturday. When we got up I was already looking at the radar at 6:30 am when Laura's alarm went off. It wasn't raining but there was something coming. By 11 am it looked like there would be moderate rain on the mountain. I showed Ron and talked about our options. Laura was still sleeping despite her alarm going off for 8 minutes. I don't know what brand of ear plugs she uses but they must work good. After she finally woke up we talked for a few minutes and decided to just ride and get wet. We figured we could get to the top of the mountain before the main rain hit.
I think Laura had suggested the night before that instead of starting in the 4H center we should start in Damascus and just do the orange route up and around the mountain from there. Since all the Bike VA routes for Saturday went though Damascus this gave us a lot of option to shorten or lengthen our rides as the weather permitted. I spend a good part of Friday evening planning the routes for this possibility.
So by 8:30 am we had driven to Damascus and parked at the Bike VA rest stop. A few minutes later we were on the some what wet roads under cloudy skies. Although there were a few hints of sunshine behind the clouds. The ride out to Whitetop was pretty with rolling hills through rural farmland.
None of the hills were hard but there were no flat areas just a lot of ups and downs. The roads were a lot better today with almost no traffic. There were occasional rough spots and a number of places where dirt or gravel had washed across the road nothing that was concerning. The main concern was the monster climb up Whitetop mountain which looked both long and steep. I knew from looking at the maps that the climb started some where between 12 and 15 miles but wasn't exactly sure. As we climbed up a few steep bumps people asked us was this the start of the "The climb" but we had a lot of false starts before we got there.
The way the profile of the ride was there was a mini monster climb of about 500 before the climb up the mountain. I think a few people thought the mini monster was the real climb. They were all very concerned as we turn the corner and stared up a the real climb. The sign at the bottom said 2 miles to the top.
I was in the triple and down shifting until I found a gear I could keep my breathing and heart rate from getting out of hand. After a half mile I was bottomed out and had no more gears to use. I was grinding up a 4 1/2 miles an hour. It was manageable but I was not sure how long I could continue before I would need to stop to keep from going anaerobic. Most of the people who were doing this ride were better riders than us still some didn't have the gearing and would get off the bike for a little while and walk.
The grade of the climb was mostly constant at 10%. with some slightly steeper sections. It was a hard climb not because of the grade as much as the length. I tend to be a stomper and don't have a very smooth petal stroke at slow speeds. This is something Laura seems good at as she slowly pull away from me. Ron (seen below) also was able to grind his way up.
At just about the 1 mile mark there was turn out with a scenic view to the left so I stopped for a break and to take a picture. After a few minutes I continued on only to find that the rest stop was 200 feet ahead with a better view of the valley below.
By the time we left the rest stop it started to rain. We still had another mile of climbing which felt easier after the break even thought the grade had not changed. There was a sign at a half mile from the top that had a very small decimal point so a quick look had some people thinking it was 5 miles to the top. Laura did a small fist pump at the summit. We had just climbed 1200 feet in 2.5 miles.
The next 15 miles was almost all down hill with only about a mile of some mild uphill. We were in our big gears at 20 + mph for the last half of the ride with out really any effort. I think I could have almost coasted the whole way. It was a nice tree covered road along a roaring stream only broken up but the vans carrying mountain bikes up to the creeper trail.
Although there was some rain which it was very light and not really noticeable. When we got back to Damascus we rested and took advantage of some of the food including the beans and rice. We looked at the radar and the first wave of rain had passed but another was coming. We talked to a couple people about the blue route which took you into Tennessee. They said even through it was an out and back ride it was a fun route. We really wanted to say we rode in Tennessee so we started out the blue ride.
The blue route was mainly through Cherokee national forest so even through it was raining we didn't get that wet. In a few miles we were in Tennessee and on a newly paved road climbing at 3 %. This would continue for 12 miles. The constant climb was shallow enough not to be difficult but you felt it. The best thing that kept us going was the realization that the ride back would be another super long down hill. When we got to the rest stop the rain picked up to be more steady and moderate but we were warm enough that it didn't matter.
The blue route called for a small loop before heading down the same way we came up but some people had told us that the loop was rough and full of dirt and gravel so we elected to just go the same way back that we came up. It was great. We glided back down for 12 miles stopping only to take a couple of pictures. The one below of of a rock arch in the road.
By the end of both rides we had done 60 miles and 7000 feet of climbing according to my GPS. 4500 for the orange loop and 3000 for the blue loop. This was definitely the most climbing I have even done on a ride. I felt tired but not too beat up. For dinner we went into Abingdon and had a good meal at the Peppermill restaurant. It was a little pricey but the food was very good.
For as much as we were concerned about the climbing and weather in the end it all worked out better then expected and will be an experience that we will be talking about for a long time.
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