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Blue Ridge & Shenandoah Tour
Day 4 Rock Fish Gap to Natural Bridge

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a 469 mile long linear park administered by the National Park Service for "motor recreation".  The Parkway extends from Rock Fish Gap in Virginia to the Great Smokey Mountain National Park in North Carolina. Commercial traffic (trucking) is not permitted.

We stocked up on food at a convenience store in Rock Fish Gap.  I thought the prices were rather steep.  Four dollars for a lousy package of Fig Newtons. 

Road sign and fog.
If you look real close, you can barely see a car just 50 feet beyond the sign.
A thick fog rolled in during the night.  We rode 6 miles to the Visitor's Center at Humpback Rocks.  We stopped to verify some information in Bicycling the Blue Ridge and look at the exhibits.  One of the interpretive rangers called a law enforcement ranger to come and "talk" to us about riding in the fog. 

The law enforcement ranger showed up in a cruiser just as Dave and I were leaving. He rolled down his window and "strongly advised" us against riding in the fog.   The ranger said he couldn't stop us.  But, he sternly warned us that conditions were "extremely dangerous".   The whole time this guy is parked smack in the middle of the road.   At least we had brains enough  to get our butts off the pavement.  Dave and I felt we had to continue as rest of our group had already left..

Fortunately, there was no traffic that morning.  There is little reason for anyone to drive up there when fog obscures the views.  Only five or six cars passed us the entire morning.  With no wind, we could hear cars a few seconds before they passed.  Someone would call "car back" and we would both get completely off the pavement. We turned on our rear flashers. I tied my fluorescent yellow windbreaker to my rack trunk

Turtle
Turtle on the roadside.
(Dave Baumgartner photo)

 Nevertheless, I was very nervous after the ranger's warning.  I didn't know exactly where everybody was. I really wanted to get our group together to discuss our options.  We had no way to contact the others. Dave kept telling me to relax and not worry about it.  But, the ranger was right, road cycling in a very thick fog is dangerous. And, I knew it.

After a while, we passed several cyclists heading North. At least Southbound cars would see them and maybe be more alert to cyclists when they passed us.  All of a sudden a big red van and trailer emerged Northbound through the fog. It was Backroads.  I couldn't believe they would take people out in those conditions.  For some irrational reason, the sight of that van made me feel much better.

We found George and Mike changing a flat on Mike's bike.  I was very happy to see them.  The fog started to thin out as Mike worked on his tire. The four of us rode together until lunch. 

The fog lifted by the time we arrived at Whetstone Ridge Restaurant,our lunch stop.   Steve and Lorraine were already there.  Steve had been there for 45 minutes.   We met a couple of mountain bikers, Dave and Sue.  The couple recently purchased a nearby campground.  They planned to develop it into a mountain biking destination.  They had spent the morning exploring trails in the area.>

Right after lunch, the rain started. We stopped and put on rain jackets. I rode with a rain jacket and tights for a while. When we started descending, we put on rain pants and gloves. I attached a headlight to my helmet in preparation for the Bluff Mountain Tunnel. We descended down to Otter Creek. On the way, we saw a couple of deer and some wild turkeys.

Tom in his rain gear
Rain, rain, go-away.

By the time we arrived at Otter Creek, I was cold and wet. As soon as we pulled in, George ran into the restaurant and ordered Dave and I some hot chicken noodle soup. Ahhhh!  Just what the doctor ordered.  It was already 5:30 PM and we still had another 18 miles to our destination, Natural Bridge. We ate quickly and got right back on the bikes.

We exited the Parkway on to Route 130. We followed 130 along the James River to the junction with Route 501. This section of Routes 501 & 130 climbs above the James River on a narrow winding shoulderless road. Several trucks passed me real close on an inside curve. All I could do is grip the bars and hold my line. Neither the truckers or I had any room to maneuver. Lack of traffic on Skyline and the Parkway spoiled us.

We descended into Glascow where Routes 130 and 501 split. We continued on 130 through Natural Bridge Station. After a gradual climb out of Natural Bridge Station, we arrived at the Natural Bridge Hotel around 7PM. We had 79 miles for the day. We were all cold, tired, dirty and wet and ready for a little luxury.  The hotel is decorated in the Southern style. Our room looked like something out of Gone with the Wind (before the war). After a nice hot shower, I changed into some blissfully dry clothes and met the others in the hotel restaurant for a really nice supper.

After supper we wandered in to the hotel lounge. Some people from Sara Lee Underwear (Hanes) on some kind of corporate conference were singing karaoke. They invited us to join in.  Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't be caught dead singing in public. But, nobody knew me down there. After drowning my inhibitions in beer, I picked up a microphone and joined in. Don't ask me for a sound file.

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