Hi,

My friends and I would like to do a 5-6 day ride, 350-400 miles in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Can anyone suggest a rides or routes that they have taken? Would it be silly to ask if there was a circular route so we can come and go from the same airport?

Thanks in advance for your help! Howard

Roanoke, VA would be a good place to start from.

You have a decent sized airport with flights from Chicago, DC, Philly, Pitt, Charlotte.

You can get some additional information here-

http://www.roanoke.com/outdoors/biking/wb/xp-index

Virginia Tech (an hour away) has a cycling team and a great cycling community. Their website has some great route information-

http://www.cycling.org.vt.edu/

I can come up with all kinds of routes in SW and central VA and/or western NC that will work for you. Do you want to spend your nights in motels or will you want to camp? It sounds like you want to average about 70 miles a day.

www.blueridgeparkway.org.

One single road for hundreds of miles. Skyline Dr is nice as well. 102 miles with only 2 exits. Lodging is real cheap off all the exits on Skyline and the Parkway. The climbs are long, but steady and the decents are breathtaking with a nice gradual slope andall the turn are pretty safe.

If you go over the foilage season, Oct through ealry Dec the lodging will be more expensive and traffic will be heavier.

Good Luck. Have Fun

A bit of a drive but well worth the effort is a trip to Boone N.C. Some of the best riding on the east coast with lots of epic rides that could keep you riding for weeks and mild traffic.This is were Armstrong trained on his comeback from cancer and were the Tour Dupont raced. The folks at Magic Cycles will help you out with all the routes you could ask for. Leave your 11x21 cassete at home. I would recomend at least a 12x25 for anyone other then a pure mountain goat. Great mountain bike trails too.

Take advantage of any advice that AllUpHill is willing to give to you. In June 2005, I asked for advice on a route from Charlottesville to Hot Springs. AllUpHill came up with a route that was one of the best bike rides I ever have done. http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=33121&highlight=charlottesville I said it then, but I will say it again, Thanks AllUpHill.

I can come up with all kinds of routes in SW and central VA and/or western NC that will work for you. Do you want to spend your nights in motels or will you want to camp? It sounds like you want to average about 70 miles a day.

Motels would work better for us - Thanks!

My friends and I are coming from all parts of the US and we want to meet somewhere in the Blue Ridge Mountain area to do a loop of about 400 miles, as you said maybe average 70-80 miles a day. We're all pretty good climbers (over 50 yrs old) and like a challenge when it presents itself. We would like to start and end in the same place, but if that's not possible we can make arrangements to take us back to our starting point to get our bike cases.

Any starting state would be fine, Virginia, NC or otherwise, hopefulley not to far from a major airport.

Any suggestions would be really great. Thanks very much for your offer to help.

Also, hotels or motels would work better!

Howard

That sounds great - I will look into it - maybe we'll see Lance training for his comeback

Take advantage of any advice that AllUpHill is willing to give to you. In June 2005, I asked for advice on a route from Charlottesville to Hot Springs. AllUpHill came up with a route that was one of the best bike rides I ever have done. http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=33121&highlight=charlottesville I said it then, but I will say it again, Thanks AllUpHill.

Mark, glad to help any time. That's a glowing recommendation. I should use you as a reference the next time I'm applying for a job. "Well, he could be a lazy, paperclip stealing thug for all I know, but he sure knows how to ride to Hot Springs." :cool:

:) Mark, glad to help any time. That's a glowing recommendation. I should use you as a reference the next time I'm applying for a job. "Well, he could be a lazy, paperclip stealing thug for all I know, but he sure knows how to ride to Hot Springs." :cool:


Well, if you ever need a reference, let me know. I currently am in the process of hiring a new assistant. The people who are at the top of my list all have worked for large law firms or financial institutions that have employment lawyers that have beaten into their employees that they only can give neutral references (i,e., she worked here from date x to date y). If reference would tell me that a job candidate could do anything well -- even if it were constructing a good riding route -- I would hire the candidate.

BTW: I also remember that one year you posted your riding time for the Mountains of Misery. I was almost as close to the bottom of the list as you were to the top. I won;t hold that against you when I give you that recommendation.:)

Here's the profile for a Roanoke-to-Roanoke loop I came up with. Cue evil cackle and deviously rubbing hands together :D