Monday, July 10th 2000
Little Switzerland, NC to Fancy Gap, VA; 136.5 miles, 13,100’ climbing
by Arend-Jan Koning
With a very tough day ahead of us, French toast seems like giving the riders a good caloric start for some climbing ahead. It takes some more preparation from the crew, meaning that we are out at 4.45 am, with breakfast at 5.30 am. Still in the dark the riders enjoy the French toast, as a substitute for the regular bagels, tremendously.
Even before six o’clock, the first riders set out for what is supposed to be the toughest day on this Eastern Mountains Tour, still in the twilight. In one sense today is easy; stay on the Parkway till mile 134.5, and then find the hotel in Fancy Gap; no need to check the route sheet very often during the day, except for knowing where the stops are.
Well, the first one is after 32.5 miles at which point we already have climbed 4,000 feet, seen many scenic overlooks, watched a beautiful sunrise and enjoyed the quiet surroundings. In the beginning there is hardly any traffic, later some more settlements are scattered along the route, making for some more traffic as well.
Road works on the Parkway forces us to make a detour, adding an extra 3 miles to the mileage, confronting us with the harsh reality of regular roads and its traffic. This distress is somewhat softened by the fact that with a tailwind and a gradual downhill, riding 30 miles per hour seems quite effortlessly. Getting back onto the Parkway is slightly harder work, with a nice uphill, but being back on the Parkway feels very good again, with its lack of traffic and abundance of peace. Shortly after rejoining we have a second sag stop.
The scenery has changed from being just forests to forests with pretty often some farmland and less pronounced mountains, making the ride slightly less hard than expected or even feared. It doesn’t mean that we have an easy day, but things aren’t as bad as expected. The weather is in our favour, with temperatures being about 75 F and not too humid.
117.5 miles into the ride we enter Virginia, shortly after passing a sign commemorating the start of the construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Photo opportunities!
Exiting the Parkway to reach the Days Inn hotel in Fancy Gap is like entering another world, the world most of us are used to, with busy traffic and cars not taking too much consideration of bicyclists. Since we back track by about 1 mile, we come to notice the wind that has been in favour almost all of the day; is that the reason why things turned out easier than expected?
A nice finish of the day is the pizza dinner in the parking lot. Since the hotel has no restaurant and there are no restaurants really close, PAC Tour orders pizzas that are delivered in about 6 bunches. With self made salad we have a nice meal.