On and off the blue ridge parkway

No mileage today the computer reset.

Yesterday's big climb brought me up to the blue ridge parkway. The views were exactly how I recalled and paralleling the AT was a fun trip down memory lane. This morning reminded me why I never want to hike the AT again. Cold, rain, no views except clouds, and non stop hills.

There is an owl. 

It took me until 11 to cover 20 miles that was after starting around 630. The blue ridge parkway is just that hilly and I was slowly but surely making my way up.

It didn't help that I had too stop at every overlook to take a picture. You see I have a tradition that started after I bought my car. As its first road trip I took it along skyline drive in Shenandoah and the blue ridge parkway. On that trip I decided to take a picture of my car at every overlook. What don't judge it was my first brand new car. So now whenever I'm on the blue ridge parkway or skyline drive I take pictures of my ride at every overlook. I'll say it again, every overlook. Even the ones that are just trailheads or history signs. With wet weather I have my camera in its sack for extra protection. That means extra time opening and closing to take a picture of my bike, clouds, and a sign. I did manage to get one picture that I like.

So I eventually made it to the top of the blue ridge parkway (the section I'm riding anyway). Now that means down, lots of down. Steep, winding, wet, and terrifying down. Now I like to go fast as much as the next guy. But when I'm going down a road with a recommended speed limit of 15 to 20 mph, has signs everywhere telling people to put their car into low gear, and looked (and felt) like it hadn't been paved in at least 30 years I'm not a fan. I had to stop three times to let my breaks cool off. I tried pouring water on them to help and it instantly vaporized.

I eventually made it down and off the parkway. The rest of the day was a nice gentle downhill cruise of like 1% grade along a river into town. I got there and rented a hotel room around 145 right as a big thunderstorm rolled through.