Laura's Cycling Blog: Day 4 - Blue Ridge Parkway

It's 6:53 a.m. and I am sitting on our massive king-size bed in our massive luxury condo located at the Chelota Resort in Blowing Rock, NC.This place is gorgeous and a wonderful location for a 2-day stay. We arrived on Tuesday afternoon and had all day off yesterday as our rest day. Breakfast will be at 7:30 in the resort's restaurant, then "only" 45 miles (the catch is that it includes 4500' of climb) to our next stop, Little Switzerland.

Day 4 was 66 miles and once again, either ascending or descending. No flat spots on the BRP. It was chillier than the previous 3 days, but still not uncomfortable. I wore an underlayer, knee warmers, arm warmers and a lightweight vest. Because we climb so frequently, I never got terribly cold. In the afternoon, I would get hot on the climbs, so I would pull down my arm warmers, then prior to the descents, I would pull the arms back up. Up-down all day. I was very concerned about my quads. The day before I was having signs of that terrible compartment syndrome situation that I had at Cycle Oregon. So in the morning, I was very careful to take it extremely easy. This meant going very slowly, of course, but it was all I could do if I wanted to finish the day and the rest of the ride. At the mid-morning snack break, I told Jett that my quads were okay but tight. She suggested I remove my knee warmers, which cut into the largest section of my quads. I did and what a difference it made! I finished the ride easily and happily. Janie suffered on Day 4. She said she felt every mile of the BRP. Jett convinced her to cut it short and take a bump into Blowing Rock. When I rolled into the resort compound (this place is huge), I initially missed our guide. After getting directions from the front desk reception (and admiring the swans in the lake), I rolled out, turned right, ran into Rod on a bike who had come out to find me, saw a truck pull in from the left behind me, saw then that an extremely steep grade was before me just as Rod was telling me to downshift. Well, needless to say, I was unable to shift quickly enough, came to a standstill right there in the road and went down sharply on my right butt cheek. Such humiliation to end the day...! Me and my bike are okay. My handlebar tape is a tad bit shredded and my rump has a nasty bruise, but otherwise all is well. Here are photos from the day.

Our breakfast menu offering - liver mush! No one in our group took advantage of this southern delight.

Here I am, all suited up and ready to roll.

Shadows of me and Jettie...

Ah, a beautiful downhill just up ahead.

Lovely rumpled little valley.

I love the rock barriers here on the BRP. The Californian equivalent is hideous K-rail.

Another view of the rock wall barrier.

When I rolled up to Rod (only 2nd after Trevor - shocking!), he had arranged our snack table very creatively and in perfect alignment. Such a sweet man!

I saw just the tip of this little cow's head in the field. Cute!

And a lonesome tiny shack, all by itself.

Me on the road. That's Janie in the blue up ahead.

Starting to see some fall color in 1-2 more weeks, this place will be stunning!

We decided to decorate ourselves and our new friends with temporary tattoos. Here's Paul's impressive calf with his choice - the tiger. Grrrrrr.

Here is Thurman and Jett. Note the look on Jett's face. This look says it all. Thurman routinely says amazing things and it takes all I have to not let this look sneak up on my face. Jett has no problem expressing her surprise... This man is a Georgian jewel! Love him!

Here are a couple of my favorite Thurmanisms: "Better living through opiates!" This was the first thing he said to us when we met in the hotel lobby on Day 1. He had a pill hanging on his lip at the time... "I once had a wart on my hand. I bit that sucker off! It never came back."

Here's Paul, grinning at something Thurman said.

Now we are starting to see some more rock formations on the BRP.

And a bit of waterfall action.

Lunch stop. Trevor came in first, as always.

Paul taking photos of us at the lunch stop overlook. We had some cloudy skies today for the first time. Thus far it has been perfectly beautiful sunny skies.

Here is Janie's temporary ink. His name is "Tibbet" in memory of her pet turtle who perished at her mother's hands when she went to summer camp..

Rod is rockin his bad ass pirate skull and crossbones.

Back on the road, a lovely waterfall along the side of the road. It was beautiful to the eyes and lovely to hear.

Some wonderful lilac-like wildflowers. These became my best friends on those long, long, slow miles-long climbs. I would just look over to my right and see the beautiful flowers and feel happy, regardless of the suffering.

And here's a view of our "house" for the next 2 days: the lake at Chelota Resort in Blowing Rock, NC. Gorgeous... The swans put it all over the top for me!