Descending Peaks of Otter

July 3, 2016

We woke to rain. Heavy rain. A regular downpour. Poor Dak. That's what first came to mind. There is nothing worse than breaking camp in a downpour. Then I thought of us! Mark has never toured in the rain. He got caught in it once coming home late from a day ride, but never while on tour. In Italy (http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/RomeAmalfi), we had a few threatening days but stayed dry. This would be a new experience. Unless of course it let up.

Today's ride to Lynchburg.

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Which it did. Right before we left for breakfast! And I was worried we would be packing wet civvies. Nope. By the time we pushed off at 11:00 AM (again, we never seem rushed), even the pavement was dry. But there was a heavy fog all about and the clouds were in thick and wet. So we donned our rain jackets for warmth, visibility, and to push off the moisture-laden air. Mark also put his pannier covers on (he looked really yellow) and I turned on my rear helmet light but decided not to bother with the full head set.

After all, how could a driver possibly miss us? Well, first off, the fog was thick as pea soup once we got out of the open area around the lodge and lake. It clung to the trees like cotton. Very reminiscent of my ride down Skyline Drive eight years ago in a steady downpour. It was like passing through a cocoon.

Starting out from Peaks of Otter Lodge didn't look too horribly bad . . .

. . . but a little further down the road and higher up it got very thick.

We pulled out of the lodge's access road and made a right and started to climb. It would be mostly climbing back to the high point, with some downhill, but the grade was more forgiving than yesterday's climb up. And it was only ten miles to the peak and then a 12-mile descent. After that, rolling terrain back to Lynchburg.

So no complaints. Traffic was pretty light, mostly motorcycles. Although I was surprised how fast people drove. I could barely see clearly 50 feet, and as we climbed, it got worse! I don't recall the posted speed limit on the Parkway but a lot of these drivers seemed to be exceeding it even in the fog. We usually (almost always) heard them coming before they saw us and then we would hear the engine brake, giving us some clue we had been seen, and then they passed, headlights and flashers on, before picking up their speed again.

This is not to discourage anyone, just an observation. There were no close calls but then there wasn't a lot of traffic. If two cars had met simultaneously from opposite directions it would have been dicey.

Regardless, all of a sudden there was the sign for Apple Orchard Mountain! The descent had arrived! We stopped at the "snow gate" where we had met Dak the day before and ate some, drank some, and discussed the weather!

Rest and discussion before beginning the descent.

At the Arnold Valley Wayside, even with his headlight, Mark is barely visible.

Why discuss the weather? Because the fog had become thicker than ever and visibility was reduced even more. So how fast do we descend? What distance should we keep? I always feel it's better to ride close together in uncertain traffic. Mark likes greater distance on strong descents, which makes plenty of sense. As it turned out, I outpaced him fairly quickly as (for whatever reason) I felt comfortable going faster, easily peaking at 20 or 22 mph.

When I stopped hearing the "car back" I was concerned enough to stop and let him catch up. If he hadn't, that would have been news I didn't want. I checked my cell phone for messages (as if that was even a possibility given the poor service) and then saw his headlight in the distance. I waited as he coasted to a stop.

Waiting and looking for Mark in the fog . . .

"Man you're going fast!" Not that fast I protested! But fast enough I realized. I can't remember where we were but I think we had covered four miles already. As we got lower, the fog began to dissipate of course and visibility was improving. So we easily stayed within sight distance for the rest of the descent.

At the lower elevations, it cleared considerably.

But it was cold. While underway, we were both literally shaking, even at the lower elevations. Mark at least had a long sleeve jersey. I was only wearing a short-sleeve summer weight. Both of us still had our rain jackets on but we were wet from either the fog, a light rain, or water falling from the trees. And our tires were throwing something black up on us that I hope will come out in the wash! My jacket was covered with little spots and my legs were splotched as well.

A fast, long descent requires lots of attention. With it clearing a bit, we resumed our speed down at about 18 to 20 mph. At that speed, the 12-mile descent would take 40 minutes. That's a lot of intense concentration as your arms and body are shaking in the wind chill!

But I had my eye on the Garmin, watching the turns and straightaways as they approached. Finally I saw the first/last switchback that signaled the real start of the climb in my book. It was still pretty steep. In fact, it looked steeper descending than it appeared while climbing! I was impressed!

Finally, it slowly flattened out. What, I have to pedal again? Yes, the James River was approaching.

A restored lock of the James River and Kanawha Canal. The adjacent railroad won that battle!

The James River . . . again! This time looking downstream.

Which meant a long climb out of the valley on the far side. From there, though, it was theoretically downhill all the way to Lynchburg. But it's like the stock market. It may be downhill (or uphill) in the long run but it has its ups and downs along the way.

Today, SR-130 started out rather calm if not near-empty. Yesterday was like that as well. It seems Buffalo Springs Turnpike is a major taker and deliverer of traffic volume east on SR-130. Because traffic picked up from there all the way to River Road . . . and the opposite was true yesterday, traffic dropped off west of that point. But no worries, we had our "Share the Road" signage to protect us even if no or minimal shoulder.

The detour at Buffalo Springs Turnpike that we took around the bridge construction both days.

We didn't stop until Elon proper, about nine miles out of Lynchburg, and got a quick lunch at the Country Corner Market. A chicken salad sandwich and chips for me and fried chicken for Mark. Better fried chicken than last night too. Oh, and a Gatorade of course.

Back on the road it was less than two miles to River Road. And River Road was as quiet as ever (although an SUV truck did turn in with us). And it seemed mostly downhill. We were headed back to the river after all. At least till we had to climb the ramp to the 5th Street Bridge, but that was a piece of cake compared to what we had climbed already, even at the end of the ride!

Back across the river into Lynchburg. This time looking upstream!

And finally, back up the hills of Lynchburg. They were a piece of cake at this point.

As we crossed the bridge though, the hills of Lynchburg loomed large. We exited at Commerce Street and climbed 7th Street to Main Street without a hitch. It's 50% psychological and 50% gearing. I still had not used my granny gear. Saving that one for the Alps!

Today's ride: 44 miles (71 km)
Total: 88 miles (142 km)

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