Rainy, but wonderful bike riding

Monday, July 6  Day 2   Waynesboro to Peaks of Otter, VA   87 miles, 8970' of climbing

We had lots of rain on our first day on the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP), but it cleared often enough for a few photos. The bike riding was still wonderful, though. With nearly 9000 feet of climbing, the ride took 6:45 to complete (that's riding time).

We all put our bikes into the truck at our motel in Waynesboro and drove up to the start of the BRP. (I know, this is against my religion, but the decision was made. Seven years ago when I rode the BRP, I did ride up there from Waynesboro, so at least I did it then.) It was only when we reached Rockfish Gap that it was totally socked in with fog and mist. We all took off in the rain, hoping it would end soon. It didn't. 

The rain was not 100% of the time, so I got the top photo during a respite, and our lunch was mostly dry. But then the sun came out after about 60 miles of riding and it warmed up. It allowed me to get this photo of Otter Creek, which flowed next the the parkway for many miles of beauty.

We also rode past a small lake, created by this little dam on the Otter River. A few miles later, we reached the lowest point on the BRP, the James River.

That's the bridge we would be riding over. The elevation here was about 650 feet, and then we would be climbing for 13 miles!

This is the James River from the bridge. Janet and I had been on the James River in 2011 near the end of my Great Loop boating adventure. It's the longest river in VA. Can you tell from the sky what was about to come?

A few yards farther along the bridge I could see the remnants of the old 19th century Kanawha Canal that ran right next to the James River. That's a lock, of course.

After I began riding again, up the 13-mile hill, it started POURING rain in a huge deluge. Normally, no one would ride a bike in that kind of weather, but hey, we were already out there and we needed to go on. Besides, it wasn't cold, so "no problem". It stopped pouring and became a light rain after several miles, and eventually it stopped. Of course I was completely drenched, but I kept plugging away.

Near the end of the climb, I could even take a picture. I can see from the elevation (3510 ft) that I still had to climb 400 feet.

Finally I reached the top! Alvin (in photo) had already arrived, 13 minutes earlier, even though he departed the James River three minutes after I did. He said that despite the rain, he rode up the 13 miles three minutes faster than his previous best. He's been here so many times, even for races, that he keeps records on things like this.

I then rode the remaining 9 miles to our Peaks Of Otter hotel, which is operated by the National Park Service and is right on the BRP.

Chuck and I are awaiting the van on their front porch. It was sure nice to get out of the soaking-wet clothes.

That's the view out our room window with my clothes drying in the sun, and Abbott Lake in the background. It was a very pretty place. I just wish it had remained sunny. The rooms were about a 50-yard walk from the lobby/ lounge/restaurant, and as Jeff and I were walking over to have a beer, a new deluge began - POURING. We had to run to get there quickly so that we would not get our comfy dry clothes all wet again. But when we were done, we were incommunicado with everyone else because there were no room phones nor was there cell phone service. So, due to the pouring rain, Jeff and I were stuck waiting at the restaurant, wondering if anyone else knew we were there, and the rest of them were waiting for the rain to stop so they could go to dinner. By then it was very late, too, because Mark and Terry arrived a fairly long time after we others had.

I finally was able to borrow an umbrella from the hotel, and found everyone else and learned they were waiting for the rain to let up, which it did, and we finally got to have our dinner and go to bed by 10:00. No Internet service strong enough for a blog, so I'm writing this on the next night farther up the BRP.