May 24th Storm of Thunder Ridge and then drive to Pennsylvania

I woke up early on Friday to cool temperatures and windy weather. I hated to say goodbye to my wonderful hosts Charlie and Diane but after breakfast and coffee I headed out to storm thunder ridge. The main climb on the route starts at the lowest point anywhere on the Blue Ridge Pkwy. and climbs to the highest point on the parkway within Virginia. It is a 3400 foot climb this is just one continuous pull. The winds were blowing 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 30. They were mostly in my face during the climb and on the ensuing descent they were generally crosswind or at my back. On the way to my parking place I passed one Cyclist and talk to him for a bit He had decided not to climb thunder ridge because of the strong winds even though he been riding the area for 30 years. I consider ed just going on to Pennsylvania but I remembered earlier parts of the trip and decided this was another time when I would regret not doing something so I grabbed lucky and headed out. This is where I parked.

On the way out I was able to look up and see Thunder ridge towering above. That ridge looked awfully exposed up there and I realized the wind was gonna be howling.

If you look closely you can see an area in the middle of the ridge where there are fewer trees due to the harsh winter conditions that the ridge experiences and there's a radar dome right on top. I rode right past that and the wind was truly ferocious.

I had ridden almost to the bottom of the clouds and this wasn't actually the peak yet.

Cresting the top it was windy as all get out and the descent was really harrowing. There were many steep sections with tight curves as soon as I got off of the Blue Ridge Pkwy. and on to the State Road. I had to ride my brakes almost continuously on the way down. Twice I had to stop and let my wheels cool as they were starting to warp and make the bike handling squirrely.

After getting safely to the bottom I had done 45 miles with 5300 feet of climbing. It was a great ride and a memorable one but I had to get in the car and head on to Pennsylvania to see my brother Steve and his new wife Kristen. As it turned out it was a 300 mile ride with surprisingly good traffic and I made good time. On Charlie's suggestion I took interstate 81 through the Shenandoah Valley and it was pretty all the way into Pennsylvania. It gave me an opportunity to catch up with many people I haven't spoken to in days.