The Blue Ridge Parkway from bottom to top!

vwone · Jan 1, 2009

What a year of riding it has been. I experienced some great things this year on two wheels. I thought I would share another ride with all of you.

I met my friend Steve, who rides a BMW R1150R, a few months ago. He and I have been riding together here in the Southeast. He has a few thousand more miles under his belt than I do, and since I have only been riding for a couple of years, I learn a lot from Steve. Steve and I had been talking about taking a trip together, but families and jobs had kept that to just talk - until recently.

It ended up that we both had a 4 day window to knock out some miles. I had been wanting to ride the <st1:street><st1:address>Blue Ridge Parkway</st1:address></st1:street> from one end to the other for a long time. After reading about others doing it, Steve and I decided that this would be a good time to try it. Other than a setting a date to depart, and knowing that our goal was to ride the entire BRP, we had no real plans or itinerary.

On a Wednesday evening in August, we hit the road!

<o></o>Wednesday: After work, Steve and I met up. We decided that going through <st1lace><st1:city>Lake Lure</st1:city>, <st1:state>NC</st1:state></st1lace> would be a nice way to get to <st1:city><st1lace>Asheville</st1lace></st1:city> for the night. With the temperature around 98F, our plan was to not stop riding, so we could stay as cool as possible. An hour or so later, we were in <st1lace><st1lacetype>Lake</st1lacetype> <st1lacename>Lure</st1lacename></st1lace>. As we were riding in, there was the smell of smoke in the air and we could see a forest fire above us. It was strange going through <st1lace><st1lacetype>Lake</st1lacetype> <st1lacename>Lure</st1lacename></st1lace> that evening. Normally the place is packed with tourist, but we were lucky to catch the town on an off evening. As we were riding through, we saw a helicopter flying at eye level going up the river to collect water to dump on the fire. I must say that is quite a sight!

<o></o>Now if you are heading north to <st1:city><st1lace>Asheville</st1lace></st1:city> from <st1lace><st1lacetype>Lake</st1lacetype> <st1lacename>Lure</st1lacename></st1lace>, you will find the road has several switch backs as you descend off the mountain. Well, this is where the F800st shines! That bike loves roads like this, so of course I took off to play a little. <o> </o> I downshifted into second gear and opened it up. As I entered the first turn, the bike really felt planted and sailed right through it. As the instrument needles climbed the next short straight was over and before I knew it, I was taking full advantage of the incredible Brembo brakes! Looking through the turn, a slight push on the left handle bar and the bike laid over with no effort at all. Again the needles climbed as if they were dancing. Using the low end torque to pull me through the turn, the engine howled as if it was screaming! I could feel the front tire come off the ground for a second as the bike became upright. At that point the trees started to become a blur, and I almost forgot that I was on a bike. It was as if the road and I were having a conversation, and my communication tool was the bike beneath me. The road seemed to give me a list of challenges and I gave examples of ways to over come them. Before I knew it, I arrived at the bottom of the mountain. The f800st is very nimble and makes roads like this an absolute blast to ride!

<o></o>So, after a great evening of riding, we landed in <st1:city><st1lace>Asheville</st1lace></st1:city> for the night. Thursday, the second day: This is the first pic of the trip, Thursday morning with the bikes loaded up and ready for the road.

As we left <st1:city><st1lace>Ashevillle</st1lace></st1:city>, the temp was 71F and we took Hwy 74 to Cherokee, NC. The ride was great, it was cool and traffic was light.

Welcome to Cherokee! This is the main road. As you can see, gas was 3.99 a gallon. There was not too much going on that Thursday morning.

This is a shot I took on the way out of town, heading for the southern entrance to the parkway.

Finally! The beginning of the parkway!

Just to give you the GPS view of the <st1:street><st1:address>Blue Ridge Parkway</st1:address></st1:street>, it looks a little bent up.

Well just a few miles into the Parkway and we hit a wall of fog. The temperature had dropped and we could hardly see ahead of us. We stopped to take a breather and put on some liners. This is a pic just to give an idea of what we were up against.

Here is the f800st with some riders in the back headed south. They had warned us of what was ahead, as they had been in the fog for a couple hours.

The fog had let up and here is a shot of what we were looking at for a few miles. It was hard to believe that this was mid summer and we were in a total fog in 62F weather.

Still in the fog, here is a shot of the Steve with his R1150R.

Not that we could see anything, but here are the bikes at the highest point of the Parkway. We were hoping as we started to go down in elevation that we would drop out of the clouds. We were still having a blast! Our bikes were running flawlessly and our gear was doing a great job. We were also running into riders here and there, everyone was nice and seemed to be a little extra careful that morning.

Just a close up of the bikes.

Finally at <st1:time hour="11" minute="0">11am</st1:time>, we were getting clear of the fog and the views started to show up. The temps had risen a little, the electric grips were off, and it was nice to take in the views.

The bikes taking a little rest.

More Soon!

GB · Jan 1, 2009

BRP heaven!

but when the fog rolls in.... you kinda need a white cane!! DAMHIK

frijole · Jan 1, 2009

Nice pics. Always enjoy riding the BRP.

GB · Jan 1, 2009

hmm... this thread seems to be broken.. let me investigate further..

Fireman1000 · Jan 1, 2009

I've ridden the BRP several times, but only from Brevard south to Cherokee. I'd like to go to the end sometime. It's really a beautiful road.

gaspipe · Jan 1, 2009

Dude, cool ride.

Watch the cut 'n paste from your software - the HTML code gets wonky.

vwone · Jan 3, 2009

Lets see here, where did I stop? Oh yes, half way through the second day!
<link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CDEANDE%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="State"></o:smarttagtype><style>  </style>

This was the view for the rest of the day! The roads stayed clear and it was sunny. The great thing about the southern portion of the parkway is the typically cooler temperature. I do not think we saw temps above 75F that day. Right after this pic, we stopped in <st1lace><st1:city>Asheville</st1:city>, <st1:state>NC</st1:state></st1lace> for some great barbeque.

<link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CDEANDE%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><style>  </style> Right after crossing into VA, we pulled over just to take a breather. This is the view I had as I was laying on the ground.

<link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CDEANDE%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><style>  </style> These are a couple shots of the bikes from the ground. It was nice not having a schedule; we had no reservations and no particular time to be anywhere. That allowed us to stop and go as we pleased. I normally travel alone, and I would never stop to just to take in the air. This was a nice, much-needed stop.

<link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CDEANDE%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><style>  </style> I think this was the last pic of the day. We found a hotel in Galax, VA where we stayed the night and had a great country dinner.

more soon!

vwone · Jan 3, 2009

<o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="State"></o:smarttagtype> Friday, Day 3:
[FONT=&quot]So after going through a Friday morning road block with [/FONT]<st1:state><st1lace>[FONT=&quot]Virginia[/FONT]</st1lace></st1:state>[FONT=&quot]s Finest, we were on the parkway again. It was nice to breathe the morning air and to be back in the saddle.

[/FONT]<link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CDEANDE%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><style>  </style>Here is the first view we came to Friday morning; it was a great place to stop.

<link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CDEANDE%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><style>  </style> Of course, a couple more pics of the bikes.

<link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CDEANDE%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><style>  </style> This was what was ahead, and it was a sign of what was to come.

<link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CDEANDE%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="State"></o:smarttagtype><style>  </style> A lot happened between the last shot and this one. Once getting around <st1lace><st1:city>Roanoke</st1:city>, <st1:state>VA</st1:state></st1lace>, we found a sport touring dream! There were some great sweepers north of <st1:city><st1lace>Roanoke</st1lace></st1:city>, and we took full advantage of themwhich explains the reason for no pics. It was some of the best riding I have done on the F800st! Here are a couple of pics as we were getting close to the end of the parkway.

<link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CDEANDE%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><style>  </style> Since there is a pic here of the R1150R, I thought I would mention how much I like this bike! Steve and I had traded bikes earlier in the day, and I got to spend some serious seat time on the R1150R. This bike is completely opposite of my bike, so it took me a few minutes to get used to it. First thing I noticed was the seat, it is a wide supporting seat compared to the F800st seat. Second thing I noticed was the boxer engine; I own a R90/6 and I am a big fan of the boxers. The boxer engines have a pleasant vibration that I just really enjoy. As I was riding the R1150R, I really appreciated the torque from the engine. Riding in 5<sup>th</sup> gear on the parkway was a blast on this bike. There is enough power to break laws but the vibrations are very low and pleasing.
<o> </o>
I was really enjoying riding that day! At one point, we were riding along a ridge that was mostly shaded and I got to enjoy some great views of the <st1lace>Shenandoah Valley</st1lace>. I was riding the R1150R and I remember looking down at the gauges and I noticing the chrome trim rings bursting with little bits of sunlight that was popping through the trees. The temps were perfect and the wind was nice and steady. As I looked up to the road again, I glanced to my left and looked down over the valley. What a beautiful view that was, it was as if I was flying. I wonder if this is what BMW has in mind when the came up with the phrase, BMW the ultimate driving machine? As I looked forward again, I gently pushed on the bar to enter a slight right turn, and the view was gone as fast as it appeared. For a couple of seconds it felt as if everything was perfect. A perfect day while riding a great bike with great views, this is what I hope to experience every time I ride.

<link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CDEANDE%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><style>  </style> The road!

More Soon!

Durangoman · Jan 3, 2009

achesley · Jan 4, 2009

Most of the southern part of my one BRP ride was as yours. Could not see passed the side of the foggy road. But did get better on up in Virginia. Still would like to do the southern part again one day when the weather is clear.
Thanks for sharing and waiting on more. ;-)

Pastor John · Jan 4, 2009

Great report so far! More! More! More! The BRP is truly a national treasure!

My Top-To-Bottom BRP Blog

GB · Jan 4, 2009

Pastor John said:

The BRP is truly a national treasure!
Click to expand...

Amen Pastor John!

x650 · Jan 4, 2009

I got this pic too.

vwone said:

<o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="State"></o:smarttagtype> Friday, Day 3:

<link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CDEANDE%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="State"></o:smarttagtype><style>  </style> !
Click to expand...

Sidviscous · Jan 4, 2009

I would have to say that the BRP is a national treasure preserved for motorcyclists. They can't spend enough of my tax money maintaining that thing. Too bad you had fog on the lower section because that's the most spectacular scenery in the eastern US. If you have a day off and clear skies, do the Cherokee to Linville section again. The best time to really "Ride, or should I say Rail" the parkway is on a weekday in early May. Spring comes late to the ridge and without the leaves on the trees, the roadway is clean and the sight lines excellent. About ten years ago I had the opportunity to do the whole BRP in a day on my Kawasaki ZX7R. It was May 6th, clear skies, temp about 43 degrees when I started and never got to 60, Didn't care, as had as I was working. I saw three cars and no bikes the entire 570 mile day. I passed one park ranger who was parked at the side of the road chewing the fat with the guy that was suppossed to be cutting the grass. I went past at about 70, all he did was wave a finger at me and went back to talking. I guess he knew the parkway was empty and didn't want to spoil my day. The Kawasaki spent the day howling at redline and never missed a beat. I pulled into Waynesboro Va. well after dark, exhausted but "buzzin". It was hard to get to sleep. Best day ever!!
Take a day off work and try it again in the spring, it just gets better each time you ride it. Sid

roger123 · Jan 4, 2009

Sidviscous said:

I would have to say that the BRP is a national treasure preserved for motorcyclists. They can't spend enough of my tax money maintaining that thing. Too bad you had fog on the lower section because that's the most spectacular scenery in the eastern US. If you have a day off and clear skies, do the Cherokee to Linville section again. The best time to really "Ride, or should I say Rail" the parkway is on a weekday in early May. Spring comes late to the ridge and without the leaves on the trees, the roadway is clean and the sight lines excellent. About ten years ago I had the opportunity to do the whole BRP in a day on my Kawasaki ZX7R. It was May 6th, clear skies, temp about 43 degrees when I started and never got to 60, Didn't care, as had as I was working. I saw three cars and no bikes the entire 570 mile day. I passed one park ranger who was parked at the side of the road chewing the fat with the guy that was suppossed to be cutting the grass. I went past at about 70, all he did was wave a finger at me and went back to talking. I guess he knew the parkway was empty and didn't want to spoil my day. The Kawasaki spent the day howling at redline and never missed a beat. I pulled into Waynesboro Va. well after dark, exhausted but "buzzin". It was hard to get to sleep. Best day ever!!
Take a day off work and try it again in the spring, it just gets better each time you ride it. Sid
Click to expand...

+1, I did the whole thing the second week of May, saw less than 10 cars the whole way!!! Pinned the throttle and had a blast!!!

nick_j · Jan 4, 2009

Great show so far - looking forward to some pics of the area I used to ride when I lived in Virginia.

RivahRider · Jan 4, 2009

Thanks for the memories. We made the trip south to the Smokies, planning a different route back north through W. Va.. We loved the BRP so much that we changed our plan and took the parkway back, making it a round trip.

SgtMike · Jan 4, 2009

My BRP tag application has been in for months now, waiting for state approval.
I'm in Charlotte as well, let me know when to meet up.
When the weather clears up we should ride up route 16 into WV.
Let's ride!!!

simpson · Jan 4, 2009

Great pics man. I cant wait for the weather to start warming up and drying up. As soon as it does I plan on doing this as well.

RForestR · Jan 4, 2009

Hey there.
We were at the 'top' on exactly the same day. You guys pulled in just as we were pulling out, got this pic on the other side of the sign that you took your pic on:

I'm ridin the R:

Easy to remember you guys, my wife (she's riding the versys) and I were heading south on that cold foggy day in August. Woulda stopped to say hello but had to roll as we had to make it home to Canada in 2 days from this spot and weren't sure just how much fog we were in for.

Looks like you had a great ride heading north.

Cheers,
Chris

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