2021 Rockstar Gravel Travel

We got up early and packed up camp in record time, stopped at the store in Catawba , and made our way to Roanoke for the last leg of our bicycle journey. Day 5 brought us out of the wilderness into the city, which was an adjustment after being off the grid for 4+ days.  The ride progressed through the rural outskirts of Roanoke into the suburbs and eventually toured the city's bike paths and parks. It included a killer climb up through  Caverns Cove , just outside I-81, where we met Brad, from Tallahasee, FL. Brad accompanied us for the rest of our day and we enjoyed his chill demeanor and the trail magic when he presented Sharon with her missing blinkie. We finished the ride with a signature Cheesy Western at the Texas Tavern .

After two days of late morning departures, we perfected our unhurried rhythm* by stopping for very long breaks by babbling brooks to wash our clothes and filter water and to photograph scenic vistas. We were thoroughly enjoying ourselves. We were doing this before, but now we were on a mission. * Here might be a good time to mention that none of this riding was easy. Hauling an extra 30-40 lbs of food, water, clothing, and gear up and down mountains on your bike is nothing to shake a stick at, especially while navigating roads of crushed stone and dirt, keeping your balance on rugged terrain, and traversing hairpin turns, not to mention adjusting layers for the wildly varying temperatures. 

After a warm shower and a pleasant social dinner by the fire, Sharon said, "I got a good night's sleep last night and I'm thankful for that." She also made the discovery that hammock sleeping eliminates her back pain.  We took our time, having coffee with Lisa and leisurely packing up our camp. Sharon optimized her handlebar roll, shrinking everything into a single stuff sack. We departed Douthat at 11:20 and enjoyed the next 25 miles climbing and finally descending along the scenic Ponding Mill Creek. We took a resupply break in  Covington , where Karen found the delicious Snapper Tacos at a food truck. (After a few days of eating cold-soaked food, hot food is a spectacular treat!) Sharon had another of her pre-packed meals, since she was carrying so many of them... After leaving town, we remembered that we had forgotten, once again, to purchase Fire Whisky to fill the titanium shot glasses that Sharon also had in her pack from Day 1. After climbing out of Covington

We started the day by steadily climbing out of Ramsey's Draft back into the stunning vistas of the Appalachian Mountains. We spent the morning riding up and down the ridgeline in the southern part of the George Washington National Forest where we navigated fire roads and single track trails. These popped us out into the Shenandoah Valley where we traversed bucolic farmland and wondered where the heck cows come from?  Our travels produced wet socks due to the many stream crossings, and as Sharon was changing her socks by the side of the road, we met the creator of the Virginia Endurance Series' Rockstar , Rob Issem. Rob rode with us for a bit and gave us the lowdown on camping options along the route and the gist of days ahead. We decided that the hot showers at Douthat State Park Campgroud were absolutely, unquestionably worth the extra 5 miles off-course for the night. Camping at Douthat introduced us to Rob's wife, Lisa, and Brian from Richmond, who we'd met earlie

We were the very last to roll out from the Black Sheep Coffee House on departure day. Sharon was ready to go as Karen was busy taking a video of everyone leaving.  We met Ned, Mike, and Tony just a few miles outside of  Harrisonburg  and we rode together for a while, then separated, connected, separated, joined them for lunch, and enjoyed comparing hike-a-bike experiences when the trail got very steep and technical. While Karen navigated direction on RidewithGPS , Sharon added "colorful" climbing commentary. Her Garmin breaks down each climb into sections based on % grade. Green is relatively easy and the colors progress through yellow, orange and red as the hills get steeper. "I thought that was as far as it went, but today I learned that it then goes to BURGUNDY! I've never seen burgundy before, didn't even know it existed." After a brief resupply in West Augusta , we continued on to Ramsey's Draft with Ned and found a pre-lit campfire by a very nice

We just went down the internet rabbit hole on the final leg of our drive to Roanoke . Karen was wondering what the beautiful purple flowering tree is along the highways. Sharon asked Siri who was not helpful at all. Karen asked Google and got better information. We realized that neither of them were right and we had just spent 45 minutes going back and forth trying to figure out what this damn tree is! Karen finally said, “Do you think we might have more important things to talk about right now?!”  After all, we are on our way to do 4 or 5 (or goodness help us, 6) days of bikepacking in the Appalachian Mountains of VA. Neither of us are fully packed or organized. And Sharon has never done this before, nor does she pack well to begin with. Now we're about to put everything we need on our bikes and ride them up and down mountains. Here we are, driving to Roanoke, wondering about purple flowering trees instead of planning for our 2:30 meet up with the shuttle up to Harrisonburg for t