a useful tool for anyone considering riding the BRP or SLD

books:

	• Bicycling the Blue Ridge, 3rd Elizabeth and Charlie Skinner Menasha Ridge Press, 2000 - 176 pages average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A must!

It's so easy to pass facilities, accomodations and attractions along the Blue Ridge Parkway! This book lists them all, campings, B&Bs, country stores, and more, along with the best way to get there. A real must for anyone planning to have a great trip on the Blue Ridge and Skyline Drive. And the elevation maps are a great help too.

a useful tool for anyone considering riding the BRP or SLD

I just returned from a weekend riding the 105 mile Skyline Drive in VA. The Skinners' book was an invaluable resource to me in preparing for & executing my trip. The advice is practical, the information invaluable as you plot out your journey. I am already planning my next weekend trip (Afton Mt to Roanoke) using this as my Bible! If you have any interest in cycling all or part of the BRP/SLD, this book will first whet your appetite, then serve as your guidebook/Bible.

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Anticipates Everything

There are many cycling guides, but this is one of the most practical and well-organized. As other reviewers state, the real value of the book is its collection of information on camping, nearby hotels, access points, points of interest, etc. The authors also have a wonderful "you can do it" attitude in their narrative style. Their encouragement inspired me to ride the Skyline Drive last fall, to my great enjoyment. I would quibble, by the way, with their elevation profiles. I certainly discovered hills that they don't tell you about! Supplement your planning with one of the fine topographic map products for a better sense of what awaits you.

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A Trip to Remember

Two years ago, a staff writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch wrote about biking the Skyline Drive in Virginia and my interest was peaked. My son turned 16 so I wanted to plan an unique summer trip for the two of us. We decided to bike the Blue Ridge from Afton Mountain (MP 0) to Blowing Rock NC (MP 302). We bought the Skinner book and searched the Internet for ideas.

The Skinner book proved to be exceptional; every page was "dog-eared" by the trips' end. I discovered the book contained more information than the first couple readings revealed. A few things, the Skinners give detailed advice on the location of stores, and unfortunately, due to recent hurricane damage a couple shut down, so did a restaurant we relied on for a stop, but found a new one further down the road. I plan to offer the "findings" to the Skinners for the next edition. Second, reserve your lodging in advance. A motorcycle convention in the Meadows of Dan took up all the lodging for a 15 mile radius, ten days prior to our trip. Third, the Blue Ridge ride is extremely demanding. The Skinner's sound like seasoned riders, but it was a struggle for me. (I had to walk a portion of the steep grades.)

Much can be said about the wonderful resource the Blue Ridge is. My best advice is to take a couple day trips to learn your limits and and develop realistic expectations. Then bring a good camera and enjoy!

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550 mile road test

I have been a long distance cyclist for about 40 years on and off -
since long before I could drive. Though I've lived in Virginia for
20 of those years, for some reason I never thought about the Skline
Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway! Amazing - since I've ridden up and
down parts of the East and West coasts, to the midwest, and through
parts of Europe and Australia.

My brother suggested I ride the lengths of the two parkways, and I bought
Riding the Blue Ridge, plus several other books, to help my planning.
I just returned from riding 550 miles on those two roads.

Though my riding style is different from
the Skinners', I travel on a racing bike carrying minimal equipment
plus credit cards, I found their book by far the most helpful, and
its pages, which I tore out and then discarded after passing through
various sections, became the Bible of my trip.

The descriptions of the ride and places along the route were accurate
and brief enough to fit into a portable and readable book. A good
example of how the brief descriptions were so apt is the small hotel
and store at Benge Gap: the book mentions it's easy to "zip by" -
and given that the rain and wind were fierce as I approached, I
really did not want to miss that stop. Those few words of caution
did the trick - I found it no problem but otherwise would definitely
have zipped by! Like all the places they mention, the description of
what was there was 100% reliable and accurate.

Besides my background in long distance riding, I have also raced and
I am still a strong hill climber. I found the greatest inaccuracy of
the book that it does not adequately describe the difficulty of this
ride. I appreciate that the book is written by people who are
accomplished riders, and that a mission of the book is to introduce
this ride to a wider group of people. But, for instance, the book
might leave the impression that riding from, say, Front Royal to Big
Meadows is a reasonable stage on the bike for the average tourist who
takes her time. While that may be true for some, I would suggest
it mention explicitly that this ride includes over 5000 feet of total
climbing, most of it at grades greater than 5%, and should be considered
difficult.

As another example, the ride going South from Volunteer Gap to Peaks
of Otter is among the most challenging anywhere in the East including a single climb of over 3300 feet at a steady 6% grade. There is no mention in the book that this segment is difficult even for highly capable cyclists.

I feel the book could be improved by, for example, adding a separate
section describing the level of challenge involved in the rides, as
is done in many hiking and cross-country ski guides. Not to scare
the reader or create some elitist idea about riding, but so that
people are prepared both in their training and in their daily
planning. Any rider is advised to plan fewer daily miles along these roads than
they are accustomed to.

I used the book to engineer each day's ride, and to make reservations
for each evening. It was immensely helpful and I'm truly grateful
to the authors and for the book - it made my trip possible and
enjoyable.

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reviews: page 1, 2

The Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway are arguably the two most quintessential scenic roads east of the Mississippi. This 575-mile strip of continuous road flows between Front Royal, Virginia, and Cherokee, North Carolina, traverses the Shenandoah National Park, and connects to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park along the eastern rampart of the Appalachian Mountains. Bicycling the Blue Ridge is the definitive guide to this ribbon of highway and is ready to help you plan the perfect trip. Open these pages and you will find detailed, mile-by-mile descriptions that provide information on restaurants, stores, lodging, and bike shops on or near these united roads, Newly designed maps and elevation profiles are also included. Whether your interest is recreational cycling, touring, or racing, or whether you are out for the day or a month, Bicycling the Blue Ridge is an indispensable tool for anyone interested in bicycling this incredible highway.

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