For the first day in five days, we did not ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway today. We spent nearly the whole day on Skyline Drive, which runs the length of Shenandoah National Park. Skyline Drive actually connects directly to the Blue Ridge Parkway. So you can think of Skyline Drive as the northern extension of the Parkway, making it the ideal road to continue following the ridge line of the Appalachian Mountains. Because Skyline Drive is completely within the national park, there is very little development along the road. What the road lacks in services, it makes up for in natural beauty. There are numerous views of the Shenandoah Valley below. Similar to the Blue Ridge Parkway, Skyline Drive is climb after climb after climb. Today's route was 115 miles with 10,000 feet of climbing.
I rode most of the day with Ethan again. He's just very smooth and consistent and with both of us sharing the work we made it here by 3:30 pm. I was actually still sore from yesterday but was able to rest enough on the descents to make pretty good time. This much time on the bike each day in these mountains is really hard on the body. Several of the riders are really suffering as a result of the effects of the relentless climbing every day. If you already have back problems, climbing makes it worse because if you don't have good technique you end up using your back for leverage as you are turning the pedals. So eight days in to the trip, the mountains are taking their toll.
I mentioned that at some point I would talk a little about the Pactour organization itself. It is owned and operated by Lon Haldeman and Susan Notorangelo. They are pioneers in long distance cycling and have been running tours for over 30 years. I think what makes them good at this is being cyclists themselves they understand what other cyclists need to be successful. So everything they do is centered on making your riding successful. I'll talk more about some of how they cater to us in the days ahead.
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