After heading south at the Swift Run Gap entrance station, our fan report contributor and his buddy stopped at an overlook of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Last week my wife and I had to travel to the Charlottesville area of Virginia to attend the funeral of her grandmother. I am from Florida and love to go to Virginia every chance I get. I can’t think of a straight road there. On the other hand southern Florida is a flat grid, with Interstate 95 being about the only road with curves in it. We travel to see the wife’s family often but it’s usually by SUV. Last summer though I was able to trailer my bike up. My wife’s mother was getting remarried and we were there for about a week. I’m usually able to get one or two hours of riding in each day - not a lot but still enough to put almost 400 miles on my ’09 ZX6R.
This trip was not a festive occasion, however, and I had really not given much thought to the great riding I wasn’t going to be doing. The service went on and we went our separate ways until we were to gather for dinner at a small local restaurant. My wife’s cousin, Brian, came back on his new (to him) 2003 100th anniversary Harley Sportster. It was clean and he let me take it for a ride as soon as we got in the parking lot. We had a nice dinner and during the after-dinner conversation Jack, my new father-in-law, offered to let me take his Harley Lowrider so Brian and I could go riding the following morning.
The next day came early for me and I was very excited to actually get to ride. I thought about asking Jack to let me take out his bike but wasn’t going to push it. We were already staying at his house and eating his food. Brian showed up about 9:30 and we were on the road by 10:00. We left the house in Keswick and rode out to Route 231 North to Gordonsville. We fueled up the bikes and headed West on 33 (Spotswood Trail), a nice leisurely ride through forest and farm land. I rode this route a few times on a ZX6, but this was my first time on a Harley. It was big, heavy and vibrated like hell but I’m sure my smile was stretching to each ear. We reached the intersection of 33 and 29 in Ruckersville and stopped for a drink before making our way into the Blue Ridge Mountains to ride the Parkway. Route 33 crosses over the Blue Ridge Mountains
The road through the Blue Ridge Mountains included many tight turns, and the weather was perfect...at least for awhile.
through Swift Run Gap and it’s an incredible piece of road. Lots of turns with good banking and smooth asphalt, I could spend a good part of a day just going back and forth on this section – and actually have in the past. Neither Brian nor I had ever been on the Blue Ridge Parkway, not even in a car.
We entered at the Swift Run Gap entrance station, one of four on the Virginia section of the Parkway, and headed south. We rode at a moderate pace (over the 35 mph speed limit). I could understand the 35 mph speed limit though because the turns are tight and plentiful. Brian and I stopped at an overlook to soak up some scenery without becoming part of the scenery. This is where we took a few photos and sent texts to my brothers and a few friends letting them know what they were missing. Back on the way we cruised for a while and the weather abruptly changed from sunny and breezy to fog and then cold, heavy rain. The visibility was terrible and there was nowhere to hide so we did the only thing we could, ride on. Luckily, the rain only lasted maybe five minutes but it was a tense five minutes. Being on a borrowed bike on a mountain road in the blinding rain is not the most enjoyable of riding situations. The rain had passed and the sun was shining so it didn’t take too long to dry out. We rode to the end of the toll road in Waynesboro, made a U-turn and started back to Swift Run Gap. Brian and I both had plans so we needed to get back. It was an incredible day on an amazing road and I was so lucky to have the chance to do it.
