MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Anne Thompson, leader of a seven-member group of Blacksburg women riding the entire Blue Ridge Parkway in 10 days, adjusts her helmet after lunch at Mabry Mill in Floyd County on Wednesday.

Jan McGilliard pushes off after lunch at Mabry Mill. McGilliard is the oldest cyclist in the group riding the Blue Ridge Parkway.

FLOYD -- Swoosh! They whizz by at downhill speeds reaching 35 miles per hour (any faster, and they would break the speed limit on the Blue Ridge Parkway just before Mabry Mill). The seven Blacksburg women are riding their bicycles along the entire Blue Ridge Parkway in just 10 days, chasing a dream to complete the ride for no reason other than to enjoy the company of one another and share their passion for biking.

"I've always had a dream to do this," said Joanna Stallings, campus pastor for Lutheran Memorial Church in Blacksburg. "The idea just caught on with our group here."

The group rides about 60 miles each day, eventually riding from the Skyline Drive to Cherokee, N.C., and stays in hotels each night. By Wednesday, the fifth day and halfway point of the trip, cyclist Anne Thompson said she was getting to know the seat of her bike especially well.

Stallings said she met the right group of people who had both the knowledge to plan the trip and the supportive attitudes needed to go with it. The friends met through their morning rides together around Blacksburg. The Blue Ridge Parkway trip took about eight months to plan, and each cyclist is paying her own way, though East Coasters Bike Shops in Blacksburg has provided field maintenance support and discounted bike parts.

"I'm inspired by everyone in our group," Stallings said. "In different ways, the ride is a challenge for us all."

Stallings and Thompson are joined by Jan McGilliard, Thompson's twin sister, Lynne Krulich, Marisa Keegan, Stallings' daughter Brooke and Connie Fitzsimmons. Stallings' husband, Craig, drives a support vehicle with the group's supplies and fills water bottles or anything else needed to keep the cyclists going. The group doesn't listen to any radios or iPods -- they just have fun.

"We talk some, but we mostly enjoy the gorgeous scenery," Thompson said. "We've seen bears, turkeys, deer and a huge timber rattler."

It's that harmony with nature and one another that seems to get the group through the difficult times, Stallings said.

"When I'm really tired, I look straight ahead and think, 'I can do this,' " she said. "It's pretty basic, I know I've put in the time and training and that I can do it."

A downhill ride is the reward waiting at the end of those long climbs that can be tough in more ways than one.

"So much of it is mental," Keegan said. "You just have to think about going down the other side of the hill, about getting food soon or about reaching your goal at the end of the day -- you feel rewarded at the end of a climb."

Craig Stallings, the support man, is an integral part of the whole trip, Keegan said.

"There's absolutely no way we would've made it through these hot days without him helping us," she said. "We go through two water bottles without even realizing it."

As the group stopped for lunch at Mabry Mill outside of Floyd on Wednesday, they explained the difficult task of replenishing their energy on such a long bike ride.

"A challenge is getting enough calories for a six-hour ride each day," Keegan said, still eating her pancakes and grits.

Some members of the group have taken to eating cookies for breakfast, and some drink a bottled energy gel that is essentially a carbohydrate syrup. The cyclists often head out before breakfast is served at any restaurants or hotels, with their usual wake-up time being 4:45 a.m. By 6 a.m., they are on the road, finishing before noon on mostly downhill days. Their latest day so far was the first one, when they finished at 4:30 p.m. after 2,400 feet of climbing.

When the group settles in for the night at a predetermined hotel (hopefully with a pool, Keegan added), they are exhausted from the day's portion of what will be an approximately 469-mile ride.

"It's very quiet," Keegan said. "Everyone's reading, prepping for the next day or taking a nap. After dinner, we go to bed."

The cyclists range in age from 14 to 59 years old, with the oldest being McGilliard (who got far enough ahead of the others Wednesday to pull off for a 20-minute nap). The group includes such professions as ministers and nurses, a student and a fitness center manager.

"It's a diverse group that is incredibly supportive. It definitely makes our day just to be together," McGilliard said. "Every day has been a different adventure -- the landscape is always changing."

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a destination for many Virginians in the New River Valley who come to enjoy the scenery, ride bikes or hike, according to Barbara West of the National Park Service. She sees bicycles and motorcycles every day, and she said with the euro at an all-time high, many Europeans are making the parkway a travel destination as well.