Dan Casey

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Helen Burnett leaned forward over the dropped handlebars on her road bike and gripped them tightly. Her mouth was set in a grimace, eyes straight ahead on the road. Her red face contrasted nicely against her bright yellow cycling jersey. Sweat crept onto her brow from beneath her bicycle helmet.

We were halfway up Mill Mountain at the beginning of a steep S-curve. It was Burnett's second time on that climb in her 50 years (the first time had been one week prior). She was riding a gorgeous yellow Greg LeMond steel-framed bike with Rolf wheels. Besides coordinating nicely with her shirt, that bike is to die for.

Roanoke. Twenty miles of pavement, leaving the city at 6:30 p.m. sharp, after 8 or so hours of desk jockeying. It's the perfect way to work out tension-induced neck kinks, to indulge in some cycling camaraderie, and to take fresh air while allowing yourself to be enveloped in the glory of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.

Often, we catch some beers after the ride.

Burnett, director of business development for The Roanoke Times and a Blue Ridge Bicycle Club member who's been riding only a few years, wasn't the oldest person among our 12-rider crew that evening. Robb Kidder, a local endodontist, and Ted Remandaban, an anesthesiologist at Carilion Health System, both 54, were the granddaddies of us gray hairs. Jim Crawford, an instructor at Virginia Tech, is 50. Jim Ellison, roanoke.com's chief editor, is 49. I'm 42. Most of the rest of them were kids, relatively speaking.

I mention the ages not because it matters a lot, except that there are plenty of us middle-agers who can ably handle the best that the Blue Ridge Mountains can dish out. Burnett and the rest of us did, and you can, too. This is one ride worth checking out.

Dan Casey | The Roanoke Times

This shot was taken from the Great Valley Overlook, elev. 2,493, the highest point on the Parkway between Roanoke and the Peaks of Otter.

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Just the right amount of challenge

This is one of the coolest quick loops you'll find in any city in the Unites States. There's the aforementioned Mill Mountain, a challenging 1,000-foot, 2-mile climb. Remarkably, it's entirely within the Roanoke city limits. It takes you to heights New Yorkers gaze down from when they're at the top of the Empire State building. If you're lucky, you'll spy a roaming deer or wild turkey.

Then there's a smooth, 9-mile stretch on the Blue Ride Parkway, the 482-mile ribbon of two-lane road, mountain vistas, green grass and trees (no stop lights, no stop signs) that runs from North Carolina to Northern Virginia. Be careful of the wild rabbit running and the odd car that can get frisky on this shoulder-less road. Next comes a twisty and rolling 3-mile romp along Mountain View Road in Vinton. Finally, there's the home stretch: the flats through downtown Vinton and the gritty industrial area that is Southeast Roanoke. You can knock this out in less than two hours easy. I call it Mountain View.

The ride

This is a great, solid 20-mile loop starting nearly anywhere from downtown Roanoke. It's a good ride for almost any cyclist, and there are some interesting variations that can add a bit of distance and a lot of climbing, if that's what rocks you.

Between late April and late August, moderately strong bikers ought to be able to put it away after work without any trouble, provided they hit the road no later than 6:30 p.m. Just remember that the dusk falls fast.