Dan Casey

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Imagine hopping on your bike in downtown Roanoke, riding a short distance minutes past the urban clutter and suburban sprawl. Within 10 minutes or so, you're suddenly on a quiet, treed road that surges past farms and homesteads along smooth asphalt that never seems to stop rolling.

It's a pipe dream of lunch-time and after-work bicyclists in many cities across the country. And for most of them, it will remain a fantasy. But here in Roanoke, we're lucky, because the Yellow Mountain Lollipop Loop is the real deal.

This is not a ride you will ever brag about. It's not an adventure into a hidden enclave, like Burkes Garden, or a feat of endurance, like Apple Orchard Mountain, or chock full of jaw-dropping views, like a spin up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Peaks of Otter. This 14-mile ride is all business -- short, quick, neat. And it's the coolest little romp from the city I've ever found.

You can lick it in an hour

Josh Meltzer, a photographer at The Roanoke Times, introduced me to the Yellow Mountain Lollipop Loop.

The name comes from the route, which is shaped roughly like a lollipop. Essentially, you head out of downtown Roanoke on Yellow Mountain Road for a few miles, then ride three other roads that loop back to Yellow Mountain, which leads you back to the city.

For novices or racers

This is a ride most people can do. There are no shoulders, and the roads aren't wide, but there's not a tremendous amount of traffic on them, either.

The toughest climb is a one-miler, right at the outset, up Yellow Mountain Road through South Roanoke. But for the most part the grade is manageable, and far, far easier than brutally steep Mill Mountain, which is also twice as long. The payoff is, at the end of the ride you get to whip down that Yellow Mountain Road hill at 35 mph. There are a few other, much shorter climbs on this ride, too.

A regular cyclist in decent shape, on a road bike, can do it in an hour.

But if you're a novice on a mountain bike, give yourself two. Try it on a weekend to see if you can pull it off weekdays during lunch.

The hills will challenge you, but they won't wear you out. The descents will thrill you, but they're not so long that you'll be shivering by the time you reach the bottom (on cooler days). And the scenery will charm you to the point where you'll have your eyes peeled for real estate "For Sale" signs.

The route

You can start anywhere you like, but the point is to get to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital on Jefferson Street.

It's one block south of there that Yellow Mountain Road begins its low-grade climb up the backside of Mill Mountain. Climb the mountain and rest, if you like, in the shade of the Fishburn Parkway overpass at the top. From here it's a short steep drop, a quick climb, then another drop into Garden City, an older neighborhood in Southeast Roanoke.

When you hit the stop sign at Garden City Boulevard, stay straight. A little ways down the road, you'll pass beneath the Blue Ridge Parkway. After the underpass, take your third left, on Goodman Lane. This is a short, straight, and gently rolling road that ends in a T-intersection on Bandy Road, where you make a right.

Dan Casey | The Roanoke Times

Ted Remandaban (from left) Jim Palmieri and Rob Kidder ride along Bandy Road. It's hard to believe this great biking road is only minutes from downtown Roanoke.

This is where the fun begins. It's on Bandy that you're really going to feel you're out in the country. Bandy twists and wind past homes, small farms, and at one point, Roanoke Mountain, which will loom above you on the right. In addition to this great scenery, it's almost all downhill for the next 4 miles or so. As fun as this stretch is, it seems like it's over too fast.

You'll be getting off Bandy shortly after you begin seeing the Roanoke River on your left. Make a right turn on Mayland Road. In less than a mile, it comes back to Yellow Mountain Road. Make a right, and follow it all the way back downtown.

Notes

Because there are some significant descents, you'll want to wear sunglasses. A bug in your eye at 35 mph can really ruin a screaming downhill run.

There's a modest cafe at the stop sign on Yellow Mountain Road at Garden City Boulevard. I've never eaten there, but I've heard it's cheap and the food is good.

For the most part, the roads are in pretty good shape. But, as I said, there are barely any shoulders. Be careful, and keep your eyes up.