Dan Casey

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The subject at hand was a 40-mile bike ride and Vinny Steo seemed a bit tentative. “I've never ridden more than 20 miles in one day since I moved here,” he said over the telephone.

I thought for a minute. Vinny and I had never met, but my bike pal, exercise guru Erin Garvin, had invited him on this ride. Surely she wouldn't recommend it to someone in horrible shape. But she'd never mentioned how old Vinny was, and that concerned me. I knew it was going to be hot as hell, and I didn't want to drag a senior citizen out on the Blue Ridge Parkway with the mercury over 90 and the humidity at 100 percent. “Vinny, how old are you?” I asked.

“Thirty,” he replied. That cinched it.

“Don't worry, you can do it,” I said. “I'll see you tomorrow at 7. Bring plenty of water!” Vinny showed up, and so did eight others, to check out a gem of a ride I had prospected the week before: 20 miles of pristine parkway, 10 miles to get the starting point, then 10 miles after you got off. Not one rough climb the entire distance. I call it Dawnwood Loop.

Sweltering days

On a bicycle, there are only two ways to deal with the blistering heat that grips the Roanoke region through most of July and August. The first is to suffer through it. As you push your pedals up the Blue Ridge's long rises your face turns crimson, spots form in front of your eyes, the soupy, humid air seems impossible to suck down and you run out of water even though you brought extra.

Sweat pours out of your skin, rains down from your scalp and your bike clothes begin smelling dreadful. The occasional patch of shade offers little respite, and although the downhills cool and dry you out a bit, everyone still gags when you walk in the house after the ride.

“You stink!” my daughter Caitlin shouts.

The second way is the early morning ride. Even when it's very humid, the air is cool and the sun is low shortly after dawn. At the worst, temps will be in the low 70s when you begin, and you can probably wrap up the ride before they climb out of the low 80s. You'll be home in time to spend the really hot hours at the pool, swimming in a lake, or safely ensconced in an air-conditioned house.

Having tried both ways, I can assure that the latter is far superior, even if you have to drag your butt out of bed before dawn. This was the way my pals and I tackled Dawnwood Loop.

Misty morning

The day before the ride had been uncharacteristically rainy, and thick fog had settled into Roanoke late and hung around all night. You wouldn't exactly say dawn broke the next morning. Rather, its pale gray light oozed into the air as the sun eased over horizon. We were about to find out that, shortly after dawn on a summer day, the Blue Ridge Parkway has a very different feel than it does beneath the midday sun.

As we headed from Brambleton Avenue (U.S. 221) up to the parkway, we were climbing much faster than the fog was rising. Soon, we were on the parkway and enveloped in the eerie gray soup, which drained the color out of everything. Lush green trees that lined the road had turned ashen; at any distance at all, even the brightest cycling jersey lost its usual glow.

In the thickest patches you could see little past 25 yards, and the dawn felt like dusk. Although this marvelous byway has little traffic anyway, it has almost none in the early morning, and that was the other key difference. The foggy road was lonely and silent, save for the whirring of our spinning chains.

You can do this one, too

I'm happy to report that Vinny Steo had no problems on this ride. He finished it uncowed by the sometimes daunting Blue Ridge. That's part of the this loop's beauty. If you can ride 20 to 25 miles without great difficulty, you can handle this longer ride, too. There are four noteworthy climbs, and none is a killer. All are less than a mile, and none of these grades will make you wish you hadn't climbed on your bike in the first place.

Dan Casey | The Roanoke Times

An early morning ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway is the way to go in the summer.

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The climb from Brambleton Avenue (U.S. 221) to the parkway is the first. Buck Mountain, about 5 miles up the parkway, is the second. Roanoke Mountain, just past the U.S. 220 intersection, is the third. Finally, there's a hill just past the parkway's bridge over the Roanoke River. Psychologically, the last one is the toughest, because most of the 8 miles that precede it are speedy down hills where it's easy to hit 40 mph. Comfort yourself with the notion this is the last one. (For a convenient bailout at the midway point, see the section at the end labeled "Notes.")

The secret to this ride is knowing where to get on and off the parkway. The access and egress points are not intersections with roads (there are only a handful of these in the Roanoke Valley) but on barely discernible paths. You could easily ride right past them without realizing they're there. Pick anywhere in Roanoke to start this ride, such as downtown. Head toward the Raleigh Court neighborhood in the city's southwest quadrant, then pick up Brambleton Avenue.

Follow it 3 miles past the Virginia 419 intersection to Poage Valley Road and make a left. Take Poage Valley for about half a mile until the road splits and make a left on Dawnwood. Follow Dawnwood until you pass under the Blue Ridge Parkway (the only overpass on the road). Go about 500 feet past the overpass and look for the access trail on your right. Follow it about 15 yards down to the parkway, and make a right (north). Follow the parkway for about 20 miles.

Here's the tricky part: Take the parkway half a mile past mile marker 109. You want to get off in a field on your left, where power lines cross over the parkway. Just before the power lines, make a left U-turn into the field and head back in the direction you just came from (the field is lower than the parkway and OK to ride). Head across the field toward a stand of trees about 200 yards away.

As you get closer you'll see an old trail through them. Dismount and walk your bike for 25 yards to Glade Creek Road (be careful of the old wire cable stretched across the trail at the junction with the road). Make a right on Glade Creek, cross the railroad tracks, and follow it to Bonsack Road and make a left. Follow Bonsack to U.S. 460 and make a left (west) for less than 50 yards.

The best thing to do is hang on the eastbound shoulder for this distance. Watch out for oncoming traffic. The first road you'll come to is Carson. Make a left on it and follow it into the city. It'll turn into Belle Avenue, which will lead you to King Street, where you make another left. Follow King across Gus Nicks Boulevard until it dead ends on Braddock Road and make a left. There's a short, very steep, 1-block downhill here with a stop sign at Dale Avenue. Turn right on Dale, go 2 blocks and make a left on 8th Street. Cross the railroad tracks to Walnut (in Southeast Roanoke) and make a right. Take Walnut Avenue to Campbell Avenue, make a left and follow it back to downtown.

Notes

Food, water: Once you pass the intersection of Brambleton Avenue and Virginia 419 on your way out of town, there's nowhere to get food or water for the next 30 miles or so. Make sure you bring plenty of the wet stuff (AT LEAST 2 water bottles). After you leave Brambleton, the first store along the route is a small market at 8th Street and Walnut Avenue in Southeast Roanoke “ almost at the very end of the ride.

Helmets: The National Park Service strongly advises bicyclists to wear helmets on the parkway. Heed this advice. You can easily hit 40 mph on this road, particularly on a long downhill stretch just north of Roanoke Mountain. You don't want to wreck on this lonely road without something to protect the old noggin.

Fog: Be mindful that you may encounter a few bleary-eyed, hung-over drivers speeding down the parkway shortly after dawn. You are the last thing they expect to see. So listen carefully for approaching cars and try to move over as far as safety allows when they're coming.

Bailouts: Just in case you decide I'm out of my gourd and that there's no way you can finish this ride, there's a convenient bailout point along the way that will cut the total distance almost in half. When you reach Roanoke Mountain on the parkway, hang a left on Fishburn Parkway and follow it 5 miles back into Roanoke. The last 2 miles is downhill on Mill Mountain!