Dan Casey

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I have a recommendation: Around Labor Day 2005, call the Virginia Department of Transportation and ask if the reconstruction of Squirrel Spur Road in rural Patrick County is complete. If so, grab your bike, throw it on your car, drive as fast as you can to the small town of Stuart and do this very challenging 64-mile ride.

Between huffs and puffs, you'll curse the unrelenting switchbacks on Virginia 8 and marvel at flower-filled meadows on the Blue Ridge Parkway. In a couple of places along the way, homespun country folk will treat you like family.

Then, near the Carroll County border, you'll make a turn onto Squirrel Spur Road. At the beginning, it appears to be a bicyclist's paradise. But it quickly turns into a hellish, 6-mile descent that's the wildest hill I've ever ridden down in Virginia.

Through insanely engineered turns, Squirrel Spur Road plunges nearly 2,000 vertical feet past the Pinnacles of Dan into Patrick County's rolling lowlands. You'll pass below hundreds of gigantic boulders that improbably hang on the sheer mountainside and urge you to ride faster, just in case a giant slide cuts loose, buries you in a rocky tomb and brings your bicycling future to a sudden and tragic end.

Adjectives like superb, death-defying, fantastic and magnificent do not do it justice. It's a descent you'll never forget, even if, by the ride's end, you never want to do it again.

Road was closed, so ... we took it!

But do this next year -- unlike me, Manly Aylor and Baker Ellet. That's because since May 2004, Squirrel Spur Road has been closed for some very good reasons. A one-mile section far down it looks like bomber pilots used it as a practice range. The pavement is gone, and what remains is a snaking, rock-strewn corridor covered in soft dirt. It hugs the mountain's vertical face and is littered with downed trees and parked bulldozers, dump trucks and other heavy equipment.

We discovered this when we ignored the barricades and detour signs and took the plunge. Call us adventurous, foolhardy, gullible, dumb or desperate -- it was probably a mixture of all the above. By the time we got to the rough part, our leg muscles were screaming and there was no turning back, at least willingly.

"Holy Jesus!" I thought, as Aylor popped his shoes out of his pedals and dug his heels into the dirt just in time to avoid sliding off the edge of a 100-foot cliff.

"I wish I had my mountain bike," he shouted.

Finally we made it down, haltingly, and started spinning back toward Stuart. We thought the hard part was over. But we were wrong again.

Found in a book

Dan Casey | The Roanoke Times

You call this ROAD? Although locals in Meadows of Dan had assured us that the pavement was good all the way down Squirrel Spur Road, this shot proves the opposite. Pictured is Manly Aylor, just after he nearly plunged 100 feet down a dirt cliff. 'I wish I had my damn mountain bike!' he shouted.

Related

Map

• Map of Patrick County

The route

• We started on Virginia 8 about 3 miles north of Stuart, near a country store. From there, we headed north through Woolwine and up to Tuggles Gap.
• At Tuggles Gap, turn south on the Blue Ridge Parkway for just more than 18 miles.
• Turn left off the parkway onto an unpaved road at mile marker 183.9, then make an immediate right onto Squirrel Spur Road (614), and follow it down the mountain for about 6 miles.
• At the first stop sign turn left on Ararat Road (773) and go about 4.5 miles.
• Turn left at the stop sign on Claudville Highway (103) and take it about a half-mile to the bottom of the hill.
• Turn left on Little Dan River Road. It's marked 731 but soon makes a bend right and becomes 647. This road twists and turns over the next 13 or so miles as it leads you back to Stuart. From 647: Take it for .3 miles and turn right on 646, which you follow for 3.7 miles before bearing left on 647. Follow 647 for 3.5 miles, where you bear left to stay on 647. 1.7 miles later, you stay straight where it turns into 631. It later turns into Dobyns Road.
• As you enter town, turn left at the stop sign and climb a steep hill on N. Main Street. Take N. Main to Blue Ridge Street (which is Va. 8/U.S. 58), make a left and follow it 3 miles out of town back to your car.

I learned of this ride in a book, "Road Biking Virginia," by Jim Homerosky, (Falcon, 2002) which is a pretty good little manual of 40 rides around the state. Homerosky calls this one Mabry Mill Challenge. Somehow, I overlooked the author's ominous-sounding note: "Hilly to mountainous. Toughest challenge in the book. Only the strongest cyclists should consider completing the ride in one day."

We drove to the outskirts of Stuart and started this ride at a country store just north of town. Then we headed out Virginia 8. The road rolls until you pass Woolwine, where we climbed about 5 miles up to where the Blue Ridge Parkway begins. At more than 2,000 vertical feet, this is a bitch of a climb. The switchbacks are tight, but the grade is doable.

When you get to the top, make sure you stop in Tuggles Gap Restaurant, a folksy roadhouse that also (thank goodness!) sells sports drinks. The ladies there are friendly, the place is homey and the food is cheap.

After Tuggles Gap, we got on the Parkway and headed south for just more than 18 miles. We made a pit-stop at Meadows of Dan, and got a great, inexpensive lunch at the Poor Old Farmers Market, a country store and deli. The next big turn was Squirrel Spur Road, just more than 6 miles down the road.

You already know what happened there.

Notes

Even after Squirrel Spur Road is paved, you should not attempt this ride unless you have supreme confidence in your biking abilities -- particularly climbing. I estimate the total climbing on this ride is about 4,400 feet.

If you get to Meadows of Dan and you feel like you're dying, strongly consider cutting the ride short and returning to Stuart along U.S. 58. It's not the ideal road for riding, but you'll knock about 20 hard miles off this difficult ride.

There are plenty of places to buy food, get water and take bathroom breaks on this ride. Three notable places are the Tuggles Gap Restaurant, which is on Va. 8 near the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Mabry Mill Restaurant, which is on the Parkway at mile marker 176, and the Poor Old Farmer's Market in Meadows of Dan. The latter is a country market and deli that serves inexpensive sandwiches.

Even after the big descent down Squirrel Run, there's still plenty of climbing ahead of you. There are 4 or 5 steep short climbs (less than a mile) until you get back to Stuart. Don't forget to take your camera. The views of Buffalo Mountain from Rocky Knob are inspiring. What you'll see on Squirrel Run is positively frightening. Mabry Mill, on the Blue Ridge Parkway at mile marker 176, is reputed to be the most photographed location on the entire parkway.

There are no bikes shops in all of Patrick County, and no cell phone service in much of it. Make sure you're prepared for flats or other common breakdowns.

Getting there

To get to Stuart from Roanoke, take U.S. 220 South just past Martinsville, then U.S. 58 west to Stuart. Follow Virgina 8 about 3 miles north to Howell's store and find a place to park. You want to head north on 8 toward the Blue Ridge Parkway.