Dan Casey

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"More than once I shouted an unprintable term as my pedals s-l-o-w-l-y turned their way up Salt Pond Mountain on Virginia 613. Mountain Lake Resort was the goal; the only problem was, that sucker was 2,000 vertical feet above me.The road's pitch was enough to put an Alpine skier into a nervous frenzy. The grade is a daunting 11.9 percent and that ballbuster never lets up. In road racing parlance, it's called a "Category 1" mountain. These are the steepest, longest, most unrelenting and fearsome climbs in the world. Only a masochist takes pleasure in them. That was why my chest heaved, my heart pounded and my leg muscles burned. I got this sinking feeling they would rebel, turn to jelly and leave me sitting on the side of the road in pain and self-pity. I stopped to catch my breath."What am I doing here without a triple crank?" I wondered. "Ah, that's right, it was the Skydog who talked me into this."

My lightweight, bike-maniac friend turned around, observed I'd stopped and smiled sweetly. "I'll see you at the top," he said.Five miles (and about that many stops) later, my inching wheels finally touched level pavement. Jim had been at the top for 18 minutes already, enough time to knit a garland of roadside daisies. He hung it over my neck, grabbed the camera, knelt down, snapped a shot and laughed uproariously. Now THAT'S humiliation!

It's not all agony

Why do we torture ourselves like this? The broad answer is, we are bike people. We like to roll under our own power, watching our shadows on sunny pavement as a morning breeze cools our skin. We survey landscapes at a pace slow enough to take it all in, and indulge in a daydream or two as we spin along. We like challenges (OK, most of them). Every mile beneath our wheels adds bits of pride, awe, wonder and surprise that swell our hearts and make us want to do it all over again.

Roughly 10 miles (mostly at the end) is thrilling, winding downhill that will quickly dry whatever sweat you've worked up on the climb to Mountain Lake, and that will be considerable. So there you have it: 27 miles of pleasure and 5 miles of pain. Who wouldn't go for a ratio like that?

A little bit about Mountain Lake

One thing you shouldn't ignore is Mountain Lake, or the stately historic hotel that stands on its shore. You'll get there 22 miles into this ride and almost all of the rest is downhill. Your work is over, so get lunch in the restaurant there, or, if it's Sunday, check out the legendary brunch (reservations recommended).

The 100-acre lake has quite a history. Thousands of years ago it was a stream-fed gully on top of Salt Pond Mountain. A rockslide dammed the gully and created the lake, one of only two natural lakes in the state of Virginia and one of the highest east of the Rockies.Christopher Gist, on behalf of the Ohio Land Co., first surveyed the mountain in 1751. Its first known owner, in 1857, was Henley Chapman, the first Commonwealth's Attorney for Giles County. He began the process of turning the mountain and its lake into the resort that it is today. The property changed hands a few times over the next 70 years.In the early 1930s, Texas tycoon William Lewis Moody purchased it. He tore down the original wooden hotel and built the present lodge with stone native to the mountain. After his death, Moody's daughter acquired the property. Mary Moody Northen so loved the resort that when she died in 1986, she left it to a not-for-profit foundation with stipulation that its natural beauty be preserved and protected for future generations. Today, the land is in the hands of a conservancy. The foundation contracts with a management company for the operation of the hotel. More recently, the hotel gained a measure of fame because parts of the movie "Dirty Dancing" were filmed there.

The Route

Skydog and I parked the car at the Newport Recreation Center on Virginia 42. Heading north on 42 from U.S. 460, it's on the right just after you cross the bridge at Sinking Creek. It works fine as a starting & finishing point, although it's not much more than a gravel parking lot with a port-a-potty and a pavilion.Coming out of the lot you make a left (south) and follow it a few hundred yards to county road 601, where you take a right. The road follows a creek until a T-intersection. Bear right and stay on 601 as it climbs gently for the next 5 to 6 miles. It ends at a hairpin left turn, where it becomes Virginia 602. Stay on 602 for 6 to 7 miles (it has a couple of short, but steep, climbs) until it ends on Virginia 700, which is Mountain Lake Road. Hang a left on 700 and follow it downhill a couple miles. Just before you hit U.S. 460 you want to take a right on county road 783. This road goes on for a little longer than a mile, where it ends on U.S. 460. Take a right.

This is the most unpleasant part of the ride. U.S. 460 is four lanes. Traffic is light, but there's no shoulder and the cars are going 60 mph. Careful! You stay on 460 about four miles, until you reach county road 613, which is right after a country market called Tickles. This is the hard one. The first 1.5-2 miles is pretty easy, and then it turns into a killer for the next 4. You'll intersect 700 at the top of the mountain; hang a left and it'll take you to the parking lot for Mountain Lake Resort. When you leave, follow 700 all the way down the mountain (almost 7 gorgeous descending miles). Just before you reach 460, make a left on county road 604. It'll lead you back to 601 where you'll make a right, and leads back to 42, where the rec center parking lot is.

Notes

Tickles, a country market/deli/gas station on U.S. 460 is the only store along this route. It's a great place to stock up on water, electrolyte drinks, fruit or food before the big climb. You don't want to be stuck running dry when climbing that hill.Check out Mountain Lake. It's a great resort, where you can eat good food, watch folks play tennis, lawn chess, badminton or canoe on the serene water. There's a (mountain bike) rental shop there where they'd probably watch your road bikes if you ask. The resort and its grounds are open to the public. (And by the way, there's great mountain biking trails there, too).

If you've got a bike with triple crank and extra low gears, take it with you on this ride. Unless you're an expert rider, the big hill will be extremely challenging. As Skydog said, "when you hit the steep parts you think 'I'll just take it slower' — but it doesn't do any good."