Photo – Virginia Road
Surprisingly productive day. I didn’t expect to find so many great roads in this area, but they’re here.
I covered about 332 miles in a 12 hour day. That’s not a lot of miles but it is a testament to the quality of the roads. The majority of the rides were on isolated back roads, many so remote they are devoid of any markings – no center line, just pavement. The area is full of them. It took a lot of riding to identify the best.
Photo – Virginia Road
The rain that moved through last night continued to follow me on and off through the day. I got my first good soaking around 9:30 AM. It came down hard and heavy for a while, then eased off to spit on and off until almost mid-day. As I moved south I moved out of it.
For a while the sun came out and the heat came on. Things were going well until around 4:30. I was headed south from Radford, VA. on a particularly nice stretch of road when all hell broke loose. I saw it coming, but didn’t realize how severe it was until it was on me. The TV is talking about a potential tornado touchdown in the area. It was a least one of those “micro-bursts”.
Photo – 
Parked along a scenic riverside on one of the routes.
The wind picked up enough to blow me around the road, huge branches were crashing down in the road and I was concerned a tree might fall on me. I ran over several large branches and as soon as I broke free of the tree cover the rain got so heavy I couldn’t see 15 feet in front of me. I caught a glimpse of an abandoned country store at the roadside, circled back, and pulled the front end of the bike up under the porch until things settled down. In 15 minutes the sun was shining again.
A lot the time was spent south of the border – in North Carolina. I found little there as the mountains have veered north and you’re getting out into the Piedmont. There are still a few isolated outcroppings such as Pilot Mountain and the area around Hanging Rock State Park is very good. There are also some interesting areas still further east, but they are off the map so I’ll have to come back and visit them on my own time.
Photo – Dam!
While the mountains which run through this section of Virginia are not as high and impressive as those found further north and south, the entire area is very hilly. It’s the roads which thread through these hilly portions that hold some real gems. Some of them are amazingly tight and technical, when you get up on a hilltop you get views that rival the Blue Ridge Parkway, and there are numerous streams and rivers to add to the scenery.
It’s a lot different from North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia and I’ve had to adjust to it. Still, you know a good road when you ride it, and you know a great road from a good road. I think I’ve found several I can recommend.
>> Go To America Rides Maps.com – http://americaridesmaps.com/