Noahs Ark

We left the hotel this morning at about 9:30 am.   We rode about 1.7 miles back to the parkway and saw the animals all lined up 2 by 2.  We knew at that point it was going to be a long, wet day.  It started raining on us from near the beginning of the ride and then the sun came our when we sat for dinner.   We got soaked.   The wind gusts were incredible and the predictions were up to 30MPH.   We are not sure how high they got at the peaks.  However, during one coasting downhill run, we hit a gust that dropped us to 9MPH.   

Regardless of the weather, we are grateful for the short 47 mile run today.   It was a splendid trip.  Kelly lead us with strong pulls up some good long climbs.   The wet downhill runs on the rainslick surface with rain pelting you in the face at 35MPH were "epic".  (We have been wanting to fit in that word and today was as good of a day as any.)  

Along the way today we continued to see great views.   Early in the ride we came upon Lake Price with a beautiful mountain backdrop that demanded a photo.  One particularly spectacular scene was over Lincove Viaduct  where the storm clouds swept the mountains and the view turned you back onto the roads that we had just traversed.   At one point when we were finishing a descent and into a solid cruising pace, two deer sprang from a meadow and "raced" along side us out in a open pasture.   The deer won.  For lunch, we took a side tour of about 3 miles to Linville Falls and we took a quick hike out to the falls for photos.   Definitely worth the detour, the falls were beautiful.

We surpassed the 300 mile mark today and stopped at 335 miles at our evening resting spot, Little Switzerland.   An early end at 3:30pm, allowed us to get dried off and down to the ice cream shop before they closed at 5pm.   After just relaxing for a while and enjoying dinner with our SAG team, we have a thrilling night of cards lined up.   We plan to retire early tonight as tomorrow has some of the "best" climbs of the week.  As I write, we are already calculating all climbs tomorrow. 

Thanks for reading.   We are all feeling good at the moment.  Certainly the miles and

hours in the saddle are starting to accumulate, but we are all doing well.