Into the Clouds: Bike Traveling The Blue Ridge Parkway

Blue Ridge Parkway

Above the clouds, we ride. A road stenciled through the forest like the winding curve of a snake’s body. Patiently, we inch closer to the sky. Gears dropped, we face the wall of pavement standing before us. Our minds stay idle watching birds sail over the rolling ridges. The lingering fog and crisp mountain air threatens rain but the vivid colors in the leaves break through with a stunning contradiction.
 
At the top, nearly an hour has passed since the last earnest exhale. The reward is a vivid display, a sea of blue, rolling waves of earth, unfolding into deep valleys and cloud scraping peaks. The air feels thinner there and though its hard to turn away, more is to come along the undulating crest.
 
After the climb, it’s time to fly. Brakes unleashed, gear that once caused resistance is now weightless. The sweat previously formed during the arduous ascent creates a chill through the shirt and up the spine. The wheels turn fast, the wind quickens, miles disappear without the slightest pedal. Time is made up from the eerily slow pace on the other side of the ridge.
 
The ephemeral joy of flying down a mountain is interrupted when the valley slopes into a flat pit, and the next vertical surface stares inward, asking for one more journey into the clouds.