GlideFest 2019

NEW Travels: July 24 – July 28 (Due to tropical Storm Barry)

Travels: July 17 – July 21

GlideFest is an annual ride with some seasoned riding friends to various destinations around the Country. The ride has been going on for many years and this year finds us heading to Bluefield, Virginia (about 50 miles north of the Virginia/North Carolina border and 85 miles north of Cherokee National Forest) and the awesome Back of the Dragon.

The Back of the Dragon travels along Rt 16 and spans 3 mountain ranges. It climbs to over 3,500 feet and offers 32 intense miles (and 260 windy curves) of exhilarating riding fun. Check back for more information as the date gets closer. Follow these links for more details.

http://www.backofthedragon.com/the-road.html

https://www.appalachianbackroads.com/back-of-the-dragon

Overall route spanning Wednesday – Sunday

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Travel Day!

It’s almost 4:00AM. Kat and I are working to leave here as soon as possible towards our first ride-through destination… Front Royal and Skyline Drive.

The day is done and it was a beautiful day of riding. Total distance was about 450 miles but I was weary when we arrived at the hotel and forgot to check the mileage, especially with Fred, Tim and Leroy preparing to leave for dinner. Wednesday morning was crisp and cool with temps in the mid-60’s much of the way. Although the temps started to warm a bit as we arrive in Front Royal the temps dropped back into the 60’s as we entered Skyline Drive (SLD). Fortunately Kat and I were dressed warmly and felt good.

As we negotiated SLD it felt good to glide the bike through the twists and turns. The Road Glide Special handled the twists in performance-like fashion and I could tell Kat was enjoying herself, especially with this being her first time on SLD. With the weather being so nice it was easy to lose focus and enjoy the ride but the “animal crash zone” signs that appeared from time to time were a stark reminder to keep a watchful eye on the road. In fact Kat mentioned several time that she saw deer on the sides of the road. Unfortunately, no bear 🙁.

During our way south we decided to stop at several overlooks to take pictures and some video and enjoy the strong cool breezes blowing across the mountains. It felt great to sit with Kat and look out across the blue-toned mountains with the breeze blowing across our faces. If we weren’t following a plan I believe we may have laid on the stone wall and taken a snooze in the warm sun. But alas, the Road called to us to keep moving. Great memories made though on there on the wall.

As we prepared to start our journey south some folks in a car approached looking like they wanted to talk. So Kat and I abliged and had a nice conversation with a family of Kentuckians on their way down SLD and onto the Blue Ridge Parkway. Once we waved goodbye to our new friends we quickly hopped on the bike and were off but with a slight change of plans. Instead of heading down to Rockfish Gap to exit SLD we decided to exit at Rt 33 to save more time for our next stop… The Natural Bridge. More on this latter as it’s now time for Thursday morning breakfast with the group. Hopefully I’ll catch up with my writing later today. Until that time we’re off…