Crooked Road route

[dubovsmj]

was wondering if anyone has done a bike trip on the "crooked road" route in southwest virginia?
looks pretty cool, esp with it being music oriented.

here's rough map of it.

http://www.crookedroad.org/map/mapfl.asp

[EnduroDoug]

Haven't been on the roads there, but I know the section of the Appalachian Trail that runs through southwest Virginia (specifically the Mt. Rogers National Rec Area) is one of the most scenic along the entire trail. I suspect it's pretty low on cars and high on scenery!

[staehpj1]

It looks promising.  It goes through mostly rural beautiful country.

[EnduroDoug]

Depending on what kind of bike you're riding, might be worth slapping on a little wider tire and connecting this route with the Virginia Creeper Trail. It's just a 35 mile rail-trail, but it goes through some beautiful scenery. I'm sure the local roads do too, but this might get you even closer to nature.

http://vacreepertrail.com/

[dubovsmj]

i'll have to look at some better road maps and try and incorporate va creeper trail.
i've heard good things about that trail.

also doing the route during music festival season (esp the wayne henderson festival) would be pretty sweet.

[staehpj1]

i'll have to look at some better road maps and try and incorporate va creeper trail.
i've heard good things about that trail.

also doing the route during music festival season (esp the wayne henderson festival) would be pretty sweet.

Keep us posted.

On the Creeper Trail...
Maybe I am a rare exception, but on our 2007 Trans America we started to ride some of the Creeper Trail and found the road much preferable.  The bike traffic was going the opposite way and paying absolutely no attention where they were going.  Time after time we met groups of folks on rental bikes riding 3 or 4 abreast across the whole trail and not looking where they were going.  They rent bikes and get shuttled to go only down hill.

This was in the middle of the week so I am guessing it would be worse on a weekend.

My advice would be to give the trail a try, but have an alternate route in mind in case your experience is similar to ours.

[dubovsmj]

thanks for heads up on va creeper trail.

i'll prob do this route/trail this summer to coincide with some bluegrass/folk shows, but will keep posted

[humunuku]

I believe parts of the Crooked Road are on some un-bike friendly roads (eg the interstate) - some of the roads look fantastic, but look at a map before you tackle the whole thing.  The Creeper is fun, not sure if i'd ride a loaded touring bike on it from white top to damascus - unloaded would be fine though (i usually ride a cyclocross bike on it)

[dubovsmj]

yeh, i think there's a guide book out there i'll try and check out before doing route and maybe piece things together if interstate is involved.
obviously some extensive route investigation via maps/etc needs to take place...maybe even drive parts of it before hand?  we'll see.
thanks!

[litespeed]

US58 between Grayson Highlands State Park (Mt. Rogers)to a campground east of Galax was one of the toughest days cycling I've ever done. The lady at the campground couldn't believe I had come from the west - Gatlinburg. Beautiful rural country with lots of goat and tree farms but the highway has brutally steep, winding, short climbs and descents. It made the climb over Newfound Gap seem like a walk in the park.