route 11, PA through southern Virginia

[affrompa]

Has anyone here travelled route 11, especially through Virginia? I'm considering this route, traveling from PA through southern Virginia, during the warm weather months.  Any experience, tips would be appreciated. Thanks -

[FredHiltz]

I have done one-week tours there every spring since the late 1970s. The Shenandoah Valley and north through Maryland toward Gettysburg are all very good cycling. Route 11 is quite busy in most places. Parallel to it, though, are many paved rural roads where the riding is superb. You could put together a great route on these from detailed maps like those on line or the Delorme Road Atlas books.

Fred

[jamawani]

Even though US 11 is the old highway which parallels I-81, it is usually pretty busy and developed.  The mountains of Maryland and Virginia run in a northeast to southwest direction in a series of ridges with lovely valleys in between.  Virginia has wonderful secondary highways usually numbered in the 600s that are often empty.  Just one valley over from US 11 there may be a perfect road - - however, you should exercise caution on any roads around the DC area - especially Northern Virginia which has seen a development boom that has dumped cars onto what had been country 600 roads.  Don't overlook the Skyline Drive and Blue RIdge Parkway, either.

[tandem]

My wife and I rode tandem from GA to PA in May 2010.
We used route 11 from Knoxville TN to Martinsburg WV and did not encounter much traffic even in the larger towns.
Route 11 did not have much of a shoulder in Virginia but was mostly three lanes that allowed vehicles to give us wide berth.
We were credit card touring and route 11 allowed easy access to food and lodging.