I have an extra week of vacation to burn up in 2011 and I would like to use it by cycling the Blue Ridge Parkway. Cycling I have done for the past few years has only consisted of mountain biking. I have a Specialized Hardrock Sport that I ride on trails and around town. My question is..........should I get a true road bike or would my mountain bike be sufficient if I just switched tires? I also plan on pulling a BOB Yak. I plan on doing this trip in May. Before that I am going to take a long weekend cycle the Skyline Drive for some more experience.
Blue Ridge Parkway Adventure.....Cycle Question
- Thread starter jptopdwn
- Start date
I've never done that ride, but I read an article on it within the past year or two. I can't remember where I read it, but maybe you can Google it. As I recall, it's all paved and has quite a bit of climbing. I would take a road bike and think about compact chainring and/or a 27 tooth cog on back. Maybe even lower gearing if pulling a trailer.
FWIW. While many people tour on 26" wheels, I agree that a bike with 700c wheels would be better.
However, I don't agree that you need to buy a new bike.
In addition to changing to the appropriate "slicks" for your rims, you would probably want to change the suspension fork to a "rigid" fork (available on eBay for less than $50) .
Road bars are more efficient because they allow you to change hand positions & you can achieve a more aerodynamic position when necessary (think, headwinds).
Here's an example of how I reconfigured an older (pre-disc mount & pre-replaceable hanger) Hardtail frame that I had:
　
The Road fork lowered the head tube and the resultant head tube angle is about 73º -- the current norm for a Road bike.
The pre-2007 (non-QS), 10-speed Campagnolo shifters readily index to both 8-and-9-speed Shimano drivetrains -- for 8-speed indexing, the rear derailleur cable is attached normally & for 9-speed indexing you would use the hubbub.com alternate attachment at 3 o'clock:
Since I was configuring my Hardtail as a Road bike, I laced a 700c rim to a MTB hub.
The particular Road crank required a 118mm ISIS to allow the crankarms and 52t chainring to clear the stays. I subsequently swapped the pictured crank & BB with a 118mm Octalink BB & a crankset with a 53t chainring.
- Shimano makes a 48t 104BCD chainring in both alloy & steel. When mated with a "standard" 11-32 cassette (8-speed or 9-speed), you should have a wide enough range for most touring conditions.
The distance between the "brake" bridge and the 700c rim's braking surface was just within the parameters of Tektro LONG REACH Road caliper. I enlarged the "underside" of the hole to receive the recessed brake nut.
Those modificiations (i.e, handlebars + tape, rigid fork, Campagolo shifters & 48t chainring/etc. sans wheel change), if you DIY, will probably cost between $200 & $300 (depending on how wise a shopper you are).
Thanks for all the replies. I actually bought a Specialized road bike over the weekend. Now I just need to start burning up the miles to get my legs in shape for my Blue Ridge trip. If anyone has any good links to training programs.......that would be greatly appreciated.
The blue ridge parkway only has easy climbs. Nothing is very steep (a 39x25 is plenty for most), but everything is long. The uphills are relatively fast for a climb, and the downhills are very fast for upwards of 15-25min. I've been there for the past 3 years with a large group, and one of them (he holds a pro-mtb license) does it all on a mountain bike with road wheels/tires. Of course it can be done, but you'd probably have a lot more fun on a road bike.
Just ride lots. You can easily do a 110mi out-and-back route on blue ridge, with many mountain passes, and not even come close to going as far as you want to go.
Just ride lots. You can easily do a 110mi out-and-back route on blue ridge, with many mountain passes, and not even come close to going as far as you want to go.
Smart move.
Some of my college friends did this ride around 1972, on Peugeot road bikes, carrying light panniers. Their bottom gear was 36/28.
Your local shop should have books on training, but I recommend just getting out for around 50-100 miles a week at a brisk but not exhausting pace. And find some people to ride with.
Back in 1993 I did a 1,500 mile bike tour around the east coast, starting in Charleston, SC going north to D.C. and then headed west and rode ~300 miles through the mountains on Skyline Drive and then Blue Ridge Parkway. I was riding a mountain bike that I had put a rack w/ panniers and a handlbar bag on and changed out the knobby tires with slicks. This was a Raleigh Talon MB, much like the first picture (on the left) in this link. http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&q=pics+of+a+raleigh+talon+bike&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=7b989c6c17f79c85
BTW, that was my first bike tour, learned a lot on that trip
BTW, that was my first bike tour, learned a lot on that trip
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