BRP in 1 day

[TripperMike]

So I have a question for my SE FJR family.
I am planning a trip to VA to visit with one of my sons and his family.
During the visit I plan on making myself scarce for a couple of days before getting back to them.
So I am wondering, is it possible to ride the entire length of the Blue Ridge Pkwy (650 mi.) in one day? Specifically in 15 hrs or so.
Normally 650 miles in a bit of a cake walk. But BRP is not the stuff cake walks are made of. Low speed limits, oodles and oodles of curves, wildlife, etc.

Let me know your thoughts. I'd appreciate it greatly. And if it makes any difference, the ride is scheduled for a few days after Labor Day.

 

[rbentnail]

Technically it can be done if you speed just a little during the week and you take meals and drink with you. This time of year it starts getting a little crowded on the weekends as folks are enjoying the start of Leaf Peeping season and the cooler weather for hiking. Places to stop are few and far between and just getting refueled can be a 30-45 minute detour.

Curves and wildlife are not an issue. For most of it north of Asheville, NC you can set a cruise and ramble on. South of there and it gets curvier and can slow you down some. To me, it kinda defeats the purpose to consider this one of my "ride it just to say I did" roads. YMMV but I consider the BRP to be: A) not a road to travel to get from A to B, and 2) definitely a road to stop often and admire the views and see the sights. There are interesting overviews, markers, old buildings, etc. along the way to be enjoyed. I'd be wasting a good opportunity to chill for 2 days and enjoy the leisurely ride for a change. If you want to ride twisties or tear up the road a bit then IMHO the BRP is not the place to be.

 

[Whooshka]

Russ summed it up good. You can also count on getting stuck behind a big RV (several times) doing 35 mph for a while until you get the chance to pass.

 

[RossKean]

I thought the BRP was officially 469 miles, not 650...

 

[Whooshka]

I think when you add in Skyline Drive on the north end it extends it.

 

[RossKean]

I think when you add in Skyline Drive on the north end it extends it.

As bad as the BRP with maximum speed of 45 mph, Skyline is only 35 mph. You might do it all in a day if you wanted to risk performance awards, but I am not sure why you might want to. I have done the whole thing in two days and didn't waste much time sniffing flowers. A few photo ops but not much more.

 

[VAcracker]

So I have a question for my SE FJR family.
I am planning a trip to VA to visit with one of my sons and his family.
During the visit I plan on making myself scarce for a couple of days before getting back to them.
So I am wondering, is it possible to ride the entire length of the Blue Ridge Pkwy (650 mi.) in one day? Specifically in 15 hrs or so.
Normally 650 miles in a bit of a cake walk. But BRP is not the stuff cake walks are made of. Low speed limits, oodles and oodles of curves, wildlife, etc.

Let me know your thoughts. I'd appreciate it greatly. And if it makes any difference, the ride is scheduled for a few days after Labor Day.

What part of VA will you be visiting? The group may be able to suggest some rides.

Northern VA could be Skyline Drive plus some jaunts to other VA and near by WV mountains

Southwest VA has the back of the dragon and nearby head of the dragon.

Lots of good riding all along western and northern VA.

 

[Sunnyorlando]

So I have a question for my SE FJR family.
I am planning a trip to VA to visit with one of my sons and his family.
During the visit I plan on making myself scarce for a couple of days before getting back to them.
So I am wondering, is it possible to ride the entire length of the Blue Ridge Pkwy (650 mi.) in one day? Specifically in 15 hrs or so.
Normally 650 miles in a bit of a cake walk. But BRP is not the stuff cake walks are made of. Low speed limits, oodles and oodles of curves, wildlife, etc.

Let me know your thoughts. I'd appreciate it greatly. And if it makes any difference, the ride is scheduled for a few days after Labor Day.

So you are doing the BRP and Skyline with that mileage.
The BRP by itself is doable, but why? You won't get to see much of it and you will definitely spend a long day in the saddle. If it's just an "I did the whole BRP" ride, then yes. But adding skyline on the same day, it's going to be tough.
I know I (and many here) can do 600~700 or more miles in a day, but not at that BRP/Skyline speeds...
Keep in mind that in order to cover that mileage you will have to average about 55mph the whole day non stop for a 12hr day. That means you will be 'speeding' most of the way. On those two roads, it's a tough reach.

 

[Stretch160]

So I have a question for my SE FJR family.
I am planning a trip to VA to visit with one of my sons and his family.
During the visit I plan on making myself scarce for a couple of days before getting back to them.
So I am wondering, is it possible to ride the entire length of the Blue Ridge Pkwy (650 mi.) in one day? Specifically in 15 hrs or so.
Normally 650 miles in a bit of a cake walk. But BRP is not the stuff cake walks are made of. Low speed limits, oodles and oodles of curves, wildlife, etc.

Let me know your thoughts. I'd appreciate it greatly. And if it makes any difference, the ride is scheduled for a few days after Labor Day.

I did it 15 years ago. The speed limit was a constant 45mph back then and I ran a steady 50mph from mile marker 0 in VA to mm 470 in Cherokee NC. I did get off the parkway for a leisurely lunch, and did some sight seeing. I left mm 0 around 09:00 and reached Cherokee about 22:00.

 

[RBEmerson]

The comments about time, distance, traffic are pretty much spot on. But...

Keep in mind the scenery really is awesome. Jumping on at one end, churning out the miles, jumping off at the other end? Kind of a waste IMHO.

Keep an eye out for bicycles - they're zippy fast downhill, and kinda slow uphill.

Here's the biggie... BRP is federal territory, which is to say, a speeding ticket on the BRP is handed out by National Park Police - not a lot of room for "I know a guy who can make that go away". I watched a guy on a BMW 1200 GS find that out the hard way.

All things being equal, if it's about making miles, suck it up, and stick with I-81. If it's about a good ride with some good stops, then BRP, by all means.

 

[graytaz]

Apparently, the performance awards on the BRP can be quite pricey and difficult to contest. The comments already posted here really cover riding the BRP well. The Park Rangers can be a pain in the butt when trying to make time but I had a situation where I was literally riding on the cords of my rear tire (Pirelli) and a pair of Rangers had their dispatch patch them through to the local sheriff's office which patched in a deputy they knew rode and who directed me to a couple reasonably close bike shops where I was able to get a replacement.

 

[CollingsBob]

In May I rode the NC500 in Scotland..it took me 9 days to ride slightly more than 1300 miles. I talked to some fellow riders in Edinburgh who bragged about riding it in 3 1/2 days. I asked them if they had stopped to take any pictures, or if they recalled seeing anything specific. They answered negative to both questions. I then asked them why they bothered to come to Scotland if they hadn't seen anything - why not just go to a track day.

 

[TripperMike]

A huge thanks to those of you who took the time to respond; and I was actually able to pick up on a few useful bits of info.
However I also have to just shrug off most of you alls' ill informed judgements. Some of you must just assume I get a lot of vacation time, like perhaps you might, or that I live in the area. Now I've known some of you on this forum for a number of yrs now, and you know me, and know I live a long ride away.

So let me ask you this. Is it better to ride through an area without taking the time to truly enjoy what an area has to offer, or never ride through the area because you don't have that kind of time available? When I ride alone, I don't like to take a lot of time stopping at every picturesque view that presents itself. I see it more as a way to scout out an area first and if it meets my "gotta bring the wife out here someday" criteria, then that's what I'll do. Besides, it's not like I'm looking to ride this route like my britches are on fire.

Anyways, I'm sure you all had good intentions, but dang it, I just felt like taking it the wrong way tonight. lol

I'm starting the ride near the Cavaliers campus. You locals and sports fans know where that is. My plan is to leave early on a Weds morning and head out towards Kitty Hawk. From there I'll ride what I think are the Outer Banks, take a couple of ferry rides and head towards New Bern. Wife and I rode there a few yrs back (the same trip when we rode a couple hundred miles of BRP and sniffed frickin' flowers), and then figured on heading to Cherokee and back to Charlottesville via BRP. Total of 3 days. No I have not yet to entered all of this into S&T and so I don't know the total miles. The trip, as are all of my trips, has "escape routes" figured into it. If time becomes a problem, I can always bail out and take a shorter route back to the proverbial barn.

The way I like to ride, I like to see, and experience, as much countryside as I can on a trip. I take pictures. Maybe not as much as some of you, but at least I get to see it. It is better to have loved once than never have loved at all, or however that goes.

For what it's worth, thanks for the input guys.

 

[RossKean]

Not all parts of the BRP are equal - some of it is downright mundane. You might do some research and find what you must see vs some of the points in between. In some cases, you might be able to hop onto a state highway to make up some time. I have been through twice but don't know enough about alternate routes to provide specific advice. Plan at least a couple of photo ops and pack any food and beverages you want - you won't have time for a restaurant stop. Plan your gas stop(s) as well - you might get by with one.

As far as a quick ride through a region to get a taste to see whether I should plan a return visit, I have done that lots of times. Not especially satisfying but sometimes you have to choose between having a good look at a small bit and having a fleeting glance at a bunch of stuff. In some instances, that has worked well for me. In others, I ended out exhausted and probably shouldn't have bothered. I'm recently retired so I can afford the luxury of a less frantic pace but I have kicked myself for the many times I didn't take an extra 15 minutes here or there to stop to look at something or take a photo.

As far as the whole BRP and Skyline Drive are concerned, it is ONLY possible if you are willing to risk one or more expensive tickets. Even if you are willing to take the risk, tourist traffic might make higher speeds impossible. Despite your ambition, I think you should consider paring it down a bit and hit some of the highlights. While Skyline is great, the 35 mph speed limit limits how much you can cover in a reasonable timeframe.

 

[griff]

Mike - check for road closure/detours. I think there is still one near Roanoke. Might be a big time suck.

 

[TripperMike]

Mike - check for road closure/detours. I think there is still one near Roanoke. Might be a big time suck.

Thanks for bringing that up Griff. I have to admit, checking beforehand about road construction status prior to a trip has never been my strong suit.
Having just checked it out, it appears that that section may be open soon; but that other areas might be getting some work done. Backed up traffic due to maintenance crews can sometimes be worse than detours.

 

[scutrbrau]

Since you rode the BRP before you know what it's like. As for the speed limits referenced above, I'll add that while Skyline Drive is regularly patrolled, the rest of the BRP is not. I live 10 minutes off the Parkway and spend a lot of time there. It's rare to see rangers with speed traps and they're generally within 20 miles or so of the northern end that's closest to Skyline. They also don't seem to be interested in someone going 10 miles over the limit, in my experience.

If you do bail out on the way back to C'ville I suggest heading east to get onto 29 instead of west onto I-81. It's prettier, it's divided highway, and it's just about as quick.

Have a great trip. My wife and I are heading down to the Asheville area in a couple of weeks and we'll face the same questions as we head back north.

 

[TripperMike]

I thought the BRP was officially 469 miles, not 650...

Ross, you are correct. BRP is 469 miles and Skyline is 105 miles. I had looked up the distance earlier in the day of my OP, but apparently I screwed the pooch when I typed 650.

Actually I think what has happened is as I age, my brain remembers one thing but my body is telling me that 469 miles is going to feel like 650.

 

[Whooshka]

I have trouble understanding asking for advice, getting pretty much a consensus, calling it "ill advised" then blowing it off because it doesn't jive with your plan. That's just me I guess.

 

[TripperMike]

I have trouble understanding asking for advice, getting pretty much a consensus, calling it "ill advised" then blowing it off because it doesn't jive with your plan. That's just me I guess.

Well the thing is Whooshka, I wasn't asking for advise about how I should ride the BRP. I simply asked if it could be ridden in about 15 hrs.
It's all about reading comprehension my friend.