Southwest Virginia Backroads

This photo is rarer than a comet. It's a sunrise shot by me. This is an hour of the day I don't often see. Enjoy it, people.


My friend and I took a quick trip up to Southwest Virginia this weekend to see what the Seca is like on a road trip. Well, it's super fun in curves. After about 100 miles on the interstate the vibes and less-than-plush seat take their toll on one's nether regions. Frequent stops are welcome. At the end o' the trip we clocked about 600 miles in 2 days. The fun route started in the morning at Hungry Mother State Park in Marion, VA. We started off heading up 16 north through the Jefferson National Forest. This is your typical East Coast mountain pass: Up and down, left and right. Kind of all at once at times.

On one of the many uphill sweeping left turns in particular will stick around my brain for a while. This turn was cool. It was a wide left going uphill. Wide enough for a noob like me to take it with some speed. Unbeknownst to me, at the precise instant I began my entrance to the bottom of this turn a young man in a gray pickup truck with a chocolate lab in back had also begun his entrance. Into the apex of the turn. He did this by backing out of his driveway which was precariously positioned on the right hand side of the road right in the middle. So the pickup truck backed out. Sideways. He had just begun to straight'n'er up when I rounded the bend and was treated to a face-shield filling view of Dodge tailgate and slobbery Chocolate lab. The lab looked friendly. The tailgate looked hard.

I got to practice a mid-turn (leaning) emergency stop. It was cool. I quickly righted the bike, and jammed the brakes. Not too much... don't wanna lock up. Apply even yet forcefull pressure. Both tires grabbed, neither broke loose, and I was able to slow down (real quick), downshift and motor on without even lugging the bike -- too much. Dude in the truck went approximately 50 feet before turning into another driveway.

So anyway, 16 wanders along and eventually intersects with 42 which is as beautiful a backroad you could ever request. Curvy parts. Straight parts. Little traffic. Beautiful. When went all the way through Bland County and into Giles where 42 turned 4 lane. So we ducked off onto 730 for some more twisties. This included one with a lot of sand and gravel in it. I didn't dump the bike, but I sure thought I was going to. 730 pops out on 460 just west of Blacksburg, home of the Hokies, and that's when I was sad I left the town oh about 7 years ago. Who knew such bliss was so close-by?