Virginia sections of the MABDR

I spent the last couple days riding 500+ miles across Virginia from the Tennessee border to the West Virginia state line. The route I mostly followed was the Mid Atlantic Backcountry Discovery Route ( <— click on the link for more info) It’s a mix of off-road sections and rural backcountry twisty pavement from the Damascus Virginia on the Tennessee line all the way up to the Pennsylvania/New York border. I say “mostly” because I only had a couple days to do legnth of Virginia so I skipped a few of the dirt sections that really slow down your pace and traveling alone in the back country isn’t what I normally do too. I covered 2.5 sections in 2 days doing day loops making my way back to the van “hopefully”(but not always)by dark. Thanks to Cyclopes Adventure Sports , I’m totally covered at night!

Joining me was a BDR ambassador (all be it, the flat version) Nathan Fant from the You Tube channel For the love of Knobs. I picked up “Flat Nathan” when staying at Nathan and Kris’s house earlier this year.

I was camped “down by the river” in Eggelston Va. right on the New River right across from a very active train tunnel. Luckily my van has pretty good sound deadening properties so it didn’t bother me that much. If tenting it, a good set of earplugs will come in handy. But, I will say the bathrooms were clean and showers were hot. Woke up to a couple chilly mornings, I waited until after 9 and it was above 40f to start my day.

Day 1 was from Eggelston south to Damascus , right on the Tennessee line. It was a 230 mile day by the time I got back to the van just before sunset.

Day 2 was more of the same😉….. beautiful single lane twisty pavement, nice gravel roads, scenic vistas, small towns, green hills with old family farms and even a few hot springs. It was a 300 mile day, having rolled past the 8000 mile mark on the bike as I was heading back from the West Virginia state line🙌 Man, I love this bike!

I ran into Russ Glass on and Africa Twin and Brian Chudzik on a VersysX, both fully kitted out with luggage from Mosko Moto. They were doing the Virginia/West Virginia/Maryland sections of the BDR but at a different pace. Having rented a U-Haul from Pennsylvania to Damascus then taking every dirt and gravel road the BDR Route has to offer, they tent camped along the trail. They had completed the Pennsylvania sections on previous adventures, so they were only going to the Maryland/Pennsylvania line before getting back on the pavement. That’s what’s great about all of the BDR’s, you can do as little or much as you want depending on time, budget and skill level. The non profit BDR Foundation does a great job of putting you on the roads less traveled!

All this adds up to GET UP, GET OUT AND GEAUX! Make your own adventure!