New River Trail - Part TWO - Cycling the 60-Mile Gravel Trail - Galax to Fries to Pulaski, Virginia

Join me in part two on the New River Trail State Park Rail Trail. In part one of the New River Trail ride, I began the 60-mile or so ride from Galax, Virginia and made it to the junction point for the next leg into Fries (pronounced 'Frees'). When I left you all last I had made it back to the Junction Point to begin the 38-mile ride to Pulaski.
This was my longest rail trail so far and for one reason or another I just wasn't up to feeling my best on the bike. Even with that, however, it was still an enjoyable ride with plenty of site and sounds along the way.
I'm on the Giant Revolt again but this time with an all new Advanced Pro Frame! The frame itself is a huge upgrade and was swapped out free of charge by Mole Hill Bikes in Dayton, Virginia due to a defect on the Advanced 3 bike frame.
Aside from the advantages of this frame, I suffered a lot on this ride in my race against the sun. I've ridden 60-miles before but not on an all gravel trail so this could have been one of the factors that caused me so much suffering later in the ride.
You can watch the ride unfold from beginning to end (recommended option) or jump around using the scene selection listed below. Either way, I hope you enjoy the video. Even with the body aches and pains, it was another wonderful ride offering beautiful and serene sights and sounds from wildlife (saw many deer on this ride) and the river and creek it parallels for much of its length, plus two tunnels!
This was not a leisurely ride for me! Total ride time was around 5 to 6 hours with the total length of the final video coming in around 1-hour, 20-minutes. In an effort to get regular content moving again on the channel, I am breaking this one up into 2 or 3 parts (as the full-length video is still in post-production).
Thanks for watching and please take a moment to subscribe to the channel. I really am hoping to make this my full-time "job" in a couple of years. Plus, you'll be notified when new videos are available.
Information about the New River Trail State Park at the TrailLink website:
www.traillink.com/trail/new-r...
Scene Selection:
0:00 Part Two Intro
0:53 Ride Resumes from Part One starting at the Galax/Fries/Pulaski Junction
4:00 One water bottle down so a little green stuff to continue the ride to Appalachian Power Dam areas
10:35 Mile Post 33 Miles to Pulaski, Birds, and Bridge
12:55 Chickens? I wasn't sure at the time, but should've known -- I was informed these are turkeys crossing the path. They looked alien to me. LOL!
13:30 Evening settling in and Trestle Crossing; down to 31-miles to go
15:10 Crossing Bridge over River and counting down the miles
18:00 Resting, Ride to 2nd Tunnel, tired and carrying on through dark woods and by rock walls high above the river
22:00 On the Road through Foster Falls with brief stop for rest and drink
24:45 Still tired but Relaxing into the ride again as the sun gets lower and the deer emerge
28:00 Deer Count so Far and Push to Get some miles down
30:35 Entering Pulaski County and Stop at Bridge Crossing with Deer Sighting
34:45 Getting Back on the Bike, entering the dark woods, trail crawling with deer, and picking up the pace
37:20 Almost out of water with 11-miles to go, riding by the Hiwassee Trailhead, and Crossing Railroad Bridge | Just Keep Pedaling
40:45 Celebrating Single Digits
#railstotrails
#railtrail
#giant
#giantrevolt
#cycling
#cyclinglife
#beatyesterday
#newrivertrail
#gravelbike
#gravelcyclist

[@wvoutdoorsman5326]

Nice ride!!! Thanks for taking us along for the whole trail. We’re gonna do a section of it tomorrow.

[@jaydogva]

Hope you enjoyed the ride. Thanks for the comment!

[@FollowThomas]

I definitely hope to ride this trail one day 🙂👍

[@jaydogva]

I’ll be giving it another go at some point but will start much earlier!

[@Singinchicsnana]

Hi, I noticed you mentioned in the first video that some of the bridges felt soft. They closed the trails this Spring and renovated the bridges and trestles. So it's all better now!

[@jaydogva]

That’s great! Thanks for letting me know. I’ll look forward to seeing the new construction the next time I ride it. Thanks for watching!

[@user-mg3vm1dh9s]

Thanks for the great video. I just finished the NRT as a round trip bikepacking route.. The ride took longer than expected, but it was a great trip.

[@jaydogva]

Glad you enjoyed the video and the bike packing trip! Someday, I hope to do a bike packing trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway and ride it end to end.

[@TheBlindAcorn]

Xaloy. “Ex-a-Loy”. Enjoyed your video. Felt for you running out of water in the worst place to run out. I’ve ridden the upper part from Pulaski to I77, will finish it all this year. Also be glad you didn’t park in Pulaski, as tired as you were you would have hated that park, thicker gravel in places.

[@DTatham1]

Great coverage of this trail. I hope the Revolt was a good choice. I plan on riding this trail soon with a Revolt.

[@jaydogva]

Thank you! The Revolt did great on this trail.