FINI

We made it.  The 60 mile closing leg today included a climb to Balsam Gap at 6035ft, the highest point on the Parkway.   We descend a couple of thousand feet and then add back two more climbs of about 7 miles and 4 miles respectively before we  enjoy an incredible descent to mile marker 469, the end of the Parkway.

We have logged over 470 miles and climbed over 48,000 feet.   We will blog one last time tomorrow with our lessons learned and some additional stats, just for our own fun.   But tonight, we are celebrating the conclusion of our tour and tomorrow we celebrate our leaders 50th birthday.   Thanks for reading.  This has been great fun.

RB2, Ralph, The Deisel and the SAG team.

The road to Pisgah

The road to Pisgah Mountain on our penultimate day was to be both challenging with some large climbs but also offset with a long fast downhill into Asheville.  However, we were added a few more challenges for the day. 

We left Little Switzerland and started our uphill climb toward Mount Mitchell where we planned to have lunch.  On an early ascent, a pair of turkeys galloped across our path.  The butterflies were dive-bombing us as we slowly made our way up the mountains.  It was another beautiful morning.

After enjoying our lunch, it was time head down our descent to Asheville.   Unfortunately, the road was under construction.  As we dealt with that and weaved around cars, Kelly went to shift to the large ring, the chain broke and snapped his rear derailleur.  He reported that mechanical parts were flying everywhere.   Candidly, he was fortunate it did not flip him right in front of the traffic.  When asked for a response, Kelly muttered somethling like "*#$%&*@!".  Thankfully his helmet did not crack as it bounced off the side of the mountain. 

Our SAG team rounded him up and got him to a bike shop in Asheville where they did a great job of getting bike fixed and back on the road in time for him to finish the ride.   The finish, of course, is a climb of 2500 ft to Pisgah Inn. So to summarize Kelly's;  Start with hard climb - break bike - $$$bike shop -- end with hard climb.    Actually, we are grateful that all is back in order and we get to finish our ride today into Cherokee.

We are feeling good and ready to get started today.

SUPER SAG TEAM

As you can imagine, we are having a great time.   However, none of this could remotely be possible without our SAG team taking complete care of us.   Wade and Mary Lipham have been incredibly generous by volunteering take care of us this week.  They have seen to our every need and more.  They have kept us fully supplied (Caps and Skinners for everyone),  hauled our gear, kept us fueled, washed our clothes, and nursed our aches and ailments.    You often hear the phrase "we could not have done it without them", but is has never been more true.

It has been great fun to have them with us on the tour.  Candidly, that gray Isuzu is one of the more welcome sites we see as we clear a 2 mile climb on the way to a SAG stop.  We know rest is ahead. 

In addition to the SAG, we will have a CD full of photos of our trip, courtesy of the SAG team.  That will turn out to be terrific, since we intended to take a lot of pictures along the way, but we more often became concerned with getting from point A to point B.

Mr and Mrs. Lipham (or mom and dad).   Thanks.   We truly appreciate you.

Noahs Ark

We left the hotel this morning at about 9:30 am.   We rode about 1.7 miles back to the parkway and saw the animals all lined up 2 by 2.  We knew at that point it was going to be a long, wet day.  It started raining on us from near the beginning of the ride and then the sun came our when we sat for dinner.   We got soaked.   The wind gusts were incredible and the predictions were up to 30MPH.   We are not sure how high they got at the peaks.  However, during one coasting downhill run, we hit a gust that dropped us to 9MPH.   

Regardless of the weather, we are grateful for the short 47 mile run today.   It was a splendid trip.  Kelly lead us with strong pulls up some good long climbs.   The wet downhill runs on the rainslick surface with rain pelting you in the face at 35MPH were "epic".  (We have been wanting to fit in that word and today was as good of a day as any.)  

Along the way today we continued to see great views.   Early in the ride we came upon Lake Price with a beautiful mountain backdrop that demanded a photo.  One particularly spectacular scene was over Lincove Viaduct  where the storm clouds swept the mountains and the view turned you back onto the roads that we had just traversed.   At one point when we were finishing a descent and into a solid cruising pace, two deer sprang from a meadow and "raced" along side us out in a open pasture.   The deer won.  For lunch, we took a side tour of about 3 miles to Linville Falls and we took a quick hike out to the falls for photos.   Definitely worth the detour, the falls were beautiful.

We surpassed the 300 mile mark today and stopped at 335 miles at our evening resting spot, Little Switzerland.   An early end at 3:30pm, allowed us to get dried off and down to the ice cream shop before they closed at 5pm.   After just relaxing for a while and enjoying dinner with our SAG team, we have a thrilling night of cards lined up.   We plan to retire early tonight as tomorrow has some of the "best" climbs of the week.  As I write, we are already calculating all climbs tomorrow. 

Thanks for reading.   We are all feeling good at the moment.  Certainly the miles and

hours in the saddle are starting to accumulate, but we are all doing well.

Little Switzerland

This morning we have slept in a bit...because we could.   It is a relatively short day into a place called Little Switzerland.  We start out with a big climb and then a rolling descent into another big climb then into what looks like a downhill that will be great fun.  We end the day of a short 47 miler with a final climb.  We are looking forward to a quick run of it.   There are added dimensions that we are facing today.   Wind and Rain. The absolutely beautiful clear skies that we have enjoyed the first 4 days appear to be gone and it looks like we are getting wet today.   Funny how a little rain will make you instantly appreciate and yearn for the sunshine. 
By the way, Kelly won the card game last night.   He always does.

Halfway Stats and More

We are a bit past the halfway point:

• 292 miles
• 20,909 feet of climbing
• Top Speed : 41mph
• Avg Speed : 13mph
• Avg Climbing Speed: 7mph

Things we learned

• Up = Boo
• Down = Yeah, then Boo
• Aquaphor works great
• The precise locations of "sit bones"
• Photos do not do the ride justice
• 65 miles is a good day
• 85 miles is not
• Geological Surveys lied....these climbs are greater than 6%

• Pack less
• Take your time and enjoy the view
• 13 miles up hill is a long way -- save your fuel
• Legs hurt, then go numb, then hurt again.
• Drafting behind Brian is good
• Drafting behind Boyd is not
• Kelly can out-ride us all

Two More Days

Apparently if you do not get on the blog every night, you lose those that follow.  My apologies, last night was a bit harsh, and we had no Internet, or phones, or.....  

Bluffs Lodge

Last night we stayed on the Parkway at the Bluffs Lodge after solid day of riding.   We covered another 65 miles that day since we left Floyd, VA.  We really did have a blast today, however, my cycling position was often regulated to the rear.   Some of the descent we had heightened all of our senses, to say the least.   The finishing views were some of the best we have seen all week as the sun was setting in across the valleys.

Tonight we are staying in Boone, NC at the Alpen Lodge, yes I spelled it right.  A 60 mile day with a few solid climbs and corresponding descents.   We all have recovered from various aches and ailments, rebuilding our confidence.   After a thrilling night of laundry and dinner, we are headed to our first card game of the week.  Probably, the first night any of us have actually felt like doing anything but recovery procedures and sleep. 

So far it is everything we expected it to be, and a bit more.