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.
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