Steamy Asheville

There are big mountains in North Carolina. It is true. Today we climbed up a few of them. This trip continues to exceed all expectations in terms of challenges and thrills. The surroundings are, as I have said and will repeat, spectacular. Since our rest day two days ago we have climbed over 14,000 ft. and descended something in that same vicinity. So, the climbing definitely is the focus and the descending definitely goes by quickly. Meanwhile, as we are climbing, betweeen breathing and focusing on keeping the cranks turning in circles, there are the birds and the flowers and even the constant hum of cicadas in some places. And there are the mountains and trees. It is just really awe inspiring visually. And attention-getting physically.

As I climb I try not to focus on how long it is taking to go up but how much progress each pedal stroke is making. When you are in a 26/32 gear that is not so much, but it is something. The long climbs are usually 2-5 miles in length and the grades, while I have no precise measure, are usually in the 4-7% range. When you look at the road you do not think it is steep, but when you are doing it for 30-60-90-120 minutes at a time, it seems steep. I guess it must be the 50-60 lbs of gear we are hauling up the mountain.

We do have a chart which gives the milepost location and the length of each "major" climb. This gives us an opportunity to anticipate a bit what is ahead and to assess the difficulty of a particular climb. The climbing in North Carolina the last two days has definitely been more difficult in terms of extended steeper climbs and the mountains are definitely bigger than they were in Virginia.

The day after our rest day we had a great day of riding with about 6000 ft of climbing but not too long a day of 60 miles. We stopped several times and had some really sweet interactions with some store-keepers and one not so sweet. The later one was a lady at a campground who told us not to leave our bikes near the store entrance and was quite impolite, so we left. Just down the road we had a great stop at the Northwest Trading Post, with nice folks in the store and a comfortable picnic table for our mid-morning snack. Down the road we stopped at a store which had Carhartt to smoked chicken and prime rib sandwiches and everything in between. And they had the nicest people you would ever hope to meet while on the road on a bicycle. It gives one hope.

We camped in NPS/BRP campgrounds last night and the night before: Crabtree Meadows and Julian Price CGs. These campgrounds, indeed none on the parkway, have showers. This is not really roughing it but it smells the same. Other than no showers, the campgrounds are very nice.

Today was an interesting day. There have been three areas of detours and/or repair of the parkway. The first two detours were not difficult, except for one stretch of busy highway, but today's was said to have been the worst because the detour was very bike unfriendly. We had, however, heard of some new options for cyclists which avoided the detour and only involved walking your bike about half an hour, or half a mile, not sure which, along a path from the visitor center to the picnic area at Craggy Gardens. (Should have gotten a hint from the name) We got the details on the new route yesterday at a visitor center along the parkway. So, we spent the morning climbing over 4,000 feet, ran out of water and arrived at the designated area. We passed Mount Mitchell (did not climb) which is the highest point east of the Mississippi. We got to Craggy Gardens visitor center, locked up tight, water turned off. We immediately noted that the local bikers just continued riding down the road, past the area of retaining wall collapse causing the detour. We, being dedicated law abiding citizens, followed directions and set out on a trail that would make an Appalachian Trail through-hiker proud. We had to lift our bikes over rocks and clamber over roots and shelves of stone, uphill, pushing 70 pounds of ungainly bicycle. It is such an elegant machine but this did not give it opportunity to display it's virtues. Or me. I must confess to some cuss words during the up and down hill trek of, it seemed, forever. When we got to the picnic area we did find water and shade, but of course, there was no mention of that when we started.

(Note to Department of Interior: Your communication and signage stinks. Just thought, as a tax payer, you should know that. Maybe you can put someone on that.)

Well, we got by that. Flew downhill for an hour to Asheville, stopped at the Folk Arts Center but really only to call to get a motel (sorry Jack and Linda). Well, we did find a BBQ pork sandwich to eat too. We got to our motel just as the horizontal rain began. It is unusually hot here this week and a huge thunderstorm kicked up. It was cool at 5200 feet but now we are at 2000 and the temperature was in the 90's.

Tomorrrow we will be facing the steepest climbing of the trip out of Asheville up to Mount Pisgah. We have set it up so it will be a short day. Then on Monday it will be a 2450 ft climb in 8 miles and then a 810 ft climb in 3 miles and then it is all down hill and we will be done. We finish in Cherokee, NC. There, I understand, the Cherokee are the only Native Americans to continue to live on their actual ancestral lands.

Hard to believe we are two days away from finishing. Hope the weather holds. Say a prayer.

P.S. For Ben Popp: Asheville rocks!