Asheville, NC

[saab2000]

So now I am moved in and starting to ride in Virginia Beach. Flat doesn't actually begin to describe it around here, but that's OK. Can't ride to the rides though and that sucks. At least not from my current apartment. I might move to where the rides are cuz I have no better reason for living anywhere else. Bachelors can do what they want. :banana:

Anyway, now that I will actually have a bit more time to do things I am thinking of plopping that ol' Serotta CIII into the back of the GTI and heading west. The place that I have heard good things about but have never been to except at the airport is Asheville, NC. I would love to go there and spend a couple nights and do some riding. Ideally leave here early one morning and ride and ride the next day and ride the third day and drive back the afternoon of the third day.

Any tips or hints about Asheville? I have heard that the riding is great. Hilly and with great variety of roads. What's the scoop?

I will of course, search the web for other sources, but if anyone can point me in the right direction I would love to hear it.

Gonna have to install that 39 tooth chainring........

[Ginger]

Do a search here on the forum, Asheville has been discussed before. The local club there is very active and has a great online ride database that shows a map, que sheet, and elevation and distance for each of their rides. I've done several of them and the que sheets seem very good.

If you mountain bike set yourself up in Brevard (just south of Asheville) and ride the technical stuff in Pisgah and the slickrock in Dupont. Pisgah is a bit of hunt and peck, but the riding is great.

[saab2000]

No MTB for this fella. Way too hard. But I just did a quick Yahoo! search and found some cue sheets for road rides of up to 100 miles. Looks good. I'll keep searching. Thanks.

[Tailwinds]

The riding around Marion is AWESOME! That is not too far from Asheville. Lake Lure, Linville Falls, Mt. Mitchell are a few places I've ridden around there. The ride up Roan Mtn. looks like it would be too much fun. Oh, and there is Beech Mtn. Sorry, I don't have any detailed directions for you, but I'm sure some of the local bike shops can point you in the right direction. Are you going to be there in the Fall? That's gorgeous there (as I'm sure you know).

[Ginger]

http://www.blueridgebicycleclub.org


Go to their Ride Library.

[saab2000]

I don't know when I'll be there. Anytime. I could go next Saturday. But I also have to go visit a friend in Montreal soon. Places to go, people to see. The vagabond lifestyle continues.

Anyway, I am kind of getting excited about this now.

[Tailwinds]

Anyway, I am kind of getting excited about this now.

You SHOULD be. The riding there is fantastic! I've even thought about taking a trip out there this Fall to do some riding. It's been a few years since I've been, and I have yet to do Mt. Mitchell.

[saab2000]

Tailwinds,

Let me know when you might get there and maybe I can coordinate a simultaneous trip there. Maybe. Maybe not. Anyway, it would be fun. I have yet to actually personally meet a fellow Serotta Forumite, though I have talked to at least 2 on the phone and had e-mails with several.

I have threatened several with personal visits, but it has yet to occur.

You can visit your old brifters if we meet up in North Carolina.

[znfdl]

Saab:

There is also great riding from Chalotteville Va and west. Also riding aroung the DC area is varied and great.

[Ti-Boy]

Hendersonville, southeast of Asheville also offers some great riding. There is a sub-group of the Blue Ridge Bicycle Club that is very active. I went down there earlier this summer, and hooked up with them via the internet. Very friendly and welcoming. There is a Tuesday night ride out of the Ingles parking lot in Etowah: about 30 miles and flat. 75 riders showed up the night we were there. Pace offering was anywhere from 12 to 27 mph.

[hypnos]

A cycling trip to western North Carolina has been on my "To Do List" for along time. Should you make your trip during the first or last weeks of September, or the second week of October, I could be up for a road trip.

Jeff

[stevep]

kurt begemann aka chopper
kurt@rideecd.com
coach and athlete lives in asheville.
if you contact him you are obligated to give him shiite from me.
good guy.

[saab2000]

Cool. I'll look into it.

[djg]

Saab

I think you have some excellent suggestions, above, and I'm no expert in the region, but having been to the Waynesville area (maybe 30 miles or so from Asheville), I'd say it's a beautiful place to ride. I posted some pics of one climb on the parkway a few weeks back--about 2600 feet or so of vertical rise on nice pavement--from an area that has other comparable climbs, plenty of steeper and shorter ones, and lots of uncrowded country roads.

Doof/food/robert I gather knows the area better and may have suggestions too.

[Kines]

Has someone already said Blue Ridge Parkway? Well I'm saying it. It's really all you need to know. Maybe I'll see ya there.

[Ginger]

I can tell you exactly where, just east of Brevard NC to get this exact same road with almost the exact same view (hills are bigger) only without the shoulder on the road...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e61/easterncaster/IMG_1850.jpg

[Serotta PETE]

go to the site that Ginger mentioned. THey have some great rides. Let me know where you are staying and I will suggest some. THe "backdoor into Marshal" is one of my favorite ones.

I was just up there this past weekend.

PETE

[manet]

I can tell you exactly where, just east of Brevard NC to get this exact same road with almost the exact same view (hills are bigger) only without the shoulder on the road...

dudette _ careful there, my dutch blood was spilled eroding them hills.

[Ginger]

Manet; I would certainly choose a NY road with a shoulder over the NC hills any day. However, I suspect those NY roads with shoulders are snowed over when I'm riding in NC with the dogwoods in bloom...

[manet]

Manet; I would certainly choose a NY road with a shoulder over the NC hills any day. However, I suspect those NY roads with shoulders are snowed over when I'm riding in NC with the dogwoods in bloom...

otsego co., proudly, has worn the most snow of any NY state county
ribbon several times in recent history. tracking a deer shot roadside,
from out of your car, at nite is much easier with snow cover.

[saab2000]

I am a big fan of the paved shoulders. Big deal. Leaves enuf room for me and the 'Grave Digger' style pickups out there. The snow don't bother me either. Snow was a part of life in Wisconsin and Switzerland. Life without snowcover ain't really life. The descent from Turbenthal and Hittnau into my Swiss hometown of Pfaeffikon in February with 40 cm of snow on the side of the road and the Assos thermal tights and the first signs of spring is priceless. I miss it.

[scooter01]

Hey Saab,


Why don't you join me this fall and ride th entire state? Cycle North Carolina has the eighth annual Moutains to the coast tour.
This way you get see everything! Mountains, Piedmont, then the coast.
Sept 30- Oct 7 :banana:

http://www.ncsports.org/cncevent1.php