As expected, Tuesday was the beautiful day we hoped for to take our long ride in the mountains. After a leisurely breakfast we loaded up the cars and headed to the Pisgah ranger station to begin our ride. Andy found this route during a previous trip and it worked out well for our group. We climbed approximately 13 miles up to where our road met the Blue Ridge parkway. I don't know the grade of this climb but using a compact crank I was in the 23 - 25 most of the time and maintained a steady spin while seated. A standard crank set would definitely require a 25 - 27.
The scenery was great and the traffic was pretty light. The lower portion of the road had some debris on it from from all the high winds that came through during the last few days.
After reaching the parkway we decided to take a 4-5 mile fast descent into Caruso where we filled up water bottles at the volunteer fire station. When we arrived at the fire station a TV news crew was interviewing someone about a fatal plane crash the took place the day before. After leaving Caruso we climbed back up to the parkway and then enjoyed the long, fast descent back to the ranger station.
Marco looking for our next big climb.
Driving along the parkway back to Asheville we stopped at the Pisgah Inn. There was a black bear on the side of the road less than 20 feet from the car (too bad my camera was in the trunk). That was the first time I ever saw a wild bear!
DISCLAIMER: while similar in appearance to the bear we saw at Pisgah - the photo below in not of that same animal.
After getting back to the house to shower and change we went to Carrier Park to watch some local track racing at the Mellow Drome, an old car racing track now used for cycling. There were 2 different classes and they ran several points matches. At the end of the evening there were 4 teams racing a Madison.
After watching the races we went to dinner at Barley's and then back to the house where I quickly crashed for the night
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