Cycle North Carolina - Day 3

CNC Day 3
Lincolnton to Concord (Lowe's Motor Speedway)
18.9 mph average speed
33.4 mph maximum speed
2:57:18 ride time
55.94 miles
about 2000 feet of climbing

As we move east, the terrain is flattening out. We started out with moderately rolling hills and by the time we got to Concord, the roads were slightly flatter than many of the routes that I ride at home. As a result, our speed stated to pick up.

Lowe's Motor Speedway is really neat. I am staying in a race car garage in the infield. We were all disappointed that we were not allowed to go around the track as part of our route when we arrived but they are going to open up the track for an hour this evening. Until riding into the speedway, I did not realize that they painted the seats to make it look like people were in them. Tricky, huh?

When we first arrive, there was a Petty Driving Experience car in the garage with the indoor camping. It was moved soon afterward. The indoor camping in the garage was kind of neat.

The Concord chamber of commerce really dropped the ball. The vendors that they said were going to be here and the wine tasting that was supposed to be our entertainment did not materialized. We were all disappointed. Who wants to say, "I rode my bike across North Carolina and I went to a mall?"

Cycle North Carolina - Day 2

CNC Day 2
Morganton to Lincolnton
17.0 mph average speed
37.o mph maximum speed
2:59:15 total ride time
50.84 miles
3689 feet of climbing (yes, more than day 1!)

The day started out good. Pancakes for breakfast! Woo hoo! The only problem was that the was a lot of smoke from those pancakes. When I got to the front of the line, I could see why -- the grills being used looked like they may have been rate for outdoor use and we were indoors. Oops! Anyway, I'm a big fan of the pancake so I was a happy camper.

When we (photo from left to right:  Gary, Doug, Tracy, Tim and Jon) left Morganton this morning, it was very foggy. We started out of the parking lot with a climb and continued with rolling hills the whole route. We reached our highest elevation of the day near the 20 mile mark.

We arrived in Lincolnton and went downtown after cleaning up. Indoor camping yesterday went well so we decided to do that again tonight. Tracy, a rider from Clayton who also does the OMV rides; Les, an ex-Marine from Missouri, Tim and I set up an area in the gym with all of our gear -- and our bikes! We heard a lot of grousing about packing wet tents in the dark, shower trucks and port-a-pots so we were really happy with the indoor plumbing and a gym floor.

Last night we saw Cherryholmes, a bluegrass band. They have several awards and Grammy nominations. They were pretty good. Tonight, we have Alive After Five with beach music for our listening pleasure.

Cycle North Carolina - Day 1

CNC Day 1
Black Mountain to Morganton
17.7 mph average speed
41.1 mph maximum speed
3:23:19 ride time
59.90 miles
about 3600 feet of climbing

Today we awoke to beautiful weather. The sunrise over the mountains was gorgeous. I had breakfast at the Y's campus and met Tim, Doug, Jon and Gary (who rides 1200 miles/year in Michigan!) at the coffee lady.

There was quite a bit of climbing at a fairly steep grade. Doug (below in a blue jersey and white helmet) has a GPS on his bike and he said that we were hitting 6% at times. Most of the steepest climbing was in the first third of the ride but shorter hills continued along the entire route. I did fine on the climbs despite my concerns about the cassette on my bike.

Our little group stayed together until the second rest stop at which point Gary decided to ride back so that he could add more mileage! Jon, Tim, Doug and I completed the rest of the day together.

The third rest stop was in Lake James State Park. We rode along the top of the dam and the view was spectacular. Unfortunately, we also had to deal with the rolling hills around any lake.

Tonight, I am planning on "indoor camping" in Morganton. We are planning to see a bluegrass band called Cherryholmes.  The Morganton camping area is shown below.  A tent city was set up on a baseball field (upper left), luggage is piled by one of three luggage trucks (lower right) and shower trucks take center stage.

Cycle North Carolina - Day 0

Today I arrive at REI two hours before the regular opening time to get on a bus traveling to Black Mountain, North Carolina for the start of Cycle North Carolina. With some help, DH and I removed the pedals from my bike and turned the handle bars. With so many people and bikes making the trip, this allowed more bikes to fit on the trucks transporting them.

 

 

Each of the over 1,100 riders is allowed to bring two, 40 pound bags in which we need to fit: a sleeping bag, sleeping pad or air mattress, tent (if camping outside), bike clothing and gear for seven days of riding, street clothes for seven to eight evenings of relaxing, toiletries, etc. Yikes! I did not weigh my bags but I think that they are "slightly" heavier.

At REI, I checked in my bike, loaded my bags one of the two buses and hung around until 9:00 when were were to pull out. When other people stated to get on the bus, I went to the bus with my bag and got on. Not many people were on the bus but all the seats were taken. Hm. "OK," I thought, "I'll try the second bus." I did and find a seat but most of those were saved as well.

The trip to Black Mountain, just east of Asheville, was uneventful until the very end. Both bus drivers missed the turn off to the YMCA facility that we were staying at. Our bus driver turned around with an impressive 3-point turn that did not even go into the other lane. He got us up the mountain to the check in area. When we got off the bus, the second bus was not there. I heard from someone that it had gone off the road when turning around in a neighborhood. I heard from several riders on that bus that it took out a retaining wall and got stuck a a precarious angle. The passengers -- and my bags! -- eventually made it though.

After that, we checked in, hung around, had dinner and went to a kick-off meeting.

I am staying at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly in a dorm. Some people are camping and others are staying in hotels.

Tomorrow, I plan to ride with Tim, Jon and Doug. The route has us going across the Eastern Continental Divide and then up Stone Mountain Gap on our way to Morganton, NC. The route is about 62 miles and we were told the steepest climb of the entire trip is 5 miles into the ride. I hope that I can keep up with the group. I left my "flantlanders" cassette on the rear wheel (12/23) and I'm a bit concerned.

Red Rover Red Rover

While camping at Bike MS, we hung around under the team tent. A lot of topics came up during our time there. One of them was about the r*ver trip one of the cyclists when on.

Hey, remember the r*ver trip that I went one. I got stuck in the snow at the side of the road.

Did you use the chain winch to get out?

The chain broke.

By now, DH was getting exited. He kayaks and wanted to know about the trip.

What kind of river trip?

hesitation.

confusion.

ROVER trip.

Oh.