Doug Kline
Guru
We have the whole range in North Carolina, flat coastal areas and the biggest mountains in the eastern side of the United States. The state of North Carolina department of tourism puts on three bike rides each year, which move around the state to highlight a lot of nice communities to visit. It was on Cycle NC that I first met Jim and Maria Parker.
1) Cycle NC Spring Ride - flat coastal ride
2) Cycle NC Mountain Ride - not the biggest, baddest mountains in NC, but still challenging
3) Cycle NC Mountains to Coast Ride - week long, starts in the mountains and ends at the coast.
http://cnc.ncsports.org/index.cfm
This year, the mountain ride had a new twist, we loaded bikes on the the Great Smokey Mountains Railroad, in Bryson City, NC and took the train to Dillsboro, NC then rode back. The route climbed 3000 feet up on the Blue Ridge Parkway and then did a long screaming descent down into Cherokee.
I highly recommend the Cycle NC series for anyone that is interested in doing some cycle tourism in North Carolina.
Taking a quick breather 1700 ft up the main 3000 foot slog with some friends. I'm not a mountain goat, and these climbs are hard, but I can climb with my S40 as well as I ever could with my DF. I'm sporting my headlamp as this climb went through four dark tunnels.
Team Cheetah, since someone will ask, raises money for diabetes research. Diane on the right is a type 1 diabetic...and a total badass. It's a good day when I can keep up with Diane. But watching her struggle with this disease, always with a smile on her face, brings a lot of things into perspective.
1) Cycle NC Spring Ride - flat coastal ride
2) Cycle NC Mountain Ride - not the biggest, baddest mountains in NC, but still challenging
3) Cycle NC Mountains to Coast Ride - week long, starts in the mountains and ends at the coast.
http://cnc.ncsports.org/index.cfm
This year, the mountain ride had a new twist, we loaded bikes on the the Great Smokey Mountains Railroad, in Bryson City, NC and took the train to Dillsboro, NC then rode back. The route climbed 3000 feet up on the Blue Ridge Parkway and then did a long screaming descent down into Cherokee.
I highly recommend the Cycle NC series for anyone that is interested in doing some cycle tourism in North Carolina.
Taking a quick breather 1700 ft up the main 3000 foot slog with some friends. I'm not a mountain goat, and these climbs are hard, but I can climb with my S40 as well as I ever could with my DF. I'm sporting my headlamp as this climb went through four dark tunnels.
Team Cheetah, since someone will ask, raises money for diabetes research. Diane on the right is a type 1 diabetic...and a total badass. It's a good day when I can keep up with Diane. But watching her struggle with this disease, always with a smile on her face, brings a lot of things into perspective.
