Fifty Plus (50+) - I found Pie!!

I'll let the pics tell the story today.

Basically I went up and did what is probably my favorite training route in the mountains. This route is 65 miles with 6000' of climbing and the route has it all. It has 2 big climbs that top out at 19%, a nice stretch along the Blue Ridge Parkway, lightly traveled roads, great views, some flats and some very fast and scary descents.

Having the new gears allowed me to do this ride within two days of the Snake Ride on Thursday. To my surprise my legs really felt great today. I only wish I'd made the change to these gears a couple years ago.

Afterward the ride I stopped at a country store near the start finish point that has incredible homemade burgers plus homemade pies.

On the way back home I stopped at my favorite golf course and got in 18 holes-playing the last 8 holes 1 under par!!!

What a day!! As bad as Thursday was, today was way off the "Incredible Day" meter......even the bee flying down my open jersey and stinging me couldn't taint what a great day it was.


(Let me know if you're getting tired of all the pics!! I don't want to waste servor space!!)

Explanation of Pics:
Route Starts at Stone Mountain State Park near Sparta, NC.
Deer were plentiful-I was careful to avoid them on the road.
View from High Piney Spur overlook-very hazy in the morning.
The route goes into Virginia for a ways.
Lots of nice stonework on the BRP-even the overpasses.
Nice shady tree canopy to ride in on the BRP.....ahhhhhhh.
Beautiful but simple picket fence-typcial along BRP.
Another view of a rock face wall on a distant mountain.
An old barn and brick silo no longer in use.
The pie!!! Homemade fried appie turnover with dried apples. YUMMMM!!!
A picture of the country store, home of the pie-I sat in a rocking chair on the porch while eating.

Pics are great; thanks for the report!

Question: I've never ridden my bike on country roads like this. Do you have to deal with much traffic? Do people give cyclists enough room? Do you have to pull off on the shoulder because of twenty-somethings in pickups with too much testosterone trying to run down bikers?

Pics are great; thanks for the report!

Question: I've never ridden my bike on country roads like this. Do you have to deal with much traffic? Do people give cyclists enough room? Do you have to pull off on the shoulder because of twenty-somethings in pickups with too much testosterone trying to run down bikers?

In rural areas like this folks don't seem quite as rushed as roads are not as heavily traveled. Generally they are extremely courteous and give you plenty of room. I even had folks pull over to see if I needed help when I was taking pictures. It's a really, really great area to ride.

Here are some shots I took of the golf course I played.

In rural areas like this folks don't seem quite as rushed as roads are not as heavily traveled. Generally they are extremely courteous and give you plenty of room. I even had folks pull over to see if I needed help when I was taking pictures. It's a really, really great area to ride.

Yup, like that in my area too. You just can't beat rural roads for ridin'. If you need water ya just knock on any farm house and ask if you can fill it at their hose outside, half the time they'll grab your bottle and fill it inside and hand it back to you with ice and offer you a couple of cookies too. :D

Sounds & looks like a great day!

Rural roads are the greatest. I have never had any problems with drivers. The occasional logging truck makes it dicey, but that's about it. We rode 43 miles yesterday. On the "ruralest" part, we saw 5 cars. Here are pictures of my rural area roads (some are posted elsewhere). Most of these are from club rides (Plumas Sierra Bicycle Club). Note the traffic.

WOW, those rural roads look great, the scenery is beautiful, and pie too!
Nirvana!

Yup, like that in my area too. You just can't beat rural roads for ridin'. If you need water ya just knock on any farm house and ask if you can fill it at their hose outside, half the time they'll grab your bottle and fill it inside and hand it back to you with ice and offer you a couple of cookies too. :D

That's good news. We'll be in Cedar Rapids over Labor Day weekend for the Midwest Tandem Bicycle Rally.

That fried pie looks real good. I grew up in Western N. C. and my dear old Mom made fried pies that were fantastic.

Wouldn't it be great if we all could ride everyone on 50+'s favorite rides?

Wouldn't it be great if we all could ride everyone on 50+'s favorite rides?


You just might be on to something here......It might just be another project for Dnvr to assemble this type of information somewhere so we can all see where the routes are........maybe do one if and when we are in that area.