General Cycling Discussion - My cycling adventure at Beech Mountain (illustrated)

Inspired by Lance Armstrong's book, I decided to attempt the conquer of Beech Mountain myself. It's located just outside of Boone, NC. So here are some pics of my trip and of the ascent, I hope you all enjoy:

Pre-ride shave. It makes me feel pretty

I'm going riding today. Yeeeaaaah.......

Some lake outside of Boone

I thought I was cracked before I even started up Beech Mountain. I started praying for strength to do it

Ascending Beech Mountain. Yeah it's big!

Still climbing. My ears popped twice on the ascent.

Out of the saddle, feel the burn!!

Looks like fun. How high/long was it?
Joe

Still climbing. This was so awesome. The mental game was the toughest part of the ride.

Now officially at the town of Beech, NC. Now it's time to continue on to the true summit

After getting to Beech, the climb to the summit was extremely steep, and slippery due to some sort of fine gravel on the paved road. My tires spun down to the treads at this part of the climb

No longer thinking, I'm pedaling by instinct and giving every ounce of strength and energy I have to keep going. If I stopped at this point, I didn't have the engergy to unclip, and would've stalled and proceeded to slide back down the road

Great pics.
Glad you survived the climb. :beer:

The area around Boone is breathtaking.


When my son was younger he went to summer camp just outside of Blowing Rock and driving him to camp and around the area was a wonderful change from the rat race in Atlanta. My wife liked the area so much she asked if she could go to camp with my son. ;)

Finally at the summit! I've never breathed harder or faster in my entire life. I would've died happy here! I don't know how much harder a heart can beat

Finally the summit celebration

And some pics of the Beech area skyline from the summit for you to enjoy

another one

God's creation is amazing

wow I'm impressed. I live about an hour away from beech mountain and even my car has a hard time getting up that mountain!

how long did it take? If I had a triple I might try it... probably not though hehe

The climb is about 4 miles to the town of Beech, and then probably half a mile or so to the summit. I didn't get to time the climb itself because my watch broke on a previous ride and I haven't gotten a new one yet. I agree that this area is absolutely breathtaking. I want to make this a fairly frequent trip from now on!

What % were the grades, and who took the pics?

you know, I don't know the % grades, I'll see if I can find something about that somewhere. It got pretty steep though, especially above the town of Beech.. My mother went along and took the pics:)

you know, I don't know the % grades, I'll see if I can find something about that somewhere. It got pretty steep though, especially above the town of Beech.. My mother went along and took the pics:)

I don't care what % the grades are, I want to go there... NOW!

how about that ride down, what was the max speed? over 50?

Oh yeah, the ride down was a scream!! You can get up to over 50 on the stretch coming directly out of Beech, but once you get so far, the road becomes really curvy with some hairpin turns, so the speed has to come down a little. More like 30-45, then around 20 or slower for the curves (which are quite frequent), and you really have to lean your bike to make it.

Awwwright! :)

Who took the pics, BTW? (And were they biking, too?)

Way to go!!!

Awesome!!! I'm exhausted just looking at the pictures. Beautiful country...don't think I'd ever be able to do that hill without a lot of walking.

What a climb!

What a view!

What a look-out!