I'm sure that BWNC will have a large bonfire waiting for us at the end, so we can warm ourselves up again.

Unfortunately, there is an open fire ban right now. Will cognac do?

warms from the inside out...perhaps that will do.

shots at the start? i'm down.

Try this for the Sat ride.

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/nc/balsam/1001407130

How about a side jaunt down to that hill on Charley's Creek Road, just for the heck of it? We can tell wolfpack there are blueberries at the top. ;)

How about a side jaunt down to that hill on Charley's Creek Road, just for the heck of it? We can tell wolfpack there are blueberries at the top. ;)

She might go postal on us if we lead her down there, blueberries or not. But I know a similar hill on the Sunday route that we can do for fun if she wants. ;)

haha, you guys better watch out. i'll look at gmap and find out where that's out....prolly some damn steep "hill" that will reduce me to pushing my bike :cry:. and then there won't even be any blueberries :cry: :cry:

Try this for the Sat ride.

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/nc/balsam/1001407130


Nobody should be intimidated by this route. I'm old, and ride in flatland Ohio, and I'm going to do the climbing at a steady sustainable pace. We'll be stopping at overlooks sometimes, too. Then the last few miles on the way back are mostly downhill. You all can do it, too.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is so great for cyclists. The road is mostly smooth, and a lot of the downhills have wide enough turns that no braking is needed. Then there's the views -- it looks like this ride will have views all day. We are riding along the ridge tops.

The mapmyride routes are exportable to Google Earth. It converts regular satellite photos into 3-D views that are zoomable. Here's a few from the ride route:

Overhead view.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n188/tran521/BF%20fall%202007%20ride/BFrideoverhead.jpg


Most of the route. Richland Balsam is just left of center.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n188/tran521/BF%20fall%202007%20ride/BFrideoverview.jpg


View south from the high point of the ride, Richland Balsam.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n188/tran521/BF%20fall%202007%20ride/BFridesouthfromRichlandBalsam.jpg


The turnaround section of the ride.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n188/tran521/BF%20fall%202007%20ride/BFrideturnaround.jpg

meh, rm -rf, i is not worried about it:).

BikeWNC and I rode part of the route in August (Devil's Courthouse to Richland Balsam) and although it was hard for me, it's do-able at my pace. I'm so looking forward to this! I'm like a little kid who can hardly wait till they get to go on vacation to somewhere they really, really wanna go:D. I wish I could just go ahead and take the rest of the week off and come on up, but this dang stuff called work is preventing me from doing so:(. Gonna have to do something about that in a about 7 more yrs....

meh, rm -rf, i is not worried about it:).

BikeWNC and I rode part of the route in August (Devil's Courthouse to Richland Balsam) and although it was hard for me, it's do-able at my pace. I'm so looking forward to this! I'm like a little kid who can hardly wait till they get to go on vacation to somewhere they really, really wanna go:D. I wish I could just go ahead and take the rest of the week off and come on up, but this dang stuff called work is preventing me from doing so:(. Gonna have to do something about that in a about 7 more yrs....

I read your BF post (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=333300) about riding the Blue Ridge with BikeWNC in August. It's the same reaction I had when I rode it the first time. My local hills can be steep, but are mostly 300 feet high. So when I rode up to Linn Cove last year, I wondered how I would handle the 1200+ foot climb. It went fine, the grades weren't too steep. What fun!

My post was aimed at any first timers that might be coming on the ride. I'll see you all on Saturday.

I'm going up to ride the route this morning. I'll let you know how it goes. (not like I haven't done this route a few times :rolleyes:).

*envious*

*****stay away from the blueberries***** :D

prolly some damn steep "hill" that will reduce me to pushing my bike :cry:. and then there won't even be any blueberries :cry: :cry:It would be funny if you didn't discover that blueberries are no longer in season until after climbing (or walking) a steep hill on a quest to find some. :lol:

I'm going up to ride the route this morning. I'll let you know how it goes. Oh, I'm sure it's much different than the dozens of other times you've been there. :rolleyes:

Speaking of seasons, on Saturday I noticed some hints of color up above 5,000 feet. Either the drought has taken a toll on trees or fall foliage is on the way. :(

It would be funny if you didn't discover that blueberries are no longer in season until after climbing (or walking) a steep hill on a quest to find some. :lol:

long running joke with me & BWNC about the blueberries....i don't really expect to find any this late because he's eaten all of them already:).

Oh, I'm sure it's much different than the dozens of other times you've been there. :rolleyes:

Speaking of seasons, on Saturday I noticed some hints of color up above 5,000 feet. Either the drought has taken a toll on trees or fall foliage is on the way. :(

Usually, in a normal year the color is pretty good by the first week of October. The first place to get color is in the Graveyard Fields area. There are a good number of maples there and they seem to turn earlier due to exposure and lack of moisture. We can ride over that way and take a look.

There are some blueberries left. Not many, but some bushes seems to produce later than others.

Update... temp at 5000' at 9am this morning is 65F. I'll be surprised if we see that for the high on Sat.

Update... temp at 5000' at 9am this morning is 65F. I'll be surprised if we see that for the high on Sat.

:eek: 65F for a high on Saturday?? Me & CM are gonna freeze up there! Guess I don't need to worry about freezing my Polar bottles then...

If 65F is cold to you then there really is no hope. Just get on the trainer now till next summer. :rolleyes:

no...that didn't come out correctly....if the high will be only 65F, then it's gonna be a lot cooler than i'm used to in the morning. gotta make sure to bring the albuterol so i can dope up and be able to breathe that cool mtn air.

it'll be fine. i'll shut up now.

temp at 5000' at 9am this morning is 65F. I'll be surprised if we see that for the high on Sat.
Really?

There's been some worry expressed here about cold temperatures. I'm as much a cold weather wimp as anyone else. On Saturday it was warm enough on the parkway that I never even considered putting on the armwarmers.

This coming weekend is supposed to be 7-8 degrees cooler than last. But I'd be surprised if it's "cold." Moreover, climbing does warm you up.

i got a campy compatable wheel! can't wait to get on my bike after 2 months!

Well I rode the tunnel to tunnel route today, about 35 miles. It was cool up there in the low to mid 60s. I wore just a coolmax sleeveless base layer under a short sleeve jersey with bibs. I was fine. Perhaps a little cool on a long descent. I took a video but dang if I can get it to load. Who wants to download 40 mb of video? I guess I'll have to compress it down.

The ride took me just under 3 hours with about 6 stops to take pictures, eat blueberries and talk to some riders from Washington State touring the BRP. So that might give everyone some idea of the length of the ride.

It's going to be really nice up there on Sat. :)

i got a campy compatable wheel! can't wait to get on my bike after 2 months!

yeah!!!! you actually haven't ridden in 2 months???

i haven't ridden my road bike in 2 months. i ride my commuter to work & occasionally rock the singlespeed mtb.

Here's some video I shot today on the descent of Richland Balsam.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p37/apadyk/th_RichlandBalsamDescent.jpg (http://s124.photobucket.com/albums/p37/apadyk/?action=view&current=RichlandBalsamDescent.flv)

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

That's IT. I want to pack the car and head down there tonight!

yea, me too. what time are you arriving friday?

yea, me too. what time are you arriving friday?

Depends on how early I leave. There's always some kind of last minute packing, etc. It's 375 miles to the Pisgah Inn, I hope to get there mid afternoon, earlier if possible.

shots at the start? i'm down.

the start, the middle, the end....whatever. :D

no...that didn't come out correctly....if the high will be only 65F, then it's gonna be a lot cooler than i'm used to in the morning. gotta make sure to bring the albuterol so i can dope up and be able to breathe that cool mtn air.

it'll be fine. i'll shut up now.

I won't....It will be cooollllld! brrrr! I hate being cold! everyone must bring a flask of the good stuff to keep me warm! that is the law.

CM - I think since you and I are the only wimmen on Saturday's ride, the guys should furnish both of us flasks of the good stuff:)

Here's some video I shot today on the descent of Richland Balsam.


I wish I could video some of my descents here. I reach 35mph on a 30m stretch
(edit: coasting from a stop sign) :D Thats a disadvantage of a dslr though. I can't wait to ride that though!

Speaking of which... I'm going to somehow fasten a camera bag to my frame... So everyone be ready to smile.

CM - I think since you and I are the only wimmen on Saturday's ride, the guys should furnish both of us flasks of the good stuff:)

I like how you think!

edit: really??? we are the only two? what happened to Vega?

I like how you think!

edit: really??? we are the only two? what happened to Vega?

BikeWNC wasn't able to convince her to come up here:(. Unless I'm incorrect, I do believe you and I are the only ones.

There is Tappets GF. I also invited another woman from here but I haven't heard back.

super pumped to drive 8 hrs round trip for like 3 hrs of riding.

you should take friday off and come on up for that ride. then stay saturday night so you can do the Sunday ride...makes the driving all worth while that way.

Here are the final meet times and locations for the weekends rides.

Friday. As mentioned above, this ride will leave from the Harolds supermarket parking lot in Dillsboro at the intersection of Bus 23 (W. Main St) and Savannah Dr. The ride will leave at 6pm. Dinner will follow right after the ride.

Sat. This info is also above in detail. Those in the Dillsboro/Sylva area will meet at the Harris Regional Hospital parking lot at 9am. Those east or coming from Knoxville or Asheville meet at the overlook at mp 439.4 which is about 4 mile north (towards Asheville) from Balsam Gap. Ride to start at 10am. Dinner in Sylva in the evening after the ride. I will post more on dinner plans later.

Sun. The Sunday ride will meet most likely in Dillsboro at the Dillsboro Square? parking lot, where the art supply shop is located. Final plans will be discussed during the ride on Sat. The ride itself will be in Macon County near Franklin and will start at the intersection of Sanderstown Rd and NC 28 at the pull-off along the Little Tenn. River. The ride will be about 30 miles over rolling to hilly terrain. Most of the ride will be on the Burningtown loop for those that now it. I think a start of 9 or 10 would help most ride and get back on the road home at a reasonable hour. Time to be decided Sat.

Any questions?

sounds good, BWNC. Thanks for taking care of all the details! Looking forward to it!

sounds good, BWNC. Thanks for taking care of all the details! Looking forward to it!

Look forward to seeing you again CM.

karen- i have to work friday until 7 & sunday at noon. BOOO!

Any questions?
Will there be SAG support in case riders can't complete the climbs? :o

There's no water along the Saturday route?

Cool video. You should take some footage of the weekend action.

Will there be SAG support in case riders can't complete the climbs? :o

There's no water along the Saturday route?

Cool video. You should take some footage of the weekend action.

There is no water along the route. rm-rf has volunteered to leave some near the turnaround point on his way to the start. So there will be some out there.

BWNC, lest you forget...I'll be carrying a little extra...as I've somehow been designated as a domestique for this ride:p

BWNC, lest you forget...I'll be carrying a little extra...as I've somehow been designated as a domestique for this ride:p

How could I forget something like that? I like my water un-chlorinated please. :)

Here are a few pictures from my ride yesterday.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p37/apadyk/BRP925.3.jpg

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p37/apadyk/BRP925.2.jpg

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p37/apadyk/BRP9.25.jpg

Leg Picture!! :D

Nice pics - looks like it was a great day for a ride up there, as usual.

Temp at 5000' at 10am this morning is 65F. It's cooler than that at 2000' in town. That will reverse come Friday.

those pics are getting me pumped up, like hans & franz.