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09-10-07, 07:31 AM
Rode from Boone to Grandfather Mtn. (not to the top though) and back this weekend, very nice. I took poplar grove road out of boone, it has some steep and sustained (to me) climbing and fun descents. Way different than riding around raleigh, but I got used to it with my barely low enough gearing (40/26). It was slow going on the climbs but I didn't want to push my pace too much since I wasn't used to riding there, and I didn't know exactly how far or how steep the ride would be. Got to schull's mill road, and climbed it to u.s. 221. That climb was longer but not as steep as sections of polar grove rd. Took 221 towards grandfather, very nice, mostly climbing but some descents and lots of curves. Very light car traffic. Here's a boulder in one curve, you can barely see my bike in the second pic:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/jvpro/bike079.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/jvpro/bike080.jpg
Finally got to the parkway at grandfather, after 20 miles, for the return leg. I stopped at the lin cove viaduct visitor's center, along with about 80 harley hog riders that took over an entire parking lot it looked like. Got back on the parkway, crossed the viaduct, stopped, turned around and took this pic:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/jvpro/bike081.jpg
then continued along and did the same again:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/jvpro/bike082.jpg
At that point I was reading about ~23 miles. From there, I descended...for a long time. My odometer said 30 miles when I finally reached the bottom of that grade. Of course I was rewarded with a long refreshing climb back up to 221/schull's mill. From there it was a nice cruise back to Boone, with one steep climb left on poplar grove. Total trip = 40 miles, ave. = 15.1 mph.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/jvpro/bike079.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/jvpro/bike080.jpg
Finally got to the parkway at grandfather, after 20 miles, for the return leg. I stopped at the lin cove viaduct visitor's center, along with about 80 harley hog riders that took over an entire parking lot it looked like. Got back on the parkway, crossed the viaduct, stopped, turned around and took this pic:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/jvpro/bike081.jpg
then continued along and did the same again:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/jvpro/bike082.jpg
At that point I was reading about ~23 miles. From there, I descended...for a long time. My odometer said 30 miles when I finally reached the bottom of that grade. Of course I was rewarded with a long refreshing climb back up to 221/schull's mill. From there it was a nice cruise back to Boone, with one steep climb left on poplar grove. Total trip = 40 miles, ave. = 15.1 mph.