Southeast - Greenville, SC...

Looks like we'll be stopping in there for a bit before we head to Rome, GA. Looking for any links and preferred routes in the area. I'll be doing my best to search the Net, but know hearing from the locals in always the best.

BTW we'll be arriving in town on Friday May 15th and leaving on the Monday May 18th.

Thanks in advance,
Rich

What kind of ride length/difficulty are you looking for, do you want to ride in a group or just by yourself, what is your fitness/ability level?

A group ride would be great, but not required...

Wife and I are pretty good riders, not the fastest, but very stable on the bike and have group riding experience. We don't race, but my wife is thinking about it. Myself I just like getting out there and going hard for as long as I can...

Most of our rides around home vary between 50-125km with a few centuries and 200km rides thrown in...

Most rides we average about 28-32km/h on the flats...

The one thing we need to improve on is climbing. Most rides only involve about 1500ft of climbing and the most sustained climbing is about 300-400ft...

For solo rides, the rides from Greenville or NGCSU (North Greenville College & State University) listed on the Spinners website that go to either Saluda or Ceasars Head are what I would recommend.

http://www.greenvillespinners.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=296060&module_id=40386

The weekend group rides are listed on there as well. The open rides are basically all shop rides. A short loop over Paris Mountain on Saturday AM takes off from Carolina Tri downtown (880ft in 2.2 miles). Sunshine has a good loop and so does the Carolina Tri Simpsonville. The CT Simpsonville has a few speed groups. It sounds like you would both be fine in the "B" group.

There is also a Go Tri Sports Sunday 12:30 ride at their downtown Greenville store, which is about 40 miles at a moderate pace and regroups.

http://www.greenvillespinners.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=296060&module_id=40428

Take a look at the links and if you have any specific questions, I will be happy to try to answer.

Cool...Thanks...

I also second the North Greenville College to Saluda ride. There is a great little cafe in Saluda (the top of your climb) that is very bicycle friendly (they have racks, outdoor seating, give you pitchers of water to refill water bottles) and the food is excellent. Here is the website with their menu.

http://www.saluda.com/icecream/menu.html

It is a beautiful climb, low traffic & if you go on the weekend, you will probably see a lot of cyclists out there with you.

If you want to stay in the Greenville area, I suggest going to mapmyride.com & pull up the route for the US Cycling Championships - it starts in Cleveland Park & rides over Paris Mountain. One loop is like 25 miles; I think the pros do it 4 times in August.

The Carolina Tri Simpsonville store is the one on Woodruff, correct??

Yeah, just south of I-85.

Although the Carolina Tri Simpsonville Store ride is a good one (I ride in often on Saturdays); I don't know that I would want their ride to be your one ride in Greenville. It is a great weekly ride, with plenty of other cyclists & friend people; the roads are safe & a good route, I just don't know that it is the best Greenville has to offer. Just my 2 cents.

Although the Carolina Tri Simpsonville Store ride is a good one (I ride in often on Saturdays); I don't know that I would want their ride to be your one ride in Greenville. It is a great weekly ride, with plenty of other cyclists & friend people; the roads are safe & a good route, I just don't know that it is the best Greenville has to offer. Just my 2 cents.

I hear ya...

The issue we have is we are meeting a friend from Georgia on Saturday afternoon, he's doing the AOMM, so I'm not sure what type of a ride he will want to do on the Sunday. I don't want to end up doing the same route, or similar, on the Saturday.

Honestly considering the early May weather in Southern Ontario...And the road conditions...We'll just be happy to be out in some warm sunshine with smooth roads...

The trip is drawing closer, we have a hotel booked...The Holiday Inn Express in downtown Greenville...I've been looking at routes up Caesars Head and out to Saluda Bakery and am curious if there's ample free parking around Furman University...

I'm trying to figure out some ways to shorten some of the routes a tad without losing out on the best scenery...

Thanks,