I had the pleasure of riding with a fine group of 6 riders from another bike club and my brother yesterday. I was invited to experience an annual event they do called "The Mother Ride." It starts at the base of a 13 mile climb up Hwy 181 north of Morganton, NC. It then takes the Blue Ridge Parkway 43 mikes over to Mt Mitchell. Then you retrace the route back to the start.

It was 122 miles with around 15,000' of climbing. That's by far the most climbing I've done in one day. We had almost 10,000' of climbing in the first 61 miles over to Mitchell. I've ridden lots of 100 milers that didn't have 10,000' of climbing. We only took 3 stops. Thank goodness for 40 oz of Coca Cola along the way!

No really steep hills but a lot of 6-10% climbs with the longest being the initial 13 miles.

There were two significant rain showers on the ride, both on the Parkway. The first was about 10 miles from Mitchel and was a stready rain for 15-20 minutes. However the 5 mile climb up Mitchell was dry. The second rain event was one of those with large rain drops that hurt and sting while you’re riding. Everything was quickly soaked including my shoes. It lasted about 30 minutes.

Except on Mitchell, there is only one place to get water and snacks along the way. We were thrilled when a really nice lady in the small store said she stay open a little later so we could refuel on the return trip. Life saver!
Because we were on the bike for almost 10 hours, I needed an external battery to recharge the Garmin


My brother


Our momento for doing the ride


My brother and me at the top.....halfway!!!




This year ‘s participants