Assault on Mt. Mitchell
 

Anyone from the NY area planning on doing the ride?

If so, are you interested in: sharing a room in Spartanburg (I made a reservation at a nearby Motel 8 I stayed in for the Mt. Marion ride in '07), going down together (flying, or possibly driving), or, doing some training rides, let me know. Thanks.

You may want to post this in the Regional Forums Northeast section as well.

I finished the ride in 1997 - it's a tough one! Have fun, and good luck!

Thanks for the posting tip. I'll give it a try.

I live in NC just south (30 min)of that ride. It's great! Enjoy it. "Bridge to Bridge" is a good one too.

I've got a basement you can crash in.

I'm seriously considering the Bridge to Bridge this year. Just gotta be in good enough shape to do it.
-Gene-

At least it's towards the end of the season, so we should be in pretty good shape by then. (It's that little climb at the end that hurts).

if i'm back in NC next year, ya'll better watch out.

I was told that Grandfather Mountain will not be included on the Bridge to Bridge ride again this year. I hope that's not true but it came from a reliable source.

Not to hijack the thread, but when I did the Assault on Mt. Mitchell in 1997, they had a field limit of 1,000 riders. I have seen that they now limit the access to the Blue Ridge Parkway at 750 riders, or 3:30 pm (whichever happens first). If the field limit is still the same (I didn't see a number on the web site), does that mean that they're potentially turning away a quarter of the starters at the Parkway? That seems like it would be extremely frustrating to get that far, and then be turned away from completing the ride. Am I missing something here? Has the field limit been reduced?

A 1/4 wont make it by 3:30

That #$%% is steep.

Do you know the mileage point where the cutoff is?

I remember that I was a bit freaked out by the beginning of the climb. I thought that if that was typical of the next 30 miles, I was hosed!

Ive never ridden it. Dont get me wrong........I just cant, I aint got it in me.

Yet.

Good Luck.

I did the Assault on Mt. Mitchell back in 1997. I'm trying to decide if I'm stupid enough to go back again... :twitchy: I don't remember where that cut off point is, because I don't recall it being an issue in 1997.

Looking at the web site, I think the cut off is at 86.7 miles, approximately 12 miles after the serious climbing begins, and 9 hours after the start of the ride. If that cut off was in place in 1997, I would have passed that point by 3:30.

If you can't get to the BRP by 3:30 then you probably can't finish the ride anyway. Seriously, the last 15 miles could take 3 hours or more at that pace. That's a 12 hour day or longer.

It's the 750 rider cut off that I'm more concerned about.

I was told the opposite. I hope I'm right. It's not the same without that grueling 2 mile wall of death climb at the end. I actually live 2 blocks from the start of B2B.

Do it!! I"m doing it and surely if i can you can!! :)

:)

The rule for Mitchell is to take your time to Marion and double it. You'll have your rough final time from that equation.

That's about right.

My wife dropped me off in Marion a couple years ago. I was going to ride up to Mt. Mitchell, ride down the brp and meet her in Asheville. 5 hours later, I'm offering a guy in a pick up truck 20 dollars for a ride down from Craggy gardens.

It really isn't very steep. IIRC Mt Mitchell itself is less than 6% average grade.

see http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united...pine/655722877

What gets people is all the sustained climbing at the end and going to hard before the climbing begins.

This is correct. The climb up NC 80 is not all that steep and neither is Mitchell. It's that 16 miles between NC 80 and Mitchell that will really start to wear you down. The climb up Grandfather Mtn. in the Bridge to Bridge ride is much tougher than Mitchell.

Yep, Bridge to bridge it rough. There's the 12 mile climb up HWY 181... then you hit the Blue Ridge Parkway... then up Hwy 221... then... after you've ridden 100 miles of mostly climbing... you have to suffer up 2.1 miles of hell. FUN!! I'll be there.:thumb:

Not to say that the B2B is tougher than the AOM, it's not but Grandfather is a much tougher climb than Mitchell. B2B is a fun ride; my only problem with it is that they keep changing the frickin route so you can never compare your time from one year to the next. And why someone would pay $75 to do this ride anymore without the Grandfather summit is beyond me.