what is the best hotel to stay in the night before the ride? in Sylva, preferably.

There is a Comfort Inn in Sylva and a Holiday Inn Express and a Best Western in Dillsboro. A Sleep Inn is being finished in Sylva but I don't know when it will open.

So... anybody done this ride before? I just moved to the area (the road I live on is towards the end of the route) and have heard only a little about it so far. I'm doing the 100. Wondering how it compares to various other hilly centuries. It appears to me that there's a goodly amount of climbing to be done, but nothing ridiculously steep. True?

There is significant climbing on the 100 route. But its a great route, quite possibly the best mountain event in NC as you ride the most scenic area of the Parkway. I usually ride the metric, and its plenty nice. I just rode the Ring of Hades with BikeWNC a couple weeks ago and, it includes most of the second half of the Tour de Tuck century. I believe Charleys Creek has one section that is about 18%. Ouch!

The other routes on Motion Makers website also have plenty of climbing. Tour de Cashiers is the toughest event up that way, imho, though I've only ridden the metric. But its a humdinger and the full century includes the climb up Walnut Creek.

You also need to sign up for the upcoming Tour de Nantahala and, Tour de Franklin events. Both are outstanding.

There is little over 11K' of climbing on the Tour de Tuck route. By the time you reach Richland Balsam at mile 56 you will have climbed about 9000'. That leaves around 2300' to climb in the last 50 miles. Unfortunately, much of that is steep in the Charlies Ck area. Notable climbs are to Lickstone Ridge - 10 miles at 6.5% ave, Waterrock Knob - 4.8 miles at 5.7%, and Richland Balsam - 12.3 miles at 4.5%/ first 4 miles at 7%.

If you don't already know, there is a Tuesday evening ride from the bike shop starting at 6pm. It's fast but there are usually a few riders of all speeds that show up.

Hmm... from the description of the climbs, it appears I was visualizing it backwards. Does it run clockwise, meaning the Parkway part starts from the end/Cherokee? I've been up to Waterrock from that direction once so far. Great stuff. Really lookin' forward to the whole ride.

Yep.. been there the last two (minus the rainout a couple weeks ago). I keep getting dropped by the leaders on the 'wall' at roughly 11 miles. Me and that particular stretch of asphalt are gonna have a rocky relationship, methinks.

Yes, the TdT route rides to Cherokee then up the BRP to NC 215 about 47 miles on the Parkway. If you can hang with the leaders to the Wall on Tues. night then you are faster than I am. But then most are.

Gotta check this one out. Sounds like a miserable day of climbing. I am in.

Richard

Cool. The century is capped at 125 riders by the BRP so sign up early.

What I have I done? I signed up for the full century. I suspect I will feel like punching bunnies and kicking puppies by mile 60.

Richard The Flatlander

BikeWNC how do you rate the difficulty of this compared to other rides. I looked at the finishing times from last year, and they seem to be longer than a lot of the rides I have scoped out.

I think the reason I like this is I was thinking about a ride from Sugarlands Visitor Center up Newfound Gap descend into Cherokee, left on the BRP and then climb until I puke. Seems to me that would be likely two cat 1 and 1 cat 2 climbs in the TDF. Not really steep but long grinding climbs.

Richard

The fast local guys do this ride in about the same time as the Assault on Mt. Mitchell, maybe a little longer. The difference is the TdT has a few more miles, a bit more climbing, but comes back down to the start. The AoMM as you probably know finishes up on the mountain. The problem with the rides you mention is the constant traffic on US 441 through the Park. The BRP gets less than 10% of that traffic I would say. So 47 miles on the BRP with low traffic is really nice. If the weather is good, the TdT is a spectacular ride. Glad you signed up for it. Maybe we can do a "recovery" ride the next day.

BikeWNC my recovery will probably be in a hospital bed! If I am able I would love to. I may wet a fly line the day after to.

I get concerned on mountain rides. It has been awhile since that terrible day during the 3 mountain metric. It was my worst day on a bike ever. Did the first 40 miles in less than 2 hours the last 35 took over 4! I remember climbing Pilot Mountain I was not breathing hard, and I suspect my heartrate was low, but I could not turn the pedals. Weird bonk.

Richard

That's very common when you have been climbing pushing a gear into resistance for a long time. The glycogen in your muscles is gone and you can only put out so much power. I key is to spin early in the ride and make sure to eat and drink. Still, there are those days nothing seems to work. Coming from sea level you may feel the climb up to 6000' in the TdT.

Would love to do TdT, but next day is Bridge to Bridge, and I'll be riding there. Recovery ride for you adventuresome sorts???

I've about given up on point to point rides. I believe Nota rode both the TdT and the B2B rides last year. Of course the B2B didn't end on top of Grandfather Mtn. last year so his efforts don't really count.

BikeWNC I am going to do my best. I will do the 56 mile BrB at an endurance pace and then ride and ride and ride. I would like to do something a little more special at TDT. First year back riding since 2006 due to a small bout with cancer. Just a little nervous being a flatlander and all.

Richard

You're welcome to ride with Neal and me at the BRB this weekend. You may find your endurance pace is faster than ours! We're just out for a day of riding though you have to watch Neal sometimes he can get to riding faster than planned. BTW, there are no small bouts with cancer as I'm sure you're well aware.

BikeWNC I will be glad to ride with you guys for awhile. Trust me you will be faster than me at any pace. I have just started to ride again, since May after a two plus year layoff. I am getting slowly back in shape, but it has been slow. I am not overweight, but my lungs aren't back yet. FTP is less than 200 watts. I hope to do these rides to get me into a little racing next year. I should be in for the 56 miler, but my last long ride in the mountains was the 3Mountain I mentioned. It was a suffer fest. I thought I was ready for it but I popped at 40 miles. I was pretty well prepared doing one day a week at Hanging Rock, Pilot, or Paris Mt in Greenville, SC.

This year my goals are just to ride and finish, and hopefully be a functioning person once it is over. I think the TDT is going to be a sufferfest for me as I don't have the time in, but it should be fun.

It sucks to be a flatlander that loves climbing. One day I will be in biking and fly fishing heaven either around Asheville, or Colorado.

I will be a tall lanky guy on a red and carbon Serotta.

Thanks for all of the input

Richard

Bump. Just a week away. There are still a some spots left for the century.

There might be another spot. I signed up for the 100, but I just had a major fitting change. I suspect I will wimp out at the metric. Excited though.

Richard

You could always ride up from the metric/century split at Balsam Gap to Richland Balsam. If you feel bad at that point just turn around and ride back down to Sylva. That would add about 25 miles to the 60 mile ride.

Might try that. We will see how I feel.

Richard