This is a nice event hailing out of Mars Hill, NC. If you're in the area I highly recommend it. I will be riding the metric this year. Both the metric and the century are good routes through mountainous territory. And they do a good job with lunch.

https://www.hotdoggett.mhc.edu/

Neal - How did it go? Was out in CA doing the Death Ride or I'd have been there as well. Andy ride with you?

Never made it Pat. My car broke down right at the top of 226 on Friday night. It was pouring down rain and I was out of luck. I finally got help and the car had to be towed in. I ended up spending a night at Spruce Pine and they worked on my car on Saturday. They could not fix it so they jury rigged it and I brought it back to Raleigh. The antilock brake system had failed and it had to be replaced(expensive). It was an aggravating weekend. Andy decided to not ride since I couldn't and he was getting ready for Idaho. We will just have to wait a year. I heard the turnout was good which is a good thing.

By the way, I rode most of the HP&A route today and the section of Parkway around Mahogany Rock is closed. They have changed the route for Saturday to avoid this. I went ahead and rode my bike through it today and its really torn up. I have a feeling it will be a good while before it opens. They are having to replace/repair the rock edges for miles.

Was pondering doing that ride. You think it's still worthwile with the route change?

I think so. Its a decent route and they have added a trek through Stone Mtn park in an effort to maintain the gain lost due to the closed Parkway section. One doesn't have to take the Stone trek as its optional. If we are looking at blistering temperatures for Saturday, which the forecast is pointing to at this time, then I will probably skip this trek. Should still end up with 5k'+ of climbing. Fortunately, the main climb is early in the morning when temps should only be in the 80's .

Thanks for the info on HPA-I have not done ridden this year but it's one of my regular training loops. In fact outside of Colorado I haven't done any hilly loops this year!!!!!

I rode the HP&A event this past weekend and it was excellent. A better executed event than I had expected. The same crew (Brushy Mountain Cycle Club) that hosts the Tour de Gaps hosted this one. Music, lots of support, lots of food for lunch, cold towels, etc. I had intended on riding the abbreviated route given the hot weather which would have skipped the Stone Mountain loop, but I went ahead and rode the full 74 miles like most others. I would estimate about 250 riders showed up for this event. I had a couple inclinations of cramping near the end but, I was toning it down by that time so I avoided them. I did drink a lot - like 6 water bottles. My garmin registered 6200'.