Franklin, North Carolina Sept. 8 2008

We're staying at the Hampton Inn tonight after riding the long route. Kent and Sloan had a hilly and scenic ride as did Bruce and I. We had a 25 mile climb which was hard, but was well worth the effort. Bruce climbs faster than I do on the recumbent, but when we hit the down hills I smoke him so it evens out in the wash.

We rode along the Nantahala River and it was beautiful as was the forest, stopping at the Nantahala center to see if anyone was kayaking at the moment. We didn't see anyone and after unsuccessfully trying to get a sandwich we headed on out towards Franklin. We got to the Hampton about 3:30 and after a shower we headed to KFC for their buffet, which turned out to be pretty good, but everything tastes pretty good after 63 miles and 4433 feet of climbing!

They are predicting rain tomorrow and tomorrow is a rest day so it might be good to be sitting in a motel room, but I don't do well on rest days, which I found out on my XC trip.

Bryson City, NC BRP

We survived another beautiful day on the Blue Ridge Parkway and we're at the Relaxation Inn drinking a beer and relaxing after another hard day of riding. It was hard, but the scenery is spectacular and the descents are some of the best I've ridden, and I do love the descents! It's the main reason I go up hill so much.

The day started out foggy so we got a late start and today we reached the end of the BRP and continued on back roads for a figure eight ride.

The scenery is just superb! The views from the BRP are awesome! We had ridden the northern portion of the BRP on previous trips so this will finish the BRP. I would go back down there and ride again as it was that nice.

Tomorrow is a short day and Bruce and I may ride the longer option as 28 miles is pretty short, but in these mountains with long climbs it's a lot different than a 28 ride in Ohio.

We all went to Anthony's Italian Restaurant for dinner and had a nice meal and we discussed tomorrow's route. Kent and Sloan will do the 28 mile route and Bruce and I will ride the longer route.

The descents on this trip are some of the best, if not the best, that I've done and I do like my descents. I like climbing, but mainly because they lead to great descents. So I rode 46 miles with 3735 feet of climbing. It was a good day.

Blue Ridge Parkway

Greetings once again

September 6, 2008. Bruce, Kent, Sloan and I went to Asheville, NC to finish off the Blue Ridge Parkway. We had ridden the northern portion on two previous trips and now it's time to finish this bad boy. Bruce came to Ohio and to our place and he and I drove to Asheville to meet up with Kent and Sloan.

We got to Asheville and after a wrong turn we found the motel and K&S, but discovered that we had a mile climb to the Blueridge the next morning, but knowing that there was much climbing to do the next week and a half this was no big deal. We were able to leave the cars at the motel for the 11 days so that was good.

The next morning we headed to the BRP and enjoyed a very scenic ride and shared the road with quite a few bikes as they were also enjoying the Parkway along with quite a few cars. There are no commercial vehicles allowed and the speed limit is 45 mph so this helps the enjoyment as we ride. Rode about eleven miles and then started climbing in earnest for thirteen miles to the top of Pisgah Mountain. Had beautiful views of the valleys and surrounding mountains. The kudzu was growing everywhere! If something didn't move rapidly the kudzu would completely engulf it. I'm not sure why they don't attack this plant more aggressively as it's taking over the South! Agent Orange worked in Nam! Okay, that may be a little drastic, but it makes one wonder.

There were a lot of tunnels and most were short, but a rear flasher came in handy to keep from getting run down in the middle. One tunnel was long enough to be completely black at one point and for this we had headlights. The tunnels, as was the road, was mostly built by hand which is pretty impressive. We survived the tunnels, but it was a little disorienting when it was really dark.

We rode 53 miles today with 4491 feet of climbing, some of which were 21 percent grades, which is really fun on a bent. Sure glad I changed the cranks and used a lower gearing in front as the grinds were long and hard, but worth every pedal crank. Did I mention the downhills? They were fantastic.

Bruce programmed my GPS for the entire route and it worked great. Now I just have to learn how to do that and I'll be able to go anywhere. So we rode to Waynesville and the first day is complete.

Next adventure!

Greetings from south western Ohio. I don't know if anyone is still looking here, but in September Kent & Sloaner, Bruce, and myself are headed to Asheville, NC to ride for 9 out of 11 days and should be a great trip.

Kent planned this trip and then he and Bruce tweaked the route a little. Me, I'm just along for the ride. And quite a ride it will be as it looks like there is going to be a ton of hard climbing every day! The final day will be an assault on Mount Mitchell which should be interesting. Bruce has been doing a lot of serious climbs in preparation as he says it's not the miles on this trip, but the climbing. He is ready for it more so than I. I've started doing some serious climbing and will be ready.....or at least able to do the ride. I'm changing the gearing on the bent to a mountain bike crank to get the lower gearing that I think I'll need.

So it should be a beautiful and hard ride and hope maybe someone is still out there looking. We start riding September 6, 2008. Peace Paul God Bless

Rain

Howdy, well the bent is on the road again! Woohoo! We've had 2.3 inches of rain in the last 15 hours so it's pretty wet out there so no riding today......unless the sun comes out strong and dries everything. I'm headed to Athens this weekend for the Tour of the Hocking.

TotH is a two day ride over Memorial Day that has an overnight on the Ohio River where we camp and enjoy the scenery and a gourmet dinner. A very good time had by all! The Athens Bicycle Club does a nice job on their rides. I'll be staying at Tom's house on Saturday night and cousin John's house on Monday night returning home on Tuesday so it will be a good weekend. The weather even seems to be cooperating as the long range forecast looks promising, but then reality will set in about Saturday, so here's hoping.

As I get older I think, why should I ride in the rain, but after my XC trip, riding in the rain doesn't really bother me. But I have to admit that it's hard to start out in the rain. Back in the old days when I was riding with the Peckerheads it didn't matter what the weather was, we rode every Sunday morning unless the snow was too deep! Later.

Bents back!

After much procrastination I have finally got the bent built back up and have taken three rides on it and it's working great. I did have to break down and take it to Jim's Bike Shop where Patrick did the final touches on the chain and rear derailleur.

By not building it right away it forced me to ride the Merlin, which made my arm tire rapidly and then I got out the mountain bike and put smooth tires on and it went pretty darn well. Makes me wonder which to take to North Carolina, the MB or the bent, as there is going to be a lot of climbing.

I have determined that I might do a little suffering on The Tour of the Hocking on Memorial Day weekend, which by the way is next weekend! I need more hill miles! It will be a great ride regardless, but I will suffer slightly. Wish me fun!

Paul

Wow, here it is April 24 and I haven't put anything on the blog for quite awhile. So thought I'd drop a blog. I found a new bike comic at http://www.yehudamoon.com and it's pretty decent and has a new one daily. Tim Creamer sent it to me so thought I'd share.

Tom Wolf came over from Athens and he and I rode pretty much every direction from home to about Caesar Creek and then Tom continued on to Xenia where he spent the night and I headed south to home. Tom got 108 miles and I got 70. The trillium were just getting a start, but today they were a lot better and in a week they will be glorious.

I took off north to meet Tom and we met up and we rode south and I turned off for home and Tom continued on south to do another century. He's completed 60 consecutive months of centuries and over 120 total centuries in that time frame. Pretty impressive.

I've been riding the MB lately, but the bent will be back on the road shortly, but I'm putting mountain bike gearing on it if I end up taking it on the Blue Ridge Prkwy ride. The bent is just plain more comfortable. It's slower, but I'm slower, and I still enjoy it. I just can't ride as fast as I used to and that's the bottom line. But with close to 1000 miles so far this year I'm not too concerned. That's all for now. Possum