Day One: Cherokee to Asheville

Morning dawns over the Smoky Mountains, during the early miles of the Parkway

Three things that you need to know; 1) the Blue Ridge Parkway was designed by someone who had no interest in finding the shortest distance between point A and B, and 2) was infatuated with his/her french curve, and 3) was oblivious to how the terrain would affect people touring by bike.  With that knowledge, as a cyclist you are less like to curse the intentions of this well meaning person.

Our starting point at
milepost 469.1

Elk disappearing
into the woods

We left the campground in darkness and had a very filling and tasty breakfast at Peter's Pancakes and Waffles in Cherokee, NC.  We were on the road at milepost 469.1 by 7:40, as daylight expanded.  We encountered our first tunnel and passed Big Witch Overlook.  On the descent to Soco Gap, we encountered an elk standing calmly in a little grassy spot along the road.  As a few cars stopped, it was not immediately spooked.  However, by the time I got my phone out and unlocked, I took a quick pic as it headed into the surrounding woods.  Passerby's said there was a pair of elk just down the road, but we did not see them.  Within a half mile or so, Dale experienced a flat in his rear tire.  A few miles later we passed a single wild turkey along the road.

The road was pretty quiet for the first hour, but as we climbed toward Waterrock Knob, groups of motorcycles started passing us.  The Harley-types could be heard approaching well in advance, and after they passed could be heard many miles in the distance as the wound along exposed sections of the parkway.  Since a motorcycle can pass a bicycle rider within the same lane, our presence on the road did not seem to slow them down very much.  A group of 3 or 4 guys on moto GP style bikes came flying by us and as they entered the next turn their knees were just above the grass as they leaned into the turn...those are the guys we have to watch out for.

View from Waterrock Knob

During the quiet moments we could hear elk bugling and turkeys clucking in the distance.  The air was cool and comfortable and sun was shining, it seemed like conditions could not be better.

View from Richland Balsam Overlook

Since the morning was spent mostly climbing, it was appropriate that our lunch stop goal was Richland Balsam overlook, which at 6053 feet is the highes point on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We pulled in and were cooled by a nice breeze and cool air.  we enjoyed a beautiful view as we ate our lunch.  A few people wandered over to ask where we had started or where we were going.  One couple must hove thought we looked in such sorry shape that they gave us a sleeve of crackers and a bottled water to each.  The kind gestures from strangers we encountered along the way were uplifting.

Sign at Richland Balsam

From the high point, of course there was a lot of descending to do, but really we were either going up or down.  As the day wore on we entered Pisgah National Forest and came closer to the City of Asheville motorcycle and car traffic really began to pick up.  The cycles could easily pass us, but since the Parkway is narrow and has no shoulder cars would have cross into the opposing lane to pass.   As we slogged up a climb we could hear the cars queuing up behind us and then gunning to pass us when they had an opening.  Since the road is always curving, many times cars trying to pass  had little sight distance to safely pass.  Somewhere near Pisgah Knob a large pickup, got impatient and tried to pass, when they were even with us, another pickup was coming the opposite direction and had to go off the road to avoid a front-end collision, it was a very close call.

This Saturday of Labor Day weekend, and there were a lot destinations along this portion of the Parkway that locals were visiting for one last summer weekend.  There were a couple of places where parking areas were overflowing and people were parking on the grass shoulders of the roadway.  the constant flow of traffic with lines of cars passing us at higher rates of speed, caused many stressful situations for us.  On one of the descents a local rider out for a Saturday afternoon ride passed us.  We exchanged a few words of encouragement, and then we tried to follow him on the long downhill.  After about 20 minutes he was out of site.

As we continued to descend we could see that we were getting close to the level of the valley floor.  At a couple view points, we could see the Biltmore mansion in the distance, perched prominently on a hill within the estate.  We continued to desend past the southern perimeter of the  North Carolina Arboretum.  As we crossed the French Broad River, we knew we were at a low point on the Parkway.

From there we had a few miles of rolling hills till we arrived at route 70 where we exited the Parkway.  We finally hit 70 and still had 6-7 miles of riding to our spot at the KOA campground.  For some reason I was struggling with both mental and physical fatigue at that point, and it was probably the hardest part of the trip.  It seemed like such a short distance, but it was on a 4 lane road with traffic lights and intersections.  After the somewhat controlled environment of the Parkway, it was a tough stretch, and the roadways expansion joints added to the annoying aspects of this ride.  When we finally arrived it was quite a relief.

Cateye Computer
93.63 Miles
8:23:47 Total riding time
Avs 11.1  Average speed
MX 41.2 Maximum Speed

Polar

NPS Map - Interactive Map of Blue Ridge Parkway.

Mileposts - Text list of mileposts for important points of interest along Parkway.