Downtown Mortimer
Highway 90 heading into Mortimer
All happy in Happy Valley. Globe Mountain ahead.
4am in Pensacola.
Stating up Pineola Road.
Wilson Creek
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
It’s Good Friday, and time for my favorite cycling event of the year, a team event called a fleche. My team consists of Will Shore, Steven Andreaus, Steve Britton, and me. We rolled out of Clemmons, crossing the Yadkin River heading west, and spirits high. We have 24 hours of cycling. Life is good. Then, within 10 minutes, a couple drops of rain, then minutes later we are on the side of the road getting our rain jackets out. This could have many more complications then the evident. We are to spend time on fire roads in the Wilson Creek area, then early the next day, a crossing of highway 197, which is dirt on the south side heading into Barnardsville. Oh well, we can’t change Mother Natures mind. Our first control is the Amish Bakery in Hamptonville. This is a great place, but likes to close its doors and take off at the drop of a hat.
Well, it’s Good Friday, and we start realizing our first stop might have the closed sign out. Well, at a quarter till noon, we arrive, and our thoughts turn to fruition. Well, it’s on to a Subway actually on the route about 8 miles up the road at the 421 crossing. After lunch, the rain eases and the roads are starting to dry, so things are starting to improve. Off to Wilkesboro, and to our next control in Happy Valley. This section is in on highway 268 in the Yadkin Valley, but now the river looks more like trout waters instead of the muddy waters we crossed at the start of the ride. We are seeing the mountains looming on the horizon. We arrive at Cheeks grill and convenience store a little before 4pm, so we are pretty much on schedule. Will’s brother, Ernie joins us, as we are eating our second lunch. We have just finished the prologue of the ride, and things are getting ready to get fun. We will be on Globe Mountain in less than 10 miles, at our 100 mile point. We also see our first “Pavement Ends” sign on. After 3 big pitches, we arrive in the ghost town of Mortimer.
Mortimer, once a thriving lumber town, was destroyed by floods in 1916 and again in 1940. After leaving Mortimer, we rode up a dirt fire road, Pineola Road, to the Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s around 6:30pm, and we are under pressure to make it to our restaurant in Pineola before closing at 9pm. I knew this was potentially a problem, but I was running out of options in this remote area of the mountains. Will and Steven motor up the road, and I ride with Steve, who is slowing his pace and sitting in on the big climb. As we gain altitude, the fog gets quite thick, and nightfall quickens. When Steve and I crest the climb and get to 181 and the Parkway, it’s 9:15pm. We might have to face the next 40 miles of Parkway riding without dinner, unless Will got into the Italian Restaurant and ordered some spaghetti for us. I meet up with Steven on the last hill into the restaurant, and ask him why he’s not already ordered us some dinner, as I thought they were closed. He got lost, and had been asking for directions. In a couple minutes, we are relieved to see the neon lights still glowing through the fog. Ah, a hot dinner. They close between 9 and 10pm, depending on business. During dinner, conversation quickly leads to concern. Steve would not be able to keep the pace needed to get into Hot Springs by 10am.
Will was concerned about the pea soup fog, and potential more rain and cool temperatures, on the 25 mile stretch of the Parkway ride to Little Switzerland. Steve decided he was retiring at the next stop in Burnsville, as we had reservations at a hotel for our 2 hour nap stop. Plan was to arrive at 1am, and depart at 3. We depart a little before 10pm, and were pleasantly surprised with the calm on the Parkway. After riding up the dirt on Pineola Road, and having the concern of possibly arriving to a closed restaurant, the mood now was really enjoyable. The calm faded as the road would crest and turn down for a couple miles. The fog was so thick, we hovered around the yellow lines in the middle of the road for visibility, nearly out running the throw on our lights. We finally pull into Little Switzerland, and decide we need to regroup with Steve. After a short break, we all regroup and descend out of the fog on Crabtree Road. Upon arriving at the Carolina Country Inn in Burnsville, we are about 1 ½ hours behind schedule. So, our planned time of a shower and quick nap turned into reloading our calories, filling up water bottles, and getting back on the road. Our 2 hours turns into 30 minutes with one less teammate, Steve. So, Steven, Will, and myself head toward the biggest climb of the ride, highway 197. It’s all pavement on the north side, which is the Burnsville side. It changes to dirt for the decent into Barnardsville. We make it to top at 5am. The decent on dirt is not as smooth as were our roads in Wilson Creek. There is a fair bit of gravel laying on top, which was from having to add during a wet winter. We get off our last section of dirt without a flat, and are now in my home turf. We are all quite hungry as we arrive at the Waffle House in Weaverville on schedule at 6:30am, at our 200 mile point.
Eggs, bacon, toast, grits, waffle, and coffee got our calorie count back in check. That ought to be enough to get us the Marshall for our 22 hour control. We had to be there by 8am, which is the time Zuma’s Coffee opens up. We arrive 5 minutes till 8 to a dark shop, but see a couple folks in the back. They see us, and head toward the door to unlock it and let us in. We got a nice cup of coffee, but had to wait for the muffins to come out the oven. After eating the hot muffins like we’ve not had a meal in days, we depart around 8:15am. I kept thinking about what Ende reminded me of this last section, which was there is some meat still on the bone in that last 18 miles. Tony said it’s in the tune of 1800 feet of climbing, so no time for coffee refills. We have about 15 miles on US 25, which is not that desirable a road, as there are not many choices into Hot Springs. On the last climb we are greeted by Ende’s fleche team, as they started around 2 hours before us. The three of us arrive at the Smokey Mountain Diner about 9:30am, successfully finishing our 227 miles. It’s time for our third breakfast, and our badly needed nap. All is good.
We thank Tony for organizing another great event.
Well, it’s Good Friday, and we start realizing our first stop might have the closed sign out. Well, at a quarter till noon, we arrive, and our thoughts turn to fruition. Well, it’s on to a Subway actually on the route about 8 miles up the road at the 421 crossing. After lunch, the rain eases and the roads are starting to dry, so things are starting to improve. Off to Wilkesboro, and to our next control in Happy Valley. This section is in on highway 268 in the Yadkin Valley, but now the river looks more like trout waters instead of the muddy waters we crossed at the start of the ride. We are seeing the mountains looming on the horizon. We arrive at Cheeks grill and convenience store a little before 4pm, so we are pretty much on schedule. Will’s brother, Ernie joins us, as we are eating our second lunch. We have just finished the prologue of the ride, and things are getting ready to get fun. We will be on Globe Mountain in less than 10 miles, at our 100 mile point. We also see our first “Pavement Ends” sign on. After 3 big pitches, we arrive in the ghost town of Mortimer.
Mortimer, once a thriving lumber town, was destroyed by floods in 1916 and again in 1940. After leaving Mortimer, we rode up a dirt fire road, Pineola Road, to the Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s around 6:30pm, and we are under pressure to make it to our restaurant in Pineola before closing at 9pm. I knew this was potentially a problem, but I was running out of options in this remote area of the mountains. Will and Steven motor up the road, and I ride with Steve, who is slowing his pace and sitting in on the big climb. As we gain altitude, the fog gets quite thick, and nightfall quickens. When Steve and I crest the climb and get to 181 and the Parkway, it’s 9:15pm. We might have to face the next 40 miles of Parkway riding without dinner, unless Will got into the Italian Restaurant and ordered some spaghetti for us. I meet up with Steven on the last hill into the restaurant, and ask him why he’s not already ordered us some dinner, as I thought they were closed. He got lost, and had been asking for directions. In a couple minutes, we are relieved to see the neon lights still glowing through the fog. Ah, a hot dinner. They close between 9 and 10pm, depending on business. During dinner, conversation quickly leads to concern. Steve would not be able to keep the pace needed to get into Hot Springs by 10am.
Will was concerned about the pea soup fog, and potential more rain and cool temperatures, on the 25 mile stretch of the Parkway ride to Little Switzerland. Steve decided he was retiring at the next stop in Burnsville, as we had reservations at a hotel for our 2 hour nap stop. Plan was to arrive at 1am, and depart at 3. We depart a little before 10pm, and were pleasantly surprised with the calm on the Parkway. After riding up the dirt on Pineola Road, and having the concern of possibly arriving to a closed restaurant, the mood now was really enjoyable. The calm faded as the road would crest and turn down for a couple miles. The fog was so thick, we hovered around the yellow lines in the middle of the road for visibility, nearly out running the throw on our lights. We finally pull into Little Switzerland, and decide we need to regroup with Steve. After a short break, we all regroup and descend out of the fog on Crabtree Road. Upon arriving at the Carolina Country Inn in Burnsville, we are about 1 ½ hours behind schedule. So, our planned time of a shower and quick nap turned into reloading our calories, filling up water bottles, and getting back on the road. Our 2 hours turns into 30 minutes with one less teammate, Steve. So, Steven, Will, and myself head toward the biggest climb of the ride, highway 197. It’s all pavement on the north side, which is the Burnsville side. It changes to dirt for the decent into Barnardsville. We make it to top at 5am. The decent on dirt is not as smooth as were our roads in Wilson Creek. There is a fair bit of gravel laying on top, which was from having to add during a wet winter. We get off our last section of dirt without a flat, and are now in my home turf. We are all quite hungry as we arrive at the Waffle House in Weaverville on schedule at 6:30am, at our 200 mile point.
Eggs, bacon, toast, grits, waffle, and coffee got our calorie count back in check. That ought to be enough to get us the Marshall for our 22 hour control. We had to be there by 8am, which is the time Zuma’s Coffee opens up. We arrive 5 minutes till 8 to a dark shop, but see a couple folks in the back. They see us, and head toward the door to unlock it and let us in. We got a nice cup of coffee, but had to wait for the muffins to come out the oven. After eating the hot muffins like we’ve not had a meal in days, we depart around 8:15am. I kept thinking about what Ende reminded me of this last section, which was there is some meat still on the bone in that last 18 miles. Tony said it’s in the tune of 1800 feet of climbing, so no time for coffee refills. We have about 15 miles on US 25, which is not that desirable a road, as there are not many choices into Hot Springs. On the last climb we are greeted by Ende’s fleche team, as they started around 2 hours before us. The three of us arrive at the Smokey Mountain Diner about 9:30am, successfully finishing our 227 miles. It’s time for our third breakfast, and our badly needed nap. All is good.
We thank Tony for organizing another great event.
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