Day Eight: Friday, Aug. 18, 2000
Today Shane and Steph are heading Nashville. Beth and I are going back up to the Pisgah Inn to meet up and ride with the Triumph Sprint Riders Association (TSRA). After cleaning up the rental house and packing, we say goodbye to Shane and Steph about 7:30am. Once again we head up to the Parkway via US 276. This morning is not as foggy as yesterday, so the ride is a little shorter. Once you reach the base of the mountains and begin the climb, 276 really is a lot of fun. Once we get up on the Parkway, we meet everyone in the restaurant at the Inn to sign up for the rally. I think that by doing so we have become members of the TSRA. This is funny because neither of us have a Sprint ST.
The plan for today is to make a run up the Parkway to the north, loop back down south towards Chimney Rock and then come back up to Asheville to hit the Parkway back to the inn. After everyone gases up and suits up, several different groups head out. Typically there are about six to seven bikes in each group. We are riding with the same guys as yesterday plus a guy from Houston that rode up with Richard and Lisa, Jim Huber.
The quality of the Parkway heading north of Asheville is not so good compared to that heading south to US 441. It is still far better than most roads in any other place. As we go along we see other groups of riders stopped at several of the overlooks. Then we stop and they go whizzing by. It is like that most of the day. We make several stops for the obligatory photo shoots. Our first official destination is Mount Mitchell.
Mount Mitchell is the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi river. I would venture to guess it is also one of the windiest! The ride up the mountain off of the Parkway is a nice road, but the side gusts are incredible. Once we near the summit there is a parking lot with another group already there. We pull in next to them, shoot some more pictures and chat for a few minutes before beginning the short climb (walking) to the observation tower on the summit. There are lots of flowers all around the trail. Here is where I get another of my favorite photos. Look closely and you can see the facial profile in the rock formation. I only notice that after getting the photos developed.
After a short walk, we reach the base of the tower. Mitchell, the guy that explored the mountain and for whom it is named lies entombed at the base of the tower. It is surrounded by the wrought iron fence. Ironically, he slipped on some wet rocks and fell over a waterfall, hitting his head on a rock and killing him. We ascend the tower. Once we get out onto the platform at the top we are greeted with gale force winds that make it hard to even look over the side. We are at 6700 feet and the clouds are coming up the side of the mountain and whipping past the summit. It is quite an experience to see the clouds slip past my face and to feel the moisture collecting. Once we get tired of being blown around and taking pictures, we head back down to the parking lot.
Once back out on the Parkway we head for an area known as Little Switzerland. This is a small resort community nestled on the mountain side. We stop and grab a bite to eat. While we are waiting for our food we talk with two elderly couples sitting next to us. It turns out that both of the men are retired ministers and are loaded with hilarious religious jokes. They are really nice folks. When the food comes, they lead us in a prayer asking for the safety of the riders and that we all return home without incident. Over the next ten to fifteen minutes, more and more of the riders start showing up at the restaurant. Eventually the parking lot is stuffed with bikes. The food is excellent. Once sufficiently stuffed we suit up and head out again.
The plan is to make a small loop on 226 which leaves from the restaurant and comes right back to it via 226 A. Then we will head back south on the Parkway. 226 is a tight two lane road that for some unknown reason has a lot of heavy truck traffic. The turns and grade are tight and steep. Needless to say we spend a good deal of time descending the mountain side in low gear behind cars smelling cooking brake pads. Real fun. Too bad the road is not closed to all traffic except motorcycles. The ride back up the mountain is a blast and there is virtually no traffic. When we get back to the restaurant we stop for bathroom breaks and then its back to the Parkway to head south to NC 80.
Highway 80 is an awesome road with incredibly beautiful woods lining the road. There are sections where the road switches back and forth as it drops down the side of the mountain and we look over the side of the cliffs to see other riders below us doing the next switchback. The coolest part is when we come upon a sign indicating we should slow because the road does a complete 360 degree switchback! It loops around and goes back under itself through a tunnel. If only I could stop for a picture of that sign... At one point we stop at a dam on 80 and snap a few pictures. While stopped we see ominous looking dark clouds filling the sky in the direction we had just come from. We also see some pretty sharp lighting flashes followed quickly by thunder. At the end of 80, we stop for gas, and as we are filling up, the rain, wind and lighting hit in force. Fortunately the pumps are covered so the bikes are protected. We sit inside at a little restaurant that is part of the filling station and watch the weather channel. It seems that there is more behind this, but there is a gap. Once the rain stops we decide to just take I-40 straight back to Asheville rather than taking some scenic roads down to Chimney Rock as we had planned. We get some rain on the freeway but nothing to bad, at least not enough to make us slow down. Seeing the storm clouds moving over and around the mountains is really cool. We make short work of the freeway and get back to Asheville in about thirty minutes.
In Asheville we just get back on the Parkway and head for the Inn. The Inn is about 20 miles out of Asheville heading south on the Parkway. In this stretch of road we start getting more serious rain and have to slow down. There are numerous tunnels along the Parkway. They are dark and slick inside because it never rains inside them so the crud just builds up. As water gets in by run off or cars, the surface gets pretty scary. Most of the tunnels are not straight shots through the hillside either! The sound of all the bikes rumbling through the tunnels is really cool.
There are sections of the road where the clouds are coming up the side of the mountain and blowing right out of the trees and across the road. This is very cool looking, until it gets so thick that we cannot see. Moving at a pretty quick pace, the lead three bikes (me as third) round a curve and are greeted with a wall of solid white. Brake lights come on and pulse rates go up. We push though a hundred feet or so and then it is perfectly clear again. No sooner than we come up to speed, a small beaver decides to poke his head out of the weeds on the shoulder causing everyone to slow a bit to avoid him. We round the last few turns and reach the Inn. Other riders have already arrived and are hanging out in the parking lot. Over the next hour or so more and more riders start arriving. We had a report that one of the riders had gone down with a passenger on board. The bike is reported to have gone over a cliff. It turns out that it is a person with the same name as one of the rally participants, what a relief for us, but bummer for him! It turns out that he is okay however and just the bike is damaged.
While we are standing around shooting the breeze, the clouds get thicker and continue rolling over the mountain tops and into the parking lot. The wind is blowing at sustained speeds in the neighborhood of 15-20 mph. Then the rain hits again driving everyone under the covered walkways outside the rooms for cover. While admiring the view of the mountains from our back balcony, I get the pleasure of seeing a beautiful full rainbow arcing over the valley spanning from peak to peak. I run inside to grab the camera to get a picture, hoping it will show up. Eventually, we all head over to the reserved dining room for dinner. During the dinner there are speeches, voting and other club business. Afterwards Eric informs me that one member of the group has to cancel his reservation for Saturday night due to a death in the family. Therefore we can get the room so we will be able to stay here again Saturday night instead of having to stay in Asheville. We are glad to get a room, but this is a sorry way for it to happen.
After dinner everyone heads back to the parking lot to continue the bull sessions late into the evening. Beth and I are beat from getting so little sleep the past few days and decide to turn in early so we can be fresh for tomorrow, a planned ride of nearly 300 miles! Oh man... Since leaving Huntsville last Friday, we have covered over 2000 miles. My butt is starting to feel it! Tomorrow, we all head back over to Deal's Gap.