Sunday, July 12, 2015

Spectacular final day

Saturday  July 11   Day 7   Asheville to Cherokee, NC   94 miles, 11,680' of climbing

634 total miles with 66,612 feet of elevation gain (avg of 91 mi and 9516 ft per day)


We completed the ride successfully yesterday! Lots of climbing, lots of incredible scenery, and a great final day of bike riding. This photo was at the highest point along the BRP, where we ate our lunch with only 38 miles to go. Only Mark was missing since he hadn't arrived yet. Chuck is in street clothes because, unfortunately, his Achilles tendon swelled up and was very painful. He was disappointed not to ride, but at least he'd ridden it on two previous occasions.
 Just after riding past Asheville in the morning, we crossed the French Broad River, which flows northward. At that point, we had a long climb to Mt Pisgah. Probably due to its being a Saturday and close to a big town, vehicle, motorcycle, and bicycle traffic on the BRP was significantly busier than usual. The day before was busier than usual too, and many bicycles climbed Mt Mitchell that day.
During this tour, we had 27 tunnels, which required both front and tail lights. On this final day were about 19 of them, and here are Alvin and Jill about to enter one of them (it's a blurry shot, but still my best out of about 10 tries over the previous several days).
We're about to finish riding through it. Out of the 27 tunnels, only two of them got completely dark inside due to their lengths and curves.
Another of thousands of spectacular views as we pedaled along this National Parkway. This photo, however, doesn't begin to capture the distant views of green mountains and valleys.
 Devil's Courthouse refers to that rock outcropping up there. This particular turnout was jam-packed with cars and tourists, many of whom were taking hikes. Certain other turnouts were too, presumably because they were trailheads for these weekenders.
One more viewpoint I decided to photograph. As I say, these views were never-ending during our seven days of riding, as long as there was no fog. My favorites were the many times we were right at the mountain crest and could look to both the eastern and western valleys simultaneously. 
This photo and the one below were taken at a visitor center called Waterrock Overlook. This was another crest point, so this photo is to the north and the one below is to the south. The top photo shows our BRP and where we had been riding a few minutes earlier, whereas the photo below shows the ominous weather we were heading into (we did get rain).
This location brought back clear memories from seven years ago because we also had a rest stop here. And, with only 18 miles left to go, most of which was downhill, I remember the emotions were beginning to bubble up in me because I knew I was going to complete my goal of finishing the BRP after my broken-neck accident 9.5 months earlier.
This is Mile Post 468, to begin the final mile. As described in Head Over Wheels, this was where my emotions spilled over and I was sobbing in gratitude almost the entire final mile.
I didn't cry this time, but this was where I balled last time as I saw the completion of the parkway. This is Bryan riding past me.
There is the final Mile Post in front of the river, the official end of the BRP (or the beginning, if going in the other direction). The Great Smoky Mountains are just beyond.
And then along came Alvin and Jill, with their tunnel headlights still on. In the background, you can see the familiar sign for entering the Blue Ridge Parkway. Quite an accomplishment for us!
My final photo of this tour shows kids playing in the Oconoluftee River.

There were five of us who rode into the finish there (I did not get Jeff's picture, but I did cheer for him!), and then we needed to pedal a few more miles to our motel in Cherokee. With a long day and so much climbing, it was after 6 pm by the time we got there. We needed to get cleaned up and to our dinner, and our chance to reflect on this super tour that Chuck and Suzette planned and executed so well for us all. Everyone had a wonderful time, with new friends and memories.

Now I have three weeks before Tour #3 begins in Washington. However, I will depart by car on July 25th, so that gives me only two weeks at home. For the first two tours, my mileage comes to 2081, and my elevation gain is 128,212. Tour #3 is supposed to be the most difficult. I'm glad I've gotten into good shape!

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