Day 6 - [Click here for Tunnel Video]

I entered the Parkway at mile 330 this morning, but a little late. We spent the night at Little Switzerland, but the GPS sent us on a wild goose chase looking for a Waffle House in a cornfield. After finding a restaurant, we finally got started about 9.

CLIMBING! From the very start I was going uphill, with 1,000 feet of climbing in the first 4 miles. I climbed virtually without relief from Little Switzerland to Mount Mitchell State Park at mile 25.29. 4,097 feet of ascent, which averaged to 162 feet per mile – the most climbing I've ever done in a short 25 mile ride. The temperature was 63 degrees at the start, but it quickly warmed up on the climb, eventually to 84.

I climbed most of the distance in my 34 tooth gear in the front ring, and my 27 tooth gear on the rear of the bike. Most of the miles at 5 to 8 mph. You do a lot of thinking while riding this slow, and in this much pain. Family, work, the scenery around you, what’s up ahead, what you did yesterday. A lot of time, a lot of thoughts.

When I reached Mount Mitchell Robbie met me and we decided we would go ahead to the 34th mile of today’s ride and have lunch, at Craggy Gardens. By the time I arrived I had reached an elevation of 5,800 feet, just below Mount Mitchell and Grandfather Mountain. We had some sandwiches Robbie had bought at Mount Mitchell. I spent a few minutes talking to some cyclists I’d met on the climb, they were from DC. They were on vacation in Asheville, and had climbed Mount Mitchell, and were headed back. Great lunch, I was reinvigorated.

The next part of today’s ride was an 18 mile descent into the edge of Asheville. I put a jacket on, it was cool at 6,000 feet, took about 20 pounds of air out of my tires for better handling on the downhill, and took-off downhill. 18 miles downhill without a break is nerve racking. The grade was 4 to 8%, as I coasted 30 to 34 miles per hour were average. There were many turns on the descent, referred to in cycling as a technical descent. But for a guy like me, I was just trying to keep the bike upright and between the lines. My back and neck hurt by the time I got to the bottom, I was done with this portion of the ride in about a half hour, it would of taken me hours to do if I’d had to climb this descent. I had a couple of tunnels to go thru during the downhill, they are hard to see in, and you lose your balance on the bike when it’s dark. I'm using a light on my bike, but it really does not light the large tunnels well.

Once I reached Asheville the traffic started to pick up on the Parkway. The speed limit is 45, and the road has no shoulder. It’s unfortunate that locals use the Parkway as a by-pass or shortcut to move around the city. The Parkway’s proximity to I-26 and I-40 make it convenient for this. I rode about 10 miles in this heavy traffic, no fun. I felt my life was in danger.
I finished today with 6,619 feet of ascent in 60 miles. 110 feet of ascent per mile, 157 feet per mile if you subtract the 18 mile descent.

I finish the Parkway tomorrow in Cherokee, NC. I start the morning climbing from my current 2,500 foot elevation to 6,020, the highest point on the Parkway.