I rode a modified version of the route from bikepacking.com and loved it. It was the first big trip for the Otso Warakin Ti that I built up with some very pretty Chris King and GRX limited components. The original plan was to do it solo in 6 days/5 nights. But after getting to Asheville on day 4, I decided to take a detour to go climb at Ship Rock with some friends. That meant cutting out the single track from Asheville to Brevard (2 planned days of riding) and doing a shortened route that stuck to paved backroads in one day.
Overall here’s my takeaways:
– Fuck these hills. This is the most elevation I’ve ever done in any sort of riding of this timeframe/distance. Much less on a 60lb fully loaded bike.
– The hills were worth it for the views and the descents. Booking it down the parkway at 52 mph, keeping up with the cars on a busy holiday weekend what’s too much fun.
– Do the power line cut. It was ridiculous, it was unnecessary, it had shoulder high grass over the entire thing so you can’t see your wheel and you are constantly afraid of ticks and spiders. But you’ll be glad you did it.
– If you’re going to slow roll it like I did. 6 days, at 40 miles a day and roughly 4K of climbing each day is doable with good camping at the end of every day.
– Speaking of camping, there’s some great unmarked sites that aren’t accessible by cars right near where this route gets to the parkway, after Curtis creek. Being able to knock out that 6 mile, 2200’ of climbing before the next day on the parkway was clutch
– Get a real bed and eat a real meal when you reach Asheville. Shoutout to Table for the excellent food and wine
I’m going to go back and ride the single track soon.
by redpoint014