Alternate headings:
Killer Hill of Death!
Ain' No Shame in Walking
Phew, these last two days (biking into Altamont and into Asheville) have been killer, so in lieu of detailed journals I'll just post a bunch of pictures. Yesterday (Tues) we biked 72 miles from Taylorsville to Altamont, a tiny community near Linville Falls. The mileage wasn't too bad, but we ran into the mother of all hills going up the side of a mountain on state road 181. We thought it was going to be about 4 miles, but it turned out to be 8-10. Lessons learned: I couldn't get anywhere at all if it weren't for really cool and supportive teammates and there ain't no shame in walking. After we finally found Altamont (an adventure), we stayed at Altamont United Methodist, a cute little church surrounded by cow pastures. The folks there are really friendly and fed us lasagna and country ham biscuits for breakfast! Best of all, Dan came to visit, and made my week.
*Important corollary to yesterday's "positive thought":
Hills aren't quite as bad as they look IF you can see the top!
Dan and me
Risa and Melanie RICE'ing it up in their matching dresses
Cool folks at First Baptist Church in Taylorsville (departure)
Fillin' up?
We ran into about 3 miles of dirt road--no way through it but through it
Stopped for lunch
Thought I was at the top of that hill...silly me, there were five miles to go!
How Andrew and I felt a little later
This biker saved our collective tushes...he saw all of us riding up 181 and wanted to know what we were doing...later he brought us Gatorade (right when I was about to pass out!) and helped us sort out the directions!
Still lost, we happened upon the continental divide (...twice)
1 comment:
This goes to show that bikers are just free spirits, not the bad guys that the movies make them out to be. Did he offer to hook up a tow rope and pull you up the hill?
I love the "top of the hill" picture. I bet it was a good thing you weren't being recorded when you discovered you had another 5 miles to go!
Dad
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