Life is old here
Older than the trees
Younger than the mountains,
Growin' like the breeze.
Riding by this old cemetery, with beautiful trees off to the right, and a headstone that says "Ponder" on the left, and layers of old mountains in the distance...I couldn't help but sing John Denver's Country Roads. So beautiful.
We took Arlow's advice and didn't worry about the weather forecast that said rain all morning.
We just packed our rain gear, drove along the French Broad River and parked at Alexander River Park. Marc found a route posted by a local (road) bike club, climbing up Mars hill. Windy roads, goats and cows, creeks and one lane bridges. Interesting blend of new money and needs money, well kept and too-much-stuff-kept. Dogs, mostly behind fences, and one cute pup who came right out to the road and then didn't seem to know what to do about us so just basically waved us along.
We saw a few cats too. Much more friendly than the dogs, in fact quite camera shy (see zoomed in photo for the cutie)
I always find horses to be a little stand off-ish as we pass them. Cows are often much more interested in our presence. Today the cows were lazy (perhaps the rain really can be predicted by the cows lying down!?), but today we saw quite a few wild turkeys.
We always pack a picnic lunch, good thing too, because there isn't much commerce on these country roads.
There isn't much traffic in these parts. We literally could count the number of cars (pick up trucks) that passed us today. We were riding for almost 3 hours. It was just so peaceful and safe, winding roads, rolling hills and careful drivers. Ideal.
Strava captures the rollers, it honestly felt like more downhill gliding than uphill climbing today. That's always a good day!
Post ride exploring of our neighborhood. We just had to try this brewery...
We enjoyed some (zero) beer (so great that there are so many to choose from these days), we watched some March Madness basketball, with some locals, and then we went and explored the University of North Carolina Asheville campus.
Go Tar Heels!
Wait, how could they be the Bulldogs??
Happy March Madness everyone!
I'm curious what does honest beer taste like? Is it better than that dishonest beer you get in some places? :)
ReplyDeleteThe elevation looks insane but glad it felt like more rolling and downhill then up. Interesting name for a Brewery, I actually found a non alcoholic Guinness that taste Great... They definitely are stepping up their game with non alcoholic beer.
ReplyDeleteCheers