Rain Rain Go Away

Good day for a rest day. 

Cold and rainy all day, even some thunder to add to the general gloom. 

The Folk Art Center was the perfect outing. 

SouthernHighlandGuild.org

Original, beautiful pieces. This was my favourite, "a country gate". 

So many great pieces of art, including art from local students. That's a mouse trap!

OWL! This sculpture was so adorable, I had a little conversation with him. Who? Hoo!

And masterfully carved furniture, making a wooden chair seem like it would be comfortable. 

Weaving was also displayed, many original Cherokee designs, and incredible wood art, like the mantra ray box.  

Ceramics and more wood, so much craftsmanship. 

This miniature wooden carnival was so detailed, you could see the expressions on the faces of the people, and the ferris wheel and merry go round were both "working".

Even lovely scarves, and other knitwear. Flower Power.

The walls were decorated with quilts (almost as nice as the ones my sister makes), and the gift shop supported more local artisans selling jewelry and pottery, walking sticks and wooden bowls. 

A nice place to spend a few hours when it is only 8 degrees and drizzle outside.  

Also good afternoon to enjoy our lovely VRBO home and be thankful that we are not in our tent. The rain and the cold is much easier to take with a hot tea and cookie, a comfy couch and a good book. 

Stay warm and dry out there!!

Spring Training Day 7 Blue Ridge Parkway

Sometimes you find a route that sounds so nice - Blue Ridge Parkway and Arboretum... And so you set out. First to find parking at the "start" was impossible (downtown Asheville = 2 hour max) so we "stick-handled around" and parked at the visitors center. Parked and started. Exiting Asheville was not easy. Busy roads, no bike lane, climbing... A bit of a triple threat, but we made it to the Blue Ridge Parkway on ramp 

The parkway has no commercial vehicles, which is nice, but also has no shoulder, and today it had lots of traffic.  We did a brief stop at the visitors centre and then took to the parkway, in our bright yellow, with our lights flashing. 

(Above is the only photo I got on the parkway, taken with my phone in its Quad Lock.  We were going up and I could just get Marc. Note, no shoulder) 

It was not an easy ride, the drivers were in more of a rush than we ever experienced on the Natchez Trace. But it was pretty, and as we crossed the French Broad River we took the off ramp to the Arboretum. 

We found a nice little bench by a creek to have a quick lunch (it was cold) and carry on. 

We realized after a few kilometers that this route was not for us. Lucky for me I travel with my personal "plan a new route on the spot" guy. We pulled off the busy 4 lane 45 mph road and found a quieter route back to the car. It was not that easy...

We made our way down down down to the French Broad River to find the greenbelt trail under construction. So we made our way up up up and a few miles closer to Asheville we found the open trail.  More kilometers and more climbing today than we set out to do 😏

But we eventually found Asheville.  They say Asheville is one of America's "most walkable cities." Ok maybe, but not so much for the cyclist.. (what does this sign even mean?)

Back to the car at last, and then we did some walking. For food, drinks and ice cream! 

The view from Asheville is very pretty and there are some lovely buildings and churches.  They take great pride that all their restaurants are local, no chains, and there are lots of lovely shops. 

Below is an indoor shopping building, three floors of pretty shops and cafes.

And Roger. The lion. 

Strava stats for the day. 

Thanks for following along with us! 

Spring Training Day 6 French Broad River

Sunny but cold. 

We decided to put some miles (kms 😉) on today and chose a more flat route following the French Broad River from Brevard to Rosman and back.

Fantastic surfaces, the roads here are so smooth. Admittedly a bit more traffic today as it is Sunday, sunny and we were in rather populated areas. 

The road seemed to parallel the edge of the Pisgah forest, on one side, and be farm land in the other. 

Not too many hills, just winding roads and gentle rollers. 

(Banana break) 

Lunch stop picnic at the Rosman Community Park with a view to the mountains (photo above), with a beautiful hawk circling above (Hi Dad). 

Cool and sunny.

Smooth roads and little traffic. 

Just a little bit like cycling paradise, and we did see lots of other cyclists.   Definitely had that moment, when I was feeling strong and full of energy, and then "On Your Left" and then whooosh, whooosh, whooosh, whooosh, a group on their road bikes goes flying by, and I realize I am way slower in reality than in my head 😂

One roadie went by us on a climb, and several kms later, as we were doing another climb going by a house, he appeared in the front yard (with his kids) and started ringing a cow bell and cheering us on 🎉. Too funny. We felt like we were in the Tour... Made our day 🔔🔔🔔

The day ended at... You guessed it.... A brewery! For a snack and a cold one. Reminder - order size small, we never need a size large when it comes to post ride fries! Even if they are "shoestring". 

After that stop, we didn't make it home without another food stop. For some famous brisket sandwich in Asheville. Live a little, right? 

Strava stats: 

Spring Training Day 5 - Mars Hill

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!