North Carolina Trip-Day 1

Day 1 started off bright and early in Cincinnati. John aka Art Vandelay and I headed south on I-75 towards Black Mountain, NC, which is just outside of Asheville. The drive from Cincy to NC is about 6 hours and covers some beautiful country through Kentucky and Tennessee. Coming up from South Carolina was Mark aka Meat Bikini and Josh aka Equalizer Guy. We were to meet up with Mark and Josh at the cabin of Mark’s relatives. This is where we would be staying and the base camp for our riding. I wasn’t sure what to expect by the description of the place being a cabin. As John and I discussed during the drive there is a large spectrum that encompasses the different types of cabin; anywhere from a mouse infested dirt floor cabin to a nice home that happens to be in the woods. As we arrived at the cabin we were pleasantly surprised to see that the cabin was definitely towards the end of the spectrum of “nice home in the woods”. After catching up with Mark and Josh, who for me it has been several years since I have seen the two of them, we unpacked the bikes and headed out for our fist ride. Mark decided to stay at the cabin and relax as he had been up for 24 hours + at the Vet clinic where he works. After reviewing the topo maps we picked our poison and headed out for a couple of hours on some beautiful country roads. This was my first chance getting to ride in NC and was amazed at the quality of the roads, along with the amount of climbing available.

After riding we headed down to Black Mountain for some dinner. We found a really good Mexican restaurant and I stuffed myself on fajitas. We then headed back to the cabin to watch some South Park and drink some Goose Island Matilda. Day 1 was great and that was only the start.