Day 3: Mast Gap Annex, Beech Mountain, Shulls Mill and even a Jagaround!

After riding Mount Mitchell, it’s hard to find something that folks will still find epic. The answer? Shorten the ride to the suffering but work even harder!

Beech Mountain is a three mile climb that averages around 9%. It so happened that there was a training group riding going on for the local “Beech Mountain Metric” ride so we had lots of company all day long.

I put in a total of 62.6 miles today, with significant gain….another 4 hours and 20 minutes of solid work. View the Strava file here.

Here’s a shot of me at the top…who knew this was Eastern America’s Highest Town? My legs agree 100%!!!

This climb is legit. At three miles long it reminds me of several other short, nasty climbs I have done. Nothing makes the world clearer than going 5 miles an hour, heart pounding, sweat pouring off your brow every time you look up the road. Thankfully the last mile is not as steep, but by then you are shelled anyway.

We took different routes to the ride today, with some riding from the hotel and others driving to start from the Mast General Store Annex. But we all got in some serious riding! The folks who rode from the hotel got a little more gravel in…as you can see from the video below.

Some of the MONSTERS in our camp decided to ride up, over, down and back, around WHATEVER of Beech Mountain to hit 10,000 feet of climbing…simply epic.

After all that riding we had a great dinner out at Lost Province with a good Creamery stop for a night cap.

Last Day Tomorrow!!!!

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