Well Scott and I were up to our usual weekend activities once again this past weekend.... the weather here in western NC was simply beautiful, so of course we had to go ride (but then again, even if the weather isn't nice, we usually still go and ride anyways, lol). So saturday morning I head over to Scotts house nice and early, and we head out



We decided to head back to one of the places we had gone last weekend.... Roan Mountain, which is right on the TN/NC border (right here where we took this pic at the top). It was about a 2 hour or so ride up here, and along the way shared the road with literally hundreds of bicyclists as they were training for a race on this one particular road we were on.... almost non-stop groups of them for prob 15-20 miles. Made things interesting, lol



From here we headed down TN 143 down the mountain... it runs right along the edge, so it's nothing super tight or technical or anything, but a nice easy relaxing and extremely smooooooooth road with some good sweepers along the way... and some nice views too. We stopped at one of the overlooks for a peek













Video going down from this point... neither of us ride crazy so nothing fast or anything

Going down TN 143 - Roan Mountain - YouTube


We got to the bottom and headed into Roan Mtn, TN to get some lunch. We didn't eat here, but it was right next door and we couldn't help but wonder what the pinto beans thing was all about (???) LOL



After lunch, made our way back up the mountain. Had to stop and let a very slow moving car (25 mph) get a ways ahead







Video of the ride back up the TN side and down the NC side. Once again... nothing fast or crazy

Going up and over Roan Mountain - TN 143/NC 261 - YouTube






Made a stop at the little parking area on NC 80 at the Blue Ridge Parkway... hung out here for a little bit and took a break. Both roads are very popular riding roads, so a handful of other riders popped in and we chatted with them for a bit before they went on their way



NC 80 looking down... VERY fun road, a local favorite for both of us!



We made it back to town just in time to hit up Ryans Buffet to fill our bellies... we ate and then did a little more local nighttime exploring before calling it a night and heading home. Not a bad day... did about 288 miles, pretty easy day




We both got some sleep, and, you guessed it..... back at it again sunday morning. We wanted to do some more hiking, and Scotts mom had a book of all the hiking trails in western NC and the Blue Ridge Parkway. We looked through it and picked out a spot to go that had a pretty cool waterfall called Crabtree Falls up on the Blue Ridge Parkway. So we head back up NC 80 once again towards the Parkway



We get there and it was about a 1 mile hike in to get to the waterfall. Pretty cool though.... 60 ft cascading fall







Then after the falls, another 1.5 or so mile hike out.... fairly smooth and easy trails at this place though, at least compared to some we've been on, lol







Always gotta play in middle of the creeks, lol



After we left Crabtree Falls, we decided to head south towards Craggy Gardens and check that out. It's the same place we popped out on the parkway last weekend after that epic night time gravel road adventure, lol. Made a stop at the visitors center along the way to catch a view and chat with some other riders for a few minutes





I love all the tunnels along here











This is the road (at the top) we took up to the parkway last weekend, for those that remember that story. About 5 miles long, fairly steep uphill the whole way, hairpins, random larger rocks, one lane, and a huge drop off on the one side for quite a ways.... ohh and it was night time to boot, and had about 4-5 cars come down the opposite way while we were going up. Fun fun fun...





Craggy Gardens ended up being closed, so we took a little break there for a few minutes then decided to head back north on the parkway up to NC 181, another one of our local favorites, which will take us right back into town. We get into town about 8:45 and head over to our usual Mexican joint for one of their ginormous $6.00 burritos that my dad would refer to as, "a dog house covered in cheese", lol. Seriously... their massive. But a nice ending to yet another awesome weekend



It was getting late so we both decided to call it a night and head home. Ended up with about 536 miles for the weekend, all in the hills of course... no slab whatsoever. So I'd say yet another fun weekend.... I love where I live =)




But of course it comes with a price too.... after these past 2 weekend rides, my tires are once again, utterly shot. These Q2's wore down crazy FAST! Much faster than any other tire I've used.... the weekend before this past one the tread was just starting to get low, and this weekend.... gone. Luckily I had a few spare tires in the crawlspace under my house, so I dug out some decent ones to put on and get me by until I can get a new set here. Damn every Dunlop front I've ever run has worn all choppy like this (the spots). I usually never run them this low, just wasn't expecting them to wear this much so insanely fast (2 weekend rides pretty much), lol



Getting her all set with some new(er) rubber.... the rear wore just as fast




Likely more riding adventures this next weekend.... maybe a dirt ride, we haven't done that in a couple weeks