We were in Asheville the last week of February. We were scoping the place out for possible relocation. Actually stayed a couple of nights at the Biltmore. It's very, very nice. The Inn is obviously pretty pricey, but worth it. There's a small farm/petting zoo for the kids. We never actually made it INTO the Biltmore home for a tour. It sure did look purdy from the outside though!!

The Vineyard was interesting. It's quite an operation, with very large crowds on the weekend. You don't just go in to taste. You wait on what can be a pretty long line for a tour, and you go in small groups for tasting at individual stations. Very well organized, but a little much for just "wine tasting." The wine's decent though. They can't ship to NY so we just brought back a three-pack. Still tasted pretty good at home too...so it wasn't just wine-tasting buzz affecting our judgement!

Had a decent dinner at the Cafe at the Biltmore vineyard one night. Would highly recommend the Savoy restaurant, it's on Merrimon Ave. Excellent food, romantic setting...but they were still good to our kids - waiter/chef went out of their way to make "chicken-nuggets", if you know what I mean.

There's lots of trails both paved and wooded on the grounds of the Biltmore. I loved running with lots and lots of deer. Sure beats my running route(s) here on LI.

P.S. Funny you should mention Powerman NC. We had originally planned on a second trip to NC in April to check out the triangle area. I was going to "race" Powerman while we were there. We had a pretty disappointing first trip however, so it doesn't look like we'll be going back. This means I get to race in the beautiful Bronx that day instead. Yippee......

Have fun!

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Dan DeMaio
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Life is like riding a bicycle.
To keep your balance you must keep moving.
- Albert Einstein

lived in Asheville for five years and loved it. I am sure restaurants have changed a bunch but there is a great pizza and brewpub downtown called Barleys that would be great after a ride. Riding there, go anywhere on the Blue Ridge Parkway (not highway, parkway). It's beautiful wherever you go and there will be less..... shall we say..... people driving pick up trucks with gun racks, than if you were on the regular roads. What town are you staying in? You said south of town? As for mt. biking, I don't know other than to say it's huge there. Look up a store outside of Asheville called Diamond Brand. It's like a local version of REI, they will tell you where to go and probably rent mt. bikes too, or at least know where to do that.

south asheville and south of asheville the riding is great. also check out riding river road. ask any of the local shops (carolina fatz, hearns, liberty, pro bikes) and they can point you in the right direction. also, look at www.abrc.net for rides and people to show you some rides. for running, go to dupont st forest in brevard or bent creek in s. a'ville. for nightlife/eating i second barley's pub downtown. great pizza and beer (no bud, miller, coors, etc!!). the roads up to mitchell might still be closed for the winter while you're there. you could also run the mtn to sea trail that runs along the parkway and is accessible from most turn offs on the pkwy.

Dan - we were the opposite, were thinking of the Bronx Bi (I wish they'd rename it Du) but then this vaca opportuntiy came up, so now it's either Powerman or just some epic training (assuming I can get away to do so)

Parkway - got it. D'OH!!! I'm such a damn yankee ;-)

They live in Arden, which is just down the road a piece afrom A'ville.



Thanks all for the input! Keep it coming!

-M

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float , hammer , and jog

 I live in Arden, PM me if you want a long ride on a weekend. Bring your climbing legs.

When the wife and I visited Maggie Valley last year, we took road bikes and rode with the A Group on the Tuesday River Road training ride with the ABRC (http://www.abrc.net/road.html - details excerpted below). Just a quick disclaimor as while these guys were plenty friendly, the road nice and smooth with little traffic, and the scenery along the river simply remarkable, but consider a slower group if you are not ready for 25-30+ mph paceline:

Time: 6:00 PM April 14 - October 15
Location: Ski Country Sports on Merrimon Ave

A Group: Usually Cats. 1-3. Fast... really!
B Group: Tempo, 25-28 mph pace-line, and 2 sprints.
B Group: Sprint, 4 designated sprints, 23-26 mph pace line, regroup after sprints.
C Group: Pace-line technique, sprints determined by the group.

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<<I live in Arden, PM me if you want a long ride on a weekend. Bring your climbing legs >>

Will do!!! Climbing? yeah baby!!! I love to suffer ;-)

That group ride sounds perfect. (for me at least, my wife is still pretty new to road riding, so I wouldn't wanna inflict the group on her or vice versa).

Great info. Thx so much to all.

-Mike B.

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float , hammer , and jog

be warned, his idea of a short hill is 8 to 9 miles up to 6000+ feet. good times though.

If you get a chance you should really do the Mitchell climb. You should not have a problem coming from Asheville. The Assault on Mt. Mitchell was rerouted last year through asheville due the washout. Its awesome and you can say you biked the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi. I agree on Diamond Brand. They are near the airport. Good guys and an awesome store. Also, very nice closeout store next door with great prices on cool outdoor gear. On the Parkway there are some awesome sights. Linville Gorge is one you should take in, the Mile High Bridge at Grandfather mountain is another just off the parkway (the end of another Epic Century called the Bridge to Bridge. If you make it there you should check out the climb of Beech Mountain where Lance had his "epiphany".

West of Asheville is the Joyce Kilmer Forest with some of the biggest virgin timber on the east coast (supposedly).

Just a warning but Carrboro will take you longer than 3 hours to get to from Asheville. Better budget 4.

Its an awesome place, have a great time. If you need a number for diamond brand they have a website www.diamondbrand.com.

Michael

<< his idea of a short hill is 8 to 9 miles up to 6000+ feet >>

That's cool, I'm in need of a good spanking ;-) I honestly had no idea it was that mountainous there. Biggest we've got around these here parts is mebbe 4 miles, if that. But we make up for lack a quality w/ quantity, there's not a lotta flat roads here either.

I haven't had to pick road grit out of my tongue for a while, I'm overdue. Sounds like good clean fun.

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float , hammer , and jog

one more note on the biltmore - could be cool depending on your kids' ages. it's very expensive and kind of cool, not necessarily worth the cost in my mind, but maybe with kiddos who are old enough to appreciate it, it would be worthwhile.

this is bringing back so many memories... thanks

If you can get up to mitchell, grandfather, or beech, you won't regret it. Snow should be clearing out by April and you are on the roads after all. Bend/Blowing Rock area is one of my favorite places in the world (that's where Beech Mountain is).

Mum in Law had sent a link w/ info about Grandfather Mtn; that and Chimney Rock look pretty cool. She also sent a link w/ a virtual 360 degree tour of over 400 scenic lookouts on the Blue Ridge Pkwy, holy crap.

Found something for my daughter on the exploreasheville.com site - the Tweetsie Railroad. She's a HUGE Thomas the Train fan (she's not quite 3 yet), so going for a ride on a real steam engine would be a big thrill for her I'm sure.

I'm leaning towards just staying around the area that 2nd weekend and maybe taking up the offer of a long ride, rather than going to Powerman, which seems like 'just another race' (ie: nothing really all that special) to me.

Thanks again all! I'm looking forward to it more and more now. I've heard all the hype about the Asheville area being an outdoor enthusiasts' Mecca for years now, but it sounds like it is well deserved.

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float , hammer , and jog

Tweetsie! My kids love it. Western theme park with a steam locomotive. You will be very close to Grandfather, Beech, and Linville Falls. Have a great time, its a beautiful part of the Country.

 strange seeing all these posts on asheville. heard there is a really good triathlete that rides an orbea there. he has been sighted at barleys with another character whose name sounds like a barracuda? these guys are dangerous and caution is applied. jr

i'd worry about the barracuda's gaurd dog before either of them. i think brian tried to clone himself at ahs and ended up with andrew

The wife checked on Tweetsie this am, they don't open 'til May - bummer.

Anybody know the vital stats on Mt Mitchell? As in, the stuff a cyclist would wanna know: how long the climb is, avg grade, max grade? (I know the elevation, but don't know the length of the service road or starting elevation, and couldn't find that info on the park website)

I figger I'll ride there (will check w/ the park rangers to make sure it's open of course) and ride up, the family can drive there and meet me, then we'll do the touristy hiking around stuff together.

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float , hammer , and jog

4.2 mile climb from the parkway
starting elevatio of 5192
climbing feet = 1678
avg grade 8%
can't help you on the max elevation. There will be some pretty good limbs getting there as well.

Another suggestion, here is a link to a 48-mile route that would be a good warm up for Mt. Mitchell: http://www.blueridgebicycleclub.org/.../canton/mtpisgah.pdf

Awesome scenery, steady climbs followed by a screaming, 20-minute descent along a section of the BLue Ridge Parkway with lots of switchbacks, a couple short, unlighted tunnels, and near-6000' mountain views that can't be beat. Take a look at the Blue Ridge Bicycle club's ride library for more route maps: http://www.blueridgebicycleclub.org/...heets/cuesheets.html

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Howdy all!

Posting from lovely Asheville area, did a 2hr ride this am, my first taste of the Blue Ridge Parkway via bike - AWESOME. And hilly. I got started at dark-thirty this am, was already like 10m into the ride before the sun came up (luckily there was a full moon that hadn't set yet). Gonna stop into Liberty Bicycles (only 5 mins up the road, just past the BRP from where we are) to get some more local beta. We ate at Flat Rock Grill just another minute from there last nite, it was quite nice. Our waiter Jamison (bonus pts for a very cool name) was a well-traveled mtb'er, so we had lots to chat w/ him about.

Looks like we're hitting Chimney Rock today. And mebbe anything else that's up thattaway while we're there. I'll do the BMP to Mt. Mitchell ride a bit later this week, after it cools down a bit. Highs the last 2 days have been mid 80's :-) Will definitely hit Barley's one nite this week, I love brewpubs. I only train as an excuse to drink beer anyway, so that fits beautifully into my personal agenda :-)

Thx again for all the info!!!

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float , hammer , and jog

Glad you enjoyed you ride. You have to do Mitchell. You can park in various and ride up the mountain. Just park at one of the pull-overs and ride up to the top. It is a blast going back down the mountain. If you ride later in the week, be prepared for it to be cooler on top of the mountain. Last time I rode up in shorts and short sleeves and had to put on a wind layer for the descent. The year I did the Assualt on Mt. Mitchell which is in May, the chill factor was in the 20's on top.

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Lisa Walser-Anderson, ATC,CSCS

One of the popular training rides for folks in this area (just west of Charlotte), is to drive to Marion and ride up the last ~32 miles of the Assault course, then back down. The first time I did it was in April (many years ago). The temp in Marion was low 70's and sunny. At the top of Mitchell it was 32, with snow on the ground. Coming off the mountain was one of the coldest experiences of my life! Also the fastest on a bike. We were hitting 53+ MPH and having to brake for cars that wouldn't go as fast. :)

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Happy trails,
Chris

My grandma used to live in Tryon, NC; not too far from Asheville. One of the things we used to do as a family, as a touristy activity, was to go mine for gems. You go to one of these places out in the middle of nowhere, get a couple of buckets of dirt, and then dredge through them for semi-precious gems (amethyst, garnets, etc.).

It sounds cheesy, but the gem content in the soil there is so high. We never ceased to find something. As kids we loved to go every year. It still remains the most memorable thing we did in the carolinas. It is age appropriate from 6-7 years old to adults. You might check with the local tourist bureau or your hotel concierge to find a place nearby that has good hits and isn't too far away.

If you want, you can even have the dirt shipped to you over the internet, but digging it up yourself is half the fun.

Seriously, give it a try.

Howdy all again!

Did Mt Mitchell ride (from over here in Skylands, offa Long Shoals Rd), a smidge over 42 miles to the top, in just a smidge over 3 hours. Yes, that's a 14 mph avg :-p I guess those "slow, easy rides" like this are a big waste of time.... ;-)

AWESOME ride. Weather was perfect! A bit foggy in the am, then the sun broke thru and it was a mix o' sun and clouds, very light breeze the whole way. The views along the way were just outstanding. Going up Mt Mitchell proper was actually a bit disappointing, I thought it was gonna be 'hold me down and beat me' hard, but it wasn't bad at all. The approach was what makes it a tough climb, since you do soooo much climbing just to get there. I kept waiting for the crazy-steep part, but there was none, and then it flattened out substantially after the visitors center, I hit a max speed of 22.9 mph during the ascent (so, obviously I wasn't 'ascending' at that point, it was probably slightly downhill, or at least flat anyway). The first ~3 miles to the visitors center was consistently tough, but not brutal. The payoff views at the top were stellar, in spite of being a bit hazy. Summit temp was 60 degs, winds 0-5 mph. Perfect.

Got to the top, there were 5 cars there. Pretty much had it to myself. Then the Mrs. arrived w/ the bambina, and we did a very pretty hike (after hitting the lookout tower, as is required of all tourists). Found LOTS of cool rocks along the way, my daughter had her hands full of pyrite, mica, quartz, etc. She was thrilled. And we saw lots of "fairy houses" in the moss covered stumps, which only made her that much more psyched.

Finished off the day right by going to Barley's. GREAT place!! THX for the good send, I was like a kid in a candy store in that joint ;-) Food was very tasty as well, and they had a live jazz band.



Earlier this week we hit: Easter egg hunt at Biltmore Estate, Chimney Rock (and a great hike out to the waterfall and back), NC Nature Center, Linville Caverns, Linville Gorge (a bit socked in w/ fog, so views weren't what they coulda been, but still very nice), Grandfather Mtn (and a killer hike to the summit, w/ a dozen ladders and several fixed cables, very challenging to do w/ 40 lbs of kid and pack on yer back).

THANKS to all for all the great info!!! Getting the inside scoop from fellow ST'ers made it easy to make sure we hit as many highlights as possible. Asheville and the surrounding area is just fantastic. Very psyched that the Out-laws have decided to settle here, we have all the excuse we'll ever need to come back and visit often ;-)

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float , hammer , and jog