Others on here can give more precise info than me but here's my two cents.

Probably the most "famous" ride near Asheville is the climb, on the Blue Ridge Parkway, to the top of Mt Mitchell (the highest mountain east of the MS River). If you do this ride, you'll need front and back lights because you pass thru tunnels on the Parkway. When I did it from the Folk Art Center, and back, it ended up being around 60 miles round trip (IIRC). March can still be quite cold in Asheville, especially as you approach the top of Mt Mitchell. Be prepared for snow even.

Also, north of Asheville (near Wolf Ridge Ski area) there are tons of awesome climbs along nice roads with very little traffic. Awesome riding everywhere you look. Roan Mountain is over 6000ft and was used as a climb during an old stage race that used to be held in the southeast. Its basically a 7 mile climb on the TN side and an 8 mile climb on the NC side.

Brevard is a smaller town, near Asheville, that borders Pisgah National Forest. There are so many places to trail run, mountain bike, and/or gravel ride there that it would take you forever to hit them all. Nice little restaurants in the downtown too.

I too live up north, but make an annual pilgrimage down to Asheville specifically to ride on the BRP. As previous poster said, its a great ride from Asheville to Mt. Mitchell and back. We camp on the west side of town (Powhatan campground in the Pisgah National Forest) and access the BRP off Brevard Rd (Rt 191). From the campground to Mt. Mitchell summit and back is ~92/93 miles. If you ride west on the BRP from that location, you get a nice 15ish mile climb up to the Mt. Pisgah Visitor Center. You can continue onward to Balsam Ridge (highest pt. on the entire BRP). As other poster said, you will want lights because of the tunnels (the road curves through most tunnels, so you can't see the opening on the far end). I've never had an issue with traffic - generally light traffic with courteous drivers (the one exception being late afternoon/early evening when you have commuters taking alternate routes home from work).

If you enjoy mountain biking, there are a ton of trails literally right next to the Powhatan campground. It seems like this is where the locals like to ride (but I'd need someone who lives locally to confirm that).

The campground does have a small lake and you can do some open water swimming. Not very big, but "something" is better than "nothing".

If you are planning on trying out Greenville, SC area, you may want to consider doing part of the Hincapie Gran Fondo route. We were guided by a local pro rider when we were down there a couple of years ago and got in a great 70ish mile ride with two nice climbs (up Skyuka and Howard Gap). Start and finish from Hincapie's Hotel Domestique.

I don't have input on areas to run as the only running I've done down there is on the mountain bike trails or the gravel roads leading to the various trail heads.

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Tad

It took awhile, but I finally discovered that its not the destination that's important, but rather the journey.

For running a MUP connects Greenville to Travelers Rest. I think it’s about 15 miles of I recall correctly.

I'm a Greenville native, born and raised. The running, cycling, and triathlon scene in general there is VERY active. You need to get in touch with the triathlon clubs there (check out Marni Sumbal and her club Tri Marni for starters), the Greenville spinners (they meet weekly, often out at Donaldson to ride loops, see if you can contact Michael Pennington), and then join the Facebook group for Greenville triathlon. I don't recall the name of the triathlon club on FB as I'm not on FB anymore, but again, Michael Pennington can point you to all relevant places/people/things. Marni will too. Both are extremely friendly and happy to chat with you about it. Finally, head downtown to Carolina Triathlon, it's a bike shop and store. They will give you all the info you need!

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Nourish - Sports Nutrition Made Easy

There are a ton of threads on training in AVL, NC & SC on here.

AVL lacks a bit in the swimming, but the riding and running is awesome. It's often my summer home. Parking downtown is a PIA now, even on weekdays.

NC in general is phenomenal for racing. You've got FS Series, Set up, Trivium, Jones Racing and iDaph Events

Don't know much about SC, but Gville is one of the places I consider summering every year.

Anyway do a search and you'll get a ton of info

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I've ridden in the watershed area north of Greenville (park at Hotel Domestique and go from there). It has fantastic riding and a beautiful area. Head north through the watershed and over the border into NC.

Awesome, thanks for the insight and suggestions everyone! I'll re-do my search of the forums again. I had found a few posts about Greenville and Asheville within larger "Where should I train/retire/etc" posts. The open water question was a big one for me, doesn't seem like there's much. I'll go back through and re-read.

There are several lakes in the area - Hartwell, Keowee and Jocassee are the three that come to mind. All are great for OWS! They are very clean and clear - especially Jocassee. Jocassee and Hartwell host open water races. You used to be able to swim at Paris Mountain too (it’s small but convenient). There used to be an open water group that would meet on Wednesday’s that would meet at Hartwell in season. If you decide on greenville, there are a few good pools for the winter. Westside and Middle Tyger Y are 50m.

In terms of biking, you can’t go wrong with either. As the other poster wrote, reach out to the spinners. Three of the main bike shops also have rides (Carolina Tri, Freehub and Cycle Haus). Give them a call. They are all great shops. If you go north, you get some hills. If you stay south, you get rolling terrain.

Running on the Swamp Rabbit Trail is awesome.

In SC, we also have an awesome Tri Series - Check out SetUp Events. All events are well run, well attended and reasonably priced.

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Team Zoot

Whattttt there are so many lakes there. That said, it's warm there but it's not going to provide year round training opportunities. It's a wet and cold winter, but at least not snowy. Could be a relative improvement over where you are though.

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Nourish - Sports Nutrition Made Easy

I had seen Lake Jocassee mentioned before but not the other two that jeepguy2358 mentioned. All three seem to be roughly an hour +/-15 minutes from the center of Greenville. I guess I'm just spoiled right now as I live 3 miles from the open water swimming mecca of the greater Boston area and in the summer just bike there in the mornings before work. Can't have everything though, some things have to be compromised. At least an hour away is something I could do once a week or so. The 50m pools sound very nice, we're mostly SCY pools around here.

Re: the winter weather, yeah I get that it's not going to be warm all year round. What I've found in both winter commuting and training in the Boston area is that running I'm fine with down to about 5-10F, cycling under an hour I can stand down to 10F, but cycling 2 hours or more I'd prefer to be at or above the freezing threshold. So as long as it's better than that I'm happy to be training outside all year round.

We are looking at the Asheville area as well. Any more suggestions for lake areas up that direction besides Lure and Julian? Thanks

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Banger