North Carolina

In November 2012 I had to travel to Atlanta for work, so I took off a couple of days and did some riding within a reasonable driving distance. My first ride took me to Franklin, NC.

Franklin, NC

I wanted to ride the mountains in the southwestern corner of the state, and I came across the route for the Nantahala Nightmare. I modified the route a little bit (with to park and start in Franklin itself) and ended up with this:

The route was a little bit under 100 miles, but I figured I might accidentally go off route somewhere along the way to make up for it. Sure enough, I missed a turn towards the end as I was heading back to Franklin and ended up with 104 miles.

I started out early under a cover of clouds. It was cold out, but the main climb of the day started at about the 10-mile mark, so I wasn't cold for long.

Cloudy start

The first climb behind my shoulder.

The temperature rose and the clouds cleared as the day went on. I may have missed the peak fall foliage season, but there were still a few colorful trees out there and I didn't have much traffic to worry about.

Waterfall

Rental Bike

Rental Bike