…of climbing, that is. That’s how much I climbed today on my ride. I got this loop in my head yesterday at the Lake and knew that it wouldn’t go away until I rode it. So I did.

For you locals who know the Boone area… I went from Blowing Rock- out 221- down Shull’s Mill- into Vale Crucis- up 194 (one of my favorite climbs around here)- into Banner Elk- up the backside of Beech Mtn- down to 321- up 321- down into Bethel- up George’s Gap- up Mast Gap- back into Vale Crucis- back up Shull’s Mill- thru Blowing Rock to the house.

The weather today was absolutely perfect. Sorry, don’t want to rub it in for all ya’ll off the mountain, but it was absolutely gorgeous. One of the most perfect days that I can remember being up here, actually. The sky was so blue, the few clouds nice and puffy, and the mountains so green. There was pretty much no humidity either. I was nice and hot going uphill, but got a little chilly coming downhill.

The ride was great, except for the fact that once I had crested 194 and was dropping into Banner Elk I noticed that I didn’t have my water bottles with me. Yeah, that was pretty sweet.

So I called Joe and made a detour out 184 to 105 (which added another 1/2 hour or so and more climbing to the ride originally planned) to get my bottles. Yeah, what an idiot. That’s definitely the first time I’ve ever done that. Joe was nice enough to drive them out to me before he went out on his own ride (no, he didn’t want to ride 5 hours with me).

So my loop ended up being longer than expected, but I really didn’t mind. The weather today was so perfect, I couldn’t imagine not spending it on my bike.

I’ve enjoyed the lazy mornings and rolling out whenever… I don’t have to worry about getting out before it gets too hot or anything here.

It’s time to pack up and head down to visit my parents tonight, and I also get to see Sonni again for a bike fit. Tomorrow I get to see my good friend, Deb!

12,000 ft in 76 miles