Day 3 in Asheville. Well let's first rewind to last night.... where we went to a vegan restaurant in town, recommended by our good friend Frank from MHCC. The food was excellent. The beer was an English wheat porter served cold and especially tasty. It also packed a good kick at about 9 % alchohol. Good fuel for Day 3.

In the AM, Wayne started us off with some oatmeal ... not instant oatmeal, the real deal with apples and brown sugar too. This was important fuel for today's ride.

Today's ride was 50 mile ride starting just outside of UNC Asheville. This ride was called Roundabout into Marshall.

A pattern has developed for us when we start the rides. We immediately get lost. I'm sure that the local clubs and those familiar with the area don't ever have this problem, but for us out of towners, we need to have better directions on how to get out of the parking lot! and where are the first two or three turns. Anyway, we eventually find the route after exploring a bit. Plus, these rides are all about saddle time and enjoying the scenery and the weather and not so much about covering miles at a predetermined speed or average speed.

And let me tell you about the weather...absolutely beautiful... sunny and temps in the 70's. We covered the first 20 miles or so meandering up and down hills. Relentlessy up and down hills. The only flat surface here is the ocassional pond. The terrain and rural feel of this part of the state was decidedly different from the forest from yesterday's ride. The hills were never more than a couple hundred feet of elevation for any one hill but we went up and down about forty of these types of hills.

The real treat mid-ride is the stop in Marshall, Madison County, NC. This quaint little town sits along side the French Broad River, nestled up against the mountainside. We stopped and spent a good amount of time at this cafe and ate cookies and chatted with the locals. We met this young man who invited us to join himself and others on a ride tomorrow. We agreed. I hope we can keep up.

The ride back to Asheville was flat, along side the FB River. The views again... stunning. The head wind however was brutal. Towards the end of the day, we were all toast. I suspect it was a combination of the hills, headwind, and the ultra healthy vegan dinner from last night that did us in. No matter, we had 5 hours in the saddle, exploring the hills and enjoying the sunshine.

Because we were all running on empty, mondo fueling was in store for tonight. Wayne and i went to the local super and bought pasta, beer, bacon, whole cream, cheese, and more beer. Wayne made a delicious pasta dish and we inhaled food at an alarming rate. Soon after, food coma set in. Ah, life is good.