To go or not to go?

Hey guys this is Michael and this is the first blog that I’ve written so far but hopefully as we keep going with this trip you will hear plenty from me as well as Brent.  Well we have had a pretty interesting time since our last blog.  The ride to Cherokee, NC was pretty nice because it was only 30 miles and we were in no hurry to get there.  After arriving we tried finding a hotel that would donate a room to us for the night with no luck.  But then we decided to try a tip we had gotten from other bike tourers and that is to check with local fire stations and see if you can stay there. 

Lucky for us the firemen were very cool about it.  AJ was the captain on duty and just to make sure it was ok he called the chief but there were no issues.  We were allowed to throw our tent up in the back yard and could hang out inside the living quarters till 10 that night.

            As we woke up the next morning we realized there was something wrong with our tent.  The bottom half of it was sitting in about 2 inches of water!  We had managed to put our tent in the one hole in the yard that retained water.  So needless to say, the bottom of tent was nice and soaked.  Not to mention that it was still raining out. 

After we spent some time laying stuff out in the bay so it could start to dry we still could not decide whether or not to go for the summit or not that day.  After talking to AJ we decided we should go for it because the weather report was only between a 50% and 60% chance of showers all day.  The fire station said we could leave most of our stuff with them for the day so we just needed to pack up a few things in order to be ready to go.  We left for breakfast and that’s when things started to look pretty bad again.  On the ride to breakfast I realized I could not shift any of my gears.  When we stopped to look at it we noticed my shifter cable had gotten pinched but even after releasing it my bike still would not shift any of the rear gears.  The two of us could not figure it out ourselves so we thought our day was pretty much done for since the closest bike shop was about 12 miles away.

We were still hungry and knew there was nothing we could do about the bike now so we just had a great breakfast at Peters diner.  After that we hopped on the bikes and rode to the cycle shop in Bryson City.  It took a little longer since I only had 3 gears if I shifted my front rings although they were all still relatively low.  After arriving at the bike shop we met Spokey Joe who hooked us up with a check up and showed us what happened and how to fix it if it ever happened again.  By this time it was already after noon and in order to reach the summit we had about 36 miles to go and over 5000 feet of elevation to gain.  Not to mention getting back down before dark. 

This is where Brent’s opinion differed from my own.  After the bike got fixed he was super pumped to go for the summit.  I was a little more wary based on the weather patterns in the area and how based on how long we had before dark.  After debating this for a little we decided to just go for it after having Spokey Joe say we would have no issue with it.  Off we went to Smokey Mountain National Park and the summit or our second state.

The first 1/3 of the climb once we got back to Cherokee was not to bad.  It was all up hill but a fairly low angle so we were able to cruise it.  It then started to get steeper and steeper as we went.  Nothing like Sassafras Mountain and our bikes were much lighter but it was still pretty tough.  All the while the weather continued to look iffy but it was holding off.  I was beginning to think my misgivings were for nothing except time was still an issue.  With about 10 miles left to the summit though it started to rain on us.  Not anything hard but enough to make us stop and put on our rain jackets.  It only lasted for a few miles and then it stopped though. 

With about 4 miles to the summit left, the clouds started to clear out and we thought we might just get a great view of 7 different states like we hoped for.  As we reached the parking lot near the summit though we realized that all we were going to be able to see was a bunch of fog.  Despite the low visibility, we had reached our second summit…but it was already a little after 6.  We made it a quick stop and started to head back down the hill.  This ride was probably one of the most fun sections either of us had ever ridden.  It was almost 30 minutes straight of just coasting and never dropping below 35 miles an hour in a very scenic area.  Not to mention we passed 2 black bears on our decent as well.

The whole way down though the rain was off and on just enough that I could not decide whether or not I wanted to stop and put on my rain jacket.  I decided not to.  I worked out fine for me until we were almost back in town and then it started to just pour.  O well though it seemed that my misgivings were for not and who cares if you’re a little wet after having one of the best rides ever and reaching the top of our second summit.  Off to Brasstown Bald in Georgia now.