THE TIME IS NIGH!

Finally, the Blue Ridge Breakaway is upon us! The 3rd annual running of the show gets underway in less than 12 hours with the presentation by Russ Roca and Laura Crawford of The Path Less Pedaled fame as they address…

a Lunch ‘N Learn for local business leaders and elected officials on how to become a more bicycle friendly community. Tomorrow evening, they will present to the registered riders of the Breakaway and local citizens about their travels around America and New Zealand.

Meanwhile, last minute details are still getting hammered out. The NC DOT has just finished paving NC 215 from Sunburst Campground on Lake Logan Road all the way to the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Century riders will have a nice smooth climb as they begin the remaining 7000’ of climb from Burnette Siding Baptist Church. The rough and choppy chip and seal surface is now history.

Members of BicycleHaywoodNC and Waynesville Rotary will be sending out sweep teams to clear gravel and debris from the roadsides and driveway intersections and the various rest stop coordinators and section leaders will be loading up trucks, cars, and vans with all the goodies necessary to support our riders.

As of 5:00 p.m. today, we had exceeded our total number of riders for last year. That gives us one more full day and early morning on the 18th to grow our ride for the third year in a row. The weather forecast is for considerably cooler temperatures, which should make for some great riding and climbing conditions.

Finally, a visit in the physical universe!

Russ and Laura rolled into Lake Junaluska, site of their accommodations, around 2:30 p.m. today and I finally had the chance to meet them in the actual physical universe. After months of emails back and forth and a couple of Skype video conferences, I felt like I’ve known them for awhile. Still, it is better in reality!

The Navigator and I enjoyed a fine supper out with them at the Sweet Onion in Waynesville, which allowed us to get better acquainted. A short shopping trip to the local grocery store ended our night and, I imagine, quickly led to some rest for all of us.

Things get busy tomorrow!

Until later,

-Zeke