It is 10 days and counting until the 4th Annual Blue Ridge Breakaway on August 17th at beautiful Lake Junaluska in Western North Carolina. Our planning processes are ramping up for the final few days leading into another exciting event.
Planning for this event began at the end of the day of last year’s event, so it isn’t a stretch to say…
we’ve been planning for a year now! Selected as SteepClimbs.com “Best Ride of the Year for 2011” and receiving a “Best of the Rest” nod from Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine, the Breakaway is quickly becoming a rider favorite.
Heather and Lyuba prior to the 2012 start!
Bob smiling before the pain…
The year’s event, under fair skies and cool temperatures (right?), will kick off on Friday with registration at the Bethea Welcome Center at Lake Junaluska. Given that past behavior is the best indicator of future human behavior, the center will fill up Friday evening with folks making the final decision to ride in this year’s event. Well before most Haywood residents arise on Saturday, a cadre of volunteers will be out making final clearings of roadsides and putting up directional signs for the participants.
With some pomp and circumstance, this year’s ride participants will depart under Haywood County Sheriff Greg Christopher’s protection sharply at 7:30 a.m. Local WNC cycling Olympic medalist, Lauren Tamayo from Home Trust Bank, will lead the riders onto US 276 for the first leg of the ride, which includes an ascent of Coleman Mountain for all riders at all levels. Once the riders cross the Pigeon River at the intersection of Iron Duff Road, Riverside, and Panther Creek, the real climbing begins for participants in the Century, Metric Century, and Panther routes. The rugged beauty of northern Haywood will be on display for our visitors. Over the next 7 hours, riders will complete their routes and get to bask in the feelings of great accomplishment. Hopefully few, if any, will have visited our local emergency room and be nursing road rash or worse.
So, what’s missing? You are! There is still time and room! Pack up the family and the bikes and come on up to Western North Carolina for a day or two or three in our outstanding mountains. Come enjoy our Southern hospitality as you stretch yourself beyond your limits! CLICK HERE to register now or go to www.blueridgebreakaway.com.
See you next week under sunny skies and cool temps!
-Zeke
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