Wow, what hills! Like never before. We got a little bit of a late start due mainly to the weather. It was cold! We started in 39 degree weather. That warms up pretty quick climbing mountains with heart rates approaching 200, but flying down the other sides at speed in excess of 40 mph makes for some chilly descents!
Our first stop was at Wild Woody’s souvenir shop. We did not buy any souvenirs.
After that we climbed to the Eastern Continental Divide - not as well known as the real Continental Divide, but still.
Over the top of that was an 8% grade decent over 4 miles. I never pedaled once the entire time and hit speeds over 40 mph. Matt averaged a little over 35 mph the whole way. After that decent was the steepest most difficult climb. Not half as long as the decent, but a large number of cyclists ended up walking. We did not, but we did have to stop for about 10 minutes at the top just to recover. The rest of the ride was up and down hills with only one more big climb. Matt’s goal for the day was to finish without walking up any hills. He did that as the last 4-5 miles were rolling hills and a decent into Elkin.
Elkin’s population is around 4,500, almost three time Jefferson (from the previous day). The town provided free shuttles from all the campsites and hotels into town. Downtown comprised mostly of one street - Main Street - that had a few nice restaurants and small shops. Of course we ate at the local micro-brew pub. After a long tough ride, we all ordered our own pizza, their specialty.
The shuttle took us around past the campground before heading to the hotel. We all agreed that we would never make it through the week camping. These tents were actually spaced out well. Most were set up on a grid with a mere four to five feet between tents on all sides.
Tomorrow is a 70 mile ride. We’re still in the mountians, but moving away from the largest peaks. While the ride is much longer tomorrow, the hills are not as large or steep. And it starts off almost ten degrees warmer!