Asheville, NC

It seems that several of my friends that previously rode BMX are now getting into mountain biking. Maybe age has something to do with it ;-)

When my friend Puck invited me to Asheville to join a group of six guys staying just outside Pisgah National Forest, I jumped at the opportunity.

One in our group had never ridden and didn't own a bike, so we chose to start our trip at Ride Rock Creek, where he could rent one. The park just opened last year, offering shuttle service to the top of the mountain. It's a very similar feel to Windrock - no surprise as it was the brainchild of Neko Mullaly who had a main role in the elevation of Windrock with new trails and race series. In fact, this summer Ride Rock Creek held the second round of the Downhill Southeast series.

We took our first run as a group down the Green River Trail. We expected something mild to start the day, but even that trail was a scorcher!

At the bottom, we assured our new rider Matt that most greens aren't nearly as steep or fast, then we split into separate groups to explore the rest of the trails throughout the day.

Around noon we met back at the vehicles to down some food and a beer, and to check up on everyone's experiences thus far. After that, we headed back up to ride for a few more hours before reconvening for another group ride down one of the blue trails. Evidenced by several of us biffing on that run, we decided that fatigue must have set in and chose to call it a day and head back to the cabin to relax.

The next day five of us met our friend Chris that lives in the area to ride Trace Ridge. It was the perfect mix of technical climbing and blazing descents we were looking for! We finished our ride just as the rain began, which seemed like a perfect time to pack up and head to Mills River Brewing for lunch.



After three days of riding (we shuttled on Friday too), we were pretty exhausted, so our final night was our most tame. The next morning we cleaned the cabin, packed our cars, and headed home.

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