Brevard, North Carolina

Hello, Friends! I’ve finally found a few minutes to blog. The first stop on Jimerica! was Brevard, NC. Brevard is one of the top mountain biking destinations in the country and a lot of fun for a lot of other reasons as well. When I got to Brevard on Thursday, it was cold and windy. I was a bit worried I’d freeze overnight, but it all went fine except for one small hiccup. My brother had warned me to check the tent he gave me to make sure everything was there. My brother is a particularly careful person, so I figured there was no way he didn’t have everything in the tent bag I needed, so I never checked. What I hadn’t thought about is that the tent might have been stored in more than one bag, which was the case.

So, when I opened the bag, all I found were tent poles and a rain cover. I briefly considered just sleeping under bare tent poles, wrapped in a rain cover, but quickly deduced that wouldn’t help me in the least. Fortunately, I had brought a second much smaller tent in case I decide to do some back country hiking/camping. The only problem with that is that my air mattress would be bigger than the actual tent by about 3 inches. I wasn’t about to sleep on the hard ground the night before a long mountain bike ride, so I made it work. My tent looked ridiculous. Photo below.

The mountain bike riding in Brevard is amazing. My first day was in Pisgah National Forest. I took a couple detours on on the Black Mountain Loop and ended up riding for over 5 hours. It was all rocks, roots, washouts, water crossings, big climbs, and crazy down hills. I spent a good part of the day pushing my bike. The last down hill was epic, and in my case, a little more challenging than it should have been because my front brake crapped out on me early in the ride. It was a blast, though I imagine I looked like Leonardo DiCaprio crawling out of the grave in the Revenant when I finally emerged from the forest.  Here's a shot for the top of the Black Mountain loop:

I spent my second two days in Dupont State Forest, which is considered a “new school” mountain bike trail system. Still very challenging, but smooth and fast trails, and many banked corners. On my second day in DuPont I encountered a guy I’d met at my campground, all bloody faced and dazed. His name was Bo. He was from Atlanta and a very experienced mountain biker. He’d taken a jump to fast and landed directly on top of the next jump (bad news). He thought he was going about 25 or 30 mph when it happened. I hung out with him while he got his wits back. He’d hurt his leg, arm, and face, but nothing appeared broken. I walked out with him to the beginning of a long downhill that ended at the parking lot. I tried to get him to agree to have me come along with him, but he insisted he was OK. I won’t be taking any Bo-level risks on this trip.

My last night at The Bike Farm campsite I struck up a conversation with the girl in the campsite up from me, and then the guy in the site down from me. The girl, Jordan, was in her first week of a 3-month trip. She’s a ballet/modern dance teacher and writer from CT. The guy, Logan, was on brake from school and in Brevard to mountain bike with a bunch of his college friends (who hadn’t arrived yet). He was actually from the same area I am, the Lehigh Valley, PA. The three of us sat around my campfire and chatted until late. This is my favorite part of traveling like this. You get to meet so many people. Like me, Jordan is at the beginning of a long trip around the country. Forgot to get a pics of these guys. My blog skills are rusty.

The town of Brevard was awesome. It just has a really fun and laid-back atmosphere. I got to know some of the guys at that local bike shop/bar. Yes, they have a bike shop that is also a bar. The place is called “The Hub”. Not to mention they are awesome about mapping out rides and doing quick fixes (like my front break). Another cool thing about the area is that they really seem to pride themselves on quality food trucks, of which there were usually 2 or 3 in the parking lot of The Hub.  BBQ, Mexican, Coffee. All great. Here’s a couple pix of the folks that made me coffee and fresh mini-donuts every morning in The Hub parking lot before I headed out on my day’s ride. Meet these guys at the Velvet Cup Coffee Truck if you're ever in Brevard! Get the donuts...get the dooooonuuuuuts.

Gavin.

Catlin and Kim

As you can see, I really liked Brevard. Even if you’re not into mountain biking, it would still be a great destination for hiking and camping.  Plus, it’s only 30 minutes from Ashville, NC, which I hear is another great town. It's also super dog friendly. Here's a shot from inside The Hub's bar (called "The Pisgah Tavern").

I’m currently sitting in a Laundromat in Santa Fe, NM.  I haven’t ridden here yet as I just arrived last night. The campground I’m staying at is in the mountains just outside of Sante Fe. At about 8300 feet, it was a bit chilly last night (44 when I went to bed). But I’m still rocking the oversized mattress in the undersized tent and I’m all snug in my cocoon at night.  Another thing I immediately notices is that the air is thin. Hopefully I'll get accustomed to the thin air quickly. I'm planning to hit the Dale Ball Trials just outside of town this afternoon. I have a feeling there will be excessive huffing and puffing on my part. 

That’s it for now. I’ll update you guys on Santa Fe shenanigans in a few days. Thanks for reading!