# Lower Alarka loop pics near Bryson City NC



## Duckman (Jul 21, 2005)

First, while driving to my ride today.. Must be some clubs here training. Past a 20 rider group just past my road. Then came across these guys hammering up Stecoah Gap climb(2 mile/1000' deal). Don't these people have jobs?









Todays ride along the Tuckaseegee river, Fontana, and some other cool whitewater river. 
where the Tuck meets the lake. Just an eeeeeeeasy ride. 


















Awesome roads. I rode some of these more then once today. Up and down..down and up. Repeat. 


















































..and looking down/right from the above spot. I did this descent twice. I was all giddy for sure. 


























See the railroad crossing far left?









Then the train came. Yes I waved.. 



























The roadie needed some love today. The cross bike has been hog'n up all the road miles. 









That is all.
Duck


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## FrontRanger (May 19, 2004)

Very nice. I wish we had roads like that around here. All of ours seem to be plagued with four wheel traffic.


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

One bottle, oh spring riding is nice.

How many would you use for the same (very sweet) ride in the summer?


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## Duckman (Jul 21, 2005)

Two most always in the summer. This was shortish ride tho. 

It gets HOT here in the mtns in the summer. Thats when you ride eeeearly(60s)...and then whitewater kayak the 2nd half of the day(mid to high 90s). Repeat all summer.


But your right. 60* day. Easy sight seeing pace(for the most part). 2 hour ride. 1 bottle(Cytomax) was fine.


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## marc180 (Feb 2, 2006)

*go BADGERS!*

those are University of WI riders...probably on spring break to train in NC. i believe they started doing that a few years ago


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## unclefuzzy_ss (Nov 23, 2002)

yay! a duckman post! Thanks a ton. Ever GPS your routes? I'd be curious to see elevation profiles.


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## Duckman (Jul 21, 2005)

Thanks.

GPS? Me? Naw man. I'm way too lazy for that. I figure about 4 gaps on this loop. Fun steep curvy relatively short descents after each one. 

Some pics I posted at the local Sorba(mtb) forum from Sunday. Easy ride with some newer riders. Just cause..

So we got hammered by storms as well up here in dem mtns. Awesome day today tho, so its exploring some more FS rds that surround the area. This one is just past Tsali about 2 miles on the right. Goes straight up from 28 where its gated and paved for a short distance. Then turns to nice grassyish FS rds. Big peninsula area that juts out into Fontana lake not unlike Tsali..just without the singletrack  but tons of FS rd in place of. 

Where we started from. Ripping rubber up this for a 'warmup'. 
















I think I paid $5 for this computer on promo back in 03ish. Lost it soon after until about a month ago. 








Just a fun day exploring on the bike with good friends. Good times indeed. 
































Thats the Smokies in the distance. 








Grinding up the sometimes soft roadbed. 








Views of the lake along the way. Hasn't been this full in awhile.








Note those 'almost' kinda islands in the center of this pic. Thats the far corner of the Left loop where the american flag is out on. That far shoreline is where the trail is. So we were just off from Tsali basically. 








That gap in the middle is Yellow Creek Gap. Argubly the steepest paved climb in WNC. The high bump to the left is where that fire tower was where Mel and I hiked up to in the snow pics. Our place is just off the other side of that ridge below it. The Appalachian trail goes along that ridgeline as well heading toward the Smokies. 








The beater NRS got the Fox back on it from the XTC(was gonna race it at Heritage instead of the Spider). Also have a titanium Action Tec sqr tpr BB coming for it. Love these big cushy but still fairly light(same as Fire XCs but twice the volumn almost) 2.20 Karmas. . Like a big caddy 8) . With the new BB, it'll be 23lb 8oz with just quick swap to race wheels/tires, post/saddle, and pedals. I'm such a weenie. 









That is all.
Duck


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## Ridgetop (Mar 1, 2005)

Great pics. I love those roads and fantastic fireroad riding. I wish I had more roadie roads like that though. Talking about fun.


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## Duckman (Jul 21, 2005)

marc180 said:


> those are University of WI riders...probably on spring break to train in NC. i believe they started doing that a few years ago


That makes sense then. I mtb'd at Tsali today(40 total singletrack miles there) and the lot was full with out of state tags. Mostly from way up north. All the riders I saw seemed college age.


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## llama31 (Jan 13, 2006)

Ummmmm....I wanna live where you live! Man that looks awesome. Thanks for posting


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## Sprocket - Matt (Sep 13, 2005)

SWEET STUFF DUCK...
BTW - Check your PM.


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