Mt. Pisgah

Friday morning I drove over to Canton  for a ride up and over Mount Pisgah. I've got to thank Brent for the cue sheet, this was a fantastic ride.

From Canton there is a long slow descent into a four mile flat run down route 19/23 that will get the legs warmed up. As soon as you turn onto old 19/23 the climbing begins in short bursts. There were a few dogs to contend with as I weaved through the back roads on the way to the base of the main climb. If you do this ride, keep your eyes open from around mile 15 to 18, maybe they won't sneak up on you like they did on me.

After a fairly steep mile-long ascent, you drop sharply down to NC 151 where you make a left and begin the climb to the Parkway. The three miles up to the Parkway are completely shaded, the road is smooth and twisty and there's almost no traffic.

Once you reach the Parkway, there are about three more miles of climbing. All of this is in the sun with the exception of three tunnels. All the tunnels are pretty straight and short, no worries going through them.

From the summit of Pisgah, which is a little hard to pinpoint, you descend at an easy rate that allows you to keep the cranks turning. For about three miles or so you're soft pedaling at 30 mph, then you turn onto 276 and blast down hill through banked corners and switch-backs. 276 is a little rough in spots, but in pretty good shape overall. Then the road straightens out and again you're pedaling along with a nice 1-3% negative grade. A few small hills break up the high-speed run back in to Canton. Fantastic ride, go do it.

Garmin Ride Data