Heartbreak

Pisgah goodness today. Plans fell into place from the mtbr forums for a meetup to ride Heartbreak Ridge. Oddly enough, the two that joined me were guys that I had ridden heartbreak with before, so it was good to see them again. I'll not mention who bailed... Sidney! You know who you are. Anyways, we met up at the Geyser, kitted up and headed up Mill Creek Road. We chatted it up on the way, and made quick work of the gravel that had me nearly in tears at the ORAMM a few years ago. After heading down towards Montreat, we cut up through Ridgecrest, and onto Rattlesnake.

Bottom of Rattlesnake

This was mostly a hike-a-bike section, I would guess the gradient is above 30 percent. Thankfully, for all its steepness it gains elevation quickly, and is over just as quickly. After about two or three miles of off and on the bike antics, we made it to the old toll road

Old Toll Road (7 miles more or less of this grade, this rocky)



Overlook on the Toll Road, pointing to where we are headed.



As opposed to the Curtis Creek gravel route, this is significantly more fun, and more challenging. When we left the geyser it was about 75 and cloudy, by the time we reached the old toll road we had been stormed on once, but it went by quickly. After climbing up the majority of the toll road, the skies opened up a second time and we were scrambling for some shelter under the rhododendron. After the storm passed, we continued our climb past Old Man Toyota's shanty in the woods (dude actually lives here, miles up a gated road that is super rocky...must be interesting in the winter). Anyways, we regrouped at the top, grabbed some food, shivered a bit and then decided to head down Heartbreak. At 5200', the temp was probably in the low 50's and it was raining, amazing what elevation does.

The top of Heartbreak is to the far right, you can see the clouds/storm we were in at the top.



As we descended, it was incredible to see the change in the foliage; at the top it still looke essentially like late winter with next to no green aside from the rhododendron and laurel.



About halfway down, things started to green up, everything was budding, then by lower heartbreak, we were riding through tunnels of rhododendron in full bloom. Pretty amazing. The descent was great, trying to hang onto Peter's wheel had me at the very edge of control, and hitting almost 30mph on the dirt. Madness! Great ride Matt and Peter, we'll get together again soon!