Road Bike Asheville, NC: Favorite Rides of the Blue Ridge Bicycle Club
  Asheville, NC has all the elements that make for superb road biking—a year-round riding climate, varied terrain, scenic backroads that see light automotive use, and a cycling friendly population. Champion cyclist Greg Lemond has called "Asheville's Land of Sky" one of the best training locations in the world. In this guide, the Blue Ridge Bicycle Club offers 16 of the best routes in the Asheville area, ranging from eight to 64 miles in length.
Choose a 50-mile tour to a great bakery in Saluda, an eight-mile cruise ending at a lovely rose garden, or a metric century that passes by the historic home of poet Carl Sandburg near Flat Rock. Each route description includes everything you need to pick your ride, with complete directions, detailed map, elevation profile, road surface conditions, difficulty rating, points of interest and services available along the way.
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. The Blue Ridge Bicycle Club
III. Rules of the Road
IV. Local Bike Resources
V. Area Locator Map
VI. The Rides
EASY RIDES
- Tipton Hill Loop (19 miles)
- Creek–Emmas Grove (26 miles)
- Garden Loop (8 miles)
EASY/MODERATE RIDES
- Breakfast Ride (17 miles)
- Two Rivers (27 miles)
- Rolling Vistas (36 miles)
- Swannanoa Valley & Crafts (26 miles)
MODERATE RIDES
- Ox Creek Plunge (33 miles)
- Jenkins Valley–Ox Creek (43 miles)
- Newfound–Hookers Gap (32 miles)
- Canton Loop (44 miles)
- Bear Creek Loop (37 miles)
- Carl Sandburg Metric Century (63 miles)
- Wildflower Bakery (50 miles)
DIFFICULT RIDES
- Bat Cave–Edneyville (42 miles)
- Old Fort–Hickory Nut Gorge (64 miles)
VII. Detailed Ride Directions
About the Author
Jim Parham grew up in North Georgia. Most well known for his six-volume Off The Beaten Track mountain bike guide series, he now lives in North Carolina's Great Smoky Mountains, where he is involved in bicycling advocacy both on and off the road.
About the Blue Ridge Bicycle Club
The Blue Ridge Bicycle Club represents the vast majority of cyclists in the Asheville area, and its members have many years of road riding experience in the region. Begun in 1974, the club organizes weekly rides and is involved in bicycling advocacy both on and off the road. Its annual "Hilly Hellacious Hundred" ride is held in August.
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