Friday 11/01/19 Ride

Fellow Riders,

• As I'm sitting here listening to the rain, I'm optimistic the Friday forecast for dry and cool weather will come true.  I thought I would ride over to Clarksville, GA, for some lunch at The Attic restaurant.  We'll leave the Key Mart parking area at 10:30 am.   Hope to see you there.    Steve

The Attic Restaurant

• The forecasters got it right.  It was a gorgeous fall day and perfect for a ride to Clarkesville.  There were six riders including me.  The other riders were Ray, Lesley, Gary, Dan, and Neil.  It was nice to have the sun as it was a little cool as we made our way into Georgia.  Traffic was light and we enjoyed the country scenery.  Parking can be a problem at The Attic, but we were able to squeeze in a couple of spaces in the rear of the building.  Dan remembered that it was okay to use the rear entrance to get into the restaurant.  Thanks to a call ahead by Paulette, they were expecting us and had a table ready.  The server told us we couldn't go wrong if we got the Philly steak or rueben sandwiches.  The rueben was the most popular choice and I got their outstanding roasted red pepper bisque.  It's been a while since I was there, but the food was as good as I remembered.  For the ride home, I decided to head north on Hwy 197.  I love this road and a cool fall day is perfect for this route.  In the summer, the "tar snakes" can get a little slippery when the hot Georgia sun beats down.  The colors were outstanding and we had a nice view of Lake Burton as we approached Hwy 76.  This took us through Clayton as we continued homeward  and it made for a great after lunch ride.  Even with the cool temperatures, it was another great day on two wheels.   Steve

Friday 10/25/19 Ride

Fellow Riders,

• Steve is out this week so I will be filling in.  Right now it looks like no rain until late Friday or Saturday, so I was thinking of heading up to Hawg Wild BBQ in Brevard, NC.  We will ride through Cesar's Head and DuPont State Forest, returning via 64 and 178 (at Rosman) so we should see some great fall color.  If that sounds good, let's plan to leave Key Mart at 10:30.    Gary

Hawg Wild BBQ - Brevard

• Sounds like it was a good choice and and a good day for a ride.  Along with Gary were Neil and Steve G.  Gary says they did get a little damp due to some heavy mist after they decided to take an extended ride home.  Sorry I missed it.    Steve

Friday 10/18/19 Ride

Fellow Riders,

• With the forecast indicating a sunny and cooler day this Friday, I thought I would ride to Side Street Pizza & Pasta for lunch.  The ride to Tryon, NC should be a good one, although not as curvy as our ride last Friday.  If this sounds good to you, we'll plan on leaving the Key Mart parking area at 10:30 am.  Hope to see you there.    Steve

Side Street Pizza & Pasta

• It was indeed another great day for a ride.  Although the temps were a little cool, sticking to many open back roads kept the sun on our backs.   Those joining me today included Gary, Charley A., Jeff, Harve, and Neil.  We took familiar back roads to get to Tryon and enjoyed the country setting on such a sunny day.  When we arrived at Side Street, I thought the parking lot was quite empty compared to how it has been on many previous visits.  The small hand written sign on the front door told us why - "we hope to be open by 1 pm due to a water main break."  This was confirmed as one of the employees rounded the corner and said they did have a water problem. I checked my phone, and sure enough, Paulette had tried to let me know it was not open, but the blue tooth was turned off on my phone.  I decided to go another couple of blocks and try Huckleberry's for lunch.  We all managed to find parking and they were able to get us seated right away.  Burgers seemed to be the favorite menu selection and the food was very good.  This turned out to be a good plan B.  For the ride home, we took Hwy 176 through Saluda and then rode through the Greenville Watershed.  David D. will not feel bad he missed this route.  The road surface is still pretty rugged, but it is a scenic ride.  There was an abundance of bicyclists out today getting their miles in.  The temperature continued to climb and it was a very comfortable ride home.  Overall, it was another great day on two wheels.    Steve

Trip Advisor - Huckleberry's Tryon

Friday 10/11/19 Ride

Fellow Riders,

• Now that the calendar and weather have finally aligned for fall, I think it's time to switch to lunch mode for the Friday ride.  I thought I would head to Dillsboro, NC for lunch at Kostas Family Restaurant.  This will make for a nice ride to gt some good Greek food.  If this sounds like fun to you, we'll plan on leaving the Key Mart parking area at 10:30 am.  Hope to see you there.    Steve

Kostas Family Restaurant

• Today turned out to be a great fall day and perfect for a ride to Dillsboro.  There were seven riders that came out for the ride.  Joining me were Rob, Gary, Doug, Russ, Lincoln, and Neil.  We headed north through Cashiers and then turned onto North Norton Road for some winding road riding.  This was a warm up for the next segment which was driving on Cullowhee Mountain Road for some really serious twisties.  I'm pretty sure this was the first route I took with Dan and the Friday riders.  Having just moved from very flat and "non-curvy road' Michigan, I got a quick lesson in mountain riding.  I can say that Cullowhee Mountain Road is every bit as, if not more, challenging than the Tail of the Dragon which Gary, Neil, and I rode a week ago.  We continued the ride on Hwy 107 and connected with South River Road to get us to our destination.  The Tuckasegee River was loaded with fishermen, probably more fishermen than trout.  There may have been a tournament, or perhaps it was just because it was a perfect fall day, but I'm sure there were a lot of folks who called in sick so they could hit the river.  We arrived at Kostas and with Paulette's call ahead, they had a section ready for us.  Our server, who reminded us about a half dozen times, was named Brandi.  After getting our drinks, she did not return.  Another server arrived to take our food order, and the owner walks up and says he got us a better looking server, which seemed odd.  When someone asked what happened to Brandi, the new server said "we had to send her home."  Very strange.  After a slightly long wait, we got our food and the gyro's were fantastic as usual.  This is one of my favorite stops.  After lunch we took the more direct route back on Hwy 107.  Rob veered of onto Hwy 281 to take a longer and more winding route home.  Overall, it was another great day on two wheels.    Steve

DELICIOUS!!

Friday 10/04/19 Ride

Fellow Riders,

• With another hot summer/fall day in the forecast for Friday, I plan on riding to the Clayton Cafe for breakfast.  If an early ride into Georgia sounds good to you, let's plan to leave the Key Mart parking area at 8:30 am.  Hope to see you there.    Steve

Clayton Cafe - Facebook

• Friday turned out to be another record temperature day for this time of year.  We could feel the heat as we returned from our breakfast ride.  There were a total of 10 riders that came out today.  Those joining me included Lesley, Dan, David D., Ray, Mike F., Pat (note - Bill is recuperating from his procedure and is doing fine, will likely join us again in November), Jeff, Harve, and Neil (with his newly customized engine.)  It was a nice ride up the mountain on familiar back roads as we made our way over to Hwy 76 and into Clayton.  Thanks to a call ahead from Paulette, our back room was ready for us when we arrived.  The service and food are always good and it's nice they have the large back room for groups like ours.  With 10 guests all at once, it does take a little while to get the food out.  Sadly, Dan's order didn't make it initially, so he had an extended wait for his food.  I did try the chicken waffle and it was quite good.  However, I didn't realize it came with a little gravy which I will exclude if I get this again.  A couple of riders took a direct route home to take care of some errands, and the rest of us headed for War Woman Road.  It had some patches in the pavement, and we eventually caught up with the crews adding some more patch work.  After a slight delay, we continued on our way and enjoyed the curves before connecting with Hwy 28.  You could see some emerging colors in the trees as we head into the fall season.  As usual, with the elevation change, we got the warmer temps.  Overall, it was another great day on two wheels.   Steve

Origin of the War Woman Road Name