Franklin NC & Bristol TN
Miles = 1,174
For our now traditional fall ride we decided to return to Franklin and change up the second day. In the route to Franklin we get to ride Cherohala Skyway, Tail of the Dragon, and Wayah Road which are all fantastic roads that we never grow tired of. Despite taking a few different roads and completely changing our second day from last year we still rode within 10 total miles of the trip last year.
Day One
We decided we would ride all the way down to Cherohala Skyway without jumping off I-75 as we knew we would be tight on time. We stopped again at Clay's Ferry and rode the old road over the KY River stopping underneath the I-75 bridge to stretch our legs. We rode all the way to Abridged Beer Co for lunch stopping only once just south of Corbin for gas. We reached Abridged right at noon. After some wings and a pint of beer we ready to go. We rode Cherohala and reached the Tail of the Dragon around 3:00. We decided to ride it both ways before continuing on our route following NC28 on the South side of Fontana Lake. We made another detour into Bryson City NC stopping at Nantahala Brewing for a quick and early dinner. We continued back on NC28 and soon reached Franklin arriving from the North. We decided to stay in the same place again, renting the cottage despite there being only two of us. The welcoming committee of one met us as we pulled in and we reconnected with our matronly hostess Connie, who we had met last year. We sat on the front porch and drink a beer with her. We had her make a short video to send to Sebastian asking why he hadn't come over this year. We rode into town and stopped again at both breweries but only for a short time as we were on our bikes this year rather than being chaperoned. We ended up getting a growler and going back to the cottage and enjoyed a wonderful autumn night on the front porch of the cottage.
Day Two
We started again at Kountry Kitchen as we are slaves to tradition. We started out on US64, a road we have ridden many times, so I wanted to find an alternative road as we headed in a northeasterly manner. I landed on Walnut Creek Road which eventually turns into Pine Creek Road before reaching NC107. This was a really nice route where the road was following Walnut Creek and then Pine Creek before riding the North side of Lake Glenville. The roads were a little narrow so we weren't blasting through them but it was a nice relaxing ride. NC107 took us due north and it was also nice as it followed the West Fork of the Tuckasegee River. NC281 took us west on the North side of Cedar Cliff Lake and Bear Creek Lake before we broke off on Charles Creek Rd. All of these roads were great and we ended up headed north on NC215. We jumped on the BRP and stopped at the East Fork Overlook that looks north though the Ridgeline toward Asheville. We decided to go to Asheville for lunch and thought New Belgium Brewery would be good. It is an easy in and out as it sits just off I-26. We arrived there before it opened but we only had to wait a few minutes. They had a food truck and we were in business. After lunch we rode back down and rode east on I-40 before for a few miles before heading north again on NC80. We made a brief stop at Lake Tahoma Dam as it right on the road with a little access road that allowed to pull off. We rode north into TN stopping at the state line on TN143 at Carver's Gap, and then back out again as we stayed on backroads bypassing Boone to the West going through Valle Crucis and then connecting with US421 and into Mountain City. Next up was Iron Mountain and we rode the entire length of the "Snake" stopping briefly in Shady Valley before continuing on over the second pass. After crossing over South Holston Lake we were in Bristol. The city of Bristol straddles the state line between Virginia and Tennessee. We Ubered into downtown from the Hampton going first to Studio Brew and then walking to the Bristol Hotel where we stopped for a pint on the rooftop quickly discovering we were well underdressed. We didn't stay there long and then walked to Elderbrew to cap off the night.
Day Three
We took a pretty traditional route home. We crossed over Powell Mountain on VA70 through Jonesville and rode through Pennington Gap and into KY. We were back on US421 which we would ride all the way to I-75 jumping on South of Richmond. We stopped again at the Blue Stallion Brewery in Lexington and rode the rest of the way on I-75. We had to jump off to avoid a huge traffic jam and ride through Union before reconnecting on I-275.