October 4-10, 2025. 397 miles / 18,905 elev. gain
Mountains to Coast (link) is a supported ride where your gear gets transports from campsite to campsite, gpx routes are published, sags are arranged, and evening entertainment is available. Three hundred ninety seven miles and nearly 19,000 feet of vertical is a good test for future bike tours, since that averages out to 66 miles and 3150 feet of climbing per day.
Day 1 – Lake Lure to Lincolnton – 70.23 miles / +4436 elev. gain
Day 2 – Lincolnton to Kannapolis – 63.99 miles / +2831 elev. gain
Day 3 – Kannapolis to Asheboro – 64.70 miles / +3980 elev. gain
Day 4 – Asheboro to Fuquay-Varina – 75.93 miles / +4236 elev. gain
Day 5 – Fuquay-Varina to Goldsboro – 663.55 miles / +2139 elev. gain
Day 6 – Goldsboro to Wallace – 58.38 miles / +1283 elev. gain
Total – Lake Lure to Wallace – 397 miles / +18,905 elev. gain
Day 0.
We totally underestimated the drive time from Nashville to Lake Lure and ended up arriving mid afternoon instead of noon as we planned. Nonetheless, we had an hour to spare before before check-in ended. After getting the truck to the long-term parking field and the tent setup we had happy hour with our Davis Phinney (DPF) crew. Since DPF, is a non profit supporting people with Parkinsons, PWP in PD slang I started eyeing everyone trying to figure out who else had PD; turns out it was me, myself, and I. The biggest worry for the day was where to find a decent cup of coffee tomorrow morning. Fortunately the venue was at the posh Club Wyndham Resort, complete with a Starbucks, bar and restaurant. It’s hard to believe that Lake Lure was devastated by Hurricane Helene last fall. Cleanup efforts, which includes lowering the lake to remove over 1 million cubic yards of debris and sediment is still underway, with a targeted reopening date of May 1, 2026.
Day 1. Lake Lure to Lincolnton – 70.23 miles / +4436 elev. gain (Strava)
Day 1 started with a steep climb out of Lake Lure and the continued up and down for the rest of the day. The police did an excellent job stopping traffic at busy intersections and while the roads had little to no shoulder there was enough of us – nearly 700 riders – that cars could not help but see us. Sags were well timed and stocked, clearly this was not M2C’s first rodeo. The highlight of the day was the Muscadines sag. Muscadines native to the southeast and are typically used in making artisan wines, juice, hull pie and jelly, or so my google search tells me. I can tell you they are large, have a thick skin and bunch of seeds inside. They do taste good and we could eat as many as we wanted,
Day 2 – Lincolnton to Kannapolis – 63.99 miles / +2831 elev. gain
After the obligatory team photo and stop for good coffee, we were off. I thought I would be writing in my journal every night but the daily routine consists of up at 6 am, packup camp, load gear on U-Haul, caffeinate, leave between 7:30 and 8, ride until 1:30 to 2:30. Setup camp, shower, attend happy hour between 4-5, find and eat dinner from 5-6, start winding down at 7, asleep by 8 or 9PM. The routine works well for me. The highlight was camping in the center of the University of Nort Carolina Campus.
Day 3 – Kannapolis to Asheboro – 64.70 miles / +3980 elev. gain
We woke up to heavy fog, which made for a wet tent. I am sure I saw lots of interesting stuff, but since I did not write it down I will never know for sure. I do remember the stopping point was at the top of a 17% grade hill – hard to forget that.
Day 4 – Asheboro to Fuquay-Varina – 75.93 miles / +4236 elev. gain
Same as the day before. Luckily, I found tall Ben with 30 miles to go and we rode in together. Listening to all his bike tour stories, made the miles go by faster, since I was starting to drag after riding too hard the first few days. Oh we found a millipede in the tent when we were packing up. I guess he was keeping the daddy longlegs we kept finding company. I forgot how many crawly bugs there are in the East. No mosquitoes or gnats, which I found kind of surprising.
Day 5 – Fuquay-Varina to Goldsboro – 63.55 miles / +2139 elev. gain
Rinse and repeat of the day before, expect we are solidly out of the mountains. I do remember helping polish off a bottle of wine at happy hour.
Day 6 – Goldsboro to Wallace – 58.38 miles / +1283 elev. gain
Flat. No head wind. Lots of sandy soil, barking dogs, and peanut fields. The low light was the final day from Wallace to the coast was canceled, due to an approaching Nor’easter and threats of 4-5 inches of rain, 30 mph winds, and gusts above 40. We ended up taking an empty hotel room, from a friend of the group that was heading home. Big mistake, I will say no more on the topic. Should have, would have, could have stayed in the tent, since the rain had not started yet when we woke up.
Day 7 – Bus ride back to Lake Lure and drive from Lake Lure to Knoxville saw us arriving at 7PM. Overall, a good introduction to multi-day bike trips. Most likely will not do another Mountains To Coast. We invaded a bunch of small towns with 700 cyclists each day, which meant scrambling for meals and such a little challenging. I think future trips will be limited to just us a few close friends on self-designed tracks.
On a final note, there were many interesting bikes, and one old school mountain bike that was always finding it’s way to the sags before me.
