Originally Posted by
topflightpro
BTS - There are closer climbs you can do than Mitchell.
It's been years since I was down there, but I remember we drove from Raleigh to do some climbing when I was at NC State. I think we made a day of Pilot Mountain and Hanging Rock area.
You can make yourself a pretty hilly route out there with some decent climbs. They're not long, low grade climbs that go on for 20 miles like Mitchell, but still a climb, with nice prominence and good views at the top.
On another (semi-related) note, I just love how pros are just doing a completely different sport than us (most of anyway) mortals. The Mt Mitchell strava leaderboard has Phil Gaimon at the top, 1 hour 19 minutes at 16.1 mph (a ridiculous 385W for over an hour). A very distant second place is John Delong, who I'm sure is still a completely absolute beast, doing it at 1 hour 32 minutes, 13.8 mph, and a still very, very impressive 315W.
And that was Phil in 2017, not even an actual in his prime pro anymore, but retired and probably not peaking or going at race pace.
https://www.strava.com/segments/695873