Originally Posted by
burnthesheep
Grandfather lets bikes in? Is that free? That's a paid entrance park. If driving you stop, pay at a gate, then enter. When the family visited I didn't notice anything at the gate about it.
There's some climbs with grades in NC, but Mitchell isn't very steep. I was fine on that years ago on rim brake when I weighed a good bit more than I do now headed back down from the top down to Marion.
I think you'd be fine regardless on a rim brake anywhere...it's a matter of preference/performance in some situations (more specifically weather conditions). I guess I should've stated "around" Grandfather (or Pisgah)...to provide better context see below:
More notably 181, Shull's Mill, etc. The ride pictured above finished going up the 3-mile entrance to Grandfather which was truly diabolical. You are correct that that entrance is gated and I am unsure if they have that one exception per year for cyclists. There are also multiple routes for going up Mt. Mitchell, so it's a matter of picking your poison in that case (Asheville, Marion, South Carolina...).