News

Apple Festival 2013: Bicyclists ready to tackle 100-miler

By Bill Moss, Published: August 29, 2013

The Four Seasons Rotary Club is launching the first Tour d'Apple event on Labor Day in conjunction with the North Carolina Apple Festival.

The club had registered 150 riders for the race as of Friday and expects about 200 to ride one of three tours starting at 8 a.m. Monday at Blue Ridge Community College.

The Tour d'Apple offers three scenic routes around Henderson County: a 100-mile Century tour with over 8,000 feet of ascent, a 100 kilometer (65 miles) Metric route with more than 4,700 feet of climbing and a novice ride of 25 miles.
Organizer Dick Miley projected that about 30 riders would choose the shorter route, 70 the 65-miler and 50 the century ride. But the way the course is set up, riders can cut mileage off if they change their mind.
"There are break points where they can turn around and come back," he said. "There's a rest stop at Gilliam Mountain Road in Edneyvlle where they can cut out about 18-19 miles and come on back.
"We're right at our goal (of riders) right now. We're guessing a total of 200. I think for the first year we'll be happy with whatever we get."
Sycamore Cycles and Blue Ridge Bicycle Club have teamed with the Tour d'Apple and Park Ridge Health to offer a Family Fun Ride bicycle clinic and tour for young cyclists and on Labor Day at 10 a.m. at Blue Ridge Community College. The Family Fun Ride will begin with a bicycle-safety clinic for young children and their parents. After the safety clinic, the young cyclists and parents will take a three-mile bicycle tour around BRCC and the nearby area.
The first 50 children to register and arrive at the check-in table by 10 a.m. on Labor Day will receive free T-shirt compliments of Southeastern Sports Medicine. Parents may pick up a mail-in registration form at Sycamore Cycles on Third Avenue East in Hendersonville or send an email request to: tourdapple@fourseasonsrotary.org or register on Labor Day beginning at 9:30 a.m.
Interested cyclists may register through the Tour website at www.tourdapple.com.
Four Seasons Rotary Club is sponsoring the Tour d'Apple as a fundraiser for its many charitable projects, including scholarship and emergency funds for students at Blue Ridge Community College.