We stuck by our tradition of going for a second Devils Whip triip but never actually riding Devils Whip!!
Riders : Deepak | Praveen | Sameer | Sanjay | Arvind | Guri | KG | Aubhro | Behram
Dates : 04/22/2022 - 04/24/2022
Miles : 500
Day 1 - Friday April 22nd 2022
The days before the trip we had countless discussions of what Praveen will cook in the trip! The menu requests ranged from Mutton curry, to grilled chicken to Indo-Chinese. Behram was looking for a gym during the trip and Aubhro planned to come in his truck so that Behram could carry his set of dumbbells for his workout. The day of the trip fiascos began with discussions on where to meet for kickoff. First we had plans to meet at the Cruisers on 64. Then it changed to Lowes gas station with KSU at 12:30PM. Arvind mentioned he would wait at the Dolphins gas station! Sameer griped about the Lowes location as not having any ciggarettes, drinks or food being sold. Praveen was not going to go at all until Behram modified the gpx file to include a stopover at a waterfall.
Eventually we all straggled towards the Lowes gas station and everyone waited for Praveen to show up. 2 wives (Kav and Kara) had also showed up as well as Ashish to take our photos when we all left.
The ride to the cabin was uneventful. Rt 40 was pretty busy as usual but we managed to weave in and out of lanes of traffic. Once entering the mountains, Praveen, Arvind and Deepak stopped to pick up groceries while the earlier group stopped to pick up liquor.
As expected in the cabins in the area, there usually is an element of gravel riding near the cabin. This time was no different, where it had a rather challenging gravel section with a sharp left turn that left many riders clenching their gluteus muscles and cursing Behram.
The evening was beautiful with Praveen making some culinary delights! The night activities continued fueled by various wines and scotches.
We retreated to our rooms/beds to be ready for the next day ride.
Day 2 - Saturday April 23rd 2022
The next day we decided to head towards a waterfall so that we could finally see the waterfall that Praveen so desired. The group split into two: a group that continued further in search for a waterfall convinced by every hiker they met mentioning, "its only 1/2 mile away" and the other group who gave up looking for the falls and instead chose to ride some of the roads nearby. The group hiking towards the falls (Deepak, Praveen, KG, Aubhro, Guri) were rewarded by a spectacular falls (Jones Falls). Praveen quickly made chai with his stove and the water from the falls and then jumped into the falls as well.
The other group got a chance to ride some gorgeous roads in the area including the Diamondback (226A) and other amazing roads near Little Switzerland. They also picked up t-shirts for the group. They also stopped at Elk River falls and got some amazing pictures
The hiking group came back down from the falls and were exhausted. They found a local place to eat and had some sandwiches that they devoured immediately. This local place was also a hikers rest area where they met numerous hikers who were in route hiking the Applalacian Trail (from Georgia to Maine)
Returning back to the cabin, the wannabe hikers decided to leave their bikes parked at the entrance before the challenging gravel section. Guri preferred riding the gravel road and rode his bike to the cabin. The hikers were too exhausted to even walk the gravel road and decided to take shortcuts and climbed the grassy hill instead. They all reached the cabin winded as if they had just conquored Mt Kilimanjaro!
The evening was spent in more discussion on TLW updates to the website and we all put on our Devils Whip t-shirt's that we proudly wore unapologetically.
Day 3 - Sunday April 24th 2022
Sunday rolled around quickly. Many of the guys had stayed up long into the wee hours of the morning and needed more sleep. Behram's bike was not starting and he used the jump start kit to get it started. We all left the cabin by 10:30am thanks to late check out. Aubhro and Arvind decided to ride some more roads before heading home and the remainder of the group just took the shortest way home. At a gas station Behram's bike's warning lights started coming on and he stopped to refuel and the bike would not start. Getting it started with the jump start kit, he decided to head straight home and we would follow him on. We lost a few non Cardo riders along the roads and eventually the group separated into a few groups just riding along withing a few miles of each other.
Behram decided to drop off his bike at BMW of Greensboro and Aubhro and Arvind met him there and he went with them home. The trip lived up to its name: This is Devils' Whip #2, we have yet to do the Devils Whip....
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