2012 Ride-In Report: Columbus, OH to Asheville, NC

As much as I wanted to do the proposed route in my previous post, time and budget constraints put us on a more direct route to South Carolina. To get down to Greenville, we decided to take US Highway 23 South all the way down. For most people in Columbus, this road, which includes High Street that runs right through the city, is more known for being the main road north toward the cities of Delaware, Upper Sandusky, Toledo, and Ann Arbor, MI to name a few. When it's taking southbound, you would encounter Circleville, OH, Ashland, KY, and if you take it long enough, Asheville, NC. US-23 has been the source of a few of my other adventures in the opposite direction, one of them I write about extensively in a previous blog post, "Ride Report: Hockey Heaven is in...Michigan?! My journey to Perani's Hockey World."

The first half of the route before we really entered the mountains and steep inclines of Kentucky dealt out some unbearable heat. Temps were well into the triple-digits and just bearing down on us and the bikes. Although I had a lightweight, mesh jacket on, the evaporative cooling vest came out in Kentucky and stayed on until we reached Asheville. If you've never used one of those, you're missing out on instant relief from sweltering temps.

Aside from the hot conditions, the only other issue we encountered was the top speed of Matt's 2008 Piaggio BV250 scooter on uphill climbs. I think we've seen its limits when dealing with elevating terrain, but it did its best chugging along at a maximum 48-52MPH at wide open throttle. It also helped that we were on a quieter highway on a Sunday.

The seemingly mountainous areas were only separated by state signs.

Beautiful sights from the partly cloudy overlooks in higher elevations.

The uphill climbs were doing a number on the mileage and top speed on Matt's Piaggio BV250, so an extra 1-gallon gas can was in order in the mountainous areas.

More touring with one of the strangest bike duos around!

Tenneesee!

There's not much to the route; just take US-23 southbound, and if you're crossing state lines and not encountering any Canadian border guards, then you're going the right way. Despite that simplicity, it was a beautiful ride through the mountains of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. For more information about US Highway 23, click here.

Also, if you ever have the chance to swing by Asheville, NC, I suggest spending a couple days to see what this beautiful city is all about. There's a lot of promising restaurants out here and more famously, the Biltmore Estate, the largest privately owned home in the United States. I hope to find my way back here for an extensive review.