By Jesse Wood
May 19, 2014. The Beech Mountain Metric, a Blood, Sweat & Gears Events ride held on Saturday morning, “went extremely well,” according to Beech Mountain Tourism Development Authority Director Amy Morrison.
“We were very pleased,” Morrison said.
More than 500 riders participated in the event that began in Banner Elk and ascended up the Beech Mountain Parkway. It had been years since an organized road cycling event of this magnitude took place in that vicinity, and the metric sort of recaptured the enthusiasm for road biking that hadn’t been seen atop Beech Mountain since Lance Armstrong raced in the Tour DuPont.
The Beech Mountain Metric is a part of the newly-formed “hat trick” of racing for the nonprofit Blood, Sweat & Gears Events. The other two races include the classic Blood, Sweat & Gears – now in its 16th year – that starts and ends in Valle Crucis in late June and a still-in-the-planning-stages race that will take place at Blowing Rock in September 2015.
Blood, Sweat & Gears Events Ride Director Scott Nelson praised the Town of Beech Mountain, residents, business owners, volunteers, emergency crews and after-party host Ski Beech, in a Facebook post following the timed ride.
“What a day! As many of you may know I’ve been a ride director for a fairly long time. I have seen many great moments in all aspects of planning and executing a bike ride. Yesterday was epic!” Nelson posted. “Nothing short of amazing.”
The Beech Mountain Metric and the upcoming Blowing Rock race will continue the good work that the Blood, Sweat & Gears ride has become famous for – providing an economic impact to the community while raising funds for good causes. In the past two years, BSG has raised just under $170,000.
As Nelson said prior to the ride, ““There’s no motivation other than trying to help our community.”
Check out the race results and photos of the race below, and click here to read more about the “hat trick.”
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