Ride Report: Beating the Heat [NC+TN, 7 days - 1350mi]

[triangletom]

There is a long-standing tradition within art and music of introducing an arbitrary limitation into your work to coax innovative creation. Along the same lines, there is a long-standing tradition within the Adventure Riding community of riding bikes in ways they were never designed for. Think RTW trips on Suzuki Hayabusa's and Honda C90s. By eliminating the well-trodden path, we are able to better illuminate unexplored territory.

The enemy of art is the absence of limitations -- Orson Wells

This 7-day, 1350-mile (2100km) trip isn't that ambitious. It's just me hanging around at the 2024 Beat the Heat Scooter Rally in Maggie Valley, NC, and then wandering off on my own to find some of the best motorcycling roads in America.



The limitation? I'll be riding the BMW CE 04 - an electric scooter designed for quiet commutes within European capitals. The range of the CE 04 varies on speed, but I typically get about 63 miles (100km) in the rural flat parts of North Carolina. This limitation inspires a different kind of touring: one filled with tiny coffee shops, random meaderies, quaint downtown squares, and quirky sanitation facilities rather than highways. When you are riding a vehicle with limited range, the journey is always more interesting than the destination.



Due to tendinitis I'll be dropping additions to the ride report in a day at a time, so stay tuned ...

 

[triangletom]

PREPARATION

Chance Favors the Prepared Mind -- Louis Pasteur

Once I committed to attending the Beat the Heat Rally, it was time to dig into the logistics. With electric two-wheelers, particularly short-range ones like the CE 04, we're still at the point where planning helps. @klaviator was so kind as to send me routes from previous years that I was able to compare to a charging map of the area:


Plugshare map legend:

• Green icons are the slow AC chargers that the CE 04 can use
• Orange icons are the fast DC chargers that the CE 04 can't use (I usually have these hidden)
• Blue icons are random people who have offered their houses up for charging.
• The magenta line is my shitty route overlay

None of the riding routes were more than 25 miles from a charger, so I felt like I was good to go for the rally.

My charge times are typically 25 minutes (20-60%) when I'm in a spot I don't want to hang out, or 45 minutes (15-95%) when I want to stop for food, coffee, or a place to walk around. While slow, the AC chargers that the CE 04 can use are cheap to install ($1000), typically free, and usually located in places of interest, such as the visitor center downtown or a restaurant. DC fast chargers ($50k) are a wholly commercial endeavor and tend to be installed in the sort of places that you'd expect gas stations: highways and strip malls.

I'm not going to expect any other Rally-goers to want to hang out with me for 45 minutes, but with any luck, the charging stops will coincide with where folks are already making stops for meals, coffee, ice cream, etc. My plan is to ride each day with folks until it's recharge time and then see if I can modify the route to meet up with them afterward. I was still a little nervous to find out how fast the other rally-goers went, as my range would ultimately depend on that.

Getting there

Now that I know I can participate in most if not all of the reindeer games, I want to see if there was a reasonable route from my house to the end of Cherohala Skyway (Tellico Plains, TN), the western-most point I wanted to visit. To do this, I use a site called ABetterRoutePlanner, which calculates an optimal charging schedule for a given route. The app doesn't know what the BMW CE 04 is, so I pretend to be a "Zero SDS ZF 7.2 + PT" and set my consumption at 65mph to 180Wh/mi, which is a pretty good approximation. The charge times ABRP gives are inflated by 40%, but the model is otherwise accurate:




For the parameters I chose (avoid highways, never arrive under 15%, never charge over 95% because it takes too long), it suggested I charge up 8 times to make the full ~400-mile journey. I won't necessarily use these exact chargers, but the plan tells me which towns with chargers I'll likely visit along the way.

Weather Prep

The forecast was calling for rain every day. Ever since I got the CE 04, it's had weather-related issues:

• Water collects in the headlight
• The seat began disintegrating due to exposure within 6 months of ownership
• After bike washes, I get warnings that the brights don't work (even if they do)
• After heavy rains, my front running lights sometimes don't work
• In high heat (>100'F), I sometimes get error messages about my rear lights not being operational (but they are)

The last two issues are almost certainly my fault, as I installed an excessive number of Posi-Taps to hook up the Skene running lights. I recently learned about Waterproof Liquid Tape, AKA liquid electrical tape, and decided that it was the solution to everything. I doused each Posi-Tap and exposed wire in liquid tape and also used it to cover up the holes in the seat.


Emergency Prep

I like to keep tools stored away in the cavernous helmet compartment - velcro'd to the back wall within an indentation. I previously used regular strips of velcro, but tools were starting to come loose, so I upgraded to the heavy-duty outdoor stuff for this trip:



I also keep some tie wraps mounted behind the door, and you can see the AirTag peeking out of the corner as well. In front of all of this is my "Electric Jerry Can", a slightly-modified Jackery 1000 (1KwH) portable battery that I bring on long trips for emergencies:


I also carry a travel-sized EV charging cable (J1772) that I can plug into either the battery or any 110V/220V outlet. While I've never used the battery outside of testing, I do use the travel cable, as I typically ask hotels if I can plug my bike in overnight at an outdoor outlet so that I always wake up with a full charge. It also means that if I get stuck in front of a farm or random gas station, that I can always beg myself into a free charge.

As I was planning to ride on roads I was a bit nervous about (the Dragon + the Gravel Dragon), I invested in some serious foot protection. I've read too many Face Plant forum posts where folks skipped leg day and paid dearly for it. I tried the SIDI Adventure 2 boots, but my feet were too narrow, so I went for the AlpineStars Toucans. The only negative to the Toucans is that they are slippery when wet on the CE 04 footboard, so I added Anti-Skid tape:



Not shown are the First Aid Kit and Garmin inReach Messenger, which I also bring along on trips. The First Aid Kit has come in handy multiple times.

Range Prep

In the hopes of extending my range a bit, I replaced the BMW tall windscreen with the Puig V-Tech Touring Windscreen; I don't have super-scientific results handy, but early tests indicate a 10% range improvement. I think this trip could actually work!

 

[Fullum]

Hi triangletom thank you for sharing your rides it's always a pleasure to have new from you.
You know for the seat it's a well know issue and it's cover by the warranty so you should be able to get it replace for free at your dealer.
Have a good ride.
Yves

​

 

[popdis]

PREPARATION



Once I committed to attending the Beat the Heat Rally, it was time to dig into the logistics. With electric two-wheelers, particularly short-range ones like the CE 04, we're still at the point where planning helps. @klaviator was so kind as to send me routes from previous years that I was able to compare to a charging map of the area:

View attachment 4765
Plugshare map legend:

• Green icons are the slow AC chargers that the CE 04 can use
• Orange icons are the fast DC chargers that the CE 04 can't use (I usually have these hidden)
• Blue icons are random people who have offered their houses up for charging.
• The magenta line is my shitty route overlay

None of the riding routes were more than 25 miles from a charger, so I felt like I was good to go for the rally.

My charge times are typically 25 minutes (20-60%) when I'm in a spot I don't want to hang out, or 45 minutes (15-95%) when I want to stop for food, coffee, or a place to walk around. While slow, the AC chargers that the CE 04 can use are cheap to install ($1000), typically free, and usually located in places of interest, such as the visitor center downtown or a restaurant. DC fast chargers ($50k) are a wholly commercial endeavor and tend to be installed in the sort of places that you'd expect gas stations: highways and strip malls.

I'm not going to expect any other Rally-goers to want to hang out with me for 45 minutes, but with any luck, the charging stops will coincide with where folks are already making stops for meals, coffee, ice cream, etc. My plan is to ride each day with folks until it's recharge time and then see if I can modify the route to meet up with them afterward. I was still a little nervous to find out how fast the other rally-goers went, as my range would ultimately depend on that.

Getting there

Now that I know I can participate in most if not all of the reindeer games, I want to see if there was a reasonable route from my house to the end of Cherohala Skyway (Tellico Plains, TN), the western-most point I wanted to visit. To do this, I use a site called ABetterRoutePlanner, which calculates an optimal charging schedule for a given route. The app doesn't know what the BMW CE 04 is, so I pretend to be a "Zero SDS ZF 7.2 + PT" and set my consumption at 65mph to 180Wh/mi, which is a pretty good approximation. The charge times ABRP gives are inflated by 40%, but the model is otherwise accurate:

View attachment 4766


For the parameters I chose (avoid highways, never arrive under 15%, never charge over 95% because it takes too long), it suggested I charge up 8 times to make the full ~400-mile journey. I won't necessarily use these exact chargers, but the plan tells me which towns with chargers I'll likely visit along the way.

Weather Prep

The forecast was calling for rain every day. Ever since I got the CE 04, it's had weather-related issues:

• Water collects in the headlight
• The seat began disintegrating due to exposure within 6 months of ownership
• After bike washes, I get warnings that the brights don't work (even if they do)
• After heavy rains, my front running lights sometimes don't work
• In high heat (>100'F), I sometimes get error messages about my rear lights not being operational (but they are)

The last two issues are almost certainly my fault, as I installed an excessive number of Posi-Taps to hook up the Skene running lights. I recently learned about Waterproof Liquid Tape, AKA liquid electrical tape, and decided that it was the solution to everything. I doused each Posi-Tap and exposed wire in liquid tape and also used it to cover up the holes in the seat.
View attachment 4767

Emergency Prep

I like to keep tools stored away in the cavernous helmet compartment - velcro'd to the back wall within an indentation. I previously used regular strips of velcro, but tools were starting to come loose, so I upgraded to the heavy-duty outdoor stuff for this trip:

View attachment 4768

I also keep some tie wraps mounted behind the door, and you can see the AirTag peeking out of the corner as well. In front of all of this is my "Electric Jerry Can", a slightly-modified Jackery 1000 (1KwH) portable battery that I bring on long trips for emergencies:

View attachment 4769
I also carry a travel-sized EV charging cable (J1772) that I can plug into either the battery or any 110V/220V outlet. While I've never used the battery outside of testing, I do use the travel cable, as I typically ask hotels if I can plug my bike in overnight at an outdoor outlet so that I always wake up with a full charge. It also means that if I get stuck in front of a farm or random gas station, that I can always beg myself into a free charge.

As I was planning to ride on roads I was a bit nervous about (the Dragon + the Gravel Dragon), I invested in some serious foot protection. I've read too many Face Plant forum posts where folks skipped leg day and paid dearly for it. I tried the SIDI Adventure 2 boots, but my feet were too narrow, so I went for the AlpineStars Toucans. The only negative to the Toucans is that they are slippery when wet on the CE 04 footboard, so I added Anti-Skid tape:

View attachment 4770

Not shown are the First Aid Kit and Garmin inReach Messenger, which I also bring along on trips. The First Aid Kit has come in handy multiple times.

Range Prep

In the hopes of extending my range a bit, I replaced the BMW tall windscreen with the Puig V-Tech Touring Windscreen; I don't have super-scientific results handy, but early tests indicate a 10% range improvement. I think this trip could actually work!

Please outline your tool kit contents, thanks.

 

[triangletom]

Please outline your tool kit contents, thanks.

- Bicycle multi-tool with torx & hex wrenches
- Small adjustable wrench
- Knife
- Tire plug kit
- Air Compressor
- Tie wraps

 

[triangletom]

Day 1: Flying through the Piedmont

Like most of my adventures, I'm out the door before the sun rises - 5:49am. My goal today is to make it across the "Piedmont" (French for "foot hills") region of North Carolina and into the mountains:



I quickly make my way through the farmlands of Orange, Alamance, Randolph as the sun rises:



My first stop is the town of "Climax". Like other cities in NC with a similar theme ("High Point", "Apex"), Climax was named after being the high point for the stretch of railroad that runs through it. The railroad was so critical to opening up the Piedmont to commerce that it feels like every town owes its existence to it. If a city isn't along water in North Carolina, chances are it was only named after the railroad came into being.

Climax is basically a one-stop light town, but thanks to Swaim Electric & HVAC, it has a well-maintained EV charger. I arrive with 24% battery left: I could push on to my next stop, but why take the chance? I charge the bike for 24 minutes and spend that time shit-posting to ADVrider and looking at maps. I decide to make a slight route change to hit up Thomasville, NC -- only because I share a name with it which must make it awesome!

On the way to Thomasville, I ride through Trinity, NC and noticed a sign in front of the local middle school:



I knew from studying NC history that Trinity College was in the middle of nowhere Randolph County, but didn't realize that was where I was. The story is that the school was struggling and two rich guys (Duke & Carr) convinced the college leadership that Durham would be a better location and offered to foot some of the bill for moving. The school was renamed Duke in honor of the first rich guy, and the town I live in, Carrboro, was named after the second dude. Go figure.

Thomasville is just around the corner; the bucolic scenery gives way to downtrodden suburb vibes. The first thing I notice about Thomasville is that it's centered around railroads, guns, and furniture, though not necessarily in that order. If there was a church for guns, this place had it:



At this point, I'm about to pee in my pants, so I'm heading for the charger at the downtown visitor center with as much velocity as I can get away with. I like charging at visitor centers because they are always in a cool area to walk around, are usually free, and always have bathrooms, and I'm ready to piss like a racehorse.



... except that it's 8 am on a Sunday, and the bathroom door is locked. While I lack an obvious solution to a very pressing problem, what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Rather than risk a charge for indecent exposure, I get creative and move on with my tour of Thomasville.

Just down the block, past some folks who appear to be unhoused, is the "World's largest chair". Although it implores me to "Admire its 30-foot-tall majesty!", I'm not impressed.



The backstory here is that Thomasville was founded by this guy Thomas who owned the property here and pushed for the railroad to come through here. It did, and he got rich. With transportation and local furniture making know-how, this place became famous for producing chairs. Feeling bored and impatient and relieved to have found a bathroom stop, after 20 minutes I was done with Thomasville, and the scoot was charged enough to move on to my originally planned charging stop in Lexington. On the way out, I pass another big gun shop - this time with a "God, Guns & Trump" sign. It seems ironic, given the recent events.

The most important thing to know about Lexington is there is has coffee and breakfast, neither of which I have had yet today. he charger isn't terribly exciting - just a regular public parking lot, but only two blocks away from a place with bagels and coffee. If you are into old courthouses, there is one from 1858 downtown that you can't miss:



The other thing to know about Lexington is that they claim to be the "BBQ capital of the world". On the way back, I pass by the "Barbecue Hall of Fame":



After a chill 50-minute breakfast and restroom stop, I arrive back at my bike, and it's been charged up to 90%. On the way out, I notice the legendary Lexington BBQ, a popular place for motorcyclists to meet on weekends, and decide that, like the poser I am, I have to get this iconic photo even if I've never eaten here:

 

[GreggWilliams]

There is a long-standing tradition within art and music of introducing an arbitrary limitation into your work to coax innovative creation. Along the same lines, there is a long-standing tradition within the Adventure Riding community of riding bikes in ways they were never designed for. Think RTW trips on Suzuki Hayabusa's and Honda C90s. By eliminating the well-trodden path, we are able to better illuminate unexplored territory.




This 7-day, 1350-mile (2100km) trip isn't that ambitious. It's just me hanging around at the 2024 Beat the Heat Scooter Rally in Maggie Valley, NC, and then wandering off on my own to find some of the best motorcycling roads in America.

View attachment 4762

The limitation? I'll be riding the BMW CE 04 - an electric scooter designed for quiet commutes within European capitals. The range of the CE 04 varies on speed, but I typically get about 63 miles (100km) in the rural flat parts of North Carolina. This limitation inspires a different kind of touring: one filled with tiny coffee shops, random meaderies, quaint downtown squares, and quirky sanitation facilities rather than highways. When you are riding a vehicle with limited range, the journey is always more interesting than the destination.

View attachment 4763

Due to tendinitis I'll be dropping additions to the ride report in a day at a time, so stay tuned ...

Awesome …

FYI my entire rear plate and the holder fell off on my last ride. Ultimately I had to file a police report. My dealer ordered me a new holder. I’m actually driving in today to have it replaced. Free of charge. It took two weeks to arrive. DMV replaced my old plate with a new plate. I arrived home and couldn’t believe that the entire plate and holder were gone. I never left the bike and rode it the entire time.

 

[wspollack]

@triangletom (et al.):

Starting with post #6 here, I can't see the pics, but get red Xs instead. I can see the earlier pics, though -- did you do something different? Is it just me?

 

[triangletom]

@wspollack - Yeah, I ran into some technical issues. I'll fix it

 

[triangletom]

Day 1 Continued (ran into the image attachment limit)

Now that I have a nearly full charge, it's time to make a bigger hop into Mooresville, NC. It's nearly 9am, and I'm already sweating in this humid July heat. It doesn't get any better as I head further south, either. Mooresville is famous for being home to more than 60 NASCAR teams, as well as being the home to both Dale Earnheardts. While Mooresville has 10 EV chargers, they are all in shitty places like car dealerships, apartment complexes, and hotel parking lots. I picked the Hampton Inn because I know it's free to charge there.


I sat down to read "The Enchiridion" by Epictetus under a tree for a few minutes outdoors before giving up and heading into the air-conditioned lobby. The heat outside is getting brutal, and I'm chugging water like it's going out of style. Even with the heat, life is good - but as soon as I have enough charge, I'll be Audi 5000.

Once I reached 90% charge (more than enough for the next 47-mile hop), I headed out to Lake Norman, a surprisingly high-traffic area on a Sunday morning. It feels like every other truck has a boat attached to it.

If you've seen the Hunger Games movies, crossing the lake puts me in the area where District 12 was filmed, to give you an appropriate vibe. If I was to give it a name, it'd be Rural/Industrial.

Valdese, NC is a town I've long wondered about. It sounds Spanish, but to my knowledge there are no towns with Spanish names in North Carolina, even if the Spanish were the first to have a colony in NC (only 10 miles from here!).

It turns out that Valdese is named after the Waldesians, which were followers of a French ascetic Christian movement, dating back to 1173 AD. Eventually it morphed into a group of French-Italian Protestants called the Waldenses, who came to America in 1893, to avoid the religious persecution they had suffered over the centuries. Allegedly a small community of folks in the area still speaks Occitan, but I can't find any proof of it.


Valdese also has a well-placed downtown charger with plenty of food options. I opt for a place that serves spicy burritos and delicious cofee. Afterwards, I head through Morganton, Marion, and take a twisty gravel detour into Old Fort.



There is some really beautiful scenery riding near Old Fort, there is also a lot of sad history, particularly for the Cherokee and Catawba tribes.



Having been here before, I know there is a free charger I can use while I walk around town. I don't really need the charge, but it's free, so why not? Having taken the photos I wanted, I head onward to Black Mountain. I was last here about 15 years ago; in the time since it's built up a reputation of being an upscale mountain town full of art and music. They also have a free charger, so why not check it out?



I can hear music in the distance, but at first, I'm more interested in napping in the park. Curiosity gets the best of me, so I walk around a bit, but nothing catches my eye except for a cool-looking brewery, so I head back to the bike, planning to take it further west than it's ever been.


I typically set my routing software to avoid highways, which caused me to take the most backward way possible through Asheville during rush hour, no less. Asheville has a reputation for being an artsy place surrounded by mountains, rivers, and breweries. What surprised me was just how spread out the artsy areas are - I figured they were constrained to a small area. Asheville has more going on than I gave it credit for. I wonder if Hernando de Soto felt the same when he dropped by here in 1520 and found a Cherokee village.



With the idea of making it to the scooter rally location before sunset, I push on through to Candler, NC, instead of making an Asheville stop. It's easily the least exciting charging stop of the day: hidden at the back of a credit union in a suburban strip mall. I'm not amused to have to charge at such a soul-less location, but I can only blame my planning. It's the last planned charge of the day, and it's 20 miles until the next charger, so I just mindlessly scroll on my phone until I can make it to my final destination with juice to spare. After 29 minutes of feeding my brain junk, I'm on my way to Maggie Valley.



Entering Maggie Valley felt like entering a world of motorcycle delight: motorcycles and mountains were everywhere. I passed by the world-famous Wheels Through Time motorcycle museum, adding it to my mental to-do list. Finding the hotel where I was heading was pretty easy: just look for all the scooters!

 

[triangletom]

As soon as I pulled in, folks started coming in to look at this oddball new guy who was rolling up in an electric scooter. Out of the 50 or so scooterists here, I'm the only guy who's on electric, and the only guy who has a range of less than 100 miles. I'm also one of the youngest people by age, but definitely not by heart. This is the first electric maxi-scooter anyone here has seen, which is half-way surprising: BMW has been trying and failing to sell them in the US for at least 6 years. To the best of my knowledge, my 2022 BMW CE 04 was the first of it's kind sold in North Carolina, and there is only one other owner I'm aware of.

It was a pleasure to meet Win (@klaviator ), the rally organizer, and a handful of other folks. After chatting for a while, some folks peeled off to go on a sunset ride. After 12 hours on the road, I didn't have the stomach or ass left to ride more. I also hadn't charged enough to go for another ride anyway, so I just called it a night and headed off to find my hotel and dropped the bike off at the free charger next door. That's where I saw Elk for the first time in North Carolina:



Elk and Buffalo were common in North Carolina before the colonists came, but by 1800, both were locally extinct. About 20 years ago, they started re-introducing Elk into the area, which is pretty rad. I hope they do the bison next.

That's it for Day 1! Total mileage for the day was 267 miles (430km), or about the same distance as Munich to Zagreb. While I could have gotten through the day with 4.5 charges, I admittedly stopped more often than that, preferring shorter partial charges. I blame the miserable seat on the CE 04, my bladder, and my love for stopping at new places to walk around. Tomorrow the group rides begin!

 

[wspollack]

@triangletom:

Thanks for correcting the picture situation.

I have to set aside a few minutes to study the thread (as opposed to my quick glance at the earlier pics), but I've sort of been following a tale of the event on the Burgman forum. (I owned two Burgman 650s, starting in 2007 and ending in 2022, and I still follow, and sometimes contribute to, that forum.)

Over there, @CaptnJim, a Burgman 200 owner, started this thread: https://www.burgmanusa.com/threads/escaping-the-heat.182027/

It includes these two pics ...





... (and although I think I spotted you, I can't say that I can find the CE-04) and this video:

 

[triangletom]

It includes these two pics ...

View attachment 4804

View attachment 4805

What a small world! While there were multiple Burgmans there, as far as I know, I had the only BMW scooter there! I'm still working on the post for that day... but me and my bike. are indeed hiding in those photos. I'm hiding in the back with my hi-viz airbag vest just to the right of the sign; and the CE-04 is parked 5th from the left in the second photo.

 

[triangletom]

Day 2 - Cashiers, Bridal Veil, and a sobering ride home

I slept like crap last night. I don't know if it was the fearful voice in my head that said I was going to run out of range on our group ride or if the pillows were incapable of being stacked into a comfortable position, but I woke up groggy. As a small consolation, the hotel did have biscuits, gravy, and coffee — a proper North Carolina breakfast.

The bike was waiting for me, fully charged, in the hotel parking lot. While the hotel offered to let me plug in overnight at the snack machines, I didn't want some drunk idiot tripping over the cord and cracking their skull open, so I charged at the free charger at the Town Hall 100 meters away before bed and parked it in front of my room. Not convenient, but it's still better than hustling over to a gas station.



It was a half-mile ride to "A Holiday Motel," the official headquarters of the "Beat the Heat Scooter Rally". Overnight, the number of scooters parked there doubled to around 50. The number of people asking about the bike also doubled, generally with the question: "What's the range?". My usual answer is 63 miles or 100km, but as today was about to remind me, it varies significantly based on speed. It was great to see the energy here: old bonds were strengthening, new bonds were forming.

It's also likely the first time I've seen more than two scooters in the same place in North America.

DanV was the group ride leader for the ride to Cashiers. We met up, and I could tell he wasn't excited about babysitting me and my limited-range, vaguely scooter-like contraption. I was also skeptical of my ability to make it to the lunch stop without running out of battery. When I asked about doing a 5-minute charge along the way, he begrudgingly accepted that we might have to, but it was clear he wasn't excited about the complication. Once we reviewed the map, I could see that the ride was almost all backroads, so my anxiety dissipated, and I was fully on Team Dan. Worst case, I could fire up the electric jerry can at the bathroom stop at the lake.



While waiting to head out, I heard we'd be riding through a gravel-filled turn where a rider went down last night but that we'd be fine if we kept our speed down. It's not like I'm a raging speed maniac. I positioned myself just ahead of the sweeps to encourage a slower pace, but that was more for range-preservation.

We headed down Soco Rd (Hwy 19) and made the turn-off onto the Blue Ridge Parkway. This is where today's dream-like experience began. We were rhythmically pulsing along the parkway at a gentle pace, surrounded by people much like myself. The BRP is an easy road to ride, but what it lacks in difficulty it makes up for in beauty and smoothness. I've not done many group rides, so most of the ride I keep a healthy distance between me and the person ahead of me in case something goes south ahead of me.



We pass by Waterrock Knob, where the evening rides go, and then make a surprising-to-me stop at Woodfin Cascades for a regroup. I didn't see it coming, nor did the rider ahead of me. They smartly aimed for the next exit while I made a hasty turn-off into the parking lot without signaling. I meant to apologize to the sweeps behind me but never did. Oops.


Almost as soon as I got into the rhythm of the parkway, it ended at Highway 23/74 (the Great Smoky Mountains Expressway).



While the BRP sort of crosses over, we opted to head into Balsam to ride Dark Ridge Rd instead, which felt almost like a rural kudzu-filled continuation of the parkway.



The joy was short-lived, as it also dumped us off unceremoniously onto the expressway. As a 65mph road, this is where I was afraid of bleeding most of my range, as energy consumption has a cubic relationship to velocity.



3 miles later, we pulled off onto Skyline Dr into Sylva. Sylva. DanV stopped at a gas station to see if I'd need to charge up, but it wasn't necessary: even with the expressway, I could see that I would have more than enough range for the rest of the ride at this pace. There were only 25 miles left to go before Cashiers, and the bike estimated 42 miles of range left. We then headed down to Cullowhee and State Rd 1157, which would turn out to be the best part of this ride.



On the beautiful and twisty mountain roads, the CE 04 felt like it was in its element. With the slow speeds, 180-degree turns, and long downhill segments, there was plenty of opportunity for regenerative "engine" braking. Like usual, I had the CE 04 set to Eco mode, which sets the throttle and regenerative braking to 80% of the max - which felt perfect here. Other than stopping for regroups, I'm not sure I tapped the brakes more than once the entire morning.

 

[triangletom]

1157 was gorgeous. Twisting around a gorgeously green mountain forest that enveloped the road, interspersed with brief vignettes of Lake Glenville.



We made a bathroom stop at The Pines Recreation Area along the lake, and then continued along side it for some time.


After the lake, we headed toward the town of Glenville, with alternating farmland, forest, and rural/industrial.


The sense of pure joy on our ride evaporated once we hit Highway 107, though there were still periodic sparks of beauty. Once we hit backed-up traffic, it was clear that we had arrived in Cashiers.



I wanted to squeeze in as much quality time with the group as possible before I went my own way, so instead of my usual "charge while I eat" tactic, I joined them for a delightful lunch at the Farmers Market. After 56 miles, the bike still had 24% battery, which means it would have been good for 73 miles of range, which I was more than pleased about.



After lunch, I took the scoot a couple of blocks to the free chargers at The Ugly Dog Pub. I was skeptical if this charger would work, as it had been reported as broken three weeks earlier, but it activated without issue. The pub didn't have reserved spaces for EV charging, so a giant Chevy Suburban blocked the chargers. I've never had a problem getting around "ICE'd" chargers—I just parked at the end of the sidewalk, where I could still reach them.

While the scoot charged, I walked to get some much-needed coffee. I assume it has something to do with my Scandinavian genetics, but I find afternoon coffee a necessity. Once both of me and the bike were charged, I headed onto Hwy 64 toward Highlands, only about 10 miles down the road. I'd never been there before, so I made an unplanned stop at a downtown charger to go walk around for a bit.



Being a fancy mountain town, Highlands has 5 EV chargers, but I just picked the one the signs pointed to me. This stupid charger not only costs money to use, but required a shitty phone application I'd never heard of. I spent 10 minutes fighting the app and the charger with zero shade in the blazing sun, which made me beyond irritable.

While finding the charger, I saw I passed by an entrance to the tree-covered Highlands Greenway that runs, so I opted for that instead of walking around downtown just to get out of the sun. After a pleasant walk on the greenway, I saw on the map there was a covered bridge nearby, but it required walking without shade, so I just hopped on the scooter instead toward Bridal Veil Falls.



The falls were smaller than I had expected, but it was pretty neat that they were so close to the road.



Highway 64 took a new character North of Highlands. Numerous rock faces on the right side, and views from the left. The turns weren't particularly tight, but it made for great riding nonetheless. It didn't have the same energy as riding with the group earlier in the day, but I still felt like I was having the time of my life out here.


When I had studied the map earlier, I saw there was an Ellijay Rd would take me off the highway and back toward Cullowhee. Maybe it was my experience from living in Northern Georgia, but Ellijay sounded beautiful, so I went with it. The word is a transliteration of the Cherokee word Elatse'Yi - which translates to "verdant, green earth.


Ellijay Rd had some windiness, but it wasn't my new favorite road. This pickup truck in particular, spooked me when I came around a corner. I expected to pull up the video that showed them squarely in my lane, but they were just riding the double yellow.

 

[triangletom]

Halfway down Ellijay Rd, I was stuck waiting for some construction. After 5 minutes, @klaviator pulled up and shared some bad news from his ride this morning. Someone was severely injured as they went off the side of the road and was medivac'd out. It shook me up a bit, questioning some of my own more adventurous plans for this week. I vowed to my wife I'd take it safe & slow, but it was this news that really forced me to take it seriously.



Once the construction guys flagged us through, I led and @klaviator followed. I only have the smallest amount of experience with mountain twisties and the CE 04, so while I was able to take off in the straightaways, he had the skills required to easily catch me in the corners. While it was was good fun, I reminded myself to take it easy with the bad news of a second injured rider.



At Cullowhee we split off, as he needed to refill with dino juice and myself with electricity. I looked at the map and picked the local community college to charge at.

While charging, a bus driver for the school drove by and struck up a conversation: he owned a Harley and had never heard of electric motorcycles before. I paid $0.31 to charge up for 21 minutes, which was more than enough to make it back to Maggie Valley. There seemed to be nothing interesting to explore here, so I did just that.



The ride back to Maggie Valley felt sobering. I was all alone again with my thoughts of my mortality, the mortality of those I ride with, and my family. Is it worse for my children to deny this part of myself and avoid riding around on two-wheels in the interest of comfort and safety? Am I being unreasonably selfish?

I could tell I was out of caffeine and feeling tired. I dropped by the rally hotel to chat with folks and hear if there were any updates on the injured rider. It seemed like they were in good hands at the hospital, at least.



I was getting hungry and couldn't really get a read on what folks were doing about dinner, so I wandered around to see what I could find. I ended up at a local bar where karaoke night was in full swing. There were definitely some local voices with talent that were showing off, but I left after 3 songs as the wait staff had yet to acknowledge my existence by that point, and very few people seated seemed to be there to eat. Still, it was a unique experience to partake in.



Looking back at my riding day, it felt amazing to be part of a community of like-minded people—it's not something I have ever felt as a scooterist. Between the great roads and even better camaraderie, day 1 of the "Beat the Heat Rally" goes down as one of my top five riding days ever.

 

[triangletom]

Day 3: Bitten by the Rattler



Tuesday was a slow burn, although one with the most unique charging experiences I've had. I rode up to the rally headquarters at 8:30 a.m., so I had time to chat before we headed out on another group ride.


The plan was for all the rally participants to take Hwy 209 "The Rattler" to Trust, then to Marshall, and from there, folks were on their own. There was an official lunch stop at Mars Hill, but how you got there or what you did afterward was all you.


The Rattler was a plenty fine ride - lots of good twisties, much quieter than Tail of the Dragon. With 50+ scooters, the pace was sleepy. My goal was to squeeze at least 65 miles of range out of my scooter today so that I could make the first charging stop without resorting to charging off the jerrycan or stealing an open plug at the park.

After looking at the footage from behind me, I could tell the person behind me was tired of how slow I took the curves, but I'd leave plenty of room after dropping the hammer once the curve straightened out. Based on yesterday's ride, I knew I didn't have to be gentle on the throttle to preserve range, but I still ducked low behind the windshield to eke out what I could.

32 miles into our ride, we stopped at the lovely Trust General Store, where we took bathroom breaks and some group photos.

After this, we split off from The Rattler and took Hwy 63 out. It was kind of more of the same - twisties, farms, and trees.

We hopped onto Meadows Town Rd, which brought us into Marshall. The road got significantly twistier as we descended to the bottom of the river valley.



We all paused on the bridge over the French Broad for a photo; surprisingly, the cars behind us didn't seem to mind.

 

[triangletom]

Marshall seemed like a small, artsy mountain oasis - like Asheville, but with only 800 residents.


If I had less than 15% battery left, my escape plan was to drop by Blannahassett Island—the area in Marshall where the farmers market, art studios, and food trucks assembled. I typically use Google Street View to scout ahead for power outlets, but they apparently have never visited the island. It wasn't necessary—after 56 miles of riding the mountain twisties, the BMW CE 04 still had 35% battery left.




I stopped briefly to chat with some other riders but then peeled off to the closest charger (9 miles away) to meet everyone for lunch afterwards. The closest charger on PlugShare was the "Buncombe County Landfill." It had no reviews and no photo, which made me question if it actually existed. Then, one-day last week, I saw that one of the plugs there was "in use."





I pulled up behind a long line of pickup trucks waiting to dump their trash, but I saw ahead of me a small office building with a charger up front. When I pulled in, a guy came out of the office building and asked to take my picture.



He mentioned that in the two years this charger had existed, no one had ever stopped by. This is partly because the landfill is in the middle of nowhere but also because, like restaurants, folks don't generally trust chargers that have no reviews. This experience is a little different for Tesla owners, as I've never encountered a charging station of theirs without being able to charge up.

The guy then explained to me that this charger gets its power from reclaimed methane. Methane is a problem for landfills, primarily due to its terrible stench, so they carefully manage it and even generate 1.2MW of power from the methane naturally generated by garbage. He then showed me how the overhead power cables to the charger lead straight to the landfill - it's not sourced from county power at all. He also gave me a little tour of the facilities and gave me an air-conditioned place to sit while the bike charged up.

As unique as the experience was, I charged there only for about 20 minutes, long enough to get to the lunch stop at Mars Hill with room to spare. My bike did better on range than expected - at the rate I had consumed this morning; I could have travelled 82 miles between charges.

The official lunch stop was at Wagon Wheel, a local staple for classic southern food. About half the riders had arrived for lunch by the time I was there, and half were still out on the road. We had some great conversations, not just about bikes, but about the philosophy of work/life balance, as seen by newly retired folks.



After lunch, I went in search of coffee and a charge, which I kind of found in downtown Mars Hill. MH has that small university town vibe. I parked at the local visitor center, which had a charger, and walked across the street to the nearest place that matched the keyword "coffee" on Google Maps.

The sign on the shop door said "CLOSED FOR TRAINING," but with a date that was two days ago, so I walked in. The barista and the two people sitting at the bar with her seemed surprised to see me. They went back to chatting as friends while I looked at the menu, which had a lot of new-age-sounding drinks on it. In the corner of the menu, I spied the magic word "COFFEE," so I ordered one. The barista clarified that it's actually a protein-shake coffee, which I figured was fine. It tasted well, but I left with the nagging feeling that it lacked caffeine.



A few miles down the road toward Hot Springs, I was sure I was sold some sort of fake-ass-protein-shake with coffee-flavoring. In Hot Springs, I plugged in at the free chargers at the campground and walked downtown trying to figure out where the other riders were getting ice cream. I didn't see anyone, so I went to the coffee shop for some honest-to-goodness coffee. I met a young 20-something travel writer who had cycled the length of the Mississippi River southward and was now hiking the Appalachian Trail back north. Oh, to be that young and unruddered again.


As I was finishing up my coffee, some other riders came in, who encouraged me to stay longer. But I'd been there long enough and was sure my bike was close to a full charge, so I pointed the BMW nav software to the twistiest way back to Maggie Valley, as I had done from my hotel during route planning. It should take me through the rest of "The Rattler" that we had missed by turning at Trust.



The Rattler was beautiful and technical, all the things I had hoped for.


The GPS then directed me toward Meadow Fork Rd, and I figured, hey - why not - it must be even twistier than the 209, right? It wasn't, but it was still an enjoyable route.




Eventually, Meadow Fork Rd dead-ended Little Creek Rd, a gravel road that wasn't in good condition. As I pondered whether or not to risk going on the road, I could feel my blood pressure rising and my face sweating as I began to notice just how hot it was under all this riding gear. I was definitely feeling a little scared, and thought about my promise to my wife to take it safe and easy.

I also realized I had forgotten to uncheck the "Allow dirt roads" checkbox on the BMW Nav software this time around, which would explain the new route.

 

[triangletom]

I turned around but quickly pulled into a driveway to consult the maps for a second opinion. Maybe the road was only bad for the first mile or so, and then it would become this beautifully paved paradise? I went to grab my phone, and noticed blood on my finger. That's weird.

I felt a dripping sensation just beside my mouth. Maybe it wasn't just sweat, but blood. I looked in the mirrors and saw yes, my cheek was bleeding.


I pulled out my First Aid kit, grabbed a dried-out towelette, and applied pressure for 10 minutes. It still leaked, so I applied pressure for another 5 minutes, and the bleeding seemed to stop. I try to put a bandaid on, but it's not sticking. I wipe up and put on my last bandaid. It's much better. I still have no idea what happened or why it required so much pressure—it was at a mole, but I don't know if that had any impact or if the amount of stress and high blood pressure had an impact. I don't think I kicked up a rock or glass in the brief time that my face shield was up.

There was no cellular network access, so I could only consult offline map data, but I figured the worst case was that the path ahead was 10 miles or so of gravel and dirt. While that's further "off road" than I've ever taken the CE 04, I didn't want to backtrack 10 miles to get back on 209. Besides, I have my Garmin Satellite messenger. As an explorer, there's something viscerally terrible about backtracking or retreating. That feeling is going to get me in a lot of trouble someday.


Fuck it, let's ride.



Little Creek Rd wasn't too bad, but it was rough in spots. Eventually, it gave way to Max Patch Rd, which was dirt and gravel but in better condition. It was beginning to rain, which made me concerned about mud, but so far, it was a light rain.



I took the turns slowly, but found that the road was not nearly as sketchy as I had feared. It was even fun! After about 50 minutes of riding in the dirt and gravel, I found myself on paved roads again.


It was good timing, too, as it soon began to rain cats and dogs.

 

[triangletom]

Day 3: Continued


I did check out the free charger at Haywood Community College. It was, in fact, offline with a sign; I updated the PlugShare entry to mark that this station was under repair.


Between the rain and the blood, my bandaid was coming off - and my hands still had dried out blood. Because of this, I headed out to the local Ingles for a free charge, a bathroom sink, and more bandaids. People in the store gave me strange looks as if I was some half biker gang member and half zombie.



After Ingles, it was only a couple of miles back to the hotel, where I met up with the other riders and shared tall tails about today's epic journey. With all the dirt and the side quests,I didn't back into Maggie Valley until 7:15pm. I was more than ready for a beer or two and a good nights rest.