I woke up to a thick cloud cover after a night of off and on light rain. Temperature wasn't that bad and the roads had mostly dried out by the time I got going. It was looking liked I wouldn't pass that many stores for awhile except the one a few miles into the day at Aska. So I planned to grab a couple things there but they didn't open till 9 so I just decided to ride off route a bit to a store in Morganton, a tiny little town. I altered my route slightly from there and took Old hwy 76 so I didn't have to backtrack and this saved a few miles too, although it cut out a bit of gravel. And it was deserted.
Somehow after awhile I looked over at the road signs I was passing by and realized I'd already crossed the state line. No markings. Oh well. I really blazed after first got to NC because it was relatively flat and paved and I had a ridiculous tailwind. I began to get a bit tired after feeling pretty decent all day so I stopped at a beautiful stone church and ate some lunch and got some cold well water. This made me feel lots better and affirmed my decision to just push on today and go ahead and combine two days into one. Soon though I hit a wall of a gravel climb up Tuni gap. I crawled up it still saving energy for the last big climb that I knew was a kick in the teeth. Right after Tuni gap though I had a couple short but very well graded climbs on pavement. Then I had a lovely trip down Old River road which is simply beautiful, gradually downhill, rocky but smooth enough for fast riding, and the Nantahala river churns away at your side. Last big climb of the day up Otter creek isn't really that bad, it's steep but most of the overall climbing is accomplished gradually leading up to the base. I crested Tellico gap, waved to a couple of AT hikers resting, and then began the ripping descent. I had only gone through a couple of turns when an SUV pops up, seemingly out of nowhere. I had plenty of time to brake but there wasn't much room to squeeze by and so I needed to almost hug the side of the mountain. I braked but grabbed too much rear because the gravel was fairly loose outside of the main two tire track. So my rear is sliding out and I'm still going 20mph probably but I stayed calm , backed off of my rear brake and managed to get over enough to get by. It actually wasn't as close as it sounds but it got my heart racing for sure. That descent is full of tricky, sharp and steep switchbacks and shouldn't be underestimated. I took it a bit easier after that but still had a blast. So glad to have disc brakes. I made it work with rim brakes for a long time but in times like that when you need high braking power in a short amount of time, discs are so nice to have.