Professional bike racer Allie Legg has competed in 17 national championships and traveled all over the world through racing. This year will mark Allie’s sixth year as a professional road cyclist with Twenty20 Professional Cycling. She and her husband Carson Legg took our White Rabbit Van out for two weeks to ride North Carolina and agreed to document the whole trip for us, sharing insight the whole way!
Allie:
A few weeks ago Carson and I took a mini vacation in our GearBox Adventure Rental’s van. Our destination was Asheville, NC and the surrounding areas. We headed out and for a good laugh, we went two hours in the wrong direction! As cliche as it might be, we were enjoying our time together. We ended up camping about an hour outside of Asheville at quaint little family campground. We cooked a small meal and enjoyed making our first fire. We fell asleep to the sound of the flowing water and woke up to a cool morning that we were dreaming of while escaping the humid Alabama heat.
Eventually we made our way to Asheville. Neither of us had been before, but we heard wonderful things and were looking forward to checking out the riding as well as the food scene. We were excited to be there, enjoy the town, and time each other. Speaking of time together, if you’re a “quality time” person, I suggest taking a GearBox Adventure Rental’s van on a trip because you’ll get all the time together that you could imagine. haha. Our van, formally known as the White Rabbit , was a Mercedes Sprinter Van that contained everything we could have ever needed on a trip like this. From a queen size bed, ample storage, and a diesel heater to solar power, a 16-gallon fresh water tank, and a shower hose. Not one time did we feel ill-equipped! The van also includes a sink and refrigerator which cooking and cleaning a breeze. We did, however, end up bringing a cooler in addition to having a refrigerator which helped cut down on frequent trips to the grocery store.
We eventually drove the Blue Ridge Parkway up to Mount Mitchell where we camped and rode bikes the following morning. The sights were beautiful and the riding was spectacular! Carson and I took turns driving while the other took photos. For such a big van, it handled like a dream. As expected there were many tight curves on the winding mountainous roads as well as fast curvy descents. Our time up on Mount Mitchell was agreeably the most fun we had on our trip. Mount Mitchell is beautiful and remote.
By now we were practically professionals when it came to cooking, cleaning, and bedtime. If you really want things to go smoothly, “Van Life” has to equal “Routine Life.” This meant semi-deconstructing our Tetris-like packing job, prepping dinner, cooking dinner, cleaning up after dinner, reassembling the puzzle and then going to sleep. You see, we brought four bikes…and only had a bike rack with two bike trays. This meant that our bikes were stored in the puzzle that was our packing job - If you followed myself or Carson on social media, you most likely saw our van tour and what it looked like all packed up. Honestly, it wasn’t too bad. It was orderly and easily navigable.
Here in Birmingham, we don’t really have mountains and never have to worry about the rapidly changing weather patterns that you mountain dwellers navigate on a daily basis. While out riding in the Pisgah National Forest we got a lesson in weather preparedness - The most beautiful 63 degree days quickly turned into 40 degrees and pouring rain. I’m talking about a downpour, the kind of rain that requires you to pull the car over on the side of the road kind-of-rain. It was wet, cold, and mis…refreshing. We even bypassed our van about 3/4 of the way up the mountain and finished the climb to the summit! By this time the rain ceased and the sun was beginning to come out, we were soaked, and the smell of a pine mixed with fresh mountain air made for an unforgettable experience.
We headed back to Asheville after collecting our thoughts and our breath. Naturally, Sierra Nevada Brewery was our next stop. Duck fat fries, beer and pizza seemed like a good idea at the time. The next several days were spent in Asheville with the exception of a bike ride to a town called Marshall- I loved that little town. It was perfectly tucked away next to the river and butted up into the mountains. We spoke with a few locals and had some snacks while we took a mid-ride break. Later that evening we enjoyed one of THE best dinners at Curate in downtown Asheville. Curate serves authentic Spanish cuisine, mainly Tapas. Lots of sharing took place and many amazing foods were consumed. I would highly recommend eating there!
You must be thinking… “how in the world were they able to navigate Asheville in a camper van?” Well, the van handles like a dream! Really, the only thing we had to consider was the height of the van and our bike rack on the back. Other than those things, it was a piece of cake… and yes, we did parallel park that thing multiple times.
Next up, we headed up to Black Balsam Knob via the Blue Ridge Parkway. On the way up we stopped at plenty of lookout points, we hiked up to a watch tower, to Skinny Dip falls, and a short hike to the top of Black Balsam. We enjoyed the sun and we also enjoyed putting our feet up at the end of the day while camping literally in the middle of nowhere, with no service. Just me, my husband, and nature (probably bears and mountain lions). It was certainly a place of solitude and intentional time- sometimes you don’t know you need those things until you experience them. The creek “shower” was fun, too.
The next day, we woke up early and hiked a 5 mile loop that eventually took us to the top of Black Balsam Knob- it was beautiful. We laughed a lot, dreamed out loud, and took in the scenery. After the hike we sat in the van and made lunch, about every person who walked by looked in and said how cool our set up was (because it was). One guy we talked to asked us how our trip was and we told him it was great, we were learning to navigate smaller space than we were used to with the same amount of equipment. He looked back at us with a smirk on his face as if we didn’t have an entire house worth of stuff shoved into the van… He followed that with- “How long are ya’ll gone for? One or two years?” to which we replied laughing, “haha, two-ish weeks!” He smirked again and said, “…oh well, you’ll learn” as he walked away. Haha you heard it here, always take longer vacations!
Overall, our trip was great. It was refreshing to be in the mountains and there is always something special about being in unfamiliar territory. We rounded out the trip just outside of Brevard, NC at one of our favorite campgrounds called the Davidson River Campground - 10/10 would highly recommend. Located just outside inside the Pisgah National Forest, single-track was very accessible, road riding was beautiful and the gravel roads were endless.
If you’re looking for a fun getaway I highly recommend heading over to the GearBox Adventure Rental website to reserve a van for your next trip! It’s easy, the folks behind the brand are incredible, and the vans are so much fun! You can up and go whenever and wherever you want. Be prepared to give tours of the inside, you’ll be the coolest person at the campground!
A big thanks to the amazing folks over at Gearbox Adventure Rentals for helping make this trip happen.
Allie has her season planned out for this year and is also training for the Mercedes Benz Marathon. If you want to learn more about Allie or her husband Carson, head over to her website www.ridewithallie.com or follow her racing and daily life on Instagram here!