Greenville Cycling: Caesar's Head and Pretty Place

What you need to know before climbing Caesar's Head

Distance: The actual climb from Hwy 11 is 7.83miles.

Elevation gain: Start at 1078 feet and finish at 3228 feet (total gain = 2084 feet).

Grade: According to my Garmin, the average grade is ~5%. There is nothing crazy steep on the climb but there are two or three segments (right after a switchback) where the grade switches to over 8%. Around 5 miles into the climb, there is a short section that is "flat" - which provides a nice change and a great place to actively recover. It doesn't last long as within a few minutes, you are back climbing again.

Road condition: The road condition is ok but not great. There are several bumps and cracks. There are a few smoother sections that have been recently repaved, but it's more bumpy than smooth. While it's fine for climbing, there are some rough patches in the switchbacks - which requires excellent bike handling skills when descending on a switchback.

Scenery: The climb and descend is beautiful. Depending on the season and weather conditions, you'll be able to see different aspects of nature. You are tucked within the trees for most of the climb but as you get closer to the top, you can peak through the trees and see the rolling hills.

Recommended bike/gearing: Road bike or tri bike. We have taken many of our private and group endurance campers up (and down) Caesar's Head - they were all on tri bikes. While it's more fun on a road bike (especially the descend), the climb is very doable for a tri bike (but you will be in the base bars for nearly all of the climb). You'll want your climbing gears; Semi-compact crank. 52-34 chainset and11-30 (or 28) cassette.

Descend: The descend has a few tight switch backs and you can pick up a lot of speed with the longer stretches. The first few miles are a bit more technical, whereas the last few miles are more sweeping. This is one of those descends to know in advance as you'll gain confidence after doing it a few times.

Climb with a view? The view at the top is worth it - on a clear day. Caesar's Head is a well-known scenic point in our area. There's a viewing deck at the top with a beautiful view of Table Rock lake and the mountains. Be careful walking to the viewing deck as the walkway can get slippery with your cleats on (wood) and there is a boulder to walk down at the actually viewing deck.

Traffic: Depending on when you go, the road can get very busy with cars (ex. weekend, late morning). Since Dupont Forest is on the other side of Caesar's Head (popular for MTB and hiking), it can get rather busy with cars, as well as motorcycles, on the weekend and late morning during the week. There are some tighter sections that will require cars to wait until they pass you but there is also room for passing in the turns - with an extra lane for the tighter switchbacks.

Difficulty: I'd rank this as a moderately difficult climb - especially because it is a long climb. You can expect to be climbing for well over 45 minutes. You certainly need good endurance and fitness but if you have great fitness/endurance, you can ride this fairly comfortably and not feel gased at the top. For many, just getting to the top is a huge accomplishment. For most of our campers, they find it challenging but we've never had anyone struggle and not get to the top. There is another option to get to the top. You can climb the backside of Caesar's Head, starting from the North Carolina side. This "climb" is very gentle (~4 miles) and the road condition is much more smooth and no steep sections.

Honest feedback: This is one of our favorite climbs to "show off" when we have visitors (campers or friends in town). It's one of those climbs to check off your bucket list when you are wanting to climb in Greenville. There's even a natural watering hole to fill up your bottle around 2 miles to the top.

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What you need to know before climbing to Pretty Place

Distance: The actual climb from 276 (the descend after Caesar's Head) is 5.09 miles.

Elevation gain: Start at 2068 feet and finish at 3030 feet (total gain = 962 feet).

Grade: I'd call this flat with some rolling hills. There is one steeper section that feels extra steep because everything else is fairly flat or rolling. It's a very controlled climb where you don't really feel like you are climbing.

Road condition: The road condition is good. It's a very open country road with lots of land around you. A few bumps but overall smooth.

Scenery: Picture-taking worthy! It's called pretty place for a reason. It's actually an open-air sanctuary/chapel overlooking the rolling hills of Greenville.

Recommended bike/gearing: Road bike or tri bike. I combined this climb with Caesar's Head as you may as well see Pretty Place since you've already made your way to the top of Caesar's Head. Since you'll be doing this in the middle of a ride (there's no quick or easy way to get here without some climbing), you'll likely have your climbing gears on your bike: Semi-compact crank. 52-34 chainset and11-30 (or 28) cassette.

Descend: It actually feels like you are descending more than you are climbing on the way to Pretty Place and climbing more than descending after you leave Pretty Place. The road is a tight (yet peaceful) two-lane road so depending on traffic, you may need to be extra attentive.

Climb with a view? The view at the top is worth it. It's a well-known scenic point in our area. Make sure to check the website in advance as the chapel is often closed for events.

Traffic: Since it's a one-way in and out type of road (two-lane road), it may get busy. Cars are mostly patient but there isn't a lot of room for cars to pass if there is traffic in the opposite direction.

Difficulty: I'd rank this as an easy climb. However, your legs may be tired after climbing Caesar's head.

Honest feedback: This is another climb to check off your bucket list when you are wanting to climb around Greenville. If you can't bike to Pretty Place (or Caesar's Head), I suggest to drive to these scenic points to enjoy the view. 

Pictures taken on 6/12
Tri bike
Riding time: 5:31
Total Miles: 92.9
Total elevation: ~7900 feet
Run off the bike: 52 min/6.25 miles/~1025 feet
Swim before bike: 3100 meters

Trimarni endurance camp reflections - day 2

When we told our campers that day 2 of camp included a ride up Caesar's head mountain, we had a few campers that smiled with excitement and others looked at us with big, worried eyes....and maybe a few with the look of "are you freakin' crazy??"

This is exactly what we love about our training camps. With every camper, there are strengths and weaknesses. The positive energy is contagious in a group training environment so when one athlete is fearful or worried, another camper can pass along his/her positive energy to someone else. With this team approach, everyone has the opportunity to excel.

We divided the campers into two groups. Assistant coach Joe and I lead one group at 7:30am and Karel and Thomas lead another group at 8:15am.

We modified our original route just slightly so that we didn't exhaust our campers too much before the start of the 7 mile climb.

The first 20 miles to get to the base of Caesar's head included some rolling hills but nothing too technical. As we got closer to the mountains, the views became more and more beautiful.

We gave our campers the option to either ride steady and conquer the mountain or build the effort throughout the 7-mile climb. Because many of our campers had never climbed a mountain before, they paced their effort to finish strong at the top. 

Thankfully, the sun was shining and the fog had cleared so we knew our campers would be in for a treat at the top of the mountain. 

Like most of our routes, there is no "easy" riding. This ~50 mile route included over 4000 feet of elevation gain. 

Here are some pictures that Joey took of our campers climbing up the mountain. 

Pat, Meredith and Justine. 

Michaela and me. 

Karel and Danielle. 

Sandra. 

Celeste, Elizabeth and Tim. 

Nature-made water fountain.

Every camper made it to the top! What a huge success and confidence builder. Karel, Joe and I made sure that every camper gave that last little bit of effort at the top so we kept riding down the mountain (about 1000 feet) to catch  those who were still coming up. It was great to see them suffer just a bit at the top. 

After a quick refuel with SAG, it was time to take some pics and finally enjoy the views! All that hard work wasn't for nothin'! 

It was surprisingly windy at the top but the air was crisp and the clouds broke up just enough for us to enjoy the magnificent views. So proud of our campers - this was no easy climb!

And a big thank you to our SAG/photographer Joey for being there when we needed her (and for the cheers/support!)! 

As we all know - what goes up, must come down. We knew several of our campers would be a little scared on the descend down the mountain so Karel and I stayed in the back to make sure that our campers used the correct skills when descending to make for a safe and effective ride down the mountain. Thankfully - everyone made it down! 

After the descend, we regrouped and split into two groups again and rode back to the lodge. Once again, our bike-friendly roads included beautiful views. 

After the climb, our campers had a 10-20 min transition run. We always believe in teaching the body that running comes after biking so we typically include a short run after almost all long bike rides. 

                                                              Stephanie looking strong! 

                                                                   Light on the feet Thomas!

Meredith - always focused and determined! 

                                                      Katja - always full of positive energy! 

                                                                      Great work Jiim! 

                                                      Kevin and Kathleen working together. 

Our campers had a few hours to eat and relax before a 4-5pm skill swim session at Furman. Although our campers were tired, they didn't complain about being in the water as this was a low-stress swim focusing on technique.

Nutrition for the bike and swim:
Bike:
4 bottles sport drink (26-28 ounce) each with ~220-240 calories + extra calories (solid food/gummies) as needed.
SAG stop: Coke, water, saltines, Clif bars, pretzels, pickles, bananas, Hot Shot.

Run off the bike:
~80 calories in 10 ounce flask of water

Swim:
~80-120 calories sport drink in 20-28 ounce water. 

After the swim, our campers had certainly worked up an appetite so it was time for our pizza party! No camp (or key race) is complete without pizza! We ordered 10 pizzas from Mellow Mushroom and our campers did a nice job polishing off most of the pizzas. 

We finished day 2 of camp with a recap talk of our bike/run/swim workouts and also discussed the plans for day 3 of camp.

After two full days of training, we knew our campers would be tired and mentally exhausted for the 3rd day of camp. In our experience, day 3 of camp is always the hardest - mentally and physically. But over the past two days, we could see the confidence building in each athlete and we wanted to prove to them that they could tackle one of our hardest climbs in NC (just over the SC border). Knowing that athletes often set physical limits much further back than what is physically possible, we wanted to prove to our campers that on day 3 of camp, they could accomplish more than what they thought was capable.

The only way to overcome uncomfortable situations is to expose yourself to those situations. Whether it's climbing mountains, descending mountains or practicing new skills, you have to repeatedly do what is unnatural in order to become more familiar with it. We knew that with our help, in a group setting, our campers would be able to work through fear, stretch the comfort zone and push physical boundaries.