Touring Tuesday - NASCAR Assaults Mt. Mitchell

Jimmie Johnson (center) and George Hincapie (left) getting ready to assault Mt. Mitchell

Three NASCAR drivers decided to do a little cycling on one of their off days. Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray took part in the Assault on Mt. Mitchell. This is not an easy ride. It is over 100 miles long, with more than 10,000 feet of climbing. It starts in Spartanburg, South Carolina and ends at Mount Mitchell, the highest point in the eastern United States (6,684 feet). Anyone can join in on this ride, but with a $135 registration fee, it isn't cheap.

So how did the NASCAR guys do? Pretty good actually. Jamie McMurray took just under 6 hours to finish, while Jimmie Johnson took an additional three and a half minutes. Matt Kenseth finished about half an hour behind Johnson. How did George Hincapie (Shown in the photo above with Jimmie Johnson) do? Curiously, his time was exactly the same as Jimmie Johnson's. Here's an interesting bit of trivia: Jimmie Johnson is a 7 time NASCAR champion. George used to ride with another guy who was a 7 time (temporarily) champion.