What you need to know before climbing the Green River Cove Loop
Note: The Green River Cove loop has a little bit of everything. This 20-mile loop includes descending, 3 very steep short climbs, a scenic flat section and a 2.3 mile climb with over 17 switchbacks. Because there is a lot going on in this loop, I'll break it down into three specific sections: The beginning, middle and end.
Distance: Starting from the gas station on Holbert Cove Drive (by hwy 26), the beginning section is 9.57 miles (left on Silver Creek Road - your first stop sign to the church. You then make a left on Green River Cove Rd). The middle section (starting at the church) is 8.3 miles. The end section (the actual climb with at least 17 tight switchbacks) is 2.29 miles. And then back to the gas station is about 1.7 miles.
Elevation gain: Since this is a loop, you start and finish at the same elevation (2010 feet). For the actual climb at the end, the elevation gain is 904 feet (in 2.29 miles).
Grade: In the beginning section, you'll notice there is a lot of descending. There are several switchbacks to descend on (two extremely tight and technical turns around 6 miles in this loop - be sure to slow down!) which is a lot of fun (if you have good bike handling skills. However, the fun is often interrupted by three very steep climbs. While each climb is relatively short, it stares at you in the face and reminds you that what goes down, has to go back up.
Steep climb 1: ~0.3 miles = ~9% average grade
Steep climb 2: ~0.28 miles = ~6% average grade
Steep climb 3: ~0.15 miles = ~8% average grade
In the middle section (after the church), this is mostly flat with a few small (very small) rollers.
In the end (the climb), this averages ~8% with some sections between 11-15% (and that's if you take the switchback in the outside and not in the inside where it's much steeper).
Road condition: The road condition is good. Some sections have been recently paved and other sections are a bit more beat up. It's not bad but it's not excellent.
Scenery: This is a very scenic climb. You have wide open views of the foothills, alongside farms, the rushing water of the Green River, beautiful trees and rocks spread around the land and as you near the top of the climb at the end, you can see the mountains far in the distance. If I had to compare this to a race venue, it reminds me a lot of the Ironman Lake Placid or Whistler race courses (just no epic mountains with snow on top).
Recommended bike/gearing: We have taken several campers (even a group camp) on this route and everyone had a tri bike. However, it's much more fun on a road bike since there are so many switchbacks throughout this loop. You'll enjoy the climb at the end much more on a road bike.
Descend: I'd consider this a very technical loop. There's one section that is dangerous (it will come out at you if you aren't prepared, around 6 miles into the loop), but nothing will come out of no where. You can almost always see what is coming. We've never descended down the climb (although Karel is itching to do it) so that may be a different story. The descend is technical and does require good skills.
Climb with a view? This loop is beautiful. There's no specific view point on this climb. Just a lot of beautiful scenery spread over several 20 miles.
Traffic: Although a few miles in the begining and the last few miles before and during the climb can get busy (there are several hiking trails throughout and a few river tubing facilities by the river), this is a very quiet loop. There have been some times that we don't encounter any cars until the last few miles of the loop. Because there isn't a lot of room to pass on the switchbacks, this is where you'll experience the most cars. But generally they are patient and there are some sections for cars to pass. The only downside is if a car is going down the climb and you are climbing up as you won't be able to take the far outside of the switchback (where it is less steep than the inside, but still steep).
Difficulty: The 3 pitchy short climbs are challenging. The end is challenging. I'd call this a difficult loop because of the grade changes. There are easier sections throughout the loop with the descends and the flat section in the middle.
Honest feedback: It's one of my absolute favorites. If it wasn't for those 3 nasty short climbs in the beginning part of the loop, I'd do this loop more often. I suggest to do this loop when you are fresh as it will take a lot out of you to conquer this loop. Note: In the Hincapie Gran Fondo, the Green River Cove loop comes at the end: After Skyuka and after the Saluda Grade (originally it was Howard's Gap but the road fell apart so they replaced that nasty climb with the Saluda Grade).
