"I have no control over it," Cole said with a shrug Sunday afternoon.

According to the advance forecast, there was no need for concern. Midweek, the prognosticators were calling for rain ending Saturday, clear skies with cool temperatures Sunday morning. Saturday evening, the rain still falling, forecasters were sticking to their clear-by-morning prediction.

Sunday morning at 5:30, it was still raining. Hard.

But shortly before the ride's 8:30 a.m. start, providence smiled, the skies cleared and the 276 riders who showed up were treated to ideal conditions: blue skies, light wind, temps in the low 60s.

There might have been another reason for Cole's indifference to the weather: The ride was by pre-registration only. All 360 of the slots allotted had been spoken for a month in advance. Rain or shine, the National Kidney Foundation would benefit. (Cole, an avid cyclist, had a kidney transplant in 2001; $8,500 raised at the RRR went to the NKF.)

Two years ago, pre-registering for a ride in these parts was an option. More and more, it's becoming mandatory. The main reason: It cuts down on the volunteers needed race morning. It also eliminates a lot of pre-race chaos.

Plus, the vast majority of these rides benefit a nonprofit -- from the National Kidney Foundation to a local bike club -- and they can't afford to get soaked for the cost of food and drink they need to buy should a storm threaten attendance.

Expect to see mandatory pre-registration become more common as cycling's popularity in and around the Triangle grows and ride organizers deem it even more necessary to control the number of participants.

In fact, at the Assault on Mount Mitchell, the next logical step in supply-and-demand economics has evolved: scalping.

For 30 years, the Freewheelers of Spartanburg has sponsored a May ride from their home base in South Carolina to the top of 6,684-foot Mount Mitchell. (The ride gains a total of 12,100 feet in elevation.) It's become an enormously popular ride, but because part of it is on the Blue Ridge Parkway, the National Park Service limits the number of riders.

A ticket to ride Mitchell has long been a hot commodity. How hot became apparent this year, when a Mitchell ticket with a face value of $65 went up for sale on eBay, attracting 36 bids. The highest: $271.

A further sign of the times: The bid was rejected for failing to meet the seller's minimum requirement.

Sunday in Travel

Can true adventure be found in a land where guided eco-tours rule? Find out when Take It Outside takes a trip to Maui in Sunday's Travel Section.

New TIO blog

You have no idea how much information I deal with that I can't fit into this space each week: reports on events in the outdoors community, info on local personalities, other ... stuff.

That's why there's now a TIO blog. It's divided by categories, and while I can't promise you'll find something new there every day, it'll be pretty close.

Check it out at: www.newsobserver.com, keyword: tioblog.