May Mountain rides?

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a challenging ride that may be coming up in late April or May? I rode the 3-state-3-mountain ride last May . . . the century route, and found it to be challenging to an extent but won't be doing that again. I was psyched about the English Mountain Challenge (englishmountainchallenge.com) but it doesn't look like that'll be occurring this year (again, East Tennessee area). I'm planning on doing the death ride out in California in August and wanted to get a little warmed up by hitting the hills of Appalachia. Any suggested rides?

Thanks!