The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Posted by DaveMcD | | Posted On Saturday, May 26, 2012 at 9:26 PM
That 'step' was this morning. In the parking lot of The Loveless Cafe outside Nashville, TN. It was a beautiful morning. We left the hotel in Cool Springs in time to be at The Loveless before they opened at 7. We had planned to be "wheels down" and rolling by 8. After a wonderful country breakfast and pictures, we probably rolled out of the parking lot around 8:15.
Renee and I have ridden together for years now and we know just about everything about each other's riding style. But this is the first time either of us had ridden with my nephew Richard. Any time you ride with someone new, there is always a "break-in" period. Richard was no different. It takes time to figure out how your companion calls hazards, how they like to pass, how chatty the person is on the bike, what kind of pace they ride, etc... There's just allot of stuff to riding in a group -at least if you're going to do it safe and smart.
The section of the trace we road today was pretty hilly. Long ascents -although - for the most part - not too steep. There were 3 category 5 climbs today. For those of you not familiar, categorized climbs in cycling take into account a number of factors including length, amount of climb, road surface, number of level sections during the climb, etc... Cat 1 are the hardest and Cat 5 are the easiest - although the FTC that they are categorized means they aren't "easy".
As I said, we left the Loveless around 8:15 and rode the long entrance ramp to the bridge that marks the start of the parkway. As we entered the parkway, air temp was about 76 degrees Fahrenheit.
One thing you have to understand about The Trace is that the entire length of it is a National Park. It is patrolled by Federal Park Rangers. It is closed to commercial traffic and the speed limit is often 40 mph and never over 55. Consequently it is primarily used by motorcycles, bicycles and the occasional car that probably isn't in a hurry to get where they are going. The Trace is extremely popular with bicyclists and today was no exception. We encountered numerous cyclists going in both directions. Our first stop was at Lieper's Fork (a Shell station/Country Store), 15 miles into the ride, where we ran into a man who could only be described as "Country" sitting on the porch in a rocking chair with two knives, whittling on a tree branch.
Ann caught up to us as we were leaving Lieper's Fork, and so we pulled in briefly a few miles down the road at Garrison Creek to check in and allow Renee to grab her little wallet she carries on the bike which she had left in one of her larger bags.
Our next stop would be Garrison House, where there was a large event commemorating the beginning of the War of 1812 going on. we ran into several interesting characters here that were participating in the re-enactment. We rested a little and re-filled water bottles before heading out again.
I don't recall the exact locations, but we encountered two long steep descents today both of which resulted in speeds in excess of 40 mph - what a BLAST!
We ended the riding today at the Meriwether Lewis historic site and campground - the site of our last stop. At the end of the ride we had ridden 60.25 miles. The air temp was 95 degrees Fahrenheit and the minivan than I so loath to ride in was the most beautiful vehicle I think I may have even seen.
What does tomorrow hold? More of the same, but there should be less climbing and we are starting earlier so we should have cooler temps for more of the ride. Today the heat didn't really become intense until after noon and tomorrow we should be off the trace by noon at the latest.
Renee and I have ridden together for years now and we know just about everything about each other's riding style. But this is the first time either of us had ridden with my nephew Richard. Any time you ride with someone new, there is always a "break-in" period. Richard was no different. It takes time to figure out how your companion calls hazards, how they like to pass, how chatty the person is on the bike, what kind of pace they ride, etc... There's just allot of stuff to riding in a group -at least if you're going to do it safe and smart.
The section of the trace we road today was pretty hilly. Long ascents -although - for the most part - not too steep. There were 3 category 5 climbs today. For those of you not familiar, categorized climbs in cycling take into account a number of factors including length, amount of climb, road surface, number of level sections during the climb, etc... Cat 1 are the hardest and Cat 5 are the easiest - although the FTC that they are categorized means they aren't "easy".
As I said, we left the Loveless around 8:15 and rode the long entrance ramp to the bridge that marks the start of the parkway. As we entered the parkway, air temp was about 76 degrees Fahrenheit.
One thing you have to understand about The Trace is that the entire length of it is a National Park. It is patrolled by Federal Park Rangers. It is closed to commercial traffic and the speed limit is often 40 mph and never over 55. Consequently it is primarily used by motorcycles, bicycles and the occasional car that probably isn't in a hurry to get where they are going. The Trace is extremely popular with bicyclists and today was no exception. We encountered numerous cyclists going in both directions. Our first stop was at Lieper's Fork (a Shell station/Country Store), 15 miles into the ride, where we ran into a man who could only be described as "Country" sitting on the porch in a rocking chair with two knives, whittling on a tree branch.
Ann caught up to us as we were leaving Lieper's Fork, and so we pulled in briefly a few miles down the road at Garrison Creek to check in and allow Renee to grab her little wallet she carries on the bike which she had left in one of her larger bags.
Our next stop would be Garrison House, where there was a large event commemorating the beginning of the War of 1812 going on. we ran into several interesting characters here that were participating in the re-enactment. We rested a little and re-filled water bottles before heading out again.
I don't recall the exact locations, but we encountered two long steep descents today both of which resulted in speeds in excess of 40 mph - what a BLAST!
We ended the riding today at the Meriwether Lewis historic site and campground - the site of our last stop. At the end of the ride we had ridden 60.25 miles. The air temp was 95 degrees Fahrenheit and the minivan than I so loath to ride in was the most beautiful vehicle I think I may have even seen.
What does tomorrow hold? More of the same, but there should be less climbing and we are starting earlier so we should have cooler temps for more of the ride. Today the heat didn't really become intense until after noon and tomorrow we should be off the trace by noon at the latest.
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