For those who have never been there, riding on the Natchez Trace is like motoring of yesteryear - mile upon mile of smooth road, 40-50 MPH speed limit with no houses, no gas stations, strip malls, etc., and very little traffic. I'd been up and down the Trace numerous times on a motorcycle and did a century starting and finishing in Ridgeland Mississippi (sub 4 hour, by the way) but had never ridden the whole thing on a bike. Friends who had ridden a lot of it described it as "boring". I'll be the judge of that!
On the day before the start, the ride organizers had put together a social at Gran Fondo bicycles who were generous enough to also provide dinner - nice! This was also an opportunity to get checked in and get bike inspection out of the way. The social hour was well attended and I got to see a number of friends from other rides including Mike Fox, Vinnie Muoneke (fresh from a 1200K that ended in Verona), Vickie Tyer, Mark Metcalfe and Brenda Barnell from Texas (I'd ridden "with" them on a 1000K in May) and a number of others.
Mike Fox and I at the mixer with Vickie and Brenda photo bombing
Day 1 - Nashville to French Camp
The morning dawned quite cold for the 4 AM start. I was dressed in a base layer, jersey, bibs and short finger gloves along with my reflective vest. After a few words from RBA Jeff Sammons, we were off.
The usual milling about at the start
The ride started with a screaming descent down McCory lane to the Trace where I hit my max speed for the 5 days of 45.6 MPH. Man was it cold! A group formed at the front that was going at a good pace and I joined in but decided they were going a little too fast. A short time later, I caught this group and latched on for a bit only to decide they were going too slow so I went around and immediately splintered the group as 7-8 people got on my wheel. I'd gone past them not because I was feeling especially frisky, mostly because I was
FREEZING and they were riding along talking so I needed to push the pace to warm up. My Garmin showed 38 degrees during this stretch. I know it wasn't that cold, I'd guess in the low 40's somewhere, but it felt cold enough given what I was wearing.
After 5 miles or so of pulling the group I had to stop and use "the facilities". When I restarted I was riding by myself and still freezing cold. I'd periodically hit areas of fog and the combination of cold and moisture just chilled me to the bone. I was never so happy to see the sun come up!
Fog in the morning
I rode by myself for a long time but eventually caught up with Ed Boltz. Ed and I had ridden together on the first day of the Taste of Carolina so I was glad to have the company.
Ed Boltz
Ed and I rode together for a while and eventually caught up with Paul Foley and John Flanigan from Colorado. Those "altitude trained" guys just love to come down and kill us flat landers and they sure killed me. Both were riding super strong and the four of us worked pretty well together.
Paul Foley
This is the usual view that I had of Paul - from behind! It turns out Paul and I had ridden the High Country "together" though he finished a long way in front of me.
After just over 100 miles we left Tenessee and crossed into Alabama and a short time later, at 137 miles we crossed into Mississippi.
Crossing into Mississippi
The four of us stayed together until the open control at Tupelo at mile 188 where Ed chose the Sonic, John the Subway and Paul and I the Hardee's. Despite the fact that Paul and I ordered the same thing, my order took 20 minutes longer so Paul was ready to go even before my food came so I told him to go ahead. Truth be told, he and John were going faster than I wanted to go at that point and I was just holding them up.
The traffic on the Trace around Tupelo was very heavy and got even worse when we exited the Trace to go to the control. The one big mistake about choosing the Hardees was that it was on the right side of the road coming from the Trace and I'd have to cross the road to return back to the Trace. No exaggeration, it took me 8 minutes to get out of the Hardees parking lot and even then I had to weave through traffic that was stopped at the red light. The traffic in and around Tupelo was just terrible and I was glad to put it behind me.
At this point I was riding by myself and would continue to do so for the rest of the ride. There was a "secret" control at mile 255, about 15 miles short of the finish. I'd passed Ed just before the control and he pulled in while I was there. I had the bit between my teeth to get finished at that point so I took off and headed for the overnight at French Camp, arriving at 9:45 against my ride plan of 10:15. I'd ridden at a good pace all day and had made fairly short stops so I was glad to finish the longest day of the brevet a little early so I could get some more sleep. Stats for the day: 17.1 MPH average and just under 9K feet of climbing.
Day Two - French Camp to Natchez MS
Got a reasonably good nights sleep and on the road at 5:23. The road south of French Camp is probably the flattest part of the Trace and it was a beautiful morning to be riding. Left by myself and made pretty decent time without taking any stops until the River Bend turnout at about 60 miles in. I saw Ken Bonner there and we chatted for a few minutes before he left. Ken and I rode together for a while on the first day of the Cascade 1200. He said he'd been having some stomach problems and was hoping they were "behind" him.
The view from River Bend
Not long after leaving River Bend I saw the beginning of the Barnett Reservoir which was enormous. I was riding at a good pace and caught up with Doug Migden from Seattle. I'd talked to Doug a bit at the mixer and had seen him off and on the first day. We exchanged greetings as I passed him and not long after I looked in my mirror to see him on my wheel. He asked if I minded him sitting in for a while which I didn't. I was pushing pretty hard and he tried to come around and take a pull but was going slower than I was wanting to go so I passed him again. He said he'd pull whenever I wanted but that I was going fast enough that he could keep up if he was in my draft but couldn't maintain that pace if he was pulling. I told him no problem and that I'd keep pulling figuring that if I were riding by myself I'd be pulling anyway. I ended up pulling the rest of the day - more than 100 miles!
Doug and I got to the open control at Clinton (mile 363 and 94 for the day) and went to Leroy's Subs for lunch. Doug bought my lunch in exchange for pulling (thanks!). I have to say the woman working there was just about the surliest person I've met in a while! She was efficient enough but her "user interface" sure left a lot to be desired.
Doug and I left the control and headed toward the overnight in Natchez with me still doing the pulling. I had this preconception from riding the Trace on a motorcycle that this part was "flat" but it seemed like every time I looked at the Garmin I was going uphill. Not a lot, .5%, .7%, 1%, etc., but enough to make me feel like I was doing a lot of work. I continued to push hard to Natchez and about 10 miles out came to what seemed like a super steep and long downhill. I knew I'd be coming back that way the next day and would be climbing that hill - I wasn't looking forward to it with 450 miles in my legs!
Got to the exit of the Trace with an average of just over 17 MPH, arrived at the overnight hotel a little after 6. I saw Ed Boltz in the lobby eating and we chatted for a few minutes. I didn't know it at the time but he was planning on riding on through the night and left not long afterward - wow!
I've not mentioned it to this point but my wife Marcia was with me on the brevet. She wasn't providing on course support (to quote her: "you mean I'd be following you around from control to control all day? As if.") but we had a room together at all of the overnights except Tishomingo. She sprung a nice surprise on me at Natchez. She'd gone to Fat Mama's Tamales and gotten some tamales, enchiladas and had also picked up some beer. Mexican food and beer on day two of a brevet - sweet! One of the many reasons why I love her so!
Got to bed fairly early (about 8:30). Didn't sleep particularly well but at least I was horizontal. 457 miles done.
Day Three - Natchez to French Camp
Got on the road at 4:20, riding by myself. Riding in the pre-dawn morning is one of the joys of randonneuring in my opinion. It's quiet, little to no traffic and you get to experience the world waking up. I got back on the Trace and was rolling along enjoying the morning and before too long I looked down at the Garmin to see I'd gone 20 miles. Wait a second! What happened to that killer hill I was dreading? I'd ridden up it without even really noticing - that's what some rest and fresh legs will do for you!
As I was riding along and the sun was coming up I passed a rider stretched out on a picnic table. I was going to yell out "are you OK?" but figured that if he was sleeping it was the worst thing I could do so I pressed on. I got to the control at Clinton (550 miles total, 93 for the day) and Marcia was there. This was the same Leroy's Subs as on the way out and the user interface of the woman behind the counter hadn't improved in the interim. While I was ordering my sandwich Doug rolled in. Turns out he was the rider I'd passed on the picnic table. We got something to eat and left together and would ride together for the rest of the day with both of us sharing pulls.
Doug Migden on the road back to French Camp
The wind was mostly out of the north today - not super strong but enough to make for some extra work so it was great that Doug was there so we could trade off into the wind. No complaints about the weather though, it was a lovely day.
Not long after leaving Clinton I got my only flat of the brevet. For those familiar with the Kubler-Ross model of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance) I now offer the five phases of a flat:
- Detection.
- Prayer.
- Profanity.
- Acceptance.
- Repair
This one happened pretty quickly so I skipped straight to step 3. Fortunately it was the front and didn't take that long to fix.
Me having way too much fun!
We got into French Camp a little after 6 and Marcia sprung another surprise on me. We had rented a cabin in the retreat center and she'd gotten jambalaya, red beans and rice and hush puppies for dinner! It really hit the spot. Another 187 miles done and early to bed.
The case of the missing ibuprofen
Full disclosure: I generally take a couple of ibuprofen with dinner on a brevet to deal with minor aches and pains associated with riding a bike a couple of hundred miles. The bottle was sitting on the table while I was waiting for dinner and after a while I couldn't decide whether I'd taken them or not. I didn't want to take four (sensitive stomach) so I thought I'd better not take any more and went to bed shortly after dinner. I couldn't sleep though because of general achyness and finally about 10:30 I decided that I'd not taken the ibuprofen, got up to take a couple and finally drifted off to sleep at a little after 11. That short term memory thing will get you every time!
Day Four - French Camp to Tishomingo, MS
Got on the road a little before 5 on another beautiful morning. I left by myself and it turned out I'd ride by myself pretty much all day. I really enjoyed listening to the birds wake up and seeing the beautiful sunrise.
As I was riding along in the dark I spotted a little puppy running on the road. I thought about stopping but didn't have any way of carrying it so I decided I'd report it to the first volunteer I saw. Turns out others had seen it as well and one of the volunteers picked it up and took it to animal control in Tupelo. I was glad to hear that it'd been taken care of.
Today was the day we needed to leave the Trace and do extra miles to get the overall mileage up to 1500K. Since it was the shortest day this was the ideal day to put in extra miles but the choice of route left a lot to be desired. The turn for the extra miles was at 60 miles in for the day on MS 32 toward the town of Okolona. This part of the ride was absolutely dreadful - a two lane road with no shoulder and a lot of commercial traffic and logging trucks all going 60+ MPH. At one point, I was being passed by a logging truck with logs trailing 15-20 feet off the trailer. He was passing in a short space and had to cut in and the logs missed my head by a couple of feet. As I said, this was the ideal day to do extra miles but I hope for the next running of the NT1500K that another route is found. Personally, I'd rather do counted laps around a parking lot for 15 miles than ride on that road for 100 feet. I'm relieved no one was killed.
Leaving the control at Okolona, I came upon a group of 5 riders with Vinnie at the front. I slowed to chat with him for a bit then went on.
The next control was once again at Tupelo. Traffic wasn't quite so heavy as on the way out and I was smart enough this time to pick a place to eat on the left side of the road so I wouldn't have to cross the highway to reverse course. Ate at the Subway and lingered for a bit since it was a short day. Not much else to report about the rest of the ride to Tishomingo State Park and the overnight.
Got to Tishomingo pretty early, at 4:22, located my bag and showered then sat around talking to other arrivals while waiting for dinner.
Brenda Barnell stoking up for the last day
John and Mike at Tishomingo
After eating, the ride organizers had put together a camp fire with smores. I thought about going out but decided I'd call it an early night. Unfortunately the bunk beds weren't particularly comfortable and every little noise woke me up so it was well after 11 before I got to sleep and I didn't sleep particularly well.
Day Five - Tishomingo, MS to Nashville
There's a day 5?
Well, if it was "just" a 1200K I'd be done but there was still more work to do - just about 150 miles of more work! I got up and on the road early, at a little after 3:30, and set out by myself. It turned out I'd ride by myself the rest of the way. Another beautiful sunrise and quiet morning.
First up was a detour around road construction on the Trace through the town of Cherokee, Alabama. I made the turnoff onto US 72 for the detour which was a nice divided 4 lane road. The road had a wide shoulder with alligator strips about two feet to the right of the lane then another 6 feet or so of shoulder. Since there was a lot of debris to the right of the alligator strips I rode in the two feet adjacent to the lane. I'd just passed Vickie Tyer who stopped at a convenience store. It was a little after 4 and there was no traffic on the road. I was therefore very surprised when a car passed me so close its mirror brushed my arm.
To be honest, I hope the driver was either sleepy or drunk because it saddens me to think that there are people in this world who would put my life at risk to "have fun", "make a point about cyclists being on the road" or for any reason whatsoever. I'm fairly certain it was deliberate though as the driver just continued smoothly on their way and didn't reflexively jerk back toward the center of the road as they'd have done if it was unintentional.
As an unrelated aside, I recently lost a cousin to cancer. She was the warmest, sweetest, most generous person you could ever hope to meet. Active in her church, volunteered at a food kitchen once a week, always a smile - truly a wonderful person. It seems so unjust that someone like her should die so young (in her 50's) and a scumbag like the jerk that buzzed me can go on living. The worst part is had I swerved slightly or the driver misjudged even by the smallest amount I would have ended up in Section C, Page 5, below the fold of the Nashville paper "Cyclist killed last night, no witnesses, driver fled the scene".
Back to the ride. I finished the detour and got back on the Trace. As the sun came up I was headed toward the first control at Collinwood, TN at 58 miles (844 total). Not long after getting back on the Trace I crossed into Tennessee and stopped for the obligatory selfie:
At least I'm in the finishing state!
As I was riding toward the control I started thinking about what I'd have to eat when I got there. Since I left before breakfast was served at the overnight (not until 6 AM!) I'd just had stuff from my overnight bag to eat and was feeling pretty hungry. For some reason I got a craving for biscuits and gravy even though I thought it'd be a long shot that I could get them. Wrong! Breakfast was biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs and coffee - absolute heaven!
Brekky!
After the control I had about 90 miles left to go to the finish. It was overcast and reasonably cool so I motored along without stopping until the Gordon House at mile 111 where I stopped briefly to refill my water bottles - 37 miles to go but who's counting? I am! I suspect like most people at the end of a brevet I go into "get it done" mode where all I'm thinking about is the finish and counting down the miles. Unfortunately, this makes me focus on it too much and it seems to take forever for the miles to tick down. Also, I tend to pay more attention to minor aches, saddle sores, etc., when I'm in that mode.
Because I was nearing Nashville, I started to encounter other riders out on day rides on the Trace. I glanced in my mirror and saw a rider coming up behind me. I decided there was no way that guy was going to pass me and ramped it up. Where I'd been going 15-17 MPH on the flats I was now going 23-25. That REALLY hurt and I raced this unknown cyclist until just before the end of the Trace, about 17 miles or so, but it did the job. The miles passed quickly as I paid attention to something other than counting them down and cataloging my aches. Oh, and he never did pass me!
Remember that long downhill that we swooped down at the start? Well, I needed to "swoop" up it to get to the finish. After my extended race my legs were pretty much shot as I hit the 9% grade but I managed to get it done.
Gonna need another one, this one's done!
And after all that, I gotta have the obligatory shot with the hardware:
A happy guy with another Grand Randonnee in the books!
There was a post ride breakfast the following day at Shoney's. It would have been nice to meet up with everyone and swap ride tales but I needed to get out of Dodge relatively early so my wife and I hit the Loveless Cafe for a morning after breakfast
I'll have everything on page two of the menu please
So that's it, last long ride of the year and wrapping up a pretty good season of riding. Thanks so much to all of the volunteers who worked the brevet. Words can't express my gratitude for those who stand in a parking lot on the side of the road for hours on end to offer drinks, snacks and encouragement to the riders - and take vacation days to do it!
Oh, and I was never bored! The scenery was lovely and riding on the Natchez Trace was 1500K of pure pleasure (randonesia at it's finest!).
