I posted this in the Road forum as well, but thought I'd share wth my fellow C's&A's

I took Good Friday (3/21) off from work. My Mom & Stepdad were in town for Easter and it was supposed get to a high of around 70. I thought, “What a great day to take off and for a good ride and visit with my family!” I figured I would try to leave as early in the morning as possible and try to get 100k in and be back around lunch time or so. I ended up waiting until 8 AM to shove off to let the temp get up to 40. This was to be a fairly easy paced “fun” ride. Took the camera along and everything. I had never ridden or driven a great deal of this route 100k route. So it was an adventure as well.
I only got 1 mile from my house before I stopped and took my first shot. It’s amazing the beauty that is around us every day that we just don’t see. An old barn with vultures perching above…

http://johnkscott.com/images/20080321Aride.jpg

And then another 3 miles later, the Harpeth River…

http://johnkscott.com/images/20080321Bride.jpg

My first challenge, about 5 miles in, was to climb the hill on Lynwood way. It’s a 9% grade (as marked on the signs and confirmed on my Garmin) for close to a mile. No biggie. Spun up it in fair fashion and it felt good. That was the biggest (not steepest I was to find) climb of the day.

Stopped by Alan Jackson’s house along the way. :D Here’s a picture of his guest house…

http://johnkscott.com/images/20080321Cride.jpg

And his real house…

http://johnkscott.com/images/20080321Dride.jpg

Right after this I had my first ever clipless pedal incident. I stopped to grab a fig bar out of my bento box and unclipped my right foot (as is my custom) to dismount. I’m not sure if the wind blew me, or I was on a slight grade or what, but I started falling left. Couldn’t get the left foot out in time and down I go :D. I was laying on the road laughing my butt off. I broke the pattern on this one. I waited 7 months for my first spill and the only the birds and squirrels witnessed it.

About 21 miles in I had a blow out on a descent. According to the gps data I was going about 30 mph when the rear tire blew. The tire was a loss and not even bootable. Looks like a sharp rock punctured the sidewall or something. Luckily I had just passed Trace Bikes http://www.tracebikes.com/ . It was almost exactly a two mile hike back to the shop. It was a beautiful day for a walk, but not so much in road shoes. There was one horse that heard me clopping up the road and gave me the ol’ high sign whinny thinking I was one of his own :D. The blow out cost me about 2 hours by the time I hoofed it back to the shop, and got the new tire put on and grabbed a bit to eat.

Continued...

When I left that morning (intending to be back around lunch time) I had toe covers, tights, base layer, long sleeve jersey and wind shell on. By the time I got rolling again with the delay it was much to warm to wear all of that. I stuffed all of the extra cloths in my jersey pocket and off I went looking like a camel. And the wind really kicked up as the morning grew older (and as my route took me right into the teeth of it). The Weather Channel said 15-25 mph winds with higher gusts.

About 31 miles in I got to Fernvale, TN. There was a powerful tornado that rolled through here a few weeks ago. This is only about 10 miles west (as the crow flies) of my house. Seeing this made me feel very fortunate.” Luckily” this wasn’t a heavily populated area. But there were some homes out there. Some shots of the damage…

http://johnkscott.com/images/20080321Fride.jpg

http://johnkscott.com/images/20080321Gride.jpg

http://johnkscott.com/images/20080321Hride.jpg

And beauty springing up in a field along side it…

http://johnkscott.com/images/20080321Eride.jpg

About 35 miles in I saw this beautiful creek running alongside Fernvale Rd and had to stop…

http://johnkscott.com/images/20080321Iride.jpg

And the blooming trees/bushes are really starting to show their glory now…

http://johnkscott.com/images/20080321Jride.jpg

As I pushed on after my first scheduled water stop (Fairview, TN) about 36 miles in the terrain got pretty hilly. Some of you might call it rolling but not me on that day :D. The wind was blowing mostly in my face in this section. The hills weren’t long but they were steep. It got to the point where I would come around a corner and see another one and say, “Oh crap” or something equivalent ;). 10%+ grades were not uncommon sustained for a quarter mile or so. One climb was registering at 18% with that 20 mph wind blowing directly in my face as it came down that valley. That was just demoralizing. I actually had to get off the bike for a minute there.

Anyway, I plodded on into the wind most of the rest of the way home. Stopped at Puckett’s Grocery & Restaurant for a quick rest with about 8 miles left to get home. Puckett’s is a good place to stop and a lot of cyclists stop here for food or water. They have a good food and it’s a cool place…

http://johnkscott.com/images/20080321Kride.jpg

So, that’s it. I left at 8:21 AM and returned at 3:00 PM (was aiming for 1:00 PM). Total saddle time was 4:29:03 and total ascent was about 3k feet. Much of the “stopped time” was due to the blow out. It was a “fun” ride but I would have liked to have done it a little faster. But with those sharp, short hills and the wind my legs took a little beating. Plus it was the first time since last September I’ve been on the bike more than 3 hours of saddle time and I could tell :D. But I did have a blast anyway. And that is what this ride was all about.