speedevil 

This is the current weather radar as of 9:30am today. Looks like a wet few hours are imminent. The red oval is where we would be riding.

PilotFishBob 

It's soggy in Memphis with worse on the way. Rotten riding weather.

himespau 

I think you made the right choice.

speedevil 

The 2nd Annual Bourbon and Tobacco Tour has been rescheduled for the weekend of June 1-2. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

Other than the date change, the other information is unchanged.

See all y'all in Kentucky on June 1st and 2nd.

nomadmax 

Count me in Dale.

PilotFishBob 

RobbieTunes

Folks, there are several reasonable motels in Cadiz, and there's always the Lake Barkley Lodge....

speedevil 

Just a bump to remind you that the 2nd Annual Bourbon and Tobacco Tour has been rescheduled for the weekend of June 1-2, 2019.

Hopefully the weather will be more cooperative than on our original weekend.

Come on down (or up or over) to western Kentucky for some good roads, good riding, and good people. And bourbon.

RobbieTunes

I'm in, should be fun. I think I'm planning on both days, run a classic roadie on Sat, and the Klein on Sunday.

RobbieTunes

Bump and PSA: Swap meet, also. Bring your stuff. Bring your cash.

I can bring a few 56cm's to sell, but I'm not hauling a bike 2 hours just for you to look at it.
1990 Super Corsa, pearl white
1988 Ironman (the upgraded Not Your Daddy's Ironman)
1990 Paramount
1984 Klein (Performance)
1991 Centurion Carbon-R
1984 Centurion Turbo (frame/fork)
1985 Pinarello Record (if it doesn't sell at Thunder Ridge)

Plus my bag of magic parts and mushrooms.

speedevil 

Bump for the 2nd Annual Bourbon and Tobacco Tour. We ride next Saturday June 1st and Sunday June 2nd.

Y'all come to western Kentucky and have a couple of good rides, bourbon, moonshine, and maybe a little sweating. Bring a road bike for Saturday and a gravel/mountain bike for Sunday.

Bring some stuff to swap, sell, or just bring cash for buying.

RobbieTunes

See you there.
Pinarello is gone.

nomadmax 

Really looking forward to this. Rode 40 miles with Robbie yesterday in SW Ohio. Hoping for good weather but I'll settle for any weather and the good company.

RobbieTunes

Ditto.

The LBL area in Kentucky is a good place to ride, and the company is even better. 4 working days and I'm heading that way...
Riding both days. I'll take the bags off of the Klein and bring it for the gravel ride.

RobbieTunes

Bumping.
Rain or shine, I'll be there.


Rain = one bike, the Klein, for both days.
No Rain = two bikes, probably the Bob Jackson and the Klein.

speedevil 

Weather forecasts are for low 80s and sunny on Saturday. Same temps for Sunday but a slight chance of rain. If that holds we'll have a great weekend for riding.

noglider 

I'm envious! Enjoy yourselves!

RobbieTunes

A lot of squirrels better be practicing the cross-road dash, 'cause we're gonna be there.

speedevil 

We ride today! The BF inmates are here, and some of my local riding buddies are coming as well. Weather looks great, so we should have a great day out biking.

I've been looking forward to this since I decided to postpone the ride from the original April date. It turned out to be the right decision, but was still disappointing to make the call.

Make a note in your calendars for mid-April next year.

speedevil 

Great ride today. Temps were low 80s, slight breeze. Drivers were *very* courteous, no close passes, didn't hear a single car horn, waited behind as we crested a hill, and one driver even stopped in the northbound lane so that we could turn across the lane in front of him. Makes me proud to live in Kentucky. @nomadmax, @RobbieTunes, @PilotFishBob, and I, along with a local riding buddy Ron, rolled out at 10am. The hills come quickly and are unrelenting. There are 5 climbs in the first few miles, all of them over 6%, a couple at 8% and one close to 10%. They wake up the legs pretty quick. Then there were some rollers, and some flat sections as we worked our way west towards the Woodland Trace road. The Woodland Trace road has several climbs, not overly steep but longer than the earlier climbs.

@RobbieTunes had positioned his truck at the midpoint, and we had coolers with ice water, gatorade, coke, cookies, and bananas waiting for us. Worked out great. The second section had a navigation problem, in that the ridewithgps maps showed a road connecting back to the main east-west road, but it doesn't. It dead-ends at Lake Barkley. Asked a park ranger how to get where we needed to go, and got there just fine. There is a steep hill, 10.9% grade, on the second part of the ride. It is a butt-kicker. I was with @PilotFishBob and we went up it once - I walked a good part of it. Going back down was fun too, once we had the proper route in our heads. My top speed was 42mph on the descent.

@RobbieTunes and @nomadmax brought pizza to my house for an appetizer, and we had burgers, chips, pasta salad (made by my wife Amy), and spent the time talking and figuring out riding plans for the rest of the summer. A good time, great people, and I'm already looking forward to next year's ride.

Now to get things in order for the gravel ride tomorrow. The creek crossing should provide some entertainment. Stay tuned.

And now, for a couple of photos.



Left photo: PilotFishBob on his Colnago, nomadmax on his Merckx, RobbieTunes on his Bob Jackson, Ron on his DI2 Trek.

Right photo: PilotFishBob on his Colnago, RobbieTunes on his Bob Jackson, Ron on his DI2 Trek, Speedevil on his Merckx.

RobbieTunes

Remember when you were a kid, and rode your bike all day, not as a workout, but because it was how you got around?

Today was that day. We rode around in the Land Between the Lakes because well, we could.
OK, we also can't understand what "Turn Left" means. I mean, we do, but where, right?
Sure, some parts were harder than others. We're older. BFD-still fun.

In March, we scouted the route, and the "Wrangler Camp" climb was the leg-puncher.

Today, we did not have to climb that, but:
I kid you not, a guy (with a straight face) said "Let's ride down it and then come back up."
And then he did, so I did (after tossing 4lbs in water bottles to the side of the road, never intending to have to go back up.)
I won't mention any names, @nomadmax.

Then we realized we actually were off course, because GPS is a lying SOB and some roads that are actually gravel dead ends seem to go places on those little map things. So we had to do it a 2nd time. I walked 75% the 2nd time, with no guilt whatsoever. A guy's gotta have principals. And it was a protest against
The Man. Whatever excuse works.

Basically, a good day, riding in a good place, with good people. A simple, effective cure for any blahs.
@PilotFishBob @speedevil @nomadmax
and a friend of Dale from Cadiz, Ron.

This kicked off my 1000-mile June to fight cancer in children. Great way to start!

speedevil 

And another great day out ridng in LBL. We decided to take a shorter road ride today, instead of riding gravel. We met at the Visitor Center at 8am, and headed south shortly afterwards. We wound up at the Kentucky-Tennessee state line again, and took some photos for proof that we were actualy there.

A few hills, but less demanding than yesterday's ride. Rob got a flat a couple of miles from the end, so we stopped and offered advice and criticism of his tube-changing skills wihtout being asked. It seemed like the proper thing to do. After that, we were back at the start in just a few minutes.

@RobbieTunes and @nomadmax headed for home, and the 2nd Annual Bourbon and Tobacco Tour is now in the historical documents.

State line photos:

RobbieTunes

I think it was a Tyrannasaurus Rex tooth.
Then again, probably something that fell out of Allan's new hat. Yep, that's it. I'm sure of it now.

RobbieTunes

I recommend finding a way to do this, if you can drive here.
1-hotels are not expensive, and they are convenient to:
a-a liquor store.
b-a beer store
c-Triplets for dinner
d-gas
e-oh, yeah, the actual bike routes in Land Between the Lakes.

The riding is good, and I've not seen cars, trucks, and huge RV's ever give bikes so much courteous room. It's really a true recreation area, with MTB's, road bikes, ATV's, horses, boats, camping, hiking, fishing, just a place where everyone is in there to recreate. There was even a bass fishing tournament (the weigh-in was at our roll-off/finish point). With everyone seemingly there to have fun, we didn't encounter a single person who wasn't just happy to be out there and having fun.

Truly an ace area to ride. There are hills, but they don't kill you. PilotFishBob rode a 42/26 low, and I think we only needed CPR once, and that may have been the large bug he inhaled about 4 miles in.

PilotFishBob 

It was a fun ride, hills and all, though I really need to get a little more saddle time in the books ahead of the next outing. Speaking of T-Rex teeth, Speedevil and I were pretty sure we heard a velociraptor screech while we were hanging out at the Wranger Camp (though it may have just been a mule...) Looking forward to the B&T 2020 Edition!