First attempt with a real tour **PICS**
 

Well the plan was to ride my bike from Knoxville TN to richmond indiana, visit family, pick up a car, fix it and drive it home. I used google's walk there to find most of my route which actually worked pretty well and it was giving me 110 miles the first day, 99.8 the 2nd and 135 the third. Ive been doing alot of 90+ mile road rides and 6-7 hour mtn bike rides so i wasnt terribly worried about the distance but some things i were worried about were hearing banjos (it is the middle of nowhere in tn and kentucky), getting lost, the rear derailer i pieced together out of 3 broken ones laying around the shop.

Seeing as this is my first tour naturally i start a bit later than i hoped because i wasnt completely prepared and everything starts off good, mentally around the 40 mile mark my mind isnt happy so i pull out the ipod and all is well. Another 10 miles or so i stop eat find out my good buddy craig has broken yet another NRS... start back out with the legs feeling good despite the headwind/loads of climbing ive been doing but i keep having this nagging pain in my arm/hand that i chalk up to a bad over the bars incedent on the mtn bike a couple weeks ago.

about mile 85 i start to feel a bonk coming on and finish off a bottle of water and buy an energy drink which saves the day and by mile 95 or so i finally come across the kentucky border and the sight of a new state justifies the entire days worth of pedaling, also with the new state comes rolling hills over the 30rpm in granny kinda climbs the back roads of tn have been giving me.

about 8pm lights a blazin i finally make it to my hotel with about 110 miles in for the day but it feels more like 150 since ive been on the bike since 9am.

Next day wake up with my elbow/hand killing me, I brush it off take an advil and set out for the next days route considering buying a real touring bike because i realize this touring stuff is awesome, ive been reading about it forever and dying to get out and do some on my own and could never get the time off until now. Anyways make it another 60 miles or so before my arm pain forces me to cheat and go for the rental car thing the rest of the way, my excuse is their is a 12 hr race next weekend on the mtb i want to be ready for but really i just wimped out with my arm pain, legs surprisingly felt great though.

Well get back to richmond, mom forces me to get an xray and found out i have a broken hand and a good deal of swelling in my elbow so that makes me feel better in a strange sort of way, fix the car, hang out with family, drive home, stay up till 4 am playing with pics and writing this (if i sound out of it that is why). well, you made it this far so here is the pics, if your curious about anything ill be coherant tommorow, thanks for reading :thumb:

ready to rock hard and roll fast (still dying to get that lightspeed shirt)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...INtour002e.jpg

downtown knox
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...INtour005e.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...INtour013e.jpg

hello mr trucker guy
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...-INtour015.jpg

i see da interstates
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...-INtour018.jpg

hellooooooooo
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...-INtour019.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...-INtour022.jpg

MORE PICS!!!!!!!

old hwy 68
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...-INtour024.jpg

climbing...wOOt
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...-INtour029.jpg

i like these angles alot for some reason
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...-INtour031.jpg

tp'ed by some guys who know what they are doing
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...-INtour032.jpg

yay for dirt!!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...-INtour034.jpg

cool little pond
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...-INtour036.jpg

NEW STATE!!! (i droped and broke my camera shortly after this so no pics past this point :crash:)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...-INtour040.jpg

Thanks for the report.. 170 miles in two days with a broken hand! Hard core... looks like the weather was good for you too.

It's a great feeling, isn't it? Not the broken hand, obviously, but the realisation that distance is no obstacle, that you can pack up the bike and go anywhere in the world!

Well done, and speedy recovery. You'll need that hand for building the new bike!

Wow, you really ate up the road there. Nice to hear it went over well.

Sorry to read about the broken hand, but I'm glad you had a good time. Thanks for sharing it.

That is about double my daily tour mileage and some days quadruple:lol: I tour to take things at a slow daily pace, but that is just me. I do like the new google walk feature. It has come in handy a couple of times. I wish they would let you mess with the average speed of it, but it does give you the distances so you can figure it from that.

Aaron:)

Hardcore! Good times!

thanks for the compliments everyone, next time im not doing so many miles per day, this time i was just on a tight timeline.

Seriously, this touring stuff rocks, its ALMOST as fun as mountain biking...almost. Im already trying to think of my next trip i want to take on. Im thinking something along the blue ridge parkway would be good

Go to Asia! There are some 'roads' there which will test your mountain-biking skills to the limit!

How did you break your hand?

i went over the bars on my mountain bike a couple weeks ago on my mountain bike when my wheel wedged itself between two rocks and landed on that side of my body. I just let it go hoping it would heal itself...it didnt:(

anyways off to see if the pain pills they gave me are enough to keep on the mountain bike

yea it is hard to get enough time off to tour properly. You really need to keep to yourself though, and don't try to get influenced by others. One guy I met had done what I did in three days. Then I remembered he didn't have thesame amount of time that I had. He was busy cycling and I was busy hiking, etc.
I suggest the Continental Divide trail.

I guess I never really realized this but now that you have said it, it really is quite obvious.

Wow what a feeling. My mind is now free to wander and plan.

Thanks for posting this simple thought.

Nice! I am originally from knoxville, but never got to do any touring around there. There are some nice loops you could do from there, and actually i think it is a good base for short tours. The natchez trace and blue ridge parkway would be high on my list!

I'm just a skip and a hop away in cookeville, I believe I'm going to do a short tour this weekend. Great pictures by the way!