RobbieTunes

Pre-ride is in the bag. Beautiful day for riding yesterday. Traffic, venue, route, surfaces, terrain, all good and likely to be a lot greener in a short time.

After a chain issue with a new KMC (horrible "connector" link) and adjusting my brake pads, joined @nomadmax and @speedevil for a recon run.

The route is great, and I can actually remember it.
It has some climbing, I ran a 42/12-27 and I could have used a few less teeth up front, or a few more in the back (or 30 less pounds, to be realistic).

We'll miss @nomadmax in April, but a privilege to ride with him, that's for sure. Beauty 7-11 Merckx that he had dancing....

Can't wait to do it again with a crowd.

speedevil 

The pre-ride was a good ride. My riding companions @RobbieTunes and @nomadmax were superb. The route worked out well, good roads, courteous drivers, and good weather. The route was more challenging than I expected, but there were a couple of nice downhill runs that probably got us up over 45mph. I need to spend some more time on the bike to be better prepared for the actual Tour ride in 3 weeks time. One nice thing about this ride is that there are 5 actual turns in the entire route. Lots of curves and hills, but only 5 turns. We rode a bit past the last turn off the Woodland Trace road to continue down to Tennessee and took some photos at the Tennessee state line.

To start the day, Robbie cooked us a mean french toast and bacon breakfast. A good ride, great riding companions, good conversation, a nice dinner at Triplets in Cadiz all made for a really good day out on the bike. It doesn't get much better than that.

nomadmax 

Back from KY and a great ride with Dale and Robbie! Literally, a day of cycling nirvana. If ANYONE is on the fence about this ride, DO IT. Great roads, friendly locals and good low traffic pavement. There are some climbs but oh the payback on the other side. As I said, the pavement is good so you can really let it out, I spun out of a 50x12 several times. I'm having trouble uploading photos so I'm going to email them to Dale and see if he can post them.

natterberry 

RobbieTunes

speedevil 

Two of the three partners in crime. One must remain incognito due to outstanding warrants.

speedevil 

Both of the merckx bikes on the ride were needed to keep the tree from falling over. They did a great job.

RobbieTunes

We could fix that. Rob it with president's masks. I think I saw it in a movie.... They'll never know it was us....

speedevil 

I'm trying to add an optional road to the route that will bypass the more challenging climbs in the second half of the ride. I have a support ticket into ridewithgps to find out how this can be done. If not, I'll add the turn information into the cue sheet to describe this change. @RobbieTunes and @nomadmax, you know which climb I'm referring to - but without gearing for climbs, or lack of fitness (guilty) it's a walker.

USAZorro

Not sure how much endurance I'll have built up. Am rehabbing from a knee injury from early November, and am just recently able to go through the cycling motion without pain. Will give it the old college try though.

speedevil 

I'll get the bypass for the challenging climbs worked out, but as of now I haven't heard back from ridewithgps. Noone gets left on their own on this ride - if there is an issue of some kind, we'll figure out how to take care of it. The small number of actual turns make navigation pretty simple.

This is an unsupported ride, but we will do everything we can to NOT leave anyone out on the road.

Ex Pres 

You'll probably be better than me. I've ridden about 165mi since last July. Tried Saturday, but only made it about 7 miles before I had to turn around and head home - my contacts were so clogged with pollen, and riding "blind" I was a danger to myself and anyone around me.


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speedevil 

I've updated the cue sheet so that it includes the info for the "bypass" route that skips some challenging climbs. There's currently no way to do this within a single gps file, so the cue sheet will have to suffice for now.

RobbieTunes

A pre-positioned truck worked this weekend; we can do that again.
Snacks, water, etc, maybe a couple of tubes, pump, an emergency tire....

There are multiple places with water, porta-johns, regular rest rooms, etc.

speedevil 

Working out a gps file for the gravel ride on Sunday April 14th. The problem is that the central hardwoods trail is only on the maps where it intersects with another road. So the only way to get an accurate gps file is to ride it and record a track. OK, I'll take one for the team and try to ride it before the Bourbon Tour on April 13th. It's not like you could get lost, that trail goes from Lake Barkley, past the visitor center, and on to Kentucky Lake. We're going use a part of the eastern half. The route looks like about 10 miles, but that's along 68/80, not trail miles which are usually half again as long as the straight line distance. The mileage might be in the 12-13 range. I haven't checked out the gravel FS road section yet, but I do know there's a nice fast descent close to the end of the route.

noglider 

Congratulations and good luck with your new home, @USAZorro. It's a pretty area. We've made two trips to Clayton.

speedevil 

UPDATE - I've added a RideWithGPS link for the gravel route to the ride post. There are some great descents on this route - make sure your brakes are reliable!

The ride information is here.

speedevil 

Two weeks from tomorrow... The 2nd Annual Bourbon and Tobacco Tour.

OK guys - you want to ride the hills of western Kentucky, even if you don't know it yet. Ask @RobbieTunes or @nomadmax if you have any doubts. The paved ride on Saturday is great, on good roads and light to nonexistent traffic. The Sunday gravel route is challenging and fun. There's a creek crossing that should generate some good photos and just maybe a laugh or two. Likely at my expense, but that's OK. What happens in the Land Between the Lakes stays in the Land Between the Lakes, right?

A cookout after the ride at my house to visit and tell lies. I'll try to get more photos this year than last year, possibly including some "hold my beer and watch this" moments at the creek crossing.

The ride info is here.

speedevil 

The 2nd Annual Bourbon and Tobacco Tour is one week from today. Y'all come over/down/up to western Kentucky and join us for a nice ride in the hills of Land Between the Lakes. PM me with any questions.

seedsbelize 

Enjoy

speedevil 

Weather is looking pretty good for Saturday's paved ride, a little less good for Sunday's gravel ride. It's still a few days off, so we'll see.

For those of you coming in on Friday, we're going to have dinner at Triplet's in Cadiz, just off I-24 exit 65 (Us68-KY80) at 6pm.

Saturday morning, we'll meet at the start point around 9:30am, with a roll out at 10am. The start point is on the east side of LBL, where the bridge over Lake Barkley touches down. There is a parking area on the north side of the road.

There will be ice, water, gatorade, bananas, and cookies at the (approximate) midpoint of the ride - at the Golden Pond Visitor Center. After we're all done, we'll go shower up and meet at my house for a cookout.

We'll figure out a time for Sunday's ride on Saturday, my guess for now is meet at 9:30, roll out at 10am. The meet point is 2.5 miles west of Saturday's start point, also on the north side of the US68/KY80. This is the same point we rejoined US68/KY80 on the last stretch of Saturday's ride.

Please PM me with any questions.

USAZorro

With great reluctance, I am going to have to bow out. I've been having back issues, and am concerned that the combination of driving and riding is likely to trigger a flare-up. We're also at a critical point in our home buying process. Hoping I'll regain enough fitness for next year, and hope to open John's home for wayward bikes, and be able to host a Peach and Pecan ride in 2020. (Kentucky does have better vices).

speedevil 

Important announcement: Due to deteriorating weather this weekend, I've decided to postpone this year's edition of the ride. I'll come up with a list of dates and will choose one that fits with the most riders.

I'm disappointed and sorry to have to do this, but I'd feel really badly if folks brought their nice C&V bikes from a long distance only to watch it rain.

natterberry 

Pompiere

Same with me. I have family obligations this week, but another date may work better in the future.