Three riders from Tri-County Bicycle Association (TCBA) went down to Tennessee to ride BRAT this year. Coincidently, it was also a TCRR trip - we were all recumbent riders. Pete Derkos was on his socked Gold Rush, Chris Evans was on his Velokraft VK-2, and I was on my Baron.

This year, the Bike Ride Across Tennessee, or B.R.A.T., was a circle tour. I don't know if this has always been true, but I think circle tours (where the beginning point and end point are the same) are a great way to attract out-of-state riders. BRAT has been a non-event for a few years. Being a fan of past rides, Danny McCullough made the mistake of going to his superiors and suggesting that they resurrect it. Little did Danny know that the suggestor is also the chief volunteer! To Danny's credit, he pulled off a creditable first attempt. The route was varied and fun. Rest stops were plentifully spaced every 15 miles, and were stocked with bottled water, soda (pop), and munchies. Routes were patrolled by Tennessee State Parks rangers, as well as TDOT vans. I have never seen a ride so well patrolled by SAG vehicles.

After my sour experience with Cycle North Carolina, I opted to not buy the meal plan. Instead, I only bought the recommended two dinners: at Standing Stone State Park, and at Red Boiling Springs. I am happy to report that both meals were satisfying and delicious! Not only that, everyone on the full meal plan was pleased with it. So I guess I missed out.

Weather: Hurricane/tropical storm Ivan Went through earlier in the week, and had Danny fielding lots of last-minute requests for cancellations; but it moved through the area more quickly than originally predicted, and by the time we got to Gallatin for check-in, the weather was warm and the skies were sunny. It stayed that way all week. Highs ran in the 80s and lows were in the high 50s and low 60s, with light winds. Except for the fog on many of the mornings, the weather was nearly perfect! An Internet search on Tennessee weather patterns revealed that this part of the year is historically the driest time of the year, so unlike TOSRV, there's actually a good chance of having weather like this. Ya gotta love intelligent scheduling!

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Day Zero: Gallatin
After a long 9-hour road trip, we arrived in Gallatin in time to check in, set up camp, and scope the area. The indoor pool was open, but we opted to goof around outside. Dinner was at a recently-opened Chinese buffet, about a mile from the Civic Center. I sampled as many of the dishes as I could fit in my stomach, but several went untried. The shrimp dishes were awesome. I saw a few other bikers there, but most BRATers really missed out on a good thing.

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Day 1: Gallatin to Murfreesboro

This day had to be the most fun day of the tour for me. That statement implies a letdown for the rest of the ride, but that's not true; it's only because my preference for rides tends toward small rollers and winding roads, and this day had them in abundance. Rollers, by definition, are relatively short hills, closely spaced. Riding them is like riding a roller-coaster; and since lowracers tend to have higher terminal velocities than most other bikes - even tandems - they can sometimes carry through a set of rollers even faster than if they were on level ground. There were plenty of rollers on this tour, but most were larger than the first day's hills. We left very late; in fact by the time we finished breakfast at a McDonald's, we were the last ones out of the Civic Center's parking lot. Within a few miles after leaving Gallatin, we were routed onto small, almost one-lane roads, where my favorite kind of terrain was in abundance.

Typical back road

The small rollers slowly got bigger. Lunch was a sandwich at the Milton Country Store. As usual, I neglected to get a picture. I bought a SOBE to go along with the sandwich. Then, back to riding. Camp was at Cannonsburg Pioneer Park,  in Murfreesburo. I managed to get a nice spot near the burbling creek. My achilles tendon, which I tweaked on DALMAC, was starting to bother me, so I adjusted the boom on my bike so that the seat-to-pedal distance was shorter. Also, the clip on one side of one pedal had loosened, so I had to fix that. Dinner for us was at the Shoney's across the street. All-you-can-eat buffets are good for cyclists! In the evening, park personnel gave demonstrations on  blacksmithing, sheep shearing, and other frontier skills.

My campsite at Cannonsburg Park

Mileage: 76 miles
Average speed for day: 19.3
Top speed: 50 mph

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Day 2: Murfreesboro to Rock Island State Park

Pete takes down his tent last!

Pete was just about the last one to pack up. I guess when 40 miles is a good distance for an evening ride, then having a full day to do 70 miles isn't too intimidating. But unlike Pete, I like to get the miles over with before the heat of the day. Here, you can see Pete's tent is the last one standing. Also, you can see the heavy dew; this was a pattern for the entire ride - heavy dew every morning, often accompanied by fog.

Lemonade at the Bell Buckle Cafe

The day started pretty flat but that didn't last. We had a rather long, 35 mph coastdown into the small town of Bell Buckle. At the Bell Buckle Cafe, the nice people there had donated their time and resources to provide us with some of the best lemonade I have ever had. Riding into Bell Buckle for the free lemonade required a few extra miles, but it was worth it!

"Dangerous Curves Ahead"

The hills kept getting  bigger. Shortly before Woodbury, I hit my trip's high speed of 52 mph, riding the brakes through the first three curves and letting the bike run for the last two. At the courthouse in Woodbury, a women's club had made fried pies ('turnovers' to northerners) for us. They were available in apple, cherry, and peach. I had an apple pie. Of course, we had to sign a register and pose for pictures!  Equally certain again, I forgot to take pictures. Continuing on, we had a major climb, culminating in a short but ridiculous grade onto the next road. It was so steep that the level of the crossroad was literally above my head until after I had entered the intersection, so I popped the bike into granny gear, listened for cars, and went for it! The coast was clear, thankfully.

A few hundred feet after the aforementioned intersection was a rest stop at Short Mountain Elementary. BRAT had bought helmets for every child in the school, and we were encouraged to stop and talk to the kids. They sent out the kindergarten class to see Chris' and my bikes. The things that intrigued them the most were my handlebar bell and my eyeglasses mirror, not the bikes themselves. After talking to the kids and having a few pics taken, I ran the kids up and down the parking lot a few times. The kids had a blast trying to 'outrun' me. They were sure cute, but all that 'kid energy' reminded me why I'm glad my kids are grown. Finally, we said our goodbyes and continued. Meanwhile, most of the bikers were bypassing the school because it was 200 feet out of their way. Their loss!

The campsite, true to the nature of bike tours, was at the top of the world. There was a 40 mph downhill shortly inside the park, and a 12% grade leading up to our camping area. Rental cabins were several hundred feet past the top of the hill where we camped. We set up camp and went to dinner at the Rock Island Corner Market Restaurant. It only had seating for about 25 people, about half of which were locals. But the food was good and extremely affordable. Warning! Don't get the large cheesburger! It is too large!!! (Put this on my list of good places for bikers to eat!)

By the end of the day, my ankle was feeling decidedly sore. In fact, it was noticeably swollen, making me worry that I'd injured it worse by pushing too hard on the hills. Tomorrow will have to be an easy day, maybe even with no riding at all.

Mileage: 89 miles (including dinner)
Average for the day: 18.4
Top speed: 52 mph

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Day 3: Layover day at Rock Island State Park

There were several optional rides organized for today: 22, 60, and 100 miles. I slept in a bit this morning and goofed around camp. My achilles tendon wasn't hurting as badly, so I intended to take it easy with only a short ride. Chris and I left on the 22-mile loop at about noon, expecting to eat lunch at the Rock Island Corner Market on the outbound leg.  This restaurant was about 2 miles away from the park entrance, and was the only restaurant available, to my knowledge. No such luck, the restaurant was packed with riders who had completed the 60-mile loop. Instead, we picked up some munchies and continued. The 22-mile route had lots of short hills. Some were the winch-yourself-up variety, and some were rollers. To go with the ups, there were some short but relatively fast downhills. Most of the roads were very narrow and had no traffic other than us, with surfaces ranging from mediocre to good.

Gary Christopher, a.k.a. Bentaero, smiles up the last of the grade  to camp. Gary is a displaced TCRR member, now living in North  Carolina.

On the return leg, we hit the restaurant for a small, late lunch. I say small, because not being on the meal plan meant coming back for supper; and the restaurant closed at 6:00 pm, only a few hours away at that point.

Longer-route riders reported large, challenging climbs. I'm not sure my ankle would have been up to that!

An afternoon trip to the swimming hole was not encouraging. The water was cold and murky, and what we could see of the lake bottom was gravel- and boulder-infested. There was no sandy lakeshore; instead, concrete stairs descended into the murk from a concrete wall. It was, however, very pretty. I'm sorry to say I didn't take my camera, so didn't get any pictures of the 90-foot limestone cliffs or the magnificent foliage, some of which was starting to turn colors for fall. The road up from the lake made me glad I walked. It was, I'm sure, at least 20% grade and continued for over a quarter mile. It was hard enough to walk up it, let alone try to ride!

Mileage: 32 miles
(Average and top speeds not recorded.)

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Day 4: Rock Island State Park to Cookeville

Riding down the hill and into the mist

Today, as with other mornings, we started with heavy dew and fog. The cool mornings didn't bother me, but many riders wore jackets, armwarmers, even gloves. Here's a good view of riders starting down that 12% grade. Today was billed as having the worst hills. Chris and I took it easy, saving ourselves for the hills. We had many stretches of short (fun) rollers, which got me into my middle ring increasingly often. At Sparta, we wasted a few miles looking for lunch, and finally found a Hardees about a half-mile off the route in the last possible direction (of course.)

Enjoying the morning scenery

Here's another morning pic, showing the terrain. The vehicle in the background is one of the ubiquitous SAG trucks, which seemed to always be in evidence. Prior to the climb onto the Cumberland Plateau, we had a long stretch of new pavement along a twisty, rolling road, which let us really get a good head of steam. The climb was long but not terribly hard. I used my small chainring for quite a bit of it, mostly to take it easy on my achilles tendon; but never made it down into first gear. In the course of climbing I passed a lot of upright bikes, but none of them passed me. Yay!

Chris overlooking the fairgrounds parking area

Camp was at the Cookeville Fairground. The heat was becoming oppressive as we set up our tents, and there was almost no shade available. We started to pitch our tents under an oak tree, but noticed some not-very-healthy but still potentially unpleasant poison ivy growing there. So we decided to set up camp on the grassy field. A thin layer of grass and dirt hit the true nature of the field: chipped limestone. Tent stakes were useless. Luckily there was only a breath of a wind, so the weight of my baggage sufficed to keep my tent in place. As I found out, the breeze was just enough to cool the inside of the tent, so it was actually cooler in my tent than it was outside.

The restaurant strip in Cookeville was a mile walk from the fairgrounds. We chose the Golden Corral, for its all-you-can-eat buffet. Ryan's Steak House was also offering an all-you-can-eat buffet. All the major chain restaurants seemed to be represented. My ankle, which was still bothering me, hurt more when walking, and I had to take several rests during the walk there and back. But of course, this was a bike tour, so taking bikes to dinner was strictly frowned upon! (Don't ask, that just seems to be The Rule.)

Mileage: 73 miles
Average for day: 15.8 mph
Top speed: 43 mph

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Day 5: Cookeville to Standing Stone State Park

Aproaching what promised to be another short steep hill, I remarked to the rider I was passing that the sign: "Hill Obscures View" probably meant a steep one looming around the next curve. Several seconds later, I heard a booming, "HOLY COW, I'VE JUST BEEN PASSED BY A RECUMBENT!!!" I think what triggered the reaction was when Chris passed him, too. He stood and charged hard, but didn't catch us until the top, where we eased off to talk to him. Personal honor was at stake, because rather than talk, he muttered something about recumbents' proper place in the universe, and made an attempt to retake the lead (whatever that means on a ride with no designated starting time.) OK, time for a session of Recumbents 101, taught by professors Chris and John. Within 15 seconds, Chris and I had both repassed him and proceeded to lead him on a merry chase through the rollers to the next rest stop. Spinning a lower gear to take it easy on my tendon had me breathing pretty hard, but it was fun. Downhill speeds ran to nearly 40 mph, and we topped several hills at 30 mph. Did I ever mention that rollers are the native habitat for predatory lowracers? They are. He didn't give up - he was still attacking hills in an attempt to close with us, even when he was in danger of disappearing in our mirrors. Turns out that this guy was doing extra loops every day so that his daily mileage was at least a century, and he'd never been passed by a recumbent in his life, much less on an uphill. He was impressed with the speed capability of the lowracers, and we had a good chat at the next stop - another elementary school where BRAT had donated helmets to all the kids.

Chris and our competitive friend.

The final climb for the day came in two parts, both pretty impressive. Coming out of the last rest stop, Roaring River Park, one group of riders passed me at the bottom; the only time on the tour for that to happen. Then several miles of rollers, which I used to re-pass them before the next climb up from the Dale Hollow Dam, where they took the lead again. By the time I got to camp, the heat was starting to get to me. I was starting to catch them again, but I ran out of road. when everybody stopped at the last available general store before camp. Today was the hottest day of the tour, and I found it sapped my strength, something I hadn't noticed very much while still on the bike. The heat really hit me after setting up camp, but I felt a little better after a cool shower and a nap. A large dose of Motrin made my achilles tendon feel better, and I almost didn't limp at all while walking around camp.

Dale Hollow Dam, viewed from camp

The park had a pool, but it had already been winterized and all the deck chairs were stacked up inside the locker rooms. Too bad; considering the heat, the pool would have felt pretty good.

Dinner tonight was via the meal plan, and was fajitas and nachos. Very good, and the food just kept coming until we were ready to explode. My kind of meal! After taking a few pics, I went to bed early.

Mileage: 46 miles
Average speed for day: 17.5
Top Speed: 43

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Day 6: Standing Stone State Park to Red Boiling Springs

Top of a climb on Hwy 52

Easier hills today. Highway 52 had some big hills, but the grades were more reasonable. Coasted to 48 but that wasn't good enough so I pedaled to 50 mph. My tendon wasn't as swollen today, but it felt like a huge cramp unless I stretched it gently whenever I got a chance. As a result, I coasted a lot of hills today that I otherwise would have pedaled. In this pic, Chris is hiding in the rightmost shadow on the cliff, and you can see an upright rider well behind him. The morning fog is still in the process of burning off.

Chris checks his mirror for cling-ons	After Roaring River Park, (which was a repeated rest stop from yesterday,)  and crossing the Cumberland River, Chris and I passed the group which had beaten me up the hill yesterday. This time there was no hill; in fact we were riding along a valley that was almost completely flat. One rider made a breakaway and tried to bridge to us, but it was all in vain. He never got close. I was impressed with his mettle, though. When he saw us bypassing the next rest stop, he turned around and rode back to his group. We had a significant climb after that point, but the group never caught us; we must have lost them at the rest stop.
Thomas House	Overnight camp was in the front yard of the Thomas House, a turn-of-the-century bed-and-breakfast. All the rooms were booked with riders who didn't want to camp another night. I pitched my tent in the shade of a large hemlock, next to another babbling stream. The stream was cool and clear, with crayfish running over the slate and gravel bottom, and schools of minnows flashing in the pools and eddys. I went wading. Some riders got right in and laid down in the cool water.
L-R: Chris, Pete, and me	Dinner, for the second time, was via the meal plan. The meal featured chicken or ham, with an unknown mashed-potato-like substance, vegetables, and cooked apples, with bread pudding and hot fudge topping for dessert. Although we ate on plastic tableware, the Victorian dining room still exuded elegance. Some people got seconds. I was stuffed after one serving.

Mileage: 62 miles
Average speed for the day: 18.5 mph
Top speed: 50 mph

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Red Boiling Springs to Gallatin

The last, and shortest day. Nothing fancy about the route: take the highway west, then hop on another highway and go south to Gallatin. This might sound intimidating, but they were two-lane highways with light traffic, and 15-foot-wide paved shoulders; which were, for the most part, clean and smooth. Most bikers stuck to the shoulders. I did, too; except for passing. The few large hills had reasonable grades of 5% or less, meaning that the recumbents weren't at too much of a disadvantage. About 13 miles out, we came to a McDonalds, which represented the breakfast stop. Pete caught up with us and we ate together. After that, he sort of fell behind as Chris and I charged off. After turning onto highway 33W, I took the lead, and broke the trail the rest of the way into Gallatin. Long easy downhills like this one had me cruising at 30 mph for miles at a time! Up until today, I wasn't sure my Achilles tendon would let me finish the tour, but today it barely bothered me.

Long shallow downhill!

Mileage: 43 miles
Average speed for the day: 20.7 mph
Top speed: 46 mph

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Summary:

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