Tennessee 400K Ride Report

Tennessee 400K Ride Report
May 12, 2007
By Jeff Bauer

The TN 400K was a little hillier than I remembered from last year's pre-ride, though it could have been the difference in riding in 30F temps versus 70-80F weather. You appreciate the climbs when the weather's colder.

Vida and I arrived at start later than I'd hoped, due to a navigation error on my part. We had less than 15 minutes to get registered and set upmy bike fit (pedals, seat adjustment, etc.) on Alex's Co-Motion tandem. I planned to ride as the stoker for the next 250+ miles, a slight change in position from my usual tandem ride.

Alex set a pretty fast pace at the start. We over shot one of the first turns (Old Madisonville) because it was hard to read the street sign, then double backed. For a short while Tim Martin and Tom Gee rode with us, along with Bill Glass and George Hiscox. However, we soon lost everyone but Bill on the descents (Bill knows how to lock onto a tandem wheel). George would get dropped, but managed to catch up before the summit of the each climb.

Embarrassingly, I dropped my water bottle twice during the first section of the ride, not being used to the positions of the bottle cages. Bill helpfully would retrieve my bottle and pass it back to me.

We made good time getting into the first control (mile 57) in Dunmor before it got too hot. Tim and Tom arriving just as we were leaving. A few miles out, Bill had a flat -- our only mechanical stop of the day.

The next control in Morgantown was only 27 miles away, but the route was hilly enough that I was glad to get off and take a quick break. My normal routine is to drink a V8 (electrolytes) and a chocolate milk (carbs/protein) and carry along enough food to get me to the next control.

The second half of the next section put us on the Mammoth Cave Parkway towards Park City. This was our favorite part of the ride, a tree lined, two-lane road closed to commercial traffic. We took a slightly longer break at the Shell station here, approximately the halfway point in our ride (mile 128).

About an hour out of Park City we crossed the Barren River Dam and decided to top off our fluids at a local market, given the heat of the day and few opportunities to refuel over the next 30 miles. We'd been fighting some wind along this section and I was glad to be riding on a tandem.

Traffic picked up as we approached Bowling Green, though most of the drivers were considerate, somewhat amused by our tandem. The four of us arrived at theWaffle House with quite an appetite. It was also nice to escape the heat of the day.

After a fairly long refueling stop, we set off for Russellville, 40 miles out. For a few miles we had to ride in heavy traffic. It was still hot outside, but the fading sun would promise relief soon. Our goal was to reach the next control before sunset, and having taken a long break it was harder to get the legs back up to speed.

By the time we arrived at the Shell Station in Russellville, Bill was feeling tired and preferred to wait for the next group of riders. So Alex and I left with George, though we missed the comfort of Bill's GPS, not to mention missing riding with Bill himself.

For this last section we rode in darkness, encountering only one long climb up Pilot Rock. I recounted a story of how years earlier someone had followed me on the descent in the dark, lost control of his bike, and ended up at the hospital with a broken collarbone. Once past Pilot Rock we had a very pleasant 16 miles back into Hopkinsville. We arrived shortly after 10pm. I signed off the brevet cards then went out to Wendy's with Alex.

Vida called me from the Russellville control saying she was riding with Jeff Sammons, so I felt confident that she wouldn't get lost.

Other riders started coming in, starting with Bill Glass. He got tired of waiting for anyone to show up and decided to finish the last 40 miles solo. Everyone who arrived appeared to be in a good mood and agreed it was a great day for riding.

Jeff Sammons came in around 2am, so I turned over the brevet cards to him. Vida and I got back to Nashville around 4:30 Sunday morning, each of us eager for a shower and bed rest.

Thanks to Jeff Sammons and Kevin Warren forputting on a great brevet. Special thanks for Alex agreeing to ride the 400K with me.

The terrain was a little more difficult thanwhat we'll encounter at Paris-Brest-Paris, but good training none the less.