2007 Music City Double Results - Jeff Sammons

2007 Music City Double Results
April 14, 2007
By Jeff Sammons

For those of you that missed it, bad weather at the start on Saturday resulted in us delaying the ride start for 24 hours. The cool temperatures, lightning, and a steady downpour, coupled with a forecast that called for heavy thunderstorms all morning and scattered showers after that damped everyone’s enthusiasm. After discussions with the riders present, it was mutually agreed that the weather conditions at the start were not safe to ride in.

Six riders from out-of-state, our SAG driver, and I were the only ones that showed up for the ride start on Saturday. All of the local Tennessee riders stayed away. Of those present, only two riders were willing to start in the steady downpour. All the other riders never got out of their vehicles. A few riders indicated that route design, one large loop, made it impractical to abandon should the rider want to do so if the weather didn’t improve later in the day. Trying to salvage the event, I decided to reschedule the ride for the following morning. However, most of the riders indicated that they could not ride on Sunday due to other commitments.

While the main storm front had passed thru by Sunday morning, we were still experiencing the after effects of a light drizzle, high winds, and temperatures that were 10 degrees cooler than Saturday. Only Ralph Pruitt, from New York , and I showed up to start the ride. About 15 miles into the ride, the light drizzle turned into light showers. A few miles later, Ralph rode off the front and left me. I knew that Ralph was a faster rider that me and didn’t expect him to hang back and ride my pace for the remainder of the ride. While Ralph was still in my sights, the first climb we went up changed all that. When I got to the bottom of the hill and made the turn, Ralph was nowhere in sight. Ralph told me later that he made a wrong turn at the bottom of the hill.

I rode on a few more miles, however the prospect of riding another 12 hours by myself in this miserable weather wasn’t very appealing. So, I decided to abandon and headed back to the start. On the way back, the weather deteriorated and I encountered some snow flurries, so I was glad I decided to quit. Back at the start, I loaded up my bike, changed clothes, got some warm coffee, and headed out to find Ralph.

By this time, I expected Ralph to be approaching the halfway point of the course, which was about 60 miles due west of the ride start. After 40 miles of interstate driving with some heavy rains and sleet, I made it to the far western edge of the course. After I turned onto the back roads and headed north, the weather was finally clearing and the sun came out. The temperatures were now in the 50s. Tracing the route backwards, I found Ralph riding along in the sun about 6-1/2 hours into the ride. We chatted for a few minutes, then I drove on and waited for him in the next town. At a market Ralph stopped at, he told me about the rain and snow he encountered along the way. I told Ralph I would check up on him later in the ride and headed home.

I left my house around 7:30 PM and headed out to find Ralph again. Although the temperatures were still in the 50s, the strong winds blowing out of the north made it seem a lot cooler out. Tracing the route backwards from the finish, I found Ralph eight miles out, and still riding strong. He finished the course in 14 hours, 35 minutes.