Preparation Training

March 17 and 18th I will be riding from Cartersville, GA up to Fort Mountain State Park, GA.  The ride is about 55 miles one way with the climb up Fort Mountain gaining about 3,000 feet in elevation.  The ride up Saturday will be hard, as it comes at the end of the day.  Sunday morning will reward my efforts with a 12-mile downhill back into Chatsworth, GA before continuing on to Cartersville!

I got back to Cartersville at 4 pm on Sunday, March 18.  On Saturday I had 25mph headwinds only allowing me to average 9.5mph over the 55 miles.  My legs were shaking like a leaf once I climbed the 3,000 foot wall of Fort Mountain.  I am not sure if this was the 28 degree temperature or my lack of riding in the past weeks, probably both!  Camping was cold, but perfect training for Alaska.  Sunday brought blue skies and a tailwind allowing me to get back to Cartersville with an average speed of 15mph.  Ride statistics can be found below:
Total Miles = 110.6
Max Speed = 35.6mph
Average Speed = 12.5mph
Total Time Pedaling = 8hrs 51min

On April 21, I will depart from my apartment in Cartersville, GA and ride over to Alabama!  I will ride over to Cedar Bluff, AL and then turn north for Fort Payne, AL.  Once there I will ride northeast eight miles and enter DeSoto State Park for some primitive $5 camping, sweet!  Oh and they have showers, a huge plus!  On Sunday, April 22, I will awake to blue skies (weather.com says so) and will ride north to Mentone, AL.  There I will ride east 50 miles to Adairsville, GA.  I will then turn south and ride back down to my apartment in Cartersville.  Trip should be about 160 miles roundtrip, 80 miles each day.  I will post stats once I get back on Sunday!

I got back to my apartment on Sunday about 6pm.  Due to a few technical problems and the lack of good roads, I only made it to Cedar Bluff, AL on Saturday.  This was exactly 58 miles from my apartment.  I averaged 14.5 mph with a max speed of 26mph!  On Sunday, I awoke early and rode a different route from Cedar Bluff to Summerville, GA.  From Summerville I rode to Calhoun and then back down to Cartersville.  On Sunday I rode 95 miles with an average speed of 13 mph with a max speed of 33 mph. 
Total Miles = 153
Max Speed = 33 mph
Average Speed = 13.6 mph
Total Time Pedaling = 11 hrs 15 min

In early May, a group of bicycle tourists including myself will bicycle from Jackson, MS down to Natchez, MS and then complete the Natchez Trace Parkway.  I have toured with many of them two years ago on the Blue Ridge Parkway where we survived all 469 miles and the punishing 50,000 vertical feet of climbing.  We nicknamed this ride the 4/40, since a rider is either going 4 mph or 40 mph, with little in between!

Once in Natchez we will begin the Trace and navigate all 444 miles of this historic route until we reach its end in Nashville, TN.  If you are interested in joining us for this beautiful ride, please click here to contact me!  The ride will be around 650 miles with side trips and we will complete the ride over eight days camping nearly all of the nights.  Dates are May 8 - 16. 

Please find below a trip itinerary for the 2007 Natchez Trace Parkway Tour!  The Word document is an outline of our specific plans, all subject to change!  The PDF file provides information on facilities and their corresponding mile maker off the Natchez Trace.  Double click on each file to download.