My hat is off to David Miley for sharing Saturday's ride, despite threatening weather and diminished participation. The ride out of Gallatin through Bethpage and up to Westmoreland was nothing short of wonderful ! David and Gary rode point with me and Doug doing rear guard duty. Even though I'm truly a FAT old guy, I'm dubbing this route the " hammer " ride because you can ride a lot of miles of it flat out and it includes the most inviting incline to the top of the Highland Rim I've ever seen. As we climbed to Westmoreland i kept holding back expecting some hidden surprise near the top. Never got surprised. There was one stretch of Old Hwy 31-E north of Westmoreland where the road encouraged one to go faster and faster. It was one of those rare topographical features where the road appears to be gradually flat to rising but your pedals tell you you're on a subtle downgrade. I told Doug that we could ride to Michigan with a road like that. This ride should be done again in the fall by all of us. Without a doubt, I'm placing this ride in my top three local rides.
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/tn/-gallatin/982555213
3 comments:
...Wanting to do that ride, Sharyn & I did it in the afternoon when the rains passed. Only difference, we did by gas vehicle rather than peddle vehicle. I also wanted to see Rogana, which you didn't do this time out. We did the ride up to Westmoreland, first by new 31E, which I told Sharyn was not the way you went because of car traffic was too dangerous, and then returning back to the bottom of the rise, second by old 31E, which was a LONNNGGGG uphill that never seemed to end.
...It looked like a great route and I am sorry I missed it, except for old 31E, which you will never convince me was fun.
...I do ask that for some of us that don't have the strength to do long uphills on hot days that we get ride maps out onto the blog at least 24 hours before the ride, so we can judge our limitations won't be a burden to the group.
Sorry I missed the ride. Phil, you must have been feeling good. I did that climb one hot day 2 summers ago and remember it being a hard sweaty slog. Perhaps being cooler with some company would make it easier.
Bruce
Up old 31 seemed like going up the gap, without the surprise at the end. It was just long, not so much of a push climb. We went up early enough that it was still cloudy and cool. We didn't face any real heat until the last hour of the ride. Truely some beautiful country that was worth any of the pain suffered by the occaisional climb. I commented to Phil that I did not remember Old Gallatin having so many PUC's, but that was late in the ride when it got warm. Coming down Wallace was great!
Post a Comment