The Trace

On Thursday, I realized that Monday was a holiday. HEY! I can go riding! I sent Matt an email asking if he had plans. We set up to meet at 11:00am at the start of the Natchez Trace.

Of course, since it's Matt and I, one of us had to be late. I think Matt was a little later himself, but I was nearly an hour late. It was my turn, I guess. We headed out from the gas station at the North end of the Trace right at noon, and started heading South. I had never been on the Natchez Trace before, and I was in for a treat. The weather was simply perfect. While on the bike and moving, I was very comfortable in my mesh air pants and my solid textile jacket. I would have been perfect in a mesh jacket, but I haven't bought one yet.

It didn't take but a few miles to reach our first stop, one of the very picturesque high arching bridges, this one probably the most photographed on the Trace. This first bridge crosses TN-96 about five miles from the start. It's an interesting bridge as it sort of seems bizarre to build one so high just for a recreation road, but Matt mentioned that he thought it was easier to build it then to secure easements and land rights to pave a road across the valley. A quick stop here to see the site, and then we jumped back on the bikes.

I believe we only went a few more miles before pulling into another "Historic Site." This one was not marked as to what it was. There was a hiking trail and some sort of marker in the center of the loop road, but we decided to keep on trucking. We headed further South on the awesome road cruising along at the 50mph speed limit. I'm sure it would be more fun at a speed more than that, but at 50mph, it's a very fun and stress relieving ride.


I believe that the next stop we hit was the "Water Valley Overlook." We hung out here for a good little while, just talking about the bikes, about how cool it would be to own one of the nice houses down in the valley, and about how we need to find a sportbike rider, a classic British bike rider, and a souped up Vespa to round out our mixed up biker group. We also talked about the potential for business if an outfit opened up shooting action shoots of cars, motorcycles and bicyclists on the Trace. I think the potential is there. We have some further discussion to make regarding this.

After chilling out for a bike, we looped back around on the access road, and then shot a little further down the road to stop at one of the small waterfalls. We decided to hike down to this one, a very quick stroll down an "unimproved trail" to a small waterfall that was really cool to check out.It was nice and relaxing, the air cooler down the small shaded hill and everyone that was there was obviously enjoying themselves. One other young biker decided to climb almost straight vertically up about 50-60 feet to get back to the trail head, and I must say, I was surprised he made it.

By the time Matt and I had made it back up to the bike, Matt said that he was getting hungry, so we decided to take our chances on food in Hohenwald. We exited the parkway about 50 miles from the start, and almost exactly 2 hours after we started. It was a very relaxed pace, and felt great. Matt seemed to remember Hohenwald having more eating options than it really did, and we rode through town 3 times before deciding to just head to the Hardees/Red Burrito and grabbing some fast food. This was nearly an hour after we got off of the Trace. I think we then hung out in the Hardees for about an hour talking and joking around.

We decided to head North on TN-48, which would give both of us a straight shot to our prospective homes. This stretch of 48 was new to me, and was really nice. Much of it is wooded making for a nice cool ride. As we approached Centerville, where we had decided to stop for gas, Matt waved at me as we slowed to turn onto TN-100. His bike began bucking as we slowed and I assumed he was out of gas, again. I rolled up next time him and he says, "My clutch cable snapped."

We rolled to the side of the road in order to get out of the flow of traffic and began discussing our options. My MSF instructor had mentioned that it was possible to ride a bike without a clutch cable, and that he had done it before, but knowledge and application are not one in the same. We discussed techniques and Matt tried a few. I was quite amusing watching him buck along as he attempted to start the bike in first gear. That was not very successful, so he started it in Nuetral and dropped it into gear. It prompted died, so he reattempted that method, this time pushing the bike to get it rolling before dropping it into gear. This technique worked, and we rode all the way through Centerville to where TN-48 seperates from TN-100 before stopping for gasoline.

After we filled up, I called Karen to let her know I was going to follow Matt home, and then we headed out again. I was tailing Matt in order to keep traffic off of him and we immediately got a truck in between us. I should have taken off faster, but the guy realized that we were together and pulled over to let me pass. The rest of TN-48 to south of Interstate 40 was very smooth, shady, and extremely curvy in spots. Very nice ride!

This is were Matt surprised me. I'm not surprised that he was able to do it, but rather that he was able to time it out so well. As we approached Dickson, I think we were both afraid we'd get stuck at a light. Somehow, Matt was able to find detours, time lights perfectly, and get through holes in traffic without ever coming to a stop until we got to his home in White Bluff. It was awesome. He went some 35 miles without ever coming to a complete stop. Brilliant!

When we got to Matt's place, he invited me in for a drink and to meet the animals. They've got 2 awesome dogs and two pretty cool cats. The "spawn of Satan" cat (Emma?) had me cracking up with the way she was lounging on a chair, acting as if it were her throne. After playing with the dogs for a little bit, I hit the road while Matt worked out with Leslie how to get home after she got a flat at work. The trip home was uneventful, and quicker than I expected, the only pain being that the sun was going down, so for the first part as I headed West I felt a bit blind for a bit. I soon headed North again and the temperature dropped the entire rest of the trip home. Nothing eventful happened until I was maybe 4 blocks from home when a woman decided to take a turn after right hand lane ended and she almost took out a light pole. It was pretty wild, and happened just in front of me.

I literally took two photos all day, in the same place. If I get some more from Matt, I'll be sure to upload them. Again, I don't think either of us got a picture of the bikes together.


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The first scratch is always the worst.....

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This report is going to be different than previous ones, it was a much different day of riding. The map above really only shows my path via paved roads. The map below (taken from the Land Between the Lakes Motor Vehicle Usage Map) is also quite incomplete. Today was my first big day of gravel and offroad trail riding. Many of the paths that I took are only partially represented or not even on the map. I'm not even 100% that some of the marked spots are valid for where I went, partially due to the fact that I forgot my new LBL map (that I bought yesterday) in my car.



The first road to the North of the Welcome Station is 229. The map shows this road connecting to 229, but in reality that road is blocked with "No vehicle beyond this point" signs. I remembered this from when I brought my Jeep out here before and expected to use this road to stretch my legs, so to speak, on gravel, dirt, and a big mud puddle. I took the center path on the really deep mud hole. The bike bogged into the mud, but never stopped. This was really cool to me. I turned around and headed to points north. I took 227 to 228 and took a long detour to a cemetery off of 228, and then another road up a quite steep hill to Dennis Cemetery. I decided here that going down a hill is actually not as fun as going up a hill. I felt a lot less in control.

I then took a left on 229. Where 229 meets 387 is a road pointing to Gillam Cemetery. I took this more technical road toward the cemetery. It was a lor of downhill, and for some weird reason at one spot I came to a stop, I think I was trying to avoid a rut or something. As I put my foot down, gravel rolled out from underneath it, and I rather gently dropped the bike onto the right side. I stood it back up (light bikes at WAY easy with the proper squat and lift behind your back technique) and surveyed the damage. Nothing immediately jumped up, but then as I through my leg over I realized that the front brake lever was bent out quite a bit. DANG! Guess I need to get some hand guards soon.

I continued down the hill, passing the turn off for the cemetery and continuing down to a small camping area where the road dead ended at a pretty gnarly creek crossing. After looking at a map later, I realized that this was probably pretty close to where 229 used to connect through.

After turning around, I headed up to Gillam Cemetery, climbing a steep slick hill on the way up. I almost slide off the bike at the top, but caught it at the last minute. I've got to work on better stopping points, the left side cannot be lower than the right side. I stopped here for a bit and rested before heading back to the junction.



I decided to follow the road on the right (turned out to be 387) not quite sure if it was a valid road or just another agricultural access road. Many of the roads in LBL were constructed to access either farm land or cemeteries. This road actually went down to the water as well.



I went downhill carefully, a bit spooked by my dropping of the bike still, and came to a pretty rutted muddy area at the bottom where the dead end meet a big creek. I turned around and coming back up the hill I decided to puch myself a little bit. There were three decent sized yumps (Rally speak for small jumps) that I took a little faster than I had taken previously. On two of them, I think that the front and rear wheels came off the ground, the bike stayed very much in control and I felt pretty good. It was a big confidence booster after dropping the bike.

Once I got back to The Trace, I headed North, noting a few potential roads on both sides. I turned onto the road for Brandon Spring and was greeted with "Authorized Groups only." I turned back onto The Trace and then took at right onto Tharpe Road.I have no idea what number this road is, and the map doesn't have it named. I followed Tharpe down to a fork and then followed both of it's forks to water. Nothing crazy, but the lower fork was a bit more rutted. I headed back to The Trace and went South. I had seen two roads I was interested in. The more southern of the two was a very odd road that sort of paralleled The Trace. It was paved in the style of pea gravel embedded in concrete for a good bit of it, but in a state of disrepair. The pavement ended, the grass got taller, and the a trail started, just as the road looped back up toward The Trace. It sort of ended at a big concrete drainage ditch, really close to The Trace. Fifteen feet of driving and I was back on the main road.




I headed North again, looking for a road on the West side that dropped down from The Trace a bit and had a huge mud hole at the beginning. I came across it shortly and headed down. I crossed the flooded hole without much problem at all, throwing water up my legs in the process. I headed down this road for a good bit, the further I went the worse it got. Eventually, I got to a very large hill, probably 4-5 miles from pavement. At the top of the hill was a large tree that had fallen onto the trail.



I could see a decent trail on the other side of the tree, but I could not see a good way around, and there was no way I could get over the tree that was nearly 24" high. I cut my losses and turned around, but I'm very interested to check this route out some more. As I headed back, I passed a steep climbing trail on my right going South.

I climbed this hill, getting enough speed to make it up the fairly long hill without having to stop to get around obstacles. I hit a spot were there was a deep rut caused by a 4x4 and got a little bit of a scare as bike went were it could, but not were I was willing it to. After I got to the top, I followed the trail through 4 miles of woods and a few open fields, snaking around several downed trees and finally coming to the North/South hiking trail where the trail ended with posts to keep people off the trail unless they are hiking. I had been here before as some point, I've hiked the entire trail from end to end.



I turned around, starting to think I was going to get rained on as the wind picked up and the sky darkened. As I reentered the woods, it seemed as if I might stay dry for a while longer. I made it to nearly the top of the hill with no problem. I was taking the other side of the two-track trail on the way back, and near where the hill started going down again I ran into a really deep rut much like the one earlier, only deeper. I had not run through many of these, except at puddles, and had been able to ride through without problems. This time was different. I was doing about 15mph (indicated, probably more like 12mph) and hit this rut. The bottom wasn't flat, and as I tried to get the bike to slow down within the rut, the front wheel caught the edge of the rut and nearly came to a stop. I new I was going down, and I did. When I got back up, I quickly checked myself and then killed the bike. I was fine, but the fuel cap on the bike seems to leak if it is layed on it's side. So My first goal was to get the bike up. As I bent down to lift the bike, I realized that there was glass around. Dang it, I broke the right side mirror. Not cool.

I got the bike back up and made it to The Trace and then the South welcome station again to consult the map. I was a bit bummed about the mirror, and that fall in general, but I'm not hurt so it was a good learning experience. The first fall seemed out my control, for the most part, but the second was my fault. I have learned how to take this ruts for the future. I scarfed down two grilled cheese sandwiches, a bottle of water and an apple.



I checked out the big map at the center and realized that I had mostly completed the roads around 229, but didn't actually get to the end of 229. I thought this road continued North previously, but seeing that it did not, I decided to make one last blast to the end before heading home. The campground and fishing area on this road looked really cool and I saw several ducks and herons on my way up to the boat ramp.

I returned to Dover with the intention of regrouping and seeing if I wanted to ride, on pavement, somewhere else. I had been in LBL for about 3.5 hours, and while I don't think it was too much dirt riding, it seemed like a good start for me. I stopped by The Dip Dairy Freeze in Dover and got a vanilla cone before heading home. The sky opened up on me before I got back to the edge of town, and then as I dried out I realized I was going to get wet again. I decided to stop by Karen's parents house to avoid the rain and hang out with them for a bit before heading home.

Once I got home, I had a bit of a mess on my hands. Spent some time hosing down and them washing the bike. I realized that this bike will never be as clean as it was yesterday!

It's all about the ride.....

Matt (not me) and I decided to finally ride together this afternoon. We had planned to previously, but other obligations, my old bike not doing great, etc, keep pushing it back. With the new bike, it almost seemed like we had no good reason not to.


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I left the house around 1:40pm with the plan to meet in Palmyra at 2:00. I go just a few blocks from home and the bike died. I could get it restarted, but revving it killed it. Not sure what was happening, and then I remembered I know have a functioning reserve, so I flipped to it, and bingo, all was well. Stopped for gas at the next station and got to Palmyra at about 2:05. I pulled over, checked my messages, and Matt let me know he would be there around 2:15. At 2:30, I decided to head down the road with three names, quickly realizing that the route was not as clear cut as it looked on a map. I decided to turn around, just in case Matt had come out on Shiloh Canaan Road (B) and when I got back to Palmyra I had received a test message from him. He was somewhere on TN-13, turned around and out of gas. I started hunting down a gas can and making my way to where I thought he was.

I received another message and then we talked, he was on TN-13, closer to Clarksville and the bike was running again, but he was waiting on me just in case he didn't make it to a station. I headed back toward town, and then south on 13. I found him a few miles south of a couple of gas stations and after a failed first attempt at getting gasoline, we were back near TN-149 fueling up. We decided to head toward Cumberland City, Erin, and finally get to TN-232, the so called "Baby Dragon" (C).

We made surprisingly good time to 232, and just as we turned on to it, a couple of guys on trike choppers where turning off of it. We headed North on the Baby Dragon, enjoying the 13 minute ride. We both agreed that the name Baby Dragon was a bit far fetched, it was not nearly as curvy as the Tail of the Dragon at Deal's Gap in East Tennessee, but it WAS a very nice ride for our corner(?) of the state. There was a nice, and unexpected, elevation change, some very nice views of surrounding valleys as we continued upward, and the tree cover cooled us down some. Matt really surprised me in one turn by how far his bike (a custom) was leaning over, I guess his training on the real Dragon paid off.

As we reached TN-79, we headed into Dover to snag some grub. We stopped at Dover Grille, which I remembered being a Tex-Mex joint, but had sort of transformed into more diversified restaurant. The still have some Mexican though, and it's not bad at all. I had a veggie wet burrito, and Matt had a steak. My food was pretty good, and I think Matt liked his too. I purchased a seat pad this morning and had it on the bike, and while it helped a lot today, I was still a little sore. Neither of us seemed to be in any sort of rush to get back on the bikes, and an hour off the bike really seemed to give me a second wind. I think I could have ridden another 100 miles after that break.

We finally did hop back on the bikes, and headed toward Cumberland City on TN-46. I had been on this road, in a car, but not for more than a few miles. I really enjoyed this road a great deal. It was fast compared to 232, smooth, and car free. The temperature had dropped several degrees, tree cover was nice a thick, and it was a relaxing ride. I wasn't expecting it, and it opened my eyes to some potential new rides that could be cool in the area. We headed past the Southern Annex of Cross Creek Wildlife Preserve and then into Cumberland City.

I don't think Matt had been to Cumberland City before, at least not very close to it, he mentioned that he didn't realize how much coal it took to keep a coal-fire plant running. It really is a lot of coal. We gassed up at the bigger gas station across from the industrial complex and then headed South on TN-46. This is a nice light jaunt through some woods and farmland. Once we crossed into Houston county it was apparent we had just missed some rain.

Matt and I went different ways once we arrived at TN-13. Matt said "He a safe ride home" and I replied "Okay." What a jerk! I realized what I said the moment I pulled off. I was distracted by the fact that he had his right turn signal on but was supposed to go straight on 46. I continued on 13 back to Clarksville without much happening. It did hit some rain, but it was mostly just a handful of really fat raindrops and it stopped after a short period.

As I approached the water and fire tires in Cunningham, near where Matt ran out of gas initially, A woman in a minivan pulled out of a driver in front of me. No one was behind me so I got ont he brakes pretty heavily to avoid hitting her. It wasn't real close, but sort crazy. I guess she didn't see me do to the light hills in the area, but it sort of ticked me off. On top of that, she pulled into the very next driveway, so she didn't get up to any sort of speed. This allowed the car that was a good ways behind me to catch up to me and they continued to ride a bit closer than I'm comfortable with. Less than 2 miles down the road an older small pickup truck also pulled out in front of me, and then continued to do maybe 40 in a 45. This caused the car behind me to get ticked off and was even closer to me than before. I was glad once they got to a spot that they were comfortable passing both of us (across a double line, no less) and my 6 was clear again.

I got no pictures of today, I wish I had at least gotten 1 or 2 of both of the bikes, but it was definitely about the ride today. It's not easy to take pictures from the bike, and I've only been carrying my cell phone which is touch screen and doesn't work with my gloves on.