A side note here: I designed this route, but have never successfully ridden it. The last time we held it was 2011, and I had an issue that had never before come up, and has thankfully never come up since. But I always wanted to see what it was like to climb Yates Mountain Road with 190 miles in my legs. I gotta tell you -- it wasn't easy, but it wasn't that bad.
We had driven out to Cookeville on Friday evening, staying at the Key West Inn there. After a quick dinner, grocery shopping, and getting the brevet cards printed (I had left the ones that I printed way back on Monday at home -- doh!), we turned in early to get enough sleep for the 5 AM start.
It was chilly when we rolled out, and we had to stop twice in the first 10 miles to reseat the bead on my front tire (you know how when the pavement gets decent and you start noticing that regular "whump - whump - whump" of your wheel ... yeah, I had that twice). For the most part, I had dressed warmly enough with knee warmers, arm warmers, and jacket, but wish that I had worn the thick glove liners. Jeff, on the other hand, has never lived in Florida, so seemed fine in just arm warmers and vest.
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| Sun coming up on the plateau |
The sun was coming up as we approached the great descent from the plateau on the newly paved Hwy 135. Once down in the foggy valley and riding along the Roaring River, however, the temperature dropped 10 degrees. A group of eight young fawns crossed into the woods right in front of us, their hooves skittering across the pavement as they watched us with wide panicked eyes.
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| Cumberland River heading towards Whitleyville |
It stayed chilly as we passed by the edge of Gainesboro, following the Cumberland River as we headed further north. I finally warmed up as we started the climb back up out of the river valley on the other side, and was feeling good when we rolled into Red Boiling Springs just after 8 AM.
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| Covered bridge in Red Boiling Springs, just after "downtown" |
We crossed into Kentucky to the first control at mile 55, stopping at the convenience store in Gamaliel for biscuits and supplies. I asked the lady at the store, and she confirmed that the town name is pronounced Guh-mel-e-uh. Note to riders next weekend: Their choice of biscuits was limited, and in hindsight we should have stopped at the second store.
The wind had not bothered us much up to this point, but we felt it as we started going east on Hwy 52. The going was tough until we got to Moss, TN -- home of Honest Abe Log Homes -- where the road turns a little more south.
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| Honest Abe Log Homes HQ |
We stopped briefly at a store in Celina for more fluids, then continued on towards Standing Stone State Park. There, you descend to cross over a one-lane stone bridge, then do a tough climb back out of the valley. Just as you finish climbing, you turn left on Beach Road and go back downhill for just over another mile before you head for an information control.
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| Not a great picture, but this is the waterfall just before the info control |
As we started down the steep hill, there was a pick-up truck full of teenagers following three other teenagers on what looked like makeshift "Big Wheels." They would frantically go down the zig-zagging descent, somewhat controlling their tri-wheeled contraptions. Jeff managed to get past them, but I held back and watched as they slid out and crashed on a couple of the turns. I wish that I could have gotten a picture, but it's a steep descent and I had my hands full just controlling my bike.
After the information control, we had to climb back up again before continuing on thru Hilham, TN. There, we turned on Hwy 85, where the wind kept us cruising along back to Gainesboro, for another quick convenience store stop for more fluids.
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| Jeff grabs some shade at the convenience store in Gainesboro |
The wind did not make the climb out of Gainesboro that much easier, but that climb is almost immediately followed by a fun downhill.
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| Descent down TN-53 from Gainesboro |
Soon, we were in Granville. There's a great store here for ice cream, but we were on a mission and barely paused as we zoomed through.
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| Bridge to Granville |
The road here continues along the Cumberland River.
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| Jeff riding by the Cumberland River |
The temperatures by now had finally hit what I consider a comfortable level -- the upper 70s -- and it felt great to cruise along these quiet, fairly flat roads.
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| Granville Hwy -- lake on left after river on right |
We stopped about five miles past Granville at Keeler's Market, again just to eat some packaged food and fill our bottles. Then, we climbed on up to Hwy 70, ending up at the Post Office in Chestnut Mound (a standard control on the Watertown 200K).
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| Chestnut Mount Post Office |
Hwy 70 rolls along the plateau here, but it goes east. Since the wind was out of that quadrant, we had some tough going for the next few miles.
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| View north from Hwy 70 -- must have been a fire |
Eventually, we turned off Hwy 70 in Baxter, taking quieter roads in to the Key West Inn. It was really nice to have a hotel after 150 miles, and both Jeff and I took quick showers before changing into clean cycling clothes. I also scarfed some of the cheese bread that I had brought with me on Friday. It was filling, but I was definitely ready for a hot, sit-down meal.
Turning southward, a tailwind helped us all but fly down to Sparta. A number of people had asked if we were part of the bike race there, but we missed all of the action.
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| This is Sparta! |
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| There were dozens of cars like this ... or cooler |
We considered stopping in Sparta for food, since it was the last option that I knew of for a hot meal; however, we wanted to make maximum use of the daylight, and opted instead to push on for Spencer and try to find a meal there. We zipped through the countryside south, and got to Yates Mountain Road just before sunset.
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| Jeff crosses TN-285 to start up Yates Mountain Road |
This is the signature climb of the ride, with some very steep sections off and on for just under two miles. You know that the worst of the climbing is over when you pass the cemetery; unfortunately, you may feel that you should be checking in then.
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| Trying to get a picture of the sunset from the top of the ridge |
It was almost dark by the time we got to the control, another convenience store. As I had feared, they did not have any real food there, and Jeff and I were forced to make do with microwaved frozen sandwiches and bags of chips. I ate slowly, resting a bit and feeling a blue funk come on, and then put on tights, jacket, my thick glove liners, and ear warmers. Although everyone else at the store seemed to think that it wasn't that cold, I was now feeling chilled and grumpy.
We took it easy in the dark on the curvy descent down Hwy 30, and then Jeff missed the right turn on Laurel Creek Lane. I yelled and whistled at him, then waited for a minute for him to realize that I was no longer behind him and come back. After his bonus mile, we started up the rollers along Laurel Creek before passing through Rock Island Park. Then came another series of brutal rollers on TN-288.
I'm not sure if the rolling hills there were that tough, or if I was just in a bad state of mind, but I could not seem to move with any kind of speed along this stretch. It took us over three hours to ride the 35 miles to the penultimate control in Smithville.
Fortunately, as we got into this town, we found that both Sonic and McDonald's were still open and serving hot food. Ordinarily, I would have chosen Sonic, but since that's a drive-in and we were both a little cold, we opted for McDonald's. It turns out that this McDonald's is open 24 hours, so the riders next weekend will have a hot food option no matter what kind of pace they are riding.
I felt so much better after a burger, fries, and Diet Coke. It was cold as we headed out of town, but at least I felt like talking again and the long climb back up to Old Baxter Road passed much more comfortably. Soon we were back on Buffalo Valley Road heading towards Cookeville, and managed to get back to the Key West Inn just after 2 AM.
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| Bikes loaded up Sunday morning for the drive back to Nashville |
This ride had more ups and downs than last weekend, and Jeff deserves a medal for putting up with my crankiness for so many hours. Just like last weekend, all of my contact points felt beat up -- my toes felt particularly sore -- but I think I could have gone out and ridden again the next day if needed. Nonetheless, I am glad that there is not a day at the Cascade 1200K that is longer than 210 miles, just like I'm glad that the sun is up until almost 10 PM there that time of year, and comes up by 4 AM. If I can just ride primarily in daylight, and get a hot meal in there somewhere, maybe I can avoid the randonneuring blues.
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