Spring Rides in Tennessee

    I've gotten two great outside rides in the past two weeks. Sundays are typically my long outside rides, and the past two have been beautiful Tennessee spring days, about 65-70 degrees, just a little bit of wind, and a great road. I started riding at the Natchez Trace several weeks ago after my mother mentioned how nice it was. The Trace runs from Tupelo, MS, to Nashville, TN. It's a little two lane road that runs smack through the "Trace" which is a loosely defined trail. Settlers, cattle drivers, and others used the valley the trace sits in to move north and south in the middle south. The road itself is in very good condition, and no tractor trailers are allowed, so the road is really very bike-friendly. The rolling hills and wonderful scenery make for a long, awesome, uninterrupted ride.

This weekend, I rode for about three hours. Two hours and twenty-five minutes at 200 watts (2.3Watts/KG), then twenty minutes at 55 RPM and 230 watts (2.71Watts/KG) followed up by four 20 second sprints (700-800 watts 8.75Watts/KG). All told it was 2200KJ of work, and a really good day.